I'm Real, Lady

When I took pictures this past weekend, I saw this gator down below the boardwalk. A man had told me where to look for him, otherwise I would have missed seeing him. But in looking at him, he was so still and his mouth looked so plasticy pink I thought he was fake. And his mouth was open the whole time. I walked all the way to the other end of the boardwalk laughing about the guy who got fooled by the fake gator.

However, when I came back by the gator, he had changed position! I STILL thought he was fake! I thought he was a fake animated gator. Look at that cheesy grin. Would you think that gator was real? I stood there for quite a while looking at him. A few times he would slowly open and close his mouth (as if the movement were timed). Finally he lifted his back leg and started scratching at his belly. That's when I decided he was indeed real. Moments later he moved up into the bushes a little more and stared at me with his beady eyes as if to say, "There, are you convinced now that I am real?"

Ooops!

I'm just a little late with Tuesday's post, ahem. I thought of it last night when I went to bed. It was nearly eleven so I could have hopped up and posted something really quick but I didn't. And today I don't have much to say. I'll post a couple of "fall color" pictures taken at the Texas Welcome Center.

Where Are You Headed?

I'm not real sure at the moment exactly where I am headed. What I know is that it is important to note what I see and to keep on moving.

Louisiana Welcome Center

Hubby and I motored over to Beaumont, TX yesterday to wander around Barnes and Noble. On the way over and back, we stopped at the Texas and Louisiana Welcome Centers for me to take pictures. It was a great day to be outside in the fresh air.

It was a bit difficult for me to concentrate on taking photos with this warning in my head! I was a bit disappointed because the boardwalk that goes into the swamp was still closed from Hurricane Ike that came through back in September of 2008 (according to Wikipedia, 112 people were killed in that storm). I was able to walk alongside the water to get a few pictures.

I love seeing the reflections of the trees in the water. There were several fish jumping in the water. Believe it or not, I did get two pictures of that but one was too far away to be a good photo. The second one was closer but the fish was right at the edge of the photo. I eventually gave up and entertained myself by taking pictures of the water circles that were left after the fish jumped!

Such a tranquil scene, if one can forget the warning about snakes. 

This rock shape reminded me a dog's head coming out of the water. It also has the look of an alligator, but the "ears" on the back ruin that illusion for me. I am fairly certain this was just a chunk of concrete that was coincidentally formed this way and not an artist's deliberate work. 

There was something about the juxtaposition of the rocks and the water and the flowers that pleased me about this sight.

This is probably my favorite image of the day (from the Louisiana side). It is a cypress "knee", a part of the root of a cypress tree. When I was a child, I had an aunt and uncle who had in their house a couple of cypress knees that were polished and varnished. I was always enamored of those things, loved the gnarly beauty of them.

There is so much beauty all around us if we would only stop and notice.

Your Story

I bought a Wacom tablet a while back and I have been trying to get better at using it to write on my photos. It is a bit  of a challenge. I want to use the tablet in Photoshop with my brushes and selection tools. I've had trouble with the pen part of the tablet not working but that problem seems to be ironed out now (knock on wood!).

Persimmon in Niche

A man nearly 'bout mowed me over coming out a door that opened into the hallway. I quickly jumped out of the way (an impressive feat--me, being quick). I was not in the least offended, but the man apologized and offered me a persimmon and I didn't know what else to do so I took it. Plus, i pictured a pomegranate when he said persimmon and that would have been very tasty. 

We had quite a conversation about persimmons as we walked down the hall. This one is not yet ready to eat, according to the man in the hall.

Corn Maze!

I wore rubber boots and while I was taking photos of the birds in a pen, chickens were pecking at my boots!

This is one of the birds I was trying to photograph when the chickens attacked my boots.

This guy looks to be the guardian of the corn maze. He looked a little grumpy to me. That is the corn maze in the background. I had read about corn mazes on the internet and thought they sounded like fun. This one was a bit anticlimactic, maybe because we only went on one small corner of the maze (I had come with my boss and her son on a first grade field trip) and I could see over the top of the corn in places. Maybe I will go back on a weekend when I could walk the complete maze.

All in all, I had a pretty good time. It was a beautiful day to be outside in the fresh air. I needed a day like that to get out and just have a bit of fun.