Reflections

"Love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image... otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

~~ Author Unknown

Heed the flags

Please, pay attention to the flags on the beach. Days like this with high surf and strong currents are not the day for your children to play in the water. Instead, build sand castles with them or watch the beauty of the surf from the shore. This could quickly become a dangerous situation for adults who are strong swimmers, but deadly for young children.

Make sure all your memories of Pensacola Beach are happy ones. Learn the flag system and always heed their warnings.

Roll on!

Strong winds overnight which were gusting up to 30 mph whipped the surf into a froth this morning. Waves appeared 4 - 6 feet high.

Beneath the surface...

"Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee."

~~Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Amazing!

I looked at my sitemeter today and discovered that sometime tonight or tomorrow I will surpass the 50,000 mark on my blog.

That means that 50,000 times, people have stopped by to look at the beauty of Pensacola Beach. Fifty thousand times someone realized what an incredible destination Pensacola Beach would be for them or their family.

A few thousand times, I hope, the importance of caring for our natural resources - parks and seashores and waters - crossed someone's mind.

A few hundred times someone must have realized this is the place they want to call home.

A few times, perhaps, I've taught someone to look in a different direction other than straight ahead. There are wonders all around, we just have to open our hearts and feel the magic that surrounds us.

I have made friends thousands of miles away through this little blog, and friends right here at home. Someone gave me a lovely compliment yesterday by saying I had inspired them to pick up the camera and begin to capture the beauty surrounding them on the island. That is the ultimate compliment for someone like me. Capture today; share it with tomorrow.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. I hope I will be here for many years to come, sharing my photos of this beautiful island with you.

A friend for Uno

Look! I've discovered a friend for Uno, the one-legged Sanderling. I'll name this one Petie (as in Peg Leg Pete, for obvious reasons).

Hope is...

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all..."

~~ Emily Dickinson

Unique

"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."

~~ Coco Chanel

Twilight at Ft. Pickens

"As usual I finish the day before the sea, sumptuous this evening beneath the moon, which writes Arab symbols with phosphorescent streaks on the slow swells. There is no end to the sky and the waters."

~~ Albert Camus

Curve

"Curve: The loveliest distance between two points." ~~ Mae West

Peering in

Peering into Christ Church in Seville Square

"People are like stained glass windows; they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within." ~~ Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Directly to the soul

"There is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty."

~~ Joseph Addison

Morgan Park

"Morgan Park was created to memorialize the life of Dr. James P. Morgan, world-renowned beach geologist, LSU and UWF professor. Jim Randol founded the park in 1995, shortly after the death of Dr. Morgan. The Morgans were longtime residents of Pensacola Beach.

The Park is a greenspace; tranquil retreat and lush oasis on the midst of crowds and traffic which surround it. The Park has survived hurricane after hurricane, including Ivan which almost destroyed it.

Thanks to Mother Nature and the diligence of Jim Randol, the Park has returned to its natural beauty. Much of the vegetation has been replaced. The trees are branching out, providing shade. Benches, the gazebo, wedding arbor, and walkways have been restored. Morgan Park is located between Pensacola Beach Boulevard and Santa Rosa Sound, south of the Toll Gate Plaza."

~~ Jane Cooper, Island Times Newspaper



Entering Morgan Park...



The park provides a beautiful view of Santa Rosa Sound and the island.



This pergola has been the site of many weddings. You can imagine how lovely it would be when decorated with flowers.



Live oaks provide shade if you wish to sit and relax for a while or meander though the garden looking at plants indigenous to the area.



Benches for quiet conversations or meditation.

Mama's Beach

Beautiful picnic shelters along Santa Rosa Sound.

This stretch of soundside park area is sometimes referred to as "Mama's Beach" by visitors.

A Royal lunch

A Royal tern flies away with his lunch.

Seashells on the seashore

"...Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh"!

~~ Irish ballad

Do you see what I see?

I almost missed this tiny crab, swallowed up in a footprint.

WNRP - 1620 AM on your radio dial

I hope everyone is tuning in to the new format on 1620 AM. I enjoy talk radio and they have a great line-up throughout the day.

