Between Water and Wild
Lake Louisa this evening. The shoreline noticeably different, water levels really low. I walked along the edge, flushing damselflies as I went. With the water pulled back, so many cypress trees are exposed now, and you can get much further out than before, just wrapping around the shoreline. Tiny frogs along the lake’s edge, and a gator or two somewhere in the distance making their presence known. No swimming anymore… an algae bloom has been observed. Further on through, blackbird, and a red-shouldered hawk. Crickets starting to chirp as the evening settles in.
The cypress trunks really stood out… beautiful structures. Some hollow, others worn down to stumps. Grasses and Spanish moss moving in the wind. It’s breezy, warm and peaceful. Mosquitoes still trying to land on you. Ground is soft and wet, glad I wore boots. Many clumps of Bog Buttons along wet shore. So very small and delicate, hard to photograph in the breeze. There are 5 species of them in Florida.
I came across markings in the sand. There was a heart, a star, and two initials with a plus sign between them. A universal message of love left behind.
Even with water levels lower, it’s still not easy to get a clean composition. There’s always something in a way. A branch, a stump, something breaking a frame. Just how it is in Florida… layered, busy, a little (or a lot) chaotic. It still somehow all comes together in its own way.
