Another Day of Celebration - A Photo Essay

June 02, 2009 11:48 PM EDT (Updated: July 18, 2009 08:07 PM EDT)

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Celebration, Florida, that is...

After thirteen consecutive days of way too much rain, the rain let up on Friday, and we were blessed with an amazing weekend. On Friday evening, we went to Sea World, Saturday we had errands to run and went to the mall. :( We bought absolutely nothing there, but did check out some mattresses.

Sunday afternoon, we went to Celebration, which seems to be the place we run to, to completely shut out the world and just chill. We needed that, and we were not disappointed.

The recent rains have filled the lake, above any level we have seen since Tropical Storm Fay came through last summer and just stayed with us for days upon days. Whether that's why there was "extra" wildlife to be seen this time, or not, I'm not sure... but there was plenty!

I had an iced coffee under the big oak tree hung with Spanish Moss at Starbucks, and then we went for a good walk, all the way around the lake and then some. I hope you'll join me as I show you around.

While still sipping my iced coffee, I watched the ducks, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying our drier weather.

I also spotted this little guy, who didn't run away, though I didn't try to get any closer than this. I love squirrels, but they don't make easy subjects!

The Canna lilies we saw at first didn't seem as pretty as usual, though they were still very welcoming.

The lily pads were abundant, but unfortunately, left a musty odor in the air, much like how my refrigerator smells when I return home from a two week vacation only to be reminded that I didn't use up that bunch of broccoli in the crisper drawer before leaving...

You can really see how murky the water was in some of these shots... no wonder it didn't smell fresh!

I love the fountain at Celebration. Here, I tried to shoot it from a different angle than I have before, but my timing was off, and it was barely spouting.

As we rounded the lake, I found the beautiful Cannas, and my husband, after rolling his eyes, helped me by holding one toward me so I didn't have to risk dropping my camera in the water just for the shots.

'One of the things I love, here in Florida is the very tall palms which seem to dominate the landscape in some areas, or simply stand out from the rest of the landscape in others. It's hard to get a full shot of any of them, but on this gorgeous day, I enjoyed the blue sky as a backdrop to the dramatic treeline.

Where the lake meets the marsh, my husband spotted this, and pointed it out to me.

And then he took the camera from me and decided to brave the danger for a better shot...

I appreciated the effort, but even though this gator was only about 3 feet long, he could have drawn plenty of blood if he had wanted to...

Usually, there are lots of Muscovy Ducks hanging around the lake. This day, I didn't see any other than this pair, loitering by the bench.

They aren't shy at all. They don't exactly pose for the camera, but they tolerate people well.

Isn't this hen just the sweetest thing?

I deleted a bunch of the following shots, thinking they were just out of focus, before I realized that the standing water and the reflection of it (which I'd never seen before, here) was what made it look that way.

I almost missed this guy, and was very grateful my husband pointed him out to me. I'd never seen one this close, and he let me get within just a few feet of him.