A marvelous live oak tree Quercus virginiana) is festooned with resurrection ferns (Pleopeltis polypodioides).
Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
Flagler County, Florida, USA.
9 September 2026.
Bobby Watson & Horizon: Heckle and Jeckle
Framed by saw palmetto, a lone ghost tree stands, sered, in a salty tidal marsh of the Matanzas Inlet estuary.
St. Johns County (Palm Coast), Florida, USA.
9 September 2026.
The Matanzas Inlet is a narrow, partially saltwater channel in the U.S. state of Florida — 14 miles (23 km) south of the city of St. Augustine — between two barrier islands and the mainland, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the southern end of the Matanzas River estuary, comprising a coastal scrub environment and maritime forest. Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Matanzas Inlet is the last remaining natural, or undredged, inlet on Florida's Atlantic coast.— Wikipedia.
A ghost forest is a coastal woodland characterized by widespread tree mortality as a result of saltwater intrusion and land submergence. Ghost forests commonly form when sea level rise, tectonic subsidence, or storm-driven coastal flooding increases soil salinity beyond the tolerance of freshwater tree species.The formation of ghost forests changes the surrounding ecology, often changing the deciduous forests into saltwater marshes or tidal wetlands.— Wikipedia.
Weather Report: Blackthorn Rose
This shot was an afterthought. The bench was small, but it seemed to invite a tarry, a cooler anodyne for a humid summer day.
City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA.
7 September 2026.
On 13 September 2026, Flickr selected this image for inclusion in its daily Explore feature (374th of 500 chosen).
Miles Davis: It Never Entered My Mind
The ~0.6-mile-long John Ringling Causeway spans Sarasota Bay between the City of Sarasota (to the east) and Bird Key (to the west). The bay lies between barrier islands on the the Gulf of MEXICO and the western Florida coast.
Sarasota, Florida, USA.
6 October 2019 (8:05 am EDT)
And, yes, it's that Ringling! In 1927, John Ringling moved the headquarters of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to Sarasota.
Roy Haynes: Equipoise (composer: Stanley Cowell)
Tree in morning sun.
Lakeside Park: St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 4 September 2025 (7:38 am EDT)
I was leaving a sunrise photoshoot in the park's sculpture garden, and I paused in the parking lot to glance back at Lake Anhinga. I saw this: the morning sun backlighting the branches of a perimeter tree, reflected on the lake. An afterthought had become a highlight. (Photographic moral of the story: don't forget to look behind you!)
Ahmad Jamal: Poinciana
Album: At the Pershing: But Not For Me (Label: Argo, 1958)
A coquina rock is battered by the Atlantic Ocean surf, captured in a photograph at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in Palm Coast, Florida, on September 6, 2025, at 8:21 a.m. EDT.
This boulder is part of a ¾-mile-long coquina rock formation, the second-largest of its kind along the east coast of North America. The largest formation is located further south on a barrier island in Jupiter, Florida, Blowing Rock Preserve.
— Florida State Parks.Coquina rock is a type of sedimentary rock (specifically limestone), formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of mineral and organic particles on the floor of bodies of water at the Earth's surface. The coquina rocks at Washington Oaks are part of the Anastasia formation —stretching from the city of St. Augustine to Palm Beach County — that was created during the Pleistocene era (12,000 - 2.5 million years ago). Lower sea levels allowed slightly acidic rainwater to dissolve calcium carbonate in millions of exposed shells. This process effectively bonded the shells to the sand, resulting in the creation of rocks that solidified over time.
One characteristic of coquina rocks is the regular, perfectly cylindrical holes in many sections of a formation, formed by erosion of rock by rainwater. These weathered formations create shallow tidal pools that support crabs, sea snails, anemones, and other small marine life The word 'coquina' is Spanish for 'cockle' and is the name given to Donax variabilis, a small, burrowing clam that lives in the sand just at the ocean’s edge, and is the main shell component of the rock.
Sunrise took place at 7:04 a.m. EDT; I didn't capture this photo until 8:21, an hour and seventeen minutes later. Why the delay? When I arrived at the park entrance at 6:30, the gates were locked. Florida state parks don't open until 8 a.m. The moral of the story? Do your research.
And yet, a beautiful moment to experience.
Thelonius Monk: Brilliant Corners
Album: Brilliant Corners (Label: Riverside)
Recorded 1956; released 1957.
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
Gulls fly by, as a waxing gibbous moon, 89% illuminated, rises over an Atlantic Ocean beach at sundown
City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 4 September 2025 (7:47 p.m. EDT).
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
Album: Maiden Voyage (Label: Blue Note, 1965)
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
A patinated bronze statue of a Catholic missionary beseeches heaven. Beyond, a nearly 200-foot-tall stainless-steel 'Great Cross' gleams golden in late-afternoon sun.
