Took a day trip today, south and west a bit, touring past a host of inland lakes. Surprisingly, some fairly large ones have simply dried up.

Interesting to see the diversity of landscape and human habitation. We ranged from Ocklawaha Prairie Restoration Area, down through Emeralda Marsh Conservation Area, past Leesburg, and past Eustis.

Loved this front yard the best:

Just up the road was this spread:

There were numerous farms with large, wide-open pastures for cattle and for horses. Many smaller farms had goats in their fields.

The cemetery pictured here seemed particularly suited to its task, with the huge live oak trees and their Spanish moss providing a brooding kind of shade for the headstones.

With the evening sun making its last effort, we drove out onto a point of land in the middle of Lake Griffin, and promptly spotted the heron in the tall tree, a horned owl that moved much too soon for a photo, and likewise a bald eagle. Just as we turned to leave, Robyn noticed the two logs near shore were moving! I managed to catch just the snout of one before they both submerged….