An animal handler was loading the parrots on a cart to take them to another habitat. I was amazed at how well trained the birds are. It's probably routine for them to ride around the park on a cart amongst crowds of people.
This is a dragon. It's the biggest lizard, besides an alligator, that I've ever seen.
These colorful little lorikeets were in a walk through aviary where people could feed them.
The Serengeti Plain is huge. It's incredible that all this is in the middle of a city. 
We visited the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida, which were built at the turn of the 20th century. The tree trunks in the photo are actually all part on one banyan tree. This banyan tree is one of the largest in the world. Roots hanging down from the tree form new trunks. The tree started as a 4 ft tall specimen in the 1920's.
An orchid growing in the banyan tree.
Edison's chemistry lab. Edison, Ford, and Firestone were looking for a new botanical source of rubber. They experimented with different types of tropical trees. They also did research on materials like bamboo for light bulb filaments.
A series of pullies, similar to those in Greenfield Village, helped power the machines in the workshop.
The Moonlight Garden behind Edison's office.
The pier on the Caloosahatchee River. Supplies for the estates came in via boat.
Edison's home and garden.
An electrolier. The lighting fixtures in the Edison house are fascinating.
Dwarf Poinciana
The interior of the Ford house was decorated in the Arts & Crafts style of the early 20th century. The lamp in the corner is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's style.
This tree near the Ford house had strange flowers hanging from it.
Close up of the tree's hanging flowers.
A huge old Mysore fig tree with sprawling roots.
Close up of the roots of the Mysore fig tree.
Lipstick Plant
We had to be at the Kennedy Space Center at 6am for the 11:38am launch. It was dark and the shuttle was lit up. It looked something like this. This picture is a painting in a NASA art gallery.
Kennedy Space Center entrance on launch day. The Discovery flag flies with the American flag.
We are 6 miles from the launchpad on a causeway across a bay on NASA property. You can see the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) in the background. The launchpad is off camera to the right. This place is the closest the public can get to a shuttle launch.
Shuttle Discovery clears the launchpad. We saw movement before we could hear it. The sound was much louder than at previous locations. It wasn't an earpiercing noise; it was a low rumble that shook you inside and out. Crackling sounds like a giant bonfire faded as the shuttle rose farther up into the sky.
Here's the launch sequence patched together. (Click on any of the photos in the blog for larger images.)
The cloud clears the launchpad. We could smell it. An announcement over the P.A. system said that we could be affected by hydrochloric acid fumes from the launch. If we felt like we had sore throats a drink of water would clear it up. I felt a minor irritation and a few sips of Pepsi washed it away.
The roll.
This is another painting from the NASA art gallery. If I were to make a composite of my experience watching the launch it would look something like this. There were people with cameras everywhere. The orange flame from the shuttle cut through clouds set against a blue sky.
We saw this scene on the way to Fort DeSoto Park. There were people parasurfing on the north side of Sunshine Skyway bridge.
The Gulf water is cooling off, so we went for a walk instead of swimming at the beach. I don't know if this pink plant is seaweed or coral. The color is so vivid.
There were less people and a lot more birds. I've never seen so many different kinds of birds hanging around together. They weren't bothered by people walking along the surf. It was as if we were just bigger birds with cameras.
These little cranes are funny. They have yellow feet that makes it look like they're wearing galoshes.
We walked to the point at the North Beach to where you can almost walk over to another island. I've seen people walk over. The water may be shallow enough to do that, but I don't trust the currents. The sand was packed down and had contrasting wavy patterns in it.
Pelicans and clouds backlit by the sunset.
We went to the beach late in the afternoon and stayed until sunset. It was a gorgeous mix of light and color. Beams of light burst through the clouds like spotlights.
Colors danced around on blue waves.
The tide was out and we found all sorts of shells. Alfonze snorkeled around and found several live molusks. There were 2 large whelks, and several olive shells. I was floating around finding live sand dollars and shells. It was a lovely afternoon.
There are some funny birds poking around the yard today. They are young white ibis. We saw a lot of the white adult birds poking around the yard this spring.
It was hard to get a picture of them to show their curved beaks, because they were so busy finding munchies. Go get those grubs!
Here's a profile shot. They were getting a good look at me and my camera.
This is the lawn at the Astronaut Hall of Fame where people were camped to view the shuttle launch.
Space shuttle in front of the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
About ten minutes before launch we went back outside. We watched and listened to NASA TV on a big screen. This wasn't a rehearsed presentation; it was live audio from the control room with video from both inside and outside the shuttle launch area. I thought about when I was a kid watching the moon landings on tv, and how exciting it is that we're finally going to go back to the moon. The shuttle missions from now until 2010 will be focused on completing the International Space Station. By 2010 the current shuttles will be retired and a new program will begin to send people back to the moon to set up a base.
The shuttle appeared from behind a telephone pole in my field of view. Even though we were a few miles further away than the launch of STS-117, the shuttle and the flame behind it actually looked larger. The photos don't do it justice. It was so thrilling to hear the crackle and roar of the lift-off.
The crowd leaving the Astronaut Hall of Fame right after the launch.
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