Margaret & Ian's life together, including Ian's MINIs!
We’ve had a LOT of tiny insects in the air the last few days – cooler weather seems to encourage them to fly up from Lake Apopka (I think they are midges / “blind mosquitos”); today flocks of Tree Swallows have arrived, flying every direction and catching all the insects – Hooray!
I tried to capture some photos and video, but it’s really hard with the birds changing direction so often; here’s my best attempts:
More than 10 years ago, we took a balloon ride over Florida, but tonight we watched from the ground while people took very short vertical rides at the Hamlin development, up to perhaps only 20ft! We got some good photos – especially the few times they flame-lit the whole balloon …
It was really busy there, with the cinema and Publix parking jammed full; we parked over the highway at Walmart and bravely crossed (at lights, with pedestrian crossing, luckily!)
Video, as well:
Today I met MINI friends for (late!) breakfast at Boma, then headed with Margaret to Disney Animal Kingdom where we took a safari ride and later watched the Finding Nemo show … a video today rather than photos :
Normally when we go to Disney Animal Kingdom, I take a camera with good zoom because many animals are too far away for a camera phone – but today with pouring rain when we left home, my only camera was my iPhone; and therefore it was the best one to use!
Many photos came out fine, but the highly zoomed ones look like pixel art. Still, they are animal photos (we also walked through Pandora, you’ll spot the alien foliage!):
Lunch was at Tusker House, where we met different “animals”:
Finally, here’s some video I took (also on iPhone); this is a lot more forgiving than photos – and there’s some great footage of the month old Meerkat baby …
With recent cooler weather, Manatees in central Florida head to the warmer water at Blue Spring State Park and so do many people including us today! The official count when we got there was 474 Manatees, and we were thrilled to see lots of activity too. Here’s both photos, and video …
We visited Animal Kingdom Lodge to meet friends for brunch at Boma, and to view the animals in the “safari park” area (these animals are one of the few free features of Walt Disney World!). When we arrived there were only a few birds, but after our lunch there was much more to see – including a Giraffe having its lunch!
Here’s a short video of the Giraffe having its lunch, too:
At the annual Oakland Heritage & Wildlife Festival today we had lots of craft and other tents to visit, as well as the Llama …
We also got tickets for a boat ride on Lake Apopka, with very interesting talks about the ongoing recovery of the once very polluted lake – as well as great views!
A nice day out!
If you prefer, a video presentation!
