However, like many of my “little” projects, this proved to be a bigger job than I thought, and it continued well into the New Year.

I have only myself to blame for making this a challenging project by setting up rules for selecting the twelve monthly photos. (Everyone enjoys a challenge, right?)

I decided: rule 1 – that the photo selected for any month had to be taken during that month. (Photoshop keeps track of this and kept me honest.) And, rules 2 and 3 – these should be nature shots only, and not previously displayed in any of my blog posts or EcoGlimpse galleries.

These guidelines revealed several things about my photographic efforts in the past year. First, my best, or at least my favorite shots had already been posted. This was expected. However, I did not anticipate that some months in my organizer would contain more pictures of events or nonliving objects than of nature.

Looking back I can see that I was (and will no doubt continue to be) beguiled by carnivals, state fairs, balloon festivals and the like. Also, many of the pictures were taken for my local camera club competitions.

For example, I would not likely set out to take shots of “cars or car parts,” but since that was one of the assigned themes last year, off I went to car shows, and even parking lots.

No matter what the subject matter turned out to be, I have enjoyed the past year, the events, the places visited, the company of many friends, and especially, learning more with every picture taken and subsequently edited. My resolution for 2010… keep on shooting and learning, but be more mindful to look for nature shots… everywhere.

I have posted the photos in a special gallery called “year in review – 2009″ which I hope you will visit. I have scattered a few of the twelve throughout this blog post.

Happy New Year! Lyn

I spent several hours touring the Volusia County Fair with friends from the Southeast Volusia Camera Club, from late afternoon to dark of night, after enjoying and photographing a glorious sunset.

We captured our memories with pictures of animals, antiques, the colorful midway rides and booths, fair attendees, and so much more.

In fact, there was so much to see that I decided to go back the very next day on my own to finish touring the exhibits and practice some more night shots. A Fair midway after dark is about as colorful as it gets!

Also, I wanted to try to capture some of the antics of the two week old pygmy goat kid who won my heart, and the hearts of all that saw him.

Snapshots of the little cutie were just not enough. Here is the video I took and posted on YouTube. Pygmy Goats, Mom and Kid

The pictures here are mine; there were many more captured by the Camera Club members during our fun-filled visit. To see some of these, go to the SEVCC website at http://sevcameraclub.org , and then go to the Field Trip Photo Gallery page. There you will find a link for the November field trip album, with several more of our photos.

We are pleased to share them with you. Lyn

How dramatically the seasons can change! The seasons do change in Florida, but more subtlety and are discerned better perhaps by local eyes than by tourists or part-time residents. What marks the arrival of Central Florida’s Fall?

The temperatures start to cool down a bit, high in the 70s, lows in the 50s this month, although October was above average this year.

The wet, tropical summer pattern is being replaced by our “dry season” which lasts until late Winter. (In honor of this change, residents can water lawns only once per week now, instead of twice per week.)

The ocean is getting colder and Northeast winds can make that morning or evening stroll on the beach seem a lot less inviting.
We still track hurricanes in October and November, but the peak of hurricane season is traditionally in the months of August and September. (As I write this, however, Hurricane Ida is “out there” and may produce some wet weather next week.)

Fall migration brings not only birds in their non-breeding plumage to Central Florida but also birders – ecotourists! The State’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has established a program called the Great Florida Birding Trail, with 489 sites in Florida, 135 of which are in the Eastern section where I live. I hope to visit several of these over the next several months!

But what about Florida’s Fall Foliage? I have been noticing some changes. My lawn is browner as it slips into dormancy. Have a nice sleep, grass plants and summer weeds! See you next Spring!

Some grass finds itself harvested and rolled up in hay bales.

Fall blooming flowers add color to the landscape. For example, I see yellow flowers and red or yellow leaves on shrubs and trees where I did not see them before. A quick perusal of the Internet shows that many plants, both native and horticultural, add splashes of color to the Fall landscape here.

But the true measure of Fall anywhere may be the decreasing hours of sunlight each day. After all, changes in the amount and intensity of sunlight are what drive seasons in both hemispheres. This is compounded by the fact that daylight savings time ended here on November 1, and night falls much “earlier.”

No worries! Fall festivals abound, the night will soon be lit up by cheery December decorations, and I need to practice my night photography anyway.

Hope to get some fun shots at the Volusia County Fair this week– the animals, the fall produce, and, of course, the gaudy midway lights after dark.

Stay tuned. Lyn

Halloween is thought to have origins in the pagan festival of Samhain and also associated with a festival of the dead. On Samhain, it was believed, the boundaries between the afterworld and the our world were very close thus allowing spirits of the dead to pay us a ghostly visit!

Legends and customs associated with the Festival of the Dead were modified later to fit Christian beliefs. All Saints Day is November 1 with All Hallow’s Eve celebrated on October 31.

In honor of Halloween, I am uploading some photos taken over the past year that have a special Halloween spookiness… or so I hope! If you would like to see these a bit bigger, just go to the Virtual Halloween Photo Gallery Page listed at the left.

Happy Halloween! Lyn

]]> http://ecoglimpse.com/happy-halloween/feed/ 2 http://ecoglimpse.com/feeling-crabby/ http://ecoglimpse.com/feeling-crabby/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:44:12 +0000 Lyn http://ecoglimpse.com/?p=861

Ghost crab digging a burrow near a washed up coconut

However, crabs can deliver a nasty pinch as I have experienced often when I have tried to pick one up without using tongs, or have stepped on one half-buried in the sand.

Having a crab dangling from one’s digits is a painful and panicky situation. The first instinct is to shake your hand or foot like crazy, which is not a good plan since they just hang on for dear life.

Land Crab - posing nicely for me.

At least this works for aquatic crabs, I am not sure what I would do if a land crab were to latch on to me with no water in sight. And so, I try to keep a safe distance. Thank goodness for zoom lenses! No macros!

Usually, they will just scurry away before attacking as did these land and ghost crabs after they got tired of posing for pictures. Their sideways runs at lightning speed left me clicking the next shots of the places where crabs used to be.

But why do they run sideways and not go full steam ahead? A little internet research revealed that crab anatomy permits them to shuffle slowly forward, but to go full out sideways. (See: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/crab.aspx)

And, their flexible eyestalks allow them to look all around them so going sideways does not mean they cannot look in other directions. (Notice that Mr. Land Crab has one eye on me while the other looks elsewhere.)

Land crab after running away from me

The crabs pictured here are just two of the great diversity of crabs found in Florida. I have trapped and eaten blue crabs and stone crabs (yummy) and seen numerous other kinds, including hermit crabs, spider crabs, mangrove crabs, swimming crabs, and so many others, including my personal favorite, the fiddler crab.

The fiddlers live in large groups in burrows on mudflats. The male has one large claw which he waves around to warn off other males and to attract the female of his species. Hey baby… over here!

Ghost crab hiding in the washed up seaweeds

Henceforth, I vow not to call some grumpy human, “an old crab,” ever again. Lyn