A Birdhouse for the One Percent

Stone Creek Entrance

Stone Creek is a Del Webb 55+ community in southwest Ocala.

We've posted many pictures of the entrance to the Stone Creek community down through the years, but this is a little different look at it from a different angle. 

The photo was taken on the 18th green of the Stone Creek Golf Course.

Ducks in a row...

Here is living proof that I'm not disorganized. I have all my ducks in a row!

Loud, noisy goose!

Lowe's (Home Improvement Store)

Bored Horses in Ocala

You've got to admit, I'm really cute in my new face mask!

Not nearly as cute as I am!  My face mask has a green border!

Preparing the Earth

Stone Creek, a Dell Webb 55+ community in southwest Ocala is growing by leaps and bounds. As I recall, it now consists of about 1600 homes and the community will cap out at about 3600 homes.

Before homes can be constructed, however, there's a great deal of ground work to be done ("ground work" - get it?)

Anyway, they're digging, they're laying pipe, they're rearranging the dirt, and they're working hard because Stone Creek is selling homes about as fast as they can be built.

Happy Hour

These people are lined up to buy alcoholic beverages during Happy Hour in The Villages. Each of The Villages town squares has two bars and happy hour runs from 5 to 7 pm. Generally that means you can get drinks two for one. Then you can sit and relax while listening to the live music or you can get up and dance. Those people that made the most use of happy hour are the ones having the most fun dancing! :)

Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens

Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens is a project of Dr. Ray Webber.  We were told that when he retired, he bought a piece of property near Williston, Florida, which contained an old limestone quarry.  Initially, he built a house and thought of the quarry as his back yard - a fishing hole, a place to relax.  But as you can see what started out as a relatively modest project became something else altogether.

We had never heard of it before partly because Dr. Webber opened it to the public just three years ago.  But my interest was piqued when I read a magazine article which featured the place.

Unfortunately, we are in dry spell and the water levels are low as you can see by the marks on the limestone walls.  In fact it's been as dry as the mouth of a cowboy who spent all day on the trail and all night on the town.  (I just made that up and liked it.  I apologize if I've offended any cowboys or cowgirls).

I think we'll visit Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens again in the future after we've had some rain and the water levels have risen to their normal height.

If you're interested in seeing more of this beautiful place, please check out our slide show on L & L Photography which contains a total of 60 plus pictures.

You can access the Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens website HERE.

Woman on the dock

I thought this a rather poignant shot of a woman looking out over the water on a quiet afternoon at Lake Sumter Landing. You make up your own version of what she was thinking about.

Yellow Golf Car

Wouldn't this be fun to use to run around town? It would probably be safer to use it on a golf course, though.

Aliens & Immigrants

What was I to do
in the middle of the night
when the men came knocking hard
wearing starched black uniforms
with small red patches
as if they, like real soldiers
were deserving of medals for bravery
or at the least for staying alive
and now they were staying here
although I did not know them
and they did not explain
but merely looked at me curiously
as one would look at a stray cat
still I needed to relieve myself
but did not quite believe
these men in black were as benign
as they seemed to think
we thought they were
the problem was I did not wish
to wake my parents for the
tension in the house was like
wet plaster
and the only other bathroom
was on the bottom floor
which the men had commandeered
to establish a command post where
brittle new machines
cackling like old hens spat out information
and I heard names like
Jose and Jorge and Juan -
Juanita and Carmen and Belinda
names of friends and relatives
and talk of fences and walls and
barbed wire
then at last I cried myself to sleep
'til just before the sun arose
when the men in black
got up to pee
their laughter muted, voices garbled
insinuations deadly as they bragged how
they had Trumped us and what would happen
if we were to try to flee.

Copyright © 2017 by Lowell A. Anderson.  All rights reserved.

Note:  This poem was cross-posted to Creative Confections.

Heading toward sunset

Bovine Trio

Casual dining in the early evening!

Giving Comfort

This shot was taken in a cancer hospital. It appeared that the younger woman was comforting the older woman. Comfort is needed when our life cracks up, and that's what led to the fresco effect.

First Baptist Church

There are 200 + Baptist churches in our fair town.  Some are independent of a larger body but many, if not most, are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. 

First Baptist is arguably the largest of these Baptist churches and is considered to have the most influence relative to the political life of the city because a number of Ocala's civic and business leaders are members.

There was a bit of a fracas here a few years ago.  I'm not sure of all the issues, but some members wanted to rid the church of the pastor and others wanted to keep him.  Ultimately, the pastor left, a new one arrived, and peace reigned once again.

Glory be!

Gone Swimming!

Old Farm Cart

Marina - Amelia Island

Mall Characters

Doubtless you've heard of Disney characters. We don't have those here at the moment. But we have some interesting people who haunt the halls of our malls - we call them "mall characters."

Forbidden!

The actions of this family are strictly against the rules. More importantly, the lack of common sense on the part of the parents is astounding. It would be very easy for one of those kids to lose their grip, fall, break their head and die.

One girl did make it all the way to the top. Notice, too, the father in the lower left area is right in the middle of things. Aargh!

Palace Saloon

The Palace Saloon is the oldest bar in Florida and is guarded by a cranky old pirate who makes Captain Kidd look like a choirboy! It is located on the main drag in historic Amelia Island.

Police Car - Mt. Dora

It's a Puzzle!

One day I saw a man walking a dog on a marina dock and I wondered if he owned any of the boats tied up there. What I wondered most about was whether he and his dog owned the big boat shown in this picture.

I wondered and wondered but came to no conclusion.

It was a puzzle.

Bicycles at Village Cycles

You can purchase just about any kind of bicycle at Village Cycles, Brownwood, in The Villages. And you can ride these bicycles on golf car paths. You will want to take out extra life insurance, though, because these wee golf cars go whizzing around at very fast speeds and you can't hear the electric ones...so, they come "out of the blue," so to speak and can scare you to death!

It's All About the Light!

Rendevous

Escalation of the Woman in Blue

Incongruity

The incongruity was palatable, finding these tables and chairs in the woods where big black bears rule near Rainbow Springs.