Aug. 17

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Petunias in front of the bank.





??? in front of the post office.





The only way to get through this block is to walk right next to the post office building.....

The road is completely blocked, the sidewalk on the other side of the street is blocked, the sidewalk on this side of the street is ... gone......





Another Really Nice Day.





I stuck my hand/arm out the window........





And here's my pelican, again, enjoying the sun and fresh air. This is a linear light blend of two identical layers.





Why, you ask, am messing with pics instead of packing?

Because it takes my mind off of everything else. An excellent break from ... reality........

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February 2, 2008

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Last year on this date we spent the day in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and came home in the evening.

January 30, 2008

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Last year on this date we were in Florida, on our way to the Bahamas..........







No place better for Big Sky than the Open Sea..........



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Feb. 2, Cocoa Beach, part 2

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This beach was open to the Atlantic ocean. Nothing stopping the waves crashing on the beach, all the way from ... wonder where they originate?

This beach has the sound and the salty smell that say Beach to me.

Ahhhhhh.





Different sorts of critters from the shells I saw on that tiny island the day before.









I noticed a lot more feathers on this beach.





The "big shell" is about an inch at its biggest, so the leetle one is really tiny.





Note little holes in the sand. I wonder who makes them, and why? Breathing? Fishing/hunting? Yes?









Here is someone who knows just what is down there. Lunch.





This guy is a good deal smaller than the last one, with a similar shape.





This looks like the royal terns we saw in the Bahamas.





I had been on the beach for a while at this point, and when the sun attempted to come out, it occurred to me that I had not applied sunscreen. The beach's call was so impelling that I forgot.....

On my way back it started to rain, so in the interest of protecting the cameras, I decided I'd really better go back in.

Risking the little camera to capture this hot pink. (It wasn't raining *too* hard, and I think it was not damaged.... *Where* was my umbrella-bearer????)





Pelicans, from the 7th floor.





I told my honey that, of course, there was no way I could leave the beach and return to stifling suburbia........................



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Feb. 2, Cocoa Beach

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We left the ship on Monday morning, and then spent a good chunk of Monday at our friend's (spectacularly gorgeous) condo right on the beach.

Wow, eh?







Of course I could not stay on the 7th floor when the beach was calling me.





























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cruise, Jan. 30, Atlantic sunset

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We can just barely make out the buildings on the shore.











When I see "the trackless ocean," I always think about all the activity going on below that is invisible to us. Whales, talking to each other over hundreds and thousands of miles. Other sorts of mammals. Fish in their nearly infinite variety. Plants. Turtles.

We know so little about what goes on under the sea.............





I've only been on one cruise before -- to Alaska in the middle of July, on Holland America. So it's probably not fair to compare one cruise line to another based on one (1) cruise on each.

But I will note that I liked it that it was light so late in the evening on that Holland America cruise. What is up with this Royal Caribbean thing where it gets dark shortly after 6:00? Just askin'........................

Though it does mean that you don't care, when your table in the dining room is smack dab in the middle so you can't see anything out the windows, because you can't see anything out the windows, anyway............

I will also note that it was warmer in Alaska than in Florida or the Bahamas......

On the 30th, we had to cross the Gulf Stream to get to the Bahamas, and it was pretty windy. The captain warned that people who were susceptable to motion sickness should take whatever they take....... We brought ginger pills, and I took one just before we went to bed, and I was fine. Yay. We could certainly feel the motion of the ship, but it wasn't unpleasant or upsetting.

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