Bill's Blog

Redington Beach, FL., for those of you who have never been there, is a long strip of hotels, motels, condos, and tourist resorts with a beach on its outside border. If you want to do Florida Tourist and the traditional hangout at the beach, it is great. Just enough bars and restaurants to make evenings interesting but not overwhelming. If you are looking for something other than the Florida Tourist experience, not so much. On the side away from the beach are very nice island resort-style residential areas; lots of Florida homes with boats tied up out back. 

Walking down the street bordering the beach, some local signs rendered as paintings or drawings:

As with the rest of the world, COVID-19 rule signs are everywhere. Done in colored pencil.

Blue lizard atop a traditional motel, with a sign to the beach. Done in watercolor.

Blue lizard closeup, done in oil

Closed, but still has a mask sign, done in oil

Dolphins on a wall 1, done in oil

Dolphins on a wall 2, done as a pencil sketch

Well dressed dolphins, done in oil

Local restaurant, done in watercolor

Monterey Wi-Fi, done in watercolor

Benchmarker, done in watercolor and enhanced.

Multiple entrance signs, done in watercolor

The Long Pier, closed and fading away, done as a detailed painting.

The Long Pier's parking lot. No parking! Done in watercolor.

Siesta Motel. $Pets OK. Done as an enhanced watercolor.

Sign Post 1, done in charcoal.

Sign Post 2, done as saturated watercolor

Political statement, done in oil

Finally, a cautionary notice

If you take this picture after walking beside the coffee shop, beware...

A troll lives in the little building who will come out... twice. He will tell you to leave because he is tired of people trespassing in his backyard. He will threaten to call the police if you try to take a scenic of the docked boats.

March 27, 2021

Reddington Beach, FL
March 27, 2021

Bring in materials and clear the area

Build the wall

Backfill

Bricks

First fire!

View from the empty seat

February 2-13, 2021

01/29/21
(lights courtesy of Jodi)

For some reason, still unexplained, some of the images on my site stop loading their thumbnails. It appears to be random and starts after the latest posting. Refreshing the site seems to help a bit, but the problem remains.

You can still see the image by clicking on their link and opening them. I am working with TypePad support to resolve the issue.

Bill

01/03/21 

Playing with my new FE 2.8/16-35 GM Sony lens.
All handheld with available light (and a little help from PerfectlyClear)

December 31. 2020

For those of you unfamiliar, Marco Island is a small landmass of hotels, condos, and very nice vacation houses with a little bit of beach around the edges.

Beach with civilization as a background

Bird 1

Bird 2

Wading to the ocean beach

Purple flower in Oil

November 27, 2020

Gators

Closer- I do not think he is eyeballin' me

Up close and personal

Hidden in the mangroves as we went by. See him?

Hanging out

Awwww, cute baby alligators. Prehistoric!

Airboat and swamp buggy scenics

Wootens
11/28/20

OHHHH NOOOO... look out!

November 28, 2020

Just outside our front door.
November 12, 2020

About 9m

November 11, 2020
Tampa, FL

November 8, 2020

We spent, as did the rest of the world, the better part of five months going nowhere. At home protecting ourselves and others from The Evil Virus. In September we ran away for several days to a rented house in Cedar Key, FL. 

A nasty side affect of being cooped up so long and then set free was the irresistible urge to shoot way too many sunsets and sunrises.

Sunsets

Sunrises

September, 2020

Calm After Sunset

Bird Guarding A Dock

Downtown Red Bench

Names saved for posterity

Early Morning Off To Fish 1

Early Morning Off To Fish 2

Red Flower Traditional

Red Flower Impressionist

Michael J.'s Lost Glove

Lonely Fish

Low Tide 1

Low Tide 2

Trailer Trash 1

Trailer Trash 2

Under the House we were staying at was a long- unused Party/ Rec Room

Why was there a six of diamonds and two of diamonds taped to the wall?

Kids fishing lost in time

A California thermometer that still reads the correct temperature!

2004 & 2009 License Plates... and a fish

September, 2020

An old-time traditional business ends.

For those of you interested in such things,

The Big Watermelon tent has been a landmark coming into Tallahassee, FL on Highway 19 for a lot of years.
Usually, one to three old guys sitting in the folding chairs watching the world go by.
I do not remember seeing actual watermelons.

