Aug

26

Home Again.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 26, 2008 |

lizard.jpgFirst things first: the deadline for the Second Annual Just Write Summer Reading Contest is rapidly approaching. Check it out! In spite of my flight being rerouted (thanks, Fay) and having to spend six hours in the Atlanta airport I made it home safely, having enjoyed everything from the regular swimming to the monorail rides. I’ve also come home with a profound respect for wildlife photographers and their ability to get amazing shots of animals doing amazing things. My parents live in a part of Florida where small lizards are as common as mosquitoes are in Tennessee, and, passion.jpgfor as long as we’ve been visiting Florida, I’ve been fascinated by how the lizards stake out their territory. Whenever they feel threatened by an intruder the males will do a funny little push-up and puff out their throats. Camera in hand I tried for hours to get a shot of a lizard with his throat puffed. One particular little monster hopped and puffed at me for twenty minutes while I was on the phone and then, as soon as I was done, turned camera-shy. Maybe itlizardpuff.jpg was because of his odd tail. I’m publishing his picture here anyway. That’ll teach him. I did finally get one to show me his throat on camera.

Other highlights include a trip to the Saint Petersburg Museum of Fine Art (more about that later), a trip to the Salvador Dali Museum, which I visit every time I’m there and where, amazingly, the docents always manage to tell me something I didn’t already know, and a big bite of passion fruit. I don’t think this one was ripe. If you’re wondering what passion fruit tastes like, or at least the one I tried, mix some baking soda in lemon juice. That’ll be about right.

And then, on the last night, when my bike ride was cut short by a sudden thunderstorm, there was the rainbow. And it’s a lucky thing my ride was interrupted. If I hadn’t stayed near the house I never would have gotten a picture of it. rainbow.jpg


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. Andrea on August 26, 2008 9:26 pm

    Glad to hear Fay didn’t completely ruin your plans.

    I like lizards too! Fascinating little critters. We saw a gecko in the garage yesterday. At least we think it was a gecko. Hell if I know.

    Wait till Morgan sees this post. She’s gonna go all herpetological on your ass.

  2. Peptodismal on August 27, 2008 7:03 am

    The real thrill of nature photography is inventing new combinations of curses, like when you finally get the perfect shot framed and discover that, to conserve battery power, you turned the camera off 15 minutes ago.

  3. James on August 28, 2008 3:47 pm

    Welcome Back! I have a student here that takes great pictures, especially of frogs. I’ll send them sometime.

  4. Christopher Waldrop on August 29, 2008 8:17 am

    In my own case I invented several new combinations of curses either because the camera’s battery went dead at the worst possible time or the lizards moved. They seemed to enjoy tormenting me.

  5. Stephanie Z on August 30, 2008 11:00 am

    Lizards are good at tormenting photographers. Kind of a hobby. Nice pictures nonetheless. Could you tell whether it was a partially regrown tail on the top guy or just an odd kink?

  6. Christopher Waldrop on September 2, 2008 11:23 am

    I’m pretty sure it was a partially regrown tail. Maybe that’s why he didn’t perform for the camera: he was embarrassed.

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