Fall Has Arrived

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View of Turtlehead Lake
Cook County, Illinios

Even though it was the first day of fall, the leaves have already begun to change in southern Cook County. Soon this lake will begin to freeze over and take on an entirely different look.

Not looking forward to the rain, wind and cold, but the colors are spectacular in the Fall.

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Afraid of Nothing

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Baby turtle
Northwest Indiana

Here's a little guy Danny found right by the lake shore. It looks to me like he's really young. He's not even in his shell - I guess he's not afraid of anything! I certainly hope he makes it through the winter.

I used to see many more turtles around the lake, but in recent years, I've been lucky to see one or two a year. Let's hope this is the start of something good and these little guys stick around for a while.

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Solitude

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Waiting for my Return
Treasure Island, Florida

This poor bench is waiting all alone for me to return to the beach next summer. It's funny how people don't get to the beach early in the morning, it's a picturesque time on the west coast of Florida. Of course you're going to say that a sunset is the perfect thing to see at the beach, but you'll notice how vibrant the sky and water are when the sun is at an extreme angle behind you.

The fish, birds and other wildlife are awake and busy looking for food, fresh and well rested from the night before. Often, you'll see sea turtle tracks in the sand leading from the Gulf to a freshly excavated nest.

Morning is a great time to experience the beach.

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Sun's Rays

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Sun peeking out from behind a cloud
Treasure Island, Florida
June 2007

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Empty Beach

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Beach Chairs and "Umbrellas"
Treasure Island, Florida

An early morning walk found most beach chairs unoccupied along the white sands of Treasure Island, Florida.

A long, wide beach, Treasure Island can be loaded with visitors but still have an open feel, and appear to be empty.

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Remember Those We Lost

Remember those who lost their lives and loved ones on September 11, 2001

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New Roof for the Old Barn

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Workers Replacing the Roof
Door Prairie Barn
LaPorte, Indiana

A crew of roofers spent a few days installing a new cedar shake roof on the 1860 Door Prairie barn in LaPorte. This barn looks fairly small from the road, but if you enlarge the photo you can see just how large the barn really is.

It's nice to see this barn getting some care before it's too late.

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Orange Sky

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Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico

June 2007
Clearwater Beach, Florida

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Sparkling Clearwater Beach

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Garbage Cans on Clearwater Beach

Sparkling......at least that's what it used to be called. Now it looks more like an advertisement for Waste Management.

The little motels that created the atmosphere of Clearwater Beach have mostly disappeared over the last five years. A few still remain, but for how long? High priced condos are going up everywhere, the beach walk is construction is underway, and almost everything that defined Clearwater Beach is gone (I'm surprised they aren't building a new pier - one they can charge $40 to walk out on).

I hope the number of garbage cans on the beach is only temporary until the beach walk is complete. Perhaps they moved the cans from the parking lots onto the beach until things are done. It sure looks bad with a can every 25 feet along the beach. Who took over the management of this little island? If the idea of change is to attract higher class, higher paying tourists to the area, they're in for a surprise. These high class people must really be slobs if they need to have so many trash cans on the beach. Were they littering too much? Was there really so much trash on the beach that someone figured they would put a can every 25 feet so people won't miss the cans?

I can hear it now, a little boy visits the beach for the first time. Instead of gazing in amazement at the Gulf of Mexico, or the sugar white sand, he says, "Look mommy, lots of garbage cans!" Certainly not what I want to see on a beach that was once rated a Top 10 city beach.

And don't get me started on the fact that the sand is getting compressed by the stupid motor vehicles used by the city and the umbrella rental company. The sand used to be soft, now it's turning into a hard packed beach similar to Daytona.

So sad....

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