October 14, 2020

September 23, 2020

In the midst of the Pandemic, new neighbors moved in.

A Flock of Ducks,
A Raft of Ducks,
A Team of Ducks,
A Paddling of Ducks

It started as just a couple of Ducks checkin' out the neighborhood,
but quickly grew to six

And gradually, as the word spread, six became many

Until we are inundated with Ducks
(24 counted the other day)

They are all relatively well- behaved, excepting the occasional
Duck Squabble, and periodic
Quack-a-thon.

Mostly they just walk around,
hiding under a tree in the mid-day sun,
and disappearing into the Preserve at night.
Surprisingly, they spend very little time in the pond.

One thing we have learned about ducks,
they don't have the sense to hide in a thunderstorm,
Basically ignoring the wisdom,


Ducks in the Rain

Parade, exit stage right

September, 2020

Between "the Covid" and surgery, the only Hither and Yon posting I can give you is around the house...

Drainboard Jenga
(yes, it really is how our drainboard looked... well, maybe a couple of things strategically placed))

Ever looked at the very small instructions that occasionally come inserted in deliveries?
We know that very little is actually made here anymore, most of it comes from over there. So bad grammar and poor syntax have become staples (fire killer?).

But really, no English SpellCheck?

ethaonl

wihout

tecommended

Another example, this one is a small cardboard insert. 
The grammar and text aren't bad,
but think about it:

A family business that has to print in both Chinese and English? That's a fairly far reach!

Or is it just me that finds it strange?

Two Instacart grocery deliveries, each with a pound of butter for Ruth's baking.

The end of an era in two weeks.

Not a clue what this is. It appeared one day on a counter. Very small, the wood grain is the fine grain of our dining room table. Not sure what it is made of... some kind of smooth fiber, maybe very thin plastic.

I have been looking at it for a couple of months now, occasionally moving it around, and have no idea what it is, where it came from or how it got here.
One of the mysteries of life.

4th of July was very strange this year.

All the big fireworks shows, that we watched from the house, were cancelled. There were almost no family fireworks going off around us. Even the booms that accompanied the evening were subdued.

Two really bad pictures sum up the evening...

Someone set off a single aerial a long way from us.

The moon and clouds were the most dramatic display of the evening.


July, 2020

The Story of our Small Effort to help local business and our community.

I am fortunate enough to work in an Essential business that has stayed open throughout the Pandemic while we sheltered in place. Unfortunately, COVID-19 decided to come to town after a lot of our years have passed, so Ruth and I are considered in a high-risk group. Over the last month, we have journeyed from our residence only to take walks and go to our cluster mailbox (those of you who know Ruth may be asking yourselves, "How is Bill still alive?" That is a story for another time).

The result is a lot of waiting for the end of the rainbow.

Watching the news, seeing all the support for first responders, and the plight of local small businesses is a helpless feeling because we can't be "out there." More than a few years ago, I apprenticed and worked in restaurants and catering. The low margins and the resulting depressed wages exist to this day. It is terribly hard to go without work when you are living week-to-week or even day-to-day. Anyway, here we are sitting in relative comfort, unable to go out and help while both our communities and small businesses suffer—a bit of a guilt trip.

Ruth and I needed to do something. We talked about a favorite local restaurant that is trying to survive doing carry-out when their strength, along with great food, is the ambiance of the restaurant. We also talked about first-responders working long hours under challenging conditions who also have to find ways to eat.

It wasn't a big leap to combine the two. 

We reached out to Giuseppe, the owner of Casa Cosenza in Oldsmar, and talked to him about giving them a pile... a small pile... of money to use to feed first responders. He and his wife were all over it. They contacted a local hospital to organize a food delivery for 40 / 50 first responders.

There is a commentary to the story: we need to be always mindful that these are unprecedented times, changing the world as we know it; making life hard for millions of men, women, and families. As always occurs in times of adversity, along with the loss and hardship, some step up, often at risk and sacrifice to themselves, to help and render aid. It is too easy to listen to the Talking Heads and just sit around, bemoaning our fate. If everyone who can moves away from their arbitrarily- designated comfort zone and reaches out however they can, we will all be improved for it and in a better place when the New Normal finally defines itself. Do something.     

Birds at Sunrise

1. At rest

2. Up and away

3. Swinging around, mostly in formation

In a classic sunrise.

January, 2020