Bubba and 'Lishous (aka Terrell and Tarsha Bechtol) will start your day with a laugh. Rick Outzen and Marty Stanovich each have afternoon shows which allow you to call in and talk with guests like U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller.

There are frequent news breaks from Fox News, as well as regular traffic and weather updates. Broadcasts from WEAR-TV, our local ABC news affiliate, can be heard at regular news hours: 5:00 - 5:30 p.m.; 10:00 - 11:00 p.m.

The Emerald Coast

The Emerald Coast looks beautiful this morning now that the outer bands of the storm have spun out and away like a giant pinwheel.

A B.I.G. shout-out to Kathy and Margie who recognized me on the beach this morning. (Maybe there just aren't that many women with sunhats and cameras who hike the beach each day!) Kathy is a faithful blog visitor who generates traffic my way. She also wrote me a very kind note after my father's death earlier this year.

Thank you, Kathy!

Before the storm

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." ~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pensacola Seafood Festival - 2007

Scattered showers lingered over Pensacola the whole weekend. It wasn't enough to dampen spirits (or attendance) at the Pensacola Seafood Festival which was held in beautiful, historic Seville Square.


Carmela Campbell does a wonderful job coordinating cooking demonstrations at the Seafood Festival. Some of the best chefs in Pensacola share their secrets and recipes. Carmela also compiles a cookbook each year of the wonderful recipes offered by participating restaurants. This year's line-up included: Seville Quarter, Versailles, Fish House, Jackson’s, H2O, The Oar House, Triggers, and Eat!


"Step back, m'am. This is serious business and this here kabob stick doubles as a dangerous weapon"


Fried pickles???


Beautiful art in various mediums.


A sun for everyone.


Hammerhead Marine Sculptures -- very impressive.


Look at all the birds heading south...and north...and west...and east!


The tin man. Or he is copper?


It's Ace! [Someone mentioned dogs might not be allowed in for this event in the Square. Whereupon Ace promised if he saw any dogs he would immediately tell them to leave.] "Ace, Ace, baby..."


Yikes, a shrink-wrapped baby! Actually this baby girl looked like a Zen master! Though her cupholder was full of rainwater and droplets covered her face, she sat peacefully and enjoyed the whole experience, not ruffled in the least.


Ahhhh....look at the cute Kiddy Kats.

Waitin' for waves

Just watching and waiting...


Enough waiting!

Storm chasers on Pensacola Beach

Even when you aren't really worried about the weather, it's a bit unsettling to see the big guys roll into town. The Weather Channel has set up in front of the Gulf Fishing Pier.


And storm chaser extraordinaire, Jim Edds, is on the pier itself.


The Gulf is unruffled, so far, and showing her usual emerald-colored water.

Undreamed shores

"To unpathed waters, undreamed shores."

~~William Shakepeare

Field Sobriety Test

Click on the photo above and look closely at the sea gull. Do you think he'd flunk a field sobriety test? Or does he really, really need to make a pit stop? I believe it's the first time I've ever seen a sea bird cross its legs like this.

Beachside breakfast buffet

They were lining up at the beachside breakfast buffet this morning!

"Uno"

How silly that I find myself worrying about a one-legged bird when I don't see him for a few days. "Uno," I call him.

Seemingly oblivious to his disability, he hops into the surf to claim juicy morsels when he sees them. His tiny wings beat furiously against the pull of waves, which mire him down into sand on that one frail matchstick of a leg. I hold my breath in fear that he will drown as he finally shakes off salty foam and works his way to higher ground.

Today, I saw him chase away two-legged, feathered competitors for an interesting tidbit on the beach. He hops along with attitude while they dart in and out of the surf. He stands his ground, dares fate, while they fly away.

Bad weather may be ahead for the weekend and I worry about his fate. He lives moment to moment while too frequently I/we become tangled in worry.

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them."

~~Phyllis Bottome

A morning walk

What a beautiful day for a walk on the beach. The wind is out of the northeast and the humidity is low (at least during my walk). The waves are up to about 4 feet and the surfers are happy.


Even the broken shells are pretty.


"G'day, Mate!"


Takin' a break



First impressions along the beach.


Surf's up. A serious surfer.


Raspberry-colored jellies.