Nature

My friend Hope, bird watcher par excellence, is spending a few days, along with her sister Caroline. I've been laughing at our different approaches to North Florida weather. Caroline, a Jacksonville resident, is thoroughly bundled up, complete with scarf around her ears. Hope and I saunter along in sweatshirts and sandals, rejoicing in what, to us, is a balmy day.

We revisited Merritt Island refuge, where an abundance of shore and other birds awaited. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: warblers and other teeny exquisites are lost on me, but big birds that hold still--herons, cranes, and their ilk--I can love. We spent a happy afternoon identifying tricolor cranes and looking for anhingas and stilts. I was so busy with the binos I pretty much forgot about the camera, but I did snag a couple of fun shots of a blue teal pair, a handsome snowy egret and--the icing on our afternoon--an armadillo running around in the grass.

There's a lot of sky here, and a lot to look at.