(Day 308) In the jungle, the mighty jungle

Those ominous clouds from yesterday's post not only ushered in a pretty decent rainstorm last night, but they were the advance guard of a system that brought waves of rain today. I say waves because we experienced bouts of pretty intense rain interspersed with periods of sunshine. The day after we arrived here I set our rain gauge outside - by this afternoon it had already registered 50 mm/2 in. of rain. And this evening we had another deluge that no doubt added to the total.

I recall that we had similar weather experiences earlier this summer. I know that Florida bills itself as the 'Sunshine State' and now I've determined that there are 2 types of sunshine here  - regular sunshine and liquid sunshine. Those 2 conditions go a long way towards explaining the jungle growing just outside the front window. During one of those 'regular sunshine' periods today I disappeared into it for a few moments to capture some images. (Now, don't misconstrue any of these comments as negative - I didn't have to shovel any of this precipitation !)

(18-55mm  f18 1/4 sec  ISO200)

(Day 174) Southern Plants

I'm still fascinated by the different plants that grow au naturel here in the south. I found a couple more here today - the one looks like a type of cedar but has flowers in it that look like sea shells! The second was composed primarily of very brilliant red leaves (no flowers that I could find). I'm sure someone out there in blogland will know what these are - if so, please educate me.

(18-55mm  f8  1/160 sec  ISO800)

(18-55mm  f8  1/640 sec  ISO800)

(Day 171) Light Magic

Yesterday I wrote about the weather we're experiencing here and that I was noticing a pattern. Today's weather reinforced that perception ten-fold. We were treated to a non-stop show of lightning - some very close - tremendous thunderclaps, and torrential rain (the rain gauge showed 1.5"/40mm of rain). It seemed to go on forever and I thought it might last till nighttime, with the opportunities for making photos slipping away. I tried to capture some of the lightning forks but no success (and I didn't really want to be sticking my neck out given the proximity of some of the strikes!).

Then, slowly, the dark clouds started moving away and a wonderful, magical light appeared. I tried to capture the effect it had on a couple of plants. The setting sun also plays magic with the remnants of the storm clouds, so for Sunset Sunday I've also included a shot.

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/160 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/60 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f8  1/50 sec  ISO200)

Sunset Sunday

(Day 169) Pink Pineapple ?

I'm still amazed to be in a place where plants like the one I shot today grow outdoors, very naturally. Are there people here who are perhaps jaundiced to the point where they don't see the beauty in the natural plants around them, like this one ? I suppose there are, just like those who live where we do might not look twice at the flowers growing locally.

Well, where we live we still can only grow these bromeliads indoors, and with good care and some luck they might even live a few years. And I believe this one is called a pink pineapple bromeliad.

(60mm  f5.6 1/100 sec  ISO800)

(Day 138) In the early morning fog ...

Well, sometimes things aren't really the way they appear, are they. Just like a story sometimes has another side to it. We're wise not to jump to conclusions too quickly, even when things seem pretty obvious to us.

Take this photo for example. I got outside fairly early this morning and made a few photos. Things certainly looked foggy, at least through the lens. Turns out that the warm humid air outside condensed on the lens as I brought the camera out of an air-conditioned room. In my hurry I didn't wait for it to get acclimatized. However, I thought the effect was neat so I decided to post this one.

(50mm  f8  1/250 sec  ISO200)

Just to show you that it was a beautiful clear day, however, I'll post this shot which was made minutes later - after I'd cleared the lens by holding it up to the sunlight.

(50mm  f8  1/320 sec  ISO200)

(Day 42) Back to the jungle

In a day or 2 we'll be leaving this place where I find a lot of the flora to be of the 'exotic' variety. I suppose if you live here it might not strike you that way. I'm sure more than a few people wondered why I was taking photos of plants (and animals) that they considered to be quite ordinary - perhaps I would similarly wonder why people would take photos of plants and animals where I live. So, despite a few glances from a neighbour out in his yard, I took some photos of the outdoor garden plants that I'd likely not find in a nursery back home.

I suspect that if man were to disappear from this area it would revert to jungle within 5 years.

(60mm f4 1/60 sec ISO200)

(60mm f5 1/160 sec ISO200)