Another Sunday in North Florida

Just another Sunday in paradise... we ended the day at the County Dock on the Saint Johns River in Mandarin as we often do. There are many such photos throughout this blog, but it's a scene I never get tired of shooting. It always changes. No two sunsets are ever the same, as cliche as the sunset photo has become in the digital imaging age. The biggest bonus is that the algae seems to be gone. No dead fish. At least for now. Nature is resilient, and will always prevail. Long after we and our polluting habits have passed to dust, my river will remain... Then there was this morning in the backyard...

There were probably 20 butterflies in our gardens when I went out to the porch for breakfast this morning. Fritillaries, swallowtails of several varieties, monarchs, and skippers. by the time I could grab a camera, they were out of there... but this black and white tailed dragonfly was hanging out on the blue porter weed.  Little did he (or I) know what was creeping up from behind...

I have no idea what the little brown guy is... a hornet, some sort of fly? I didn't see him until I uploaded the image out of the camera. Pretty cool piece of luck. So yes, just another day in paradise after a remarkably stressful work week. We both really needed the sunset and cool river breezes down at the dock tonight. That leaves us with one last paddle stroke into the sunset....