A zesty egret

After catching a fish, this egret was chased by nasty crows who tried to steal the fish! The egret would not give it up, but instead ruffled its feathers and shook off those crows. They finally few away and the egret gulped down the fish.

Zest has to do with spirit and enjoyment and gusto. I'd say this is one zesty egret!

The City Daily Photo theme for June is "zest." Please click here to see other takes on the theme from around the world.

Ocala's tulips

If you follow William Kendall's blog, Ottawa Daily Photo, you know that Ottawa at this time of year is awash in tulips.  There are tulips everywhere.  All colors of tulips.  Different sized tulips.  Ottawa has almost as many tulips as do the tulip growers in the state of Washington.

Well, William shouldn't have all the fun, so I looked all over Ocala for tulips; any kind of tulips.  It took a lot of time and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, but I finally found tulips - red ones and yellow ones.  Now some folks might say these aren't really tulips.  Some folks might say they're faux tulips.

I don't care.  Ocala has tulips and this photo proves it!  So there!

Sleeping boy

The mother went shopping. Her son went to sleep. He was really sleeping. She was kind enough to pose for a photo.

Duplicate Duplex

Notice the sign in the duplex on the right.

This is fun!

Afternoon ride

Possess Me theology

The license plate is our Florida anti-abortion specialty plate.

Hillcrest School - Ocala's school for children with special needs

Scenes from the Juliette Falls Golf Course

Catnip

A late addendum to this post:

Some of my readers have indicated an interest in The Villages, Florida. We have just posted on that blog and I think you'll find the facts about The Villages to be most interesting. For example, The Villages is growing by leaps and bounds and now contains over 100,000 people and 50,000 golf cars.

Check out our blog which covers The Villages here.

Storage area - inside and out

One-eyed Ogre!

A Bench in the Park

This was taken near the Silver River just off the River Trail of the old Silver River State Park now part of the Silver Springs State Park.

You can barely see the bench and I can't imagine sitting there for any length of time with one's back to the jungle!  Who knows what lurks in the shadows?

When I saw the scene, I immediately thought of VP's blog, "A Bunch of Benches."

Mirror Image

Scary sign - an effective deterent!

The Adventure Concluded

Coming back up the Silver River we ran into a traffic jam.  It appeared to be a scout troop traveling by canoe!

We followed them into the Silver Springs basin which was awash with boats.

Later we noticed a gator - a relatively small one.

It headed toward the glass-bottom boats.

But looked quite benign.

Our adventure ended as the gator decided to hide out in the weeds.

The Silver River Adventure - Part III

As we slid quietly along the river, we caught sight of this downed palm tree.  I thought a sepia version would be appropriate - this is where some of the Tarzan movies were filmed.

We saw the old Silver Springs Landing where in the late 19th century boats brought passengers and goods.

Nearby was a small village which even included a church.

Not far from the village, lay an abandoned and sinking boat, a haven now for turtles and alligators.

The Silver River Adventure - Part II

One of Florida's famous bald cypress trees

An 19th century village supply store

This is a replica of the old Fort King.  The original site is about 5 miles away in Ocala.

Turtles getting some sun

The Adventures of Lois Anne

It was her birthday, and she wanted to go kayaking. So, off we went to the Silver River at Silver Springs Park.  We rented a kayak, and the adventure began.

Heading out we were greeted with this beautiful scene (painting effect by Triqui).

This is the Silver River about a mile south of the old Silver Springs Park. The Silver River, which carries hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water daily,  runs into the Oklawaha River which runs into the St. John's River which runs into the Atlantic Ocean. 

A turtle, so close I could almost touch it, sniffed the air as we passed by.  I  almost knocked it off the log with my paddle. 

The adventure continues tomorrow.

Grocery bagger

If you wish to do a good job bagging groceries, it helps if you have a colorful hat.

Boating on the Silver River at Silver Springs State Park

Colors of Spring at our house

A splitting image of what was once a tree!

Twin Bald Cypress Trees

This photo was taken at Manatee Springs, Florida. It has been cross-posted to our blog on L & L Photography.