141. Hangs On A Wall

As some of you may recall, my husband and I are realtors and our line of work puts us in contact with people from all over the World.  The owner of a house we recently listed is originally from Salzburg, Austria and as a tribute to her father, who was a composer and violinist, and to her sister, who was an opera singer, she placed these objects and photo on the wall in a prominent place as a remembrance and tribute to them.  Her father handwrote the musical composition and the violin and bow belonged to him.  I was so touched to see such a beautiful display of affection.

326. Things With Wings

Lunch at our favorite outdoor restaurant along the Bay provided not only great food but wonderful scenery today.  This is a brown pelican and under perfect conditions in the wild they can live to be 30 plus years old.  The wingspan ranges from 6 to 7 feet, tip to tip and they can fly in calm winds up to 35 MPH.  Males are larger than females and have a longer bill.

 In Florida, they build their nests in mangroves from twigs and grasses brought in by the male for the female to construct.  Adults have a white head and reddish brown neck during the summer and yellow head and white neck during the winter.  This colorful plumage helps in attracting a mate during mating season.  A yellow head is mating plumage.  Wild pelicans are polymgamous but captive pelicans are 50% monogamous.  The female lays 2 to 4 eggs in the winter or early spring and after about 30 days incubation by both the male and female, chicks hatch.

Information Source:  http://library.thinkquest.org/2551/species/brownpelican.html

56. Clouds

Framed with the palms, the beautiful late afternoon blue sky and puffy clouds made for a very pleasing photograph.

219. Out West

I have driven down this road many, many times and never noticed this building until a couple of days ago.  Thanks to the 365 Challenge, I am seeing things I paid very little attention to before the Challenge began.

221. Outdoor Seating

On a bench outside the Art Center in Sarasota patiently sits an older gentleman with his pet aligator securely chained beneath him.  He sits on that bench 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Don’t be sad for him, however, as he is never alone.  Many people take photographs of themselves sitting beside him and even with their arms around his neck while sitting in his lap.  He’s a happy senior citizen!  (Sculptor: Jack Dowd)

293. Solitary

Down by the Bay this afternoon, I noticed this gentleman sitting alone on a purple bench and smoking a cigar.  I took a few pictures of him and as I walked away I noticed he was talking on a cell phone and I overheard him say, “I’m overlooking the Bay, smoking my cigar and enjoying the sunshine. What’s it like on Staten Island?”  Chuckling all the way home, I checked the temperature today on Staten Island and it was 20 degrees, while in Sarasota it was 65.

306. Stripes

Today I noticed this huge bougainvillaea growing up the sides and across the top of this blue and white awning.

18. Baby It’s Cold Outside

When the folks in Florida cover their plants at night to protect them from frost, baby it’s cold outside!

292. Snow Or Ice

I doubt very seriously if we’re going to get snow or ice down here in Florida, although it is in the 30’s at night now, so I decided to take a photo of ice cubes and place a tungsten filter on them.  (Just playing around.)

194. Nails

On a cold day, it feels so good to put your cold feet into very warm water in preparation for a pedicure.