4th of July Festivities

My adventures in Orlando led me to Austin's Coffee for their I-4 Fest.

Local musician Sarah Purser performing with her guitarist.

I took this photograph of a man watching an outdoor performance at Austin's Coffee. He had an old-fashioned jug in his lap labeled XXX. 

Some colorful hipster girls leaning against a marigold wall.

I stepped inside Austin's to bask in the AC when I noticed these two playing a game. I took a few candid shots before the girl happened to look over at me. That smile tells me that she is winning. This ended up being the best shot of the bunch. 

My roommate and I had bought food to eat in the park downtown but it ended up pouring rain. We decided to have a picnic in the car instead. I took this photograph of the trees beyond the dappled windshield.  

We were eventually able to walk downtown to get a spot for the fireworks. On our way through the old-fashioned neighborhoods of Thornton Park I happened to spot a lizard waiting patiently on the inside of an antique lamp. 

People started to gather in the park as the sun sank into a cloudy sky. You could begin to see lights illuminate throughout one of the cities high-rise apartment buildings.

I happened to catch this firework as it fizzled behind two flags in the park.

Grounded: The Art of Looking Down (Part 2)

More in my ongoing series of taking offbeat pictures of my feet. It has become an interesting reflection on the places I have been.

This was taken at Lake Eola Park in Downtown Orlando. I was walking around the pond and I stopped to look over the ledge. I was standing over a drain pipe that had some turtles sunbathing. 

This was taken while I was actually in the pool at my apartment complex. It was my birthday and I was hanging around with my mother and sister. I was in the corner of the pool with my feet on the ledge. It was such a nice, relaxing moment. I remember my sister teasing me when I asked her to hand me my camera while I was almost completely submerged in a body of water. 

This one is a little bit out of the canon but I like it just the same. I was laying on my bed reading and for some reason I ended up looking over my shoulder. I have a mirror attached to the back of my door and at the angle I was laying I had a perfect view of my legs silhouetted against the light from the window. I thought it made for an interesting shot. 

I was making some home made cards one day. I had the paper laid out on the floor while I was cutting it.  I went out of the room to grab something and when I came back my cat was laying all over my work area. 

This photo was taken on Black Friday. Normally, the day after Thanksgiving most people go out shopping. Luckily no one in my family cares to go out that day. However, the weather was particularly nice this year and I took my father and sister for a walk on the beach. It was a fantastic break from the T.V, the sales ads from the newspaper, and the boredom of sitting around the house. I was raised near the beach and I find myself craving the breeze and the smell of the salt water. I felt like we had we the beach all to our selves and we just walked around soaking up the sun. After the beach we went over to a park with a dock overlooking the intercoastal. It has those murky shades of green that color every Florida body of water outside of the ocean. My toes were still sandy from the beach. 

This was taken in our hotel room when we stayed in Atlanta. We teased David about his "rock star" lilac walls. His computer and musical gear are sprawled out across the desk. The light blazes from the lamp and boldly streaks across the wall. 

Lake Eola

There aren't many places that calm my nerves, but Lake Eola is one of them. I keep finding myself here more and more frequently. The first time I was here I spent two hours wondering around enjoying the company of other people's dogs and the misguided birds who thought I had food. There was so much simple pleasure in having a few hours by myself to enjoy nature. Today a scheduling error has brought me to Lake Eola and I decided to make the best of it.

I went to grab a sub from the Publix supermarket across the street. I walked into the park to find a bench overlooking the lake. Paramedics were attending to a man who had collapsed in the park about 200 feet away from me. He seemed okay, but he still needed medical attention. I selected my bench and went about the business of eating my sandwich. The paramedics proceeded to load the man into the ambulance while several joggers made their laps around the park. Moments like these like these make me feel like I am in a big city. There is so much going on - all you have to do is sit back and watch the chaos of life unfold all around you.

The sun sets thru the trees to my left. Birds flock to the hedges in front of me. A pigeon snatches a chip I had dropped earlier. The other birds storm the pigeon and in a flurry of feathers, chirps and squawks, the chip disappears.

I look across the pond and I notice that the fountain is working again. It had been in disrepair for a few months. People always talk about the fountain as one of those icons of Orlando. It is beautiful but I've always felt that Orlando will be Orlando whether the fountain is working or not.

The city of Orlando has a strange skyline. We don't have many tall buildings and the ones we do have all possess unusual architecture and oddly shaped silhouettes. They are all interesting to look at, however, as a group they are somewhat disjointed.

I pause from my writing to brush an ant off my leg. The breeze feels good. We don't get a lot of this nice weather in August.

Birds land on top of the lighting post to complete the structure. A black swan in the distance reminds me of a miniature Loch Ness monster. The clouds that carried the ran earlier sink further into the distance. The sky opens up to blue for a few brief moments before changing again for sunset.

Sometimes scheduling errors are good for the soul.