Hello From Florida

The Stig

2011-09-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

What a character....need I say more?

Discovering South Beach

2011-07-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

My charming niece, Sarah does not lead the typical 21 year old's life. She is a professional show dog handler and is perpetually on the road and rarely out of the show ring. Needless to say, she doesn't get very much R & R. On a recent trip to visit me in Lighthouse Point, Fl, I introduced her to the joys of South Beach. She was amazed by the architecture, the people , the beach and once she saw the drag queen perform, she looked at me and said, "Aunt Jenn, I LOVE THIS PLACE!"

Photo Challenge: Merry Christmas!

2008-12-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Every year, my husband puts up the lights on the house WITHOUT TESTING them first. Every year I ask "did you test those?" and every year he says "No, what's the fun in that?". Every year about 45 minutes into this whole thing I hear him yell "BOLLOCKS!" (he's English) because a set doesn't work. This is our quaint little Christmas tradition. Normally I take a picture of that moment. For now, here's Oakley asking if he can take the ornament and play with it. If a better photo comes around I will post it.

Photo Challenge: WEATHER

2008-11-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

It's almost always sunny here in central Florida. But here is a shot of some evening clouds. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Photo Challenge: Macro

2008-11-10T09:30:00.001-08:00

I always buy Halloween candy that I DON'T like so that I will not eat it! That's why there is some left! Here it is.....

Photo Challenge: Into The Camera

2008-10-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

I took this challenge to mean "something in the foreground and the background". Not sure if I got it right but this is a picture of a model home that I designed. I The area was a small space so I tried to make the room look bigger with the angle and sort of squatting down to the chair's level. Shooting the rooms that I design has been a challenge for me and something I would really like to get better at if anyone has suggestions.

FLOWER POWER

2008-10-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

Well we may not have an abundance of bridges in Florida but we do have plenty of colorful flowers! This is a hibiscus flower. Hibiscus is a very common flowering bush that is inexpensive and almost impossible to kill.

Sophia

2008-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

This challenge was very interesting to me. I put my back out unfortunately and didn't get to play with it as much as I would have liked. Every Sunday night I do caricatures at Disney for fun and because, well, the economy stinks. It is my job to find the unique things in people and bring them out. This photo is of Sophia. She only spoke French. We couldn't converse but we could communicate. This picture of her says everything about her. What a cute and fun loving little girl! I actually drew her cartoon with the cake on her face and she ate the cake while I drew it!

We Don't Have Bridges in Orlando

2008-09-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Very cool idea, Amy, however we are short on bridges here being land locked and all. Here is a boring baby bridge (under construction)

A Few Shots Of the Sky

2008-09-16T07:15:00.001-07:00

PHOTO CHALLENGE: Animals

2008-09-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

We are all about the animals around here and I have the dog hair to prove it!I was hoping to get some nice shots of the steers or the Herons but it is just simply too hot right now! They will not come close to the fence or away from the shady trees.The yellow (Cowfish) is Pac-Man.A black and white of Mocca and I couldn't resist a funny shot of Oakley too.

PHOTO CHALLENGE: Abstract

2008-09-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Here are my shots for the abstract challenge. I thought it would be cool to get some shots that were not in solid form because it would be harder. The watery shot was taken from underwater in the pool of my dog, Mocca. Thanks for looking!

Challenge: Spelling Symmmetry

2008-09-01T11:39:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for this week. I bought a papaya to split in half but unfortunately, I ate it so you'll have to settle for this. It is actually a part of a playground thingmee (not really a swingset but yet not monkey bars either) and it happens to be in the park where they were searching for Caylee Anthony this week (see previous post).

