Labor Day

Monday, September 5th was Labor Day, here in the USA. Since I had the day off, I decided to go to Jackonville Beach to watch the sun come up. It's just under 5 miles on the walk I take, and I'm usually scanning the soil for pretty shells, sand dollars, or sea glass. As you can see it was very low tide at this hour as well. The beach seems miles wide!
The recent swells from Hurricane Irene certainly left more stuff on the beaches and I found quite a few pieces of sea glass. Not the real pretty kind, but I'll take what I find. :)
To the right is what I saw at one point in the walk, at about 6:20AM, EST
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The sun is but a morning star. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

big cats..

Hercules is one of the several tigers (among other animals) that live at the Cattyshack ranch near where I live. They brought Herc to the local Chick-Fil-A to do a litle advertising and fundraising. I've been meaning to try and get out there someday. Meow!

Jax Beach, 8/5/11

Thought I'd share a few photos from an early morning walk on Jax Beach. It was already in the low 90's by 8-ish AM, so after an almost 5 mile walk, I hightailed it back to some air conditioning..

Dreamette Ice Cream

This place has been there forever. Ok, so since the late 1940's..but this was my first time to try them. Reasonable prices, and delicious soft serve...perfect combination for a hot summer evening!

I got there about a half hour before closing on a friday evening and I was lucky to find a spot to park in their little lot.

After being chided by the owner for never having been there before (jokingly, of course...) I chose a vanilla/strawberry twist in a cup with rainbow sprinkles. YUM!

I can't wait to go back!! Will try a sundae next. or maybe a milkshake.. :)
And of course to get some more pictures!

Soup's On!

I recently found a new lunch/dinner spot in the Riverside avondale section of Jacksonville called "Soup's On". Lots of good, homemade soups and sandwiches, plus good iced tea to boot. Always willing to let you sample any of the soups, you could almost get by on that alone!
The restaurant is fairly small, but comfortable, and offers free wifi as well. The menu changes daily, and they always have plenty of frozen pints to take home and have later in the week. I found the dessert soups very interesting and have tried several, all delicious! The soup in this photo is a chicken/mushroom/lemongrass/noodle soup, and the sandwich is a portabella with pepper jack cheese and arugula.
Feel free to click on the photo to see in more detail!

Camera Critters

On a recent wander thru the Cradle Creek Preserve I spotted this osprey leaving the nest in search of food. Click here to visit the Camera Critters Blog and see many more critters from around the world.

Camera Critters

Visit the camera critters blog here to see more critters from around the world!

This picture was taken at the Fountain of Youth park in St Augustine. I didn't actually go into the fountain area, just wandered the area nearby. There were at least 5 peacocks, and they made quite a racket!!