Two pictures for Sue.

First one : That's so Florida!



Because it's so swampy, almost every neighbourhood in Florida has to have one of these retention ponds. They put the fountains in to keep the water circulating and stop it from getting icky. This is the one in our sub-division. Sophs took this picture on her camera, which doesn't zoom, so you can't see it too clearly, but, on the bank to the left of the concrete thingy, the brown splodge in the grass is actually the alligator who lives in the pond. This one, at around 4 feet including its tail, is deemed too small to be a problem; when it gets big enough the animal control people will come and put it in Lake Jesup - a large, alligator-filled lake not too far from here. Lake-front property is really cheap there.

We took the picture from a little pavilion by the lake, a cautious distance away from the alligator. It seemed very tranquil and placid, lying there in the sun, but when it eventually jumped into the water it moved unnervingly fast and violently.

And second one : a hurricane picture.



These people live down the road from us, and still haven't unboarded their house. Either they are major-league procrastinators, or they're super-cautious and have decided to leave the boards up till the hurricane season has ended. It must be awfully dark inside there.