Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. On to New Year's Day.

Begonias and grass, PVIC

This is the opposite of my theory of dig and plant, plan later.

Graceful graffiti, Nocatee

A nice hand.

Pipe, Nocatee

The area around the huge, mostly empty new Publix supermarket has suddenly sprung to life. Signs of an easing in the housing market. There are a lot of houses going up and a lot of people employed, good things.

Dangerous hydrant, Nocatee

Within a year this will be in the middle of a small development. It's been waiting for years due to the recession.

Red and yellow, Winn Dixie

Dumpster, Winn Dixie

Electric service, behind Winn Dixie

Ducks for Daniel 2

these are in a pond behind the Winn Dixie here in town.

Spell check!!

They had room for at least the 'e'.

Choppers and dolphins, Dock, Roscoe

The Navy trains their copter pilots up and down the Intracoastal a lot.

Chair and lace, Roscoe

Pine needles, Nocatee

The light is low and from the south now and there are wonderful shadows. I saw all kinds of things in the shadows.

Small pond, Nocatee

Fence and pole, Nocatee

This was taken at the start of a new walk in Nocatee. I park at the huge new Publix (a supermarket) there and have a good two or three mile walk around the area. It is so planned and so evenly laid out. A big difference from my normal surroundings.

Water service, Nocatee

Nice to see a little different color on these.

Palm totem, Nocatee

Game hens for Thanksgiving.

For the last two or three years our daughter and granddaughter, both vegans, have been here for Thanksgiving. Instead of a turkey we have had a Celebration Roast, sold at Whole Foods, and a very good substitute. Made of soy protein and shaped like a meatloaf, it has cranberry and stuffing and is very filling. They weren't here this year and our other two children were, one of whom is vegetarian. We all decided that turkey wasn't the tastiest bird and we were out of practice cooking one. So I downgraded to three game hens. Much tastier and easy to grill. They were great and I got to use my timing technique...see below.

Timing the birds, Thanksgiving, Roscoe

This is my grill watching apparatus. Put birds on, set timer, pour wine, sit, sip, watch.

The defender, MSD

He didn't bark until I took his picture.

Leaf, driveway, Roscoe

I started shooting leaves in France this year, as it was Autumn and there were numerous beautiful leaves on the ground. I have continued looking down now that I'm home.

Lonely hydrant, Nocatee

This poor guy sits at the edge of a large marsh. No houses nearby. Sort of a French locale.

My first loaf.

This is a book recommended by Mark Bittman of the N.Y. Times. It claims to be a dead easy, no kneading method for making a heavy crusted yet soft centered loaf of bread. This is the result of my first try. I mixed the four ingredients(flour, salt, yeast and water) in a big bowl,  and covered the bowl, no kneading, for 18 hours. Then moved the dough to a large dish towel for a second rise of 90 minutes. Then the dough goes into a cast iron Dutch oven that's been preheated in a 475f oven. The pot goes in, covered, for 30-45 minutes, then back in, uncovered, for another 25 minutes and voila, this is what I got. True to the book, it was very crusty with an incredibly moist crumb (which is what we professional bakers call the interior of a loaf:-)) We had it with broccoli cheese soup last night and I had a sandwich on it today. Still moist and very tasty. I recommend the book heartily.

Stool, dock, Roscoe

Nice light today. Trying the Leica 25mm on the G3. They fit well and feel balanced. I love this stool. It will hold my weight solidly and is comfortable to sit on. I cannot find them anywhere.

Skeleton tree, MSD, Ponte Vedra Beach

Strange fruit. They left after Halloween.

Dinner at Aqua Grill

A few weeks ago, Janie was in Nashville on a Thursday, our night out, so I went to Aqua Grill and sat outside. Lovely warm air and a nice sunset.

Disorganized anthill, Jax Beach

Two chairs, porch, Roscoe

Late afternoon light.

Awwwwwwww

I didn't see a single Romney/Ryan sign messed with. Here a conservative sign was defaced by someone more conservative. Oh well.....maybe in 2016;-))

Dog sorrel, Nocatee.

This particular dog sorrel turns the most lovely shade of red. I shot it last year and this year it is even better.

Wall and shadows, Nocatee

Philodendron leaf and wall, Nocatee.

Monolith, Nocatee

This cement monolith is about 6 feet (2 meters) tall. Last year it was just grey. Nice use of color.

Blown back

We were blown out of Provence by a two day Mistral that nearly froze us to death on the way to the airport. We got home and it's been blowing nearly as hard here. Of course we have been spared the devastation the the Northeast is getting. As someone who has experienced a few hurricanes here in Florida, my heart goes out to all of those people.

These are our philodendrons in the wind this afternoon.

We're off!

This blog will be unattended for a month. We are off to Provence, to eat meals like this, and will be back in four weeks. I'll be posting on the Two Weekes in Provence blog come next Tuesday.

Insalata Caprese

As summer winds down and we prepare to go to Provence, my basil is at it's peak and the local farmer's markets have lovely tomatoes. A little buffalo mozzarella and so olive oil...........heaven.

Crushed pear, Jax Beach

I love that it retained it's pear shape.

Ferns, Jax Beach

Shadow pattern on LR floor, Roscoe

Our living room windows face due West, so every sunny day we get a slightly different pattern.

Clouds and contrails. Ponte Vedra Beach

Damaged clam shell.

Another massive assault that eventually worked. It must be awful to be inside and hear or feel the predator getting closer.

Datura flower and leaves, garden, Roscoe

I don't know why, but I seem to be looking down a lot of late. The 45mm Olympus lens on the OM-D is the perfect size. This is probably the last of the Daturas for the year.

Discard, parking lot

I will forever credit Irving Penn with turning my eyes downward in search of found objects. His platinum prints of same are the standard.

Old shell, studio, Roscoe

This little clam endured numerous assaults before it gave up.

Plane and clouds, Ponte Vedra Beach

We've been having beautiful clouds of late. The plane gives it some scale.

More handicap markers, Jax Beach

 Well, they have finished repainting all of the parking lot by my gym. Earlier I showed the first handicap marker they did. These are the next two. The amazing part is that these weren't done from memory. There was a sign with the official image not ten feet from both of these. The top one belongs in front of an evangelical church as it seems the wheelchair bound person is healed. The bottom one looks......well, odd.