Simple pleasures

A few weeks ago I published an elaborate mash-up of this picture under the heading of "Kaleidoscape."

I liked the effect, but I've had this nagging sense that the real beauty is in the original. Here's what I saw and captured, without any crops or retouching.

The good stuff:

strong coffee

hot apple cider

deadlines and commitments

what to leave in, what to leave out

Bob Seger

English gardens

live theater

free concert tickets

a hand to hold

something to say

Kaleidoscape

Friends up north like to say that Florida has no seasons. "Don't you miss the colors?" Anyone who has been to St. Marks, in the Florida Panhandle, during the annual monarch butterfly migration would have to answer with a resounding, "NO!" Butterflies by the thousands, flit, float and fly like confetti, in a three-act ballet that cycles from Canada, to the Gulf Coast, to Mexico, and back. It takes three generations to complete the cycle. Egg-laden mikweed bends under the weight of a million orphans, as rain falls on the vermillion ghosts of Chrysalis past. Up north, the colors fall. In Florida, they fly.

The good stuff:

productive insomnia

ceiling fans

fried okra

woodpeckers

Good 'n' Plenty

the Kool-Aid guy

aluminum tumblers

s'mores

legends

sealing wax