THE NEW YORK METS--

Spring training in Port St. Lucie, FL (above)

Washington National's 6' 4", 220 pound pitcher Steve Strasburg (below) delivers one of his mid-90 mph pitches during a 2-0 losing effort to the New York Mets at their spring-training home ballpark one recent Tuesday evening.  That victory broke a Met's 10 game loosing streak as they stumble toward their season opener April 5th.

As I watched young Strasburg I wondered if he ever would achieve the immortality of, say, Bob Feller from my childhood memories of the Cleveland Indians.

Would any of these 20-something players ever rise to the level of a Mickey Mantle or Sandy Koufax or other Indian stars from the 40s and 50s like Rosen, Boudreau or even Larry Doby, the first black player to don a Cleveland uniform.

I couldn't believe the stunning voice of the young lady who sang the National Anthem and had goose bumps when three World War II veterans were celebrated as--with aging arms--they bounced their pitches across the plate to the delightful respect of the fans.

We had marvelous seats high along the first base line near home plate.  They cost $16.50 each.  Add 6 bucks for parking in a mowed field and another 6 bucks for a program.  Food, however, was, well, affordable; 3.25 for a hot dog and 4.25 for a sundae.

It was easy to understand why a boatload of major league teams do their Spring work in Florida.  That night, the first day of Spring, it was 73 degrees as we stretched into the 7th inning.

Field rules appear to be a bit casual at this level of play.  That's a member of the Met's bullpen staff lounging in fair territory along the left field foul line while the ball is very much in play.

Even the cheap seats behind the distant, outfield fence (below) have the tropical ambiance of palm trees fluttering in the warm evening breeze.

The stadium measured 338 feet down the lines and 410 to straight away center field; not far from major league standards.

...just like the game we enjoyed that night with our up-state NY friends Dick and Dee Weeks; with whom we avoided any comments about the relative merits of our state's big league teams.

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For you photography enthusiasts the image of the pitcher was done from my ticketed seat with a 200 mm f/2.8 Canon, series L lens with an exposure of 1/15 second at f/13 and ISO 100.  I used my knees and elbows to form a tripod for the otherwise handheld shot.

The act of throwing a baseball nearly 100 mph is a fairly violent activity and the streaks in the photo create the illusion of motion by recording the amount of movement in the pitcher's body during that fairly long shutter speed.

IMAGINE THIS!
Dinner for five--in our camper--

To offer a classic understatement; Sue is not noted for her interest in practicing the culinary arts.

...like one wag noted recently when he called his wife and inquired what she was making for supper and she replied "Reservations."

That would be Sue.

In fact when we bought our first camper one of the conditions she imposed on our friends the Hatfields--the previous owners--was the camper be delivered to us with the oven inoperative.  Yes, inoperative as in not working.

Her reputation for avoiding working kitchens found its way to our very good Florida friends, Dick and Dee Weeks (on the right in the above photo).  Imagine Dick's hilarity when, after Sue invited them to dinner, she had to borrow one of their pans.

That's Dee's sister Eva waiting for her turn at the smorgasbord table

Sue also imagined her son Mike Brooks and family from Mt. Vernon being amazed if they ever see this picture.

"Mom cooking?  ...in a camper?  ...a real meal?"  ...Mike might be sputtering with wrinkles aplenty on his forehead.

So, there she is Mike.  ...as the five of us prepare to sit down to a pork and kraut dinner with lots of trimmings.

Regardless, this home-cooked dining episode is not likely to become routine.

As she was fussing with the dishes she quite casually inquired,  "Where are we going for lunch tomorrow?

LIGHTHOUSE; Jupiter, FL--

The site for this lighthouse was chosen in 1853 and a young lieutenant in the US Bureau of Topographical Engineering named George G. Meade was assigned to do the design work.

The structure is perched on a hill with an elevation of 46 feet.  The hill was recognized as an unusual land feature in this part of Florida but it was not until restoration work in 1999-2000 that archeologists discovered the hill actually was a burial mound for a Native American colony dating to 700 AD.

The site overlooks the outlet for the Loxahatchee River (shown above) and the Atlantic Ocean in the near distance.  The lighthouse was designed to warn mariners of the dangerous shoals in the nearby coastal area.

Today, there are 34 steps to reach the top of the mound then 105 more in the spiral climb to the light's lantern room.  The lighthouse towers 108 feet above ground level.

There are small landings at the tower's windows where visitors can rest during the "arduous" climb.  Folks who succeed in the ascent are offered a certificate attesting to their "survival".

What is described as "...a magnificent, first-order Fresnel lens" was made in Paris.  When revolving, the bulls-eyes in the lens produce a repeating cycle of two flashes of light followed by a brief period of darkness; the light's signature display.

The lighthouse commenced operation in July 1860.  It was extinguished in August 1861 during the American Civil War and remained dark until June 1866.

The light was electrified in 1928 but it was soon found the electricity supply was not as reliable as the original, oil lanterns.

Public tours of the still-operating lighthouse and its grounds have been offered by the Loxahatchee Historical Society since 1994.  That's historical society volunteer John with Sue in the lead photo above.

