War of Northern Aggression

Imagine my surprise when I opened up the Newspaper on Tuesday only to find out that the North was still trying to take over Florida.
Brigadier General Joseph Finegan led the serge with 5,000 soldiers.


When Jonny comes marching home agian agian......Ninety-three Confederate soldiers were killed and 847 wounded. The Union losses were higher.

Southern ladies were waiting at home to hear the outcome of the battle.

Bird of Paradise

One of my mother's favorite flowers is the Bird of Paradise. This lovely bouquet belongs to my friend Shari. Of course we all remember the song "May the Bird of Paradise fly up your nose, by Little Jimmy Dikens. Now you are all humming that song. Can you remember the line that comes next?

If you look closely at the flower you will see that it includes a blue bird. This color blue is associated with spiritual awakening. It is a sign that you must lighten up and let go of the drama in your life. The bluebird teaches us to go through life with persistence and gentle strength. When a blue bird flies into your life it means that we must allow others to grow in their own way and time.

Shari also had this large Poinsettia growing. Ah another photo opportunity. Check out the legend of the Poinsettia plant.

Answer: May an elephant caress you with his toes.

Olustee Parade

Turquoise Inspires me

The feathers of a peacock are just so beautiful. This almost looks like the scales on a snake.

The tail has eyes that can see everything. A peacock is considered to have great wisdom because of these eyes.

There are usually about 150 of these tail feathers, which are used for many decorative pieces. The feathers are shed after each breeding season. Just like getting new clothes except theirs is always the same.

Many kings and queens had peacocks on their land. It is considered a royal bird. Frankly I think they kept them because of their bird "screams". That would scare the living begezzers out of anyone.

Since I was musing on turquoise I thought I would do a layout using turquoise.

Cold in North Flroida

Sometimes fall and winter merge together here in Florida.

It was not an ice storm but a sprinkler that caused this much ice. It stayed all day.

The Grady House added to the icy chill with their icicle fountain.

Super Bowl Party

Samantha is all dressed for the Super Bowl Party. I got her this cute little skirt and top. Since she has been watching Project Runway she had her own ideas of how to create a fashion statement.

Katelyn showed off her culinary skills by testing out the new Cotton Candy machine and filling us in on the history of cotton candy. It was originally called candy floss.
We decided that Michael could not have a complete childhood unless he tried plastic bubbles. As you can see he is now an expert. We also gave him a whoopee cushion and then spent the whole evening listening to that. Served us right.......

Stevie showed us his new office at the University of South Florida. They have all the latest technology. I was dying to get my hands back in the college business.

Ok at some point we did watch the game. " No, no I will choose the station you get to watch." Samantha was helping and when there was a touchdown she threw up her hands and said touchdown. At least it sounded like that to me. I think that is her first word.

A Study in Color

Shadow Box

When Edward went into the Air Force his friends gave him a party and had a GI Joe doll with his face stuck on the doll. This doll sat on our TV for 4 years while he traveled the world to Iraq, Pakistan, Germany and Mombasa. It was a constant reminder that our son would return safe to America. I decided it would be nice to use some of his mementos of being in the Air Force to make this shadow box. If you look carefully you will see all his stripes. There are maps of each place he was stationed. The buttons on the box came from his uniform.

There is foreign currency that he got from each country. The picture of him is when he was in Iraq. I think it looks just like GI Joe.

Paynes Prairie

This is our Alachua Savannah as drawn by William Bartram in 1973.

Right now it is the home to thousands of whooping cranes and sandhill cranes. Can you see them? Me neither. We were not at the right spot. Just wait.

A Seminole Tribe lived here in the 1700's.


Now it is called the Gator Nation. Go figure. Paynes Prairie was named after the Chief Ahaya the Cowkeepers' son Payne. Back in the olden days there used to be steamboats on this river. I have my trunk packed and I waited all day but the steamboat never came.

Spanish moss was everywhere. It gave a Gothic feel to the wilderness. Although Spanish moss lives on the air and not the tree, it does grow so thick that the sunlight cannot get to the tree to allow it to grow to its full potential. I think some of our school children have Spanish moss growing on them.

First Published Photo

The Observer, which is printed monthly for Alachua, High Springs and Newberry has published one of my photos. If you can read the fine print under the photo you will see photo by R. Celeste Beck. I am so excited to have my first photo published and to have it on the front page.

Color me beaming.

I was also asked if I would like to do assignment photos. I guess I am now an assignment photographer. That has a nice sound.
Does that mean I need a new outfit?

Here is the actual shot before it got translated into newsprint. It was nerve racking at first when I thought I was going to shoot Christmas lights at night. It is hard to capture the true beauty. I am quite tickled with the results.

This is just another shot of this house. It is quite beautiful and was great fun shooting. I kept getting in the road and of course Steve says " You are in the road." I told him his job was to make sure I did not get run over by a car.
He did a good job.

Christmas Cactus

The blooms of the Christmas Cactus are starting to open. The plant knows what day Christmas will be here and that is when it will be in its full glory.On Christmas all the blooms were open.