WINTER COLORS

Our Cypress trees have a lovely rust color after the first frosts. This is the 15th hole of our Lagoon course.

MORNING GLORY VINES

Winter has taken it's toll though.

WINTER FRUIT

It may be really cold (for Florida), 23f this morning, but it's still Florida and the frost will only make these kumquats sweeter.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas from North Florida. Our Christmas colors are out.

Banana Leaves, Ponte Vedra Beach

We had our first run of 20 degree days here and it turned my bananas into papier-mache.

Grass and Sand, Ponte Vedra Beach

WEEDS, GUANA DAM

We don't get the spectacular Fall colors that New England does, but I love the subtle changes in the weedy undergrowth.

SALT MARSH SMILE, BEACH BLVD. BRIDGE

This can only be seen if one walks up the Northern side of the bridge.

VIEW FROM BRIDGE, JAX BEACH

PHILODENDRON LEAF, 129 N. ROSCOE

PHILODENDRON MONSTERA, 129 N. ROSCOE

As a gardener, moving from Vermont to North Florida was a real learning experience. All of the plants that we loved in VT came here and melted in the Summer heat. Like almost every Yankee who has come here, I spent two or three years trying to get my old favorites to bloom or even to live. Finally I gave in and started looking and asking and found out what worked. (Don't plant tomatoes)


One of the other things that I learned is that plants we considered exotic tropical wonders were almost weeds down here. Our plant shops sold a lot of Philodendrons, the trailing kind and these P. Monstera. In VT they would get close to two feet tall in a perfect environment, warm and humid. Here in Florida, you put one in the ground and run away. I planted these 12 years ago and now they are well over 6' tall with a spread of double that.

FIREBUSH FLOWER

This is a close-up of the flowers on the bush shown below. I have looked it up and it is a Firebush. In mid-Summer through the Fall it is covered with these red flowers, that open into tubes, thus the hummingbird attraction.

LAST DAYS OF MY FIREBUSH

I have a row of firebushes planted next to the Intracoastal Waterway. They thrive in semi-drought conditions and attract hummingbirds all summer. They get to 7' tall and are covered with red flowers for the whole blooming season. 


We have had a series of frosts and tonight we'll go down to 19f, which will kill them to the ground. Next year they'll be even bigger.

Palm frond, Landrum Lane, Ponte Vedra Beach

This is a test to see if I can get sharpness at a larger size.

Delia's Weapon

Another pesky water pistol on the dock.

Beach Boulevard Christmas tree tent and field.

This is on my way to walking over the Intracoastal Waterway on a very tall steep bridge.

My shadow, Roscoe extension

In a small tribute to Lee Friedlander, my photographic hero, 
here is a self-portrait by shadow from a car.

Design problems

I apologize for the last, badly made post and, I'm sure, a few to follow, as I learn how to put larger pictures on this site and manage the text.

I love weeds. Don't know why, but I do. A lot of them are beautiful, just not useful or edible. 

This fence was brand new when we moved to Ponte Vedra in 1993. As the years passed this vine grew, unchecked, until now it has taken over the fence.

Foam on sand, Ponte Vedra Beach

The foam looked like it went down into the sand. I tried Silverefex to make it look like my old favorite Agfa 100 film.

Vines in the backyard.

These are the last remnants of my summer Morning Glories.

Bucket and water pistol on my dock.

We have had a few days of really cold weather, for here. So I have not strayed out of the house very far to take my daily quota of pictures.

This is one of my granddaughter's seemingly endless supply of water pistols.

Gull feather, Ponte Vedra Beach

This was over a foot long.

Sand pattern and bike track, Ponte Vedra Beach

Sand, PVB

Every now and then, when I walk on the beach, there is a flat beach with mixed light and dark sand that the waves have washed into patterns. This is the best time of year for these so you may see a lot of them in the next few weeks.

Sand figure, Ponte Vedra Beach

On a recent walk on the beach I came across this little sculpture with nothing else around it.

Back to North Florida

Here is my granddaughter on Thanksgiving as we went on a beach walk after our vegan feast.

Last picture in Provence. Marseilles station.

This was my last shot this year in France and is the last one I will post in the Provence section for 2010. There will be more food shots and little camera shots that I'll throw in later, but this ends the block of French pictures.

I'll now return to North Florida pictures until next year!

For those of you just starting this blog, I humbly suggest that you go way down to the September pictures, many pages below here and work your way back, if you want a chronological journey. Just go to the column on the right and click the September 2010 category and you'll be at the beginning. Otherwise, enjoy Provence!

Brasserie Aquitaine, Marseilles

I think that this bistro is featured in every film shot in Marseilles. Lovely facade, but it looks a bit touristy.

Solitary diner.

We stopped for lunch at a pizza joint that had broken ovens. We had a good meal despite really being in the mood for pizza.

This woman was enjoying a leisurely lunch at the next table and seemed to be very happy to be alone.

Blue boats.

My daily cliche shot.

Drying nets, Marseilles.

Base of the old fort, Marseilles

As you would expect, there are a lot of North Africans, Algerians and Moroccans in Marseilles. It is a stew of different peoples who have lived here for a long time.

So it is a strange sight to see Muslim dress right around the corner from some friends with beers. This woman was feeding a solitary pigeon.

Small boat leaving the Harbor.

Young lovers, Marseilles pier.

Janie and I on the pier in Marseilles.

Friends

It isn't only in America that a couple of friends like to take the afternoon off, go to the shore, cast for fish and try to put a small dent in the surplus of beer in their area.

Directional light Marseille.

Here is another pilot boat entering the ship basin past the green marker light.

I remember my father, an expert and experienced sailor on L.I. sound and the onshore Atlantic, telling me to remember Red Right Returning when approaching a harbor entrance. The red light is across the way, on an entering ship's left, so I'm glad I was ashore for this trip.

Fishing.

There are a lot of little groups of friends fishing from the huge cement pier that surrounds the harbor.

Cruise ship, Marseilles

We watched the whole process of this giant ship being untied and guided out to the mouth of the harbor. It only took about 20 minutes.

A local man was so excited about the process that he chose me to explain it to in a VERY heavy Marseillaise accent. Strangely enough I started to relax and understood most of what he was telling me.

Marseilles Harbor

The entrance is unchanged since.....well, forever.

Moored rental sailboats, Marseilles

There were a lot of boats for rent in Marseilles. I didn't trust my boating skills, 44 years removed, to rent one.

Marseilles Metro

Marseilles is a very old city. It's buildings reflect the French love of tradition. Their facades are the same as they were in the 19th century.

And in the middle of this is a fleet of Star Wars Metro buses, jarring visually.

Marseilles train/bus station.

These are the lovely steps leading to our bus back to the airport.

Leaving Marseilles

This is the last shot I took in "real" France. From here we got back on the bus and put ourselves in the hands of the Pullman Hotel and were back in the business traveler world. Efficient, but lacking in charm.

Marseille

Here is the view as you descend from the bus station into Marseilles.

We left Saignon and drove to the airport and checked into our hotel. Then we dropped off our rental cars and took a shuttle bus in to town.

Last look down from Saignon 2010

Rusty gate for the last time in 2010, Saignon

And here is the last shot of my favorite little gate for this visit.

Our fig tree.

This is the tree that provided us with our daily snack as we headed back up to Saignon.

It seemed bigger when we were there.

Tractor mowing lavender field, Saignon

This was on our last day this year. We took our usual loop walk and were treated to the sight of this farmer mowing between his rows of Lavender. The attachment mowed a perfect row, without touching the lavender.