The light now operates automatically by electricity with a stand-by generator and a bulb which, itself, has a stand-by that automatically changes when the operating bulb fails. 

Remember the young Lieutenant Meade who did the design work for the light?  He went on to the rank of General and was credited with the defeat of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

A visitor begins his descent from just below the lighthouse lantern room (above).

A LITTLE POTPOURRI--

That's my lady Sue with friends Dee and Dick Weeks (from left above) enjoying a trolley ride in Fort Pierce, FL recently.  We were in town to enjoy their weekly bazaar in the downtown, waterfront park.

A day or so later, Sue and I headed to Jupiter for a tour of their historic lighthouse.  While fussing around until the guided tour began I was interested in the lone fisherman on the town's inlet who appears to be casting for the wayward jet ski invading his fishing spot (below):

 
The target avoided capture in this view.  In fact, I noticed no reaction whatsoever to her dramatic escape from danger.  Actually, distance is compressed by a strong telephoto lens thus making the almost-victim appear much closer to the hunter than was actually the case.

Just minutes later, high atop the lighthouse I noted this view with the two young folks in the background apparently more interested in exploring each other than their historic venue:

The lighthouse story will appear Saturday without any more foolishness.

BANANA SPIDERS cont.--
and a new blog schedule

The colorful, large spider above is the female.  That's her male consort upper right.  Not hard to guess who rules that household.

*          *          *

When I started the blog five years ago this past January it was published daily for most of its first year.  That schedule then was relaxed to several times weekly.  Now, as retirement rolls along, it is time to relax our publishing schedule a wee bit more.

We are hoping to do one feature story weekly.  With any luck it will arrive every Saturday, likely in a photo-story format just as it has been over these years.

Additional postings will be made during the week as noteworthy events present themselves.  Don't be alarmed if that does not happen too often.  In those instances, we likely took another week's vacation--in our ongoing celebration of retirement.

< Smile >

We'll do our best.  Photography has been a passion I've enjoyed most of my life.

That passion remains.

The ORCA story Saturday was the first in our new, weekly format.

Stories under production at this very moment include the Jupiter, FL lighthouse, an airboat ride, a spring-training baseball game with the NY Mets who do their annual, tune-up in nearby Port St. Lucie and, a deep sea fishing outing.

Who knows what else will turn up.  Or when.  That's the fun of it.

Please stay tuned.

  

 

A BANANA SPIDER...

...captures the photographic attention of my morning's companions, Larry and Sandy while we did a self-guided hike of the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area; just around the corner from our winter digs in Vero Beach.

Known as ORCA (with a whale-sized smile) it is 336 acres of protected land along the inter-coastal waterway which has recorded 220 species of birds and 132 different, sub-tropical plants.

A unique feature of the area is the two impoundments of 132 and 52 acres respectively that create coastal wetlands by a system of dikes which are flooded during mosquito breeding season.  Salt marsh mosquitoes will not lay their eggs on standing water thus preventing mosquito production without using pesticides.

The area features a couple miles of hiking trails in its jungle-like environment and an elevated pier which gives visitors a splendid view of the wetland foliage and brackish water inlets.

The area, however, is showing the ravages of little maintenance while suffering budgetary constraints in these difficult, economic times.  In the photo (left) you can see the roof of the display structure has nearly decayed away and the graphics have faded from the harsh environment and the disgusting work of vandals.

A sign at the entrance advertises guided tours each, seasonal Saturday but the tours have long been abandoned and the sign stands uncorrected.

A fairly long hike is required to arrive at the site of the "Largest Slash Pine in the World," where visitors now find only the decaying trunk of what was once a majestic tree with a pathetic sign that proclaims "Awesome Pine, You are here" like a bad joke.

The sign also points to an "Historic Quarry."  At that trail's end we found not a "quarry" but what Ohioans would describe as a Vernal Pool; a depression that fills with water in the Spring and creates a breeding environment for many creatures.

As I constructed this story the local paper arrived with an article headlined, "Self-Interest, Audacity of Lawmakers is Astounding."  The writer concluded their self-interest knows no bounds; "The only members of the public they truly are committed to serving is themselves."

He made the point of their scandalous perk of nearly free medical insurance as opposed to what folks in the private sector must pay--if they have any insurance at all.

Eliminating that perk alone would be a helpful step toward restoring funding for preservation and enjoyment of essential areas like ORCA.

NIGHT HERON--

A late night snack was on the mind of this wading bird in the inter coastal waterway at the end of Royal Palm Pointe, in Vero Beach.  There is a small, city park on the shoreline offering this nice view of the Merril P. Barber bridge which spans the waterway and its channel, outlined by the colorful, lights on the left.

The photo was done with an exposure of 6/10 second, f/4 and ISO 3200 with a Canon Rebel T3i digital SLR camera perched firmly on a walkway railing.

Mark and Nancy Meinzer are enjoying artful columns decorating the park's shoreline while my lady, Sue Brooks, walks by in the background (below).