Just when you think . . .
. . . you've seen it all, maybe you get a little quieter, a little more receptive to happenstance.
Saturday I was in the Old City, parked on a bench with a terrific cabbage filo turnover from the big farmer's market. I was opposite the grand Ponce de Leon Hotel (a Gilded Era extravaganza now Flagler College), where I'd been a dozen times before. Suddenly, the hotel's carillon burst into song. I'd had no idea there was a carillon. It was lovely.
Strolling through the courtyard at the Alcazar Hotel (now City Hall and a museum), where I'd also been many times, I noticed for the first time what looked like a gumball machine. I'd never noticed that the little courtyard pool had koi you could feed for a quarter.
In the afternoon, I took my usual walk on the beach at low tide, expecting nothing. It's a bare beach--not a stick of driftwood, not a rock; only some small, scattered shells and the occasional jellyfish. But suddenly I was witnessing willet love.
Willets are solitary, so seeing a pair in the surf gave me pause. Of course, I didn't have my camera.
All at once the two eyeballed each other and started running toward the dunes, as fast as they could go, but keeping almost completely in step, side by side all the way up this very broad beach. Then they turned around and headed back down to the surf, still keeping pace. Another eyeball, then there was lots of ducking and leaping and what apparently passes with willets for a shriek. They did a little dance over the waves, and then it was over. I expect there will be baby willets before long.
Today was a similar no-expectations, no-camera walk, but I happened upon a little shark thrown up on the sand. A fisherman came along and put it back in the water, and it swam slowly away. He said it was a bonnethead.
A few minutes later, I saw a transparent, football-shaped thing like an air bladder; I have no idea what it was. If anyone knows, please tell me!
Saturday I was in the Old City, parked on a bench with a terrific cabbage filo turnover from the big farmer's market. I was opposite the grand Ponce de Leon Hotel (a Gilded Era extravaganza now Flagler College), where I'd been a dozen times before. Suddenly, the hotel's carillon burst into song. I'd had no idea there was a carillon. It was lovely.
Strolling through the courtyard at the Alcazar Hotel (now City Hall and a museum), where I'd also been many times, I noticed for the first time what looked like a gumball machine. I'd never noticed that the little courtyard pool had koi you could feed for a quarter.
In the afternoon, I took my usual walk on the beach at low tide, expecting nothing. It's a bare beach--not a stick of driftwood, not a rock; only some small, scattered shells and the occasional jellyfish. But suddenly I was witnessing willet love.
Willets are solitary, so seeing a pair in the surf gave me pause. Of course, I didn't have my camera.
All at once the two eyeballed each other and started running toward the dunes, as fast as they could go, but keeping almost completely in step, side by side all the way up this very broad beach. Then they turned around and headed back down to the surf, still keeping pace. Another eyeball, then there was lots of ducking and leaping and what apparently passes with willets for a shriek. They did a little dance over the waves, and then it was over. I expect there will be baby willets before long.
Today was a similar no-expectations, no-camera walk, but I happened upon a little shark thrown up on the sand. A fisherman came along and put it back in the water, and it swam slowly away. He said it was a bonnethead.
A few minutes later, I saw a transparent, football-shaped thing like an air bladder; I have no idea what it was. If anyone knows, please tell me!
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