Living...

Today's photo, for me, sums up life pretty perfectly.  This is an adult Brown Pelican, just getting ready to go into its headfirst dive into a small school of fish.  Yes, it was successful - and it even managed to keep it's catch away from the ever-present gulls long enough to swallow it!  As I continue to struggle with the loss of our Rocket, seeing things like this help to reaffirm life for me.  

Hubs and I went to downtown St. Petersburg for breakfast this morning, followed by a stroll on the pier.  Then back home where we both felt the presence of too many memories - so out we went again.  Hubs got a kite which we took to Fort DeSoto - while he flew the kite, I strolled the beach taking shots of this and that.  It was a good day.

Five other shots posted on Flickr, starting HERE - last shot is actually from last night when I managed to catch a bit of the beautiful sunset over Gulfport.

A quick comment on yesterday's 'gators - some people assumed that the photo was taken in a zoo; it was not.  It was taken at a very large state park (Myakka River St. Park)  which also happens to have a very large wild alligator population.  I took the photo from a bridge over the river, using a zoom lens and a bit of a crop.  While I was taking this photo, another much larger alligator passed right under me (the bridge being about 20 feet off the water - totally safe).  It is pretty incredible to be able to see and photograph creatures like this in the wild.  

Good Sunday, people...

Debbi