We decided to spend New Year's Eve at Ft Myers Beach Times Square. To avoid traffic and parking woes, we decided to take the trolley from our place at the south end of the island. Our trip to town was great; we met friends at Jimmy B's and enjoyed the music of
Deb and the Dynamics. At midnight the Chamber of Commerce put on their fireworks show and all was right with the world. Welcome 2007! Shortly thereafter we decided to catch the trolley home. Big problem. After waiting about 45 minutes we had had enough, especially since the crowd was getting a little unruly about who was there first and who would get on the next trolley. So we decided to start walking and maybe pick up the trolley as we walked along instead of waiting any longer. After a while we noticed that there still weren't any trolleys coming so we gave hitchhiking a try. Things got interesting then. For one thing, probably half the people passing us up were under the influence so we got numerous cat calls and laughter. There were also many very nice Cadillacs, BMW's and the like with two people who obviously thought we looked a little too threatening to give a ride. Finally, after probably 200 cars went past us, a young law student at the University of Indiana in a pretty modest little station wagon stopped and let us in. He drove us all the way to the end of the island even though his place was at midpoint. I don't know why he stopped while no one else would. He wasn't a local, that's for sure; he's from Mali, a country in western Africa bordering Algeria. In any case, it sure was appreciated and the experience is cataloged under "you never know...."
Today this woodstork paid us a visit. It's the first time I've seen one on our property. I got the closeup by climbing down the wall behind the pool and wending my way through the bushes. As a bonus, in the wide shot, I caught a kingfisher just to the right of the stork. You can see it by clicking on the photo for a higher resolution view.