Looking for Caylee Anthony

2008-09-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

FIRST of all, why does every wierdo in the world eventually end up in Florida? For those of you who havn't heard of Caylee Anthony, she is a missing two year old girl here in Orlando. Her 22 year old mother is under scrutiny of the public and police for murdering her. The Anthony family lives about 4 miles from our house and it has been a media circus. An earilier post of mine shows the very park and swampy areas they are out searching for her body now. This morning when I went searching for my symetrical photo op I was behind the news van coming into the park. There are volunteers parked all along the main drag searching the brush for little Caylee.There is a lot of heated debate amoung neighbors about this issue.Most feel pretty strongly that Casey killed her daughter and is an unrepentant sociopath and that her mother is just as bad. One of my neighbors pointed out that they have recently adopted an 18 month old girl who resembles Caylee and none of the neighbors outside the circle have asked "where did you get her?". She just appeared one day. I think Casey did kill Caylee but I don't think she consciously planned it.She probably wanted to be free to party and didn't want to face the wrath of her parents by saying "here, you take her". If she had planned a murder, she would have put her in plastic before putting her into the car (they have found Caylee's DNA in the trunk). I think she accidentally killed her, put her into the trunk and then went into denial for a few days or even weeks.She intended to bury her in the yard but returned the shovel to the neighbor after realizing that digging a hole through St Augustine grass is not easy.I think she then went to the Sawgrass apartments, put Caylee in a dumpster and proceeded to the leasing office to see if she could get the name of a resident to blame it on. Unsuccessful, I think she saw the name Zenieda Gonzales on the leasing info card and she tried to use that story which we all know blew up on her. I think the gas cans she stole from her father were to get her around town just like the checks that she stole. Either way, Caylee didn't deserve this.

FAY Ruined the Challenge for Last Week

2008-08-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Fay had us all indoors last week! Here is a picture of my cowfish, Pac-Man getting himself a new friend. Cowfish are very cute. They have blue eys and horns and they swim like a hummingbird flies.

Photo Challenge: Lines

2008-08-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

A few shots from the hurricane zone.The ears belong to Mocca, my akita. The palm trees were shot at Disney. I will have my camera ready for Fay if anything interesting happens I will post it!

Another Day (and Night) in Paradise...Photo Challenge

2008-08-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from the last place I see before I shut the garage door and a shameless plug for selling my house if anyone wants to buy it. : ) The night time moon picture didn't turn out so well. I need to brush up on night photography. The images you see in the first picture are not a ghost...just me coming home from a late shift at Disney without my glasses trying to figure out what setting to use!

Photo Challenge: IN THE HOOD

2008-07-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

This challenge was kind of hard for me. I wanted to do a photo of something that would characterize Orlando in general,or my feelings about Orlando in general. Unfortunately, they were all kind of negative so I didn't want to bring anybody down.Now I know everyone is probably thinking "Wow, Orlando is beautiful" and you are probably recalling fond memories of Disney, but Disney is actually in Kissimmee and we who live here really consider that a seperate world. Orlando is a vast, sprawling, cheaply constructed real estate development machine with high taxes, horrible traffic and low services. The picture that I wanted to capture is some peaceful cows in a bright green field with white egrets nearby....and a big yellow backhoe in the background ready to start construction. That would pretty much sum it up! With that said, there is a picture of my house which is for sale, and then some of the (very nice) scenes from my immediate neighborhood and the park at the end of the street.We do a lot of socializing here in Florida and we don't really celebrate Memorial Day or Labor Day because every weekend is a party as my husband and our friend, Rob will tell you!

Seahorses and more....

2008-07-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

These are some photos of Fiona and some of her 800 plus babies that she and Shrek had.Actually it's the males that give live birth and it is quite a sight. I gave most of the babies to a professional and now they are in several zoos and aquariums around the US.We kept a few but they are very hard to keep and they didn't make it.The babies actually ate out of a glass bowl. When they saw me come into the room in the morning they all lined up at the bowl.A common sight around my house is Oakley on the couch with his "bits" out or both dogs swimming.

Photo Challenge: Negative Space

2008-07-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

Seahorses make good subject matter because of their shape. I take pictures of seahorses wherever I go because I have an aquarium and used to raise them. After the last one died a few months ago, I decided to give up because it is too time consuming and hear breaking. They are really cool creatures though and I will try to post a few pictures from the aquarium too.

Shots From My Neighborhood

2008-07-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Watch out for the alligators!I took these in the early morning when the light is not too bright.

You Have to Start Somewhere...

2008-07-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

HELLO FROM FLORIDA and thanks to Nancy for inviting me to join your wonderful blog!I am not really known for my "blogging" but I thought I would give it a try. I love some of the pictures I have seen and I think it is so cool to see little glimpses into people's lives! I recently got a nice camera and I am branching out trying to take some photos of things other than my two dogs sitting on the couch. There are so many interesting things to take pictures of here in Orlando and I look forward to sharing with you. This photo is a Queen Palm "flower"(I guess) which is loaded with pollen but very striking to look at. It is about three feet tall and just kind of hangs around. Thanks again for the invite!
Jenn