Alone on a Sunday

"Only a little bit left"
Olympus E-3 with Zuiko Digital 50-200mm
1/800s, f/3.5, ISO 100, 50mm, +0.3 EV

Alone with the animals this weekend; my wife is visiting friends down in south Florida, while my daughters are elsewhere in Florida. Earlier this afternoon I went out on a small errand and happened to pass both of these spots on Turkey Lake near West Sand Lake Drive.

The first was hidden away on the north-bound side of Turkey Lake before the intersection with Wallace Road. It's fenced in by Turkey Lake on one side, and hedged in by the elevated exit from I-4 to West Sand Lake on the other. There are a couple of large ponds that have gone a bit wild, with rushes growing around most of the edges. When you get close enough you can hear and see red-wing black birds flying and chirping in the rushes. There were several larger whooping calls from birds I couldn't see. It was a nice little bit of nature left over from all the road construction. If I stand at a certain spot and compose in a certain way, you can forget, for a moment, where you're really at. Except for the ceaseless sound of the traffic roaring past on I-4.

The second spot is less than a block south from the first, across the street from a local K-Mart, and next to Spring Lake (in the background). They've mowed down the growth and they're putting in a new spot to buy tires. Next to a lake. Everywhere else you look around Spring Lake, it's blocked by condos and private development.

"The Kingdom of Tire Cometh"
Olympus E-3 with Zuiko Digital 50-200mm
1/3200s, f/2.8, ISO 100, 50mm

It's gotten to the point in Central Florida that unless you look at a map and know where you're at, you'd never know about all the lakes, large and small, that pepper the region. And of course we've just got to have a new tire store.