Florida – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Close and Closer: Lens Artists Photo Challenge #190

Patti’s challenge this week invites us to share dual photos of the same subject — one closer than the other. And if you haven’t seen her post, please take a look at the examples that show that one may not be better than the other, but a new perspective nonetheless. More and more people seem […]

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Lens-Artists Challenge #162: It’s All About the Light

The host of this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Tina Schell, couldn’t have made a more profound statement for photographers at any level: it really is all about the light. To love beauty is to see light. Victor Hugo Whether it’s soft, early morning light or rays turning everything gold just before sundown, light transforms ordinary objects […]

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Seen and Noted 2018: Our Most Viewed Posts of the Year

It was about this time last year that those nice folks at Gallivance (Terri and James Vance) published Best of the Blog: The Top 10 Faves, and ever since then, we’ve wondered what you, our readers, would find fascinating among our ramblings for 2018. After all, we’ve been near (our home town of Knoxville) and […]

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Connected

Down by the marina in Sarasota, Florida, a 26-foot tall sailor connects with a pretty young lady. The statue, officially named “Unconditional Surrender,” has also been dubbed “The Big Smooch” (at least by roadsideamerica.com), and people either love it or hate it. Originally intended to help people forever connect to the memory of WWII, Jack […]

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Beautifully patterned: Ca’ d’Zan at The Ringling

It’s not just the miniature circus at The Ringling that draws tourists to dreamy Sarasota, Florida. It’s also the lure of how the wealthy once lived. And who doesn’t like a glimpse of the lavish lifestyles of the past? If you’re visiting The Ringling, save time for a tour of the dramatic, highly patterned Ca’ d’Zan. Ca’ […]

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Travel theme: Tiny

While you may think of the circus — and who wouldn’t? — as the Greatest Show on Earth, there’s a whole world of tiny circus people and animals and tents sure to make you lean in to glass showcases for a closer look. It all happens at The Ringling’s Circus Museum in Sarasota, Florida. In […]

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Enveloped

If you drive down to the end of St. Pete Beach, Florida, past the historic and very pink Loews Don Cesar Hotel Resort, you’ll find yourself in charming Pass-a-Grille Beach. And it’s there on tiny Vina Del Mar Island that mailboxes — yes, mailboxes — make you smile. Well, at least we smiled. And we’re […]

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Coasting: Happening at 5:30 — Amelia Island waterfront!

After walking the broad Fernandina Beach and touring Fort Clinch, we longed for one last coastal sunset before heading back to Tennessee the following morning. Ah, yes. This will do: the waterfront at Amelia Island. As we arrived, a man standing on a ramp was ending what he later told us was a nightly ritual: pitching fish […]

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Travel theme: Graceful

The graceful arches of stately Southern trees form a suitable canopy over the road leading to Fort Clinch State Park on Fernandina Beach, Florida. The icing, so to speak, on all this Southern graciousness are the touches of green along the branches and wisps of Spanish moss that move delicately with the wind. For more […]

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Coasting: Parting shots — St. Augustine

As we prepared to say good-bye to St. Augustine, a town of many surprises, we remembered the sites that have become must-see’s for tourists: Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College, the Oldest Wood Schoolhouse in America, etc. But we found ourselves leaning more and more toward an appreciation of the ordinary as much the tourist-book notables. Ordinary is […]