The 8th day of the 7th month in the year of the Camellia

MARITIME FESTIVAL IN NORTH WILDWOOD, NJ ON THE 17TH & 18TH

Just a note for newcomers.  If you left click on the images on the blog, they will become screen size and much sharper.  The images are all copyrighted by me and if you use them commercially without my permission in writing, I will send out thugs from the Jersey Shore to Break-a-u-legs.  I hope you recognize tongue in cheek, but please don't steal them.  Just email me for use and I will charge you exorbitant prices for one time use.

I told you all earlier that I would drive you all nuts with talking about this show.  But again it's my blog!

And you all are invited to join and follow the blog and certainly encouraged to joins us at the show.  I understand there will be over fifty booths of artists and artisans.

The show will be held in a little part of N. Wildwood called Angle Sea.  An Irish conclave at the southern end of the Hereford Inlet.  A family place, so bring the kids.  It has all the things a beach town is expected to have, but if you want the Honkey Tonk (do they still use that term?) you have to go into Wildwood proper.

  This lighthouse is extraordinary in that it is a Victorian house complete with amazing Victorian gardens leading to the edge of a lagoon overlooking the inlet and the ocean. 

This is the view from the light tower, which unfortunately is not open to the public.  The rest of the lighthouse will be open to tours.

 It is one of those places where local folks go to watch the sun rise, evening develop over the ocean, or just to sit and contemplate their navels. 

Those are Norfolk Daisey's in bloom.  It is a special place which I have enjoyed for ten years now, and the friendships developed there will last a lifetime.

Seven---Seven---Ten, the year of the Camellia

A SCENE ON JULY FOURTH OF A FEW THOUSAND CLOSEST FRIENDS!

Boats on Lake Murray waiting till they start the fireworks.

Just fooling around with a sailboat image I made whilst going out to see the fireworks.  A colorful redition!

JUST A REMINDER

JUST A REMINDER!

I'LL BE THERE----

YOU BE THERE!

(please)

THE FIFTH DAY OF THE 7th MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

AND YOUR POINT IS?

The St. Augustine Alligator Farm's rookery is overflowing with fledglings! Here is the chick count as of July 1st:

Wood Stork= 140
Great Egret= 157 (beginning to leave)
Snowy Egret= 168 (beginning to leave)
Cattle Egret= 68 (beginning to leave, but some nests still have smaller chicks)
Tri-colored Heron= 137
Little Blue Heron= 29 (leaving)
Green Heron= 3 (new nests by Education Building and in Gharial exhibit)
Roseate Spoonbill= 12 (2 chicks in each of the 2 nests closest to the boardwalk, perfect size for photographing) This is an historic first time for any of the spoonbills.

Once again, this is only the CHICK count. Adults are everywhere, feeding young and doing fly-bys. The last fledglings will be gone by mid-August, but we do have plenty of birds roosting in the rookery throughout the year.

And if you haven't checked the Osprey chicks up in Maryland, they are getting pretty big.

http://atlanticsecurityinc.com/video-large.htm

Hope you all had a great Fourth.  Got to thank Phillip and his wife for a great boat ride to the fireworks on Lake Murray.  We were so close we were playing catcher.  That's a baseball term for all you who attended the government public schools.

The fourth day of the seventh month of the year of the Camellia

Fort McHenry

Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:

Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

The third day of the seventh month of the year of the Camellia

This is dedicated to a dear friend who "Just Loves a Parade"

A FINAL TRIBUTE!

I promise!

As you who have read this blog, with any consistency and or devotion know, I am a small-time baseball fan.  Not just because I played it up to and including high school, but because I feel that it embodies all that is right with this world.  Right up to the professional level, where all that goes to hell and the almighty dollar takes over.

It's July Fourth weekend, and what better time for a parade?

  Well to make this parade doubly nice, it was in honor of the National Collegiate Baseball Champions of the University of South Carolina. (USC)  The Game Cocks!

Of course there were some who just could not resist a little advertising at the expense of irony!

  And kids of all ages were there in huge numbers.

There were some fourteen thousand to welcome them home on, I think it was Thursday night, and yesterday 40,000 watched the parade in greater downtown Columbia.

  The coach also was given the key to the city and named national coach of the year.  And with a family like this, is it any wonder that the ball players were all decent kids who actually looked decent!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Their a proud bunch and rightly so.

Thanks Coach------------Now they all expect you to do it again next year! 

But these guys are special.  Last year at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.  A Cinderella team which did it with all the players.  Yes, there were some hero's like Brady Jr., Roth, and Merrifield.  But each member of the team contributed in a significant way.  Just think....they were down to the last pitch in one game.  Full count on Jr., and he strokes a single.  Next man drives him home.  Destiny's Angels.  And just another reason to celebrate our independence.  With a bunch of nice kids who deserve all the accolades of an adoring pubic.

 

The second day of the Seventh month of the year of the Camellia

WAITING FOR THE FIREWORKS!

SOON!