Floridiana Gloriana

Canal | Crystal River | Feb. 1997

I remember exactly when this photograph was taken and I'm fairly sure it was in Crystal River (which we were passing through on our way home).  The occasion is quite clear in my mind.  We stopped on a bridge so I could take it.  It's a lovely Florida winter scene, with lovely winter color....

Canal | Suwannee | c. 1997

Yet another scanned photograph from my private collection:  one of my personal favorites.  I don't know where this was taken.  I say Suwannee, but it's really just a guess.  I know it's a canal somewhere in western Florida, but it could have been some other place.  I love the untidiness of the reflections due to all the stilts everywhere.  It has that bygone feeling you know I love---and from my standpoint, really IS bygone.  I love the blue of the water and the greenness and fluffiness of the bush in the right-hand corner.

Bonus:  There are some lovely photographs of Suwannee here.
 

Purple clouds---afternoon in Cedar Key circa 1995.

 

My late husband Don, who died at the end of 2000, snapped this photograph one afternoon as we were walking round the town.  This was one of his favorite photographs and I've always loved it.  It shows Cedar Key for what it is---slightly untidy, rusty in places, but incapable of being anything but beautiful. 

A beautiful Western Florida Canal | Suwannee

This is a scene Don took of a canal in Western Florida. He took dozens of such scenes, but this is one of the best. I love the reflections in the water, the way the boat is anchored precisely in the middle, and the house with its screened in porch.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park | Cross Creek

  This is a photograph from a visit to Cross Creek, Florida, the location of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.

Rawlings, the author of The Yearling and Cross Creek, wrote beautifully about North Florida, her (and now my) "land of enchantment."

I think this photograph gets across a little (though only a little) of the mystique of the place. It shows the area outside the entrance to the house and grounds that belong to the museum. The creek leads out into the lake.

If you're a Floridian, you really should make a visit to the park and the museum. Here is some further information from the state park website, just to encourage you to click on the link:

A View Along the Canal |Keaton Beach

Nick took this photograph of one of the canals in Keaton Beach when we visited in September 2002. The sky on that day was unbelievably bright and clear. You can see that color plainly reflected in the water. The red roof in the background is what really sells the picture as far as I am concerned.

This photograph shows how gorgeous Keaton Beach is.

I am sure that there are places other than Florida where you find this wonderful clear light, but until I came here I never noticed it.

Travelling Back to Old Florida | Suwannee

"Winter Canal" by Damozel

A winter's day on a canal not too far from the mouth of the Suwannee circa 1997: a beautiful view along a canal. I chose this because of the view up the canal, the lacy look of the trees, and the beautiful blend of browns, greens, and greys. Most winter days are sunny and on such a day this scene would be totally transformed (beautiful still, but not the same). This sort of light is (or was then) fairly rare. I find the starkness and simplicity of color very lovely; it reminds me of Japanese paintings. In the summer it would be a mass of green and the reflections and shadows would make it hard to see straight through to the end.