Alligators may be present

Smiling in the presence of obvious mortal danger is what sets the women from the north apart from others. Santini and Pengilly Woman (PW) seem unafraid of the threat from alligators. I guess that there haven't been recent sightings of the big rascals anywhere near Ollie's Pond where this photo originated, but oddities can occur. We spent an hour or so at the pond, gathering large pine cones for possible shipment to the north and possible use in Christmas wreaths and other craft projects. Southern pines have large and nearly perfect pine cones which are being shed this time of year down here.

I have a lot of photos from our visit to Pine Island yesterday, but I need some editing time before I'm ready to expose them to the light of the blogosphere. Maybe later next week. In the meantime, this sunset a few days ago was one of the nicest I've seen in a while and so I'm posting it.

The birds in this part of the world are plenty plentiful. This beauty was hanging out at Ollie's Pond, enjoying a warm 85 degree day, when I got his photo.  An egret or a heron, I think.  White or snowy, for sure.

I have adjusted my blog's comment policy in light of the difficulties blogger has initiated with the policy requiring commenters to prove their humanness by keying in a couple of partially obscured sets of letters before the comment is accepted. The changes should make it easier for a certain Mrs. Smith to continue with her most welcome commenting practices.

Tennis content is expected to reemerge some time next week.  Stay tuned.