Endings and Beginnings

Yesterday I noticed a huge flock of buzzards circling overhead. There were hundreds of the big black birds hovering right over our building - waiting - or maybe signaling the end?


Out in the backyard by the pond, this blue heron also seemed to be waiting.

Down on Fort Myers Beach we witnessed beginnings. Sunset on New Year's Eve seems to be the time to get married. There were several barefoot ceremonies in the sand.

This wedding was set up just a few feet from where we were sitting near Bowditch Park. They used the boardwalk entrance to the beach as the isle for the bride and decorated it with plastic pointsetta flowers. The bride kicked off her gold flip-flops as she stepped on to the sand.

Another couple was waiting in the wings to use the same plastic arch and plastic chairs. Neither couple seemed to mind people walking by or the families with lots of kids playing in the surf nearby.

Up the beach a way another couple was married with Jimmy Buffet music in the background.

This photo-grapher was waiting to get the perfect picture of the last sunset sunset of 2008. So was I.

A sail boat came by at the magic moment. I almost wondered if it was planned.

We celebrated the endings and beginnings with raw oysters, cold beer and the out-of-tune music of a local singer at SOB's (Smokin Oyster Bar) before heading home to sleep through the midnight hour and all the fireworks that signal the New Year here in Fort Myers. Maybe next year I'll stay up and get pictures.