Pictures Missed and Taken

It feels so good to be home and finished with vacation! Ah, Michigan. No sooner did I get back this weekend and old man winter dumped ten inches of snow on my doorstep. I just LOVE shoveling snow.

Ok, sarcasm off. Actually, I miss Florida already, even though it wasn't as warm as I'd hoped. All I have are my memories and my pictures. Soon the memories will fade and as for my pictures . . . well, could have done better.

For example, check out the lady feeding the giraffe at Lion Country Safari. You could pay a couple bucks for a cracker to feed the big guy. I did that. My wife Wendy took a close-up shot of Mr. G. taking my cracker. But when we checked later, no picture. What happened? Who knows. So you'll just have to imagine my mug instead of the lady's in this photo.



At the Safari, you drive around and take pictures of the animals who can venture really close to your car. But the only animal who ventured near enough for a close-up was the ostrich pictured. I could almost hear the bird say, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille." But neither Wendy nor I are any Cecil B. DeMille. So just imagine the ostrich's head atop his body here. *sigh*

When we took a hike on a boardwalk in the Everglades, some lady confided to me as we passed by, "There's a turtle on a baby alligator further down."

Oh, that sounded too cute. Pulitizer prize-winning photo for sure as I hurried along. But, no, I misunderstood. She said there's a turtle AND a baby alligator further down. I took a picture of the alligator anyway.

How about pictures of a seagull drinking a Coke? I found this bird trying to get what was left in this cup on the beach. Maybe I could sell it to the marketing firm for the soft drink giant. "Coke: the favorite of party animals everywhere."

Maybe. But there were other photos I wish I could have taken. At a wildlife viewing perch, I saw a sting ray leap vertically out of the water a good three feet. Never knew they could do that. But it happened too quickly for me to snap a picture.

Then there was the time on the beach when I was set upon by a flock of gulls determined to steal an ice cream cone I had just purchased. It was like a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. I was practically nose to nose with one gull who hovered just in front of me.

If only I had a picture to prove it.