We are back!

Sunset, Mallory Square Key West

Oh, I forgot ... We were Away
I should mentioned that we were away for the last month.

Back to the Cold

I love winter in New England, but this year, Susan and I decided to escape the worst of the season and head south for some much-needed warmth, and an early glimpse of spring green.  March is the time of year when the winter dark begins to show its earliest hints of fading, but it is also the time when the persistent cold, snow and sleet becomes increasingly hard to bare.  Now that we are both retired, we realized we could just get out of town and come back, whenever.

Roanoke Market

We had a great trip and I came home with over 4,000 pictures.  Many of the green landscape but mostly of animals, especially a great variety of birds.  Yes, I am a birder now.  But there was a problem.

Keeping the Secret

Florida Sunrise, Hollywood

Every evening, as I uploaded more fantastic images, I was desperate to share our experiences with pictures on Facebook, but there was a problem.  This was not the first time that we were worried about publicizing to the world that our house was empty, but this time we were away for a whole month.  As always, we had arranged for someone to stay in the house for many of the nights and our trusty local contractor kept the driveway clear.  Jason also came by for regular checks on the property.

Everglades Croc

 
Despite all these precautions, I still decided to avoid direct references to our absence, no blogs, no posts and no images.  It killed me to publish generic blogs, while I was seeing such amazing stuff.  Of course, I couldn't keep entirely silent.  I referred friends to a gallery of a few images on my web site, with the marginally cryptic title of “Search for Warmth”.  I trusted that the standard issue burglar would not venture that far down on my front page in search of prime targets.  


 

Ringbill at Dawn, St Augustine Florida

 Our plan worked and we returned to an intact house and the shock of frigid cold and blustery winds.  We considered turning around to head south again, but the van was due back.  To get me through the mud and stick season, I have the consolation of thousands of warm weather images requiring my attention.
 

The Trip

Kure Beach Sunset, Wilmington North Carolina

Susan is a master travel planner and she knows the cravings of my photographer’s eye.  She scheduled a month long, warmth seeking, tour along the coast as far south as Key West, planning visits with friends and family along the way. We packed all my camera gear and a full range of clothing, winter to summer, into our rented minivan.  The southbound itinerary included stops in Roanoke Virginia and Savannah Georgia, on our way to spending a few days with Sue’s college roommate in Hollywood Florida.

Key West Lighthouse

We spent the majority of our trip in Florida, mostly exploring both sides of the Everglades and relaxing for five nights in a quiet Key West condo oasis.  Key West is lovely and we were nicely shielded from the craziness of the spring break “thuglets” that roamed the bars on Duval Street.

White Egret Naples, Florida

Our trip back home included stays with friends and family around Naples on Florida’s west coast.  In addition to enjoying the beaches and nature preserves, we had the opportunity to see the criminally opulent seaside mansions of so many of the one percenters.  All during a time when we are told that we don’t have enough money to provide food or basic healthcare to our most vulnerable.

Everglades Osprey

St Johns Ruins, Harpers Ferry WV

On the way north we stopped for a quick tour of Saint Augustine and a morning in a pleasantly deserted Harpers Ferry Virginia.  The park’s empty streets made it easy to be transported back the town’s  turbulent 19th century past.

Quick Meal, Young White Ibis

It is good to be home.  I am excited about the impending spring, and I have shows to prepare, the spring and summer course and workshop schedule to finalize and, of course, a boatload of images to edit!





 

Appledore Sunset, Key West Florida

I have so much more to share from this trip, sunrises and sunsets, interesting architecture, lush landscape and most importantly a wide variety of fauna.  And of course, much thanks for the wonderful hospitality from; Joanie and Allen, Judy, Mark and Joan, Mark and Veronica, and Larry and Evelyn.  

It feels SO good to finally get out a few of my pictures from this wonderful adventure.  More to come, but in the meantime, you can follow my editing progress in my “Searching for Warmth” Gallery.  

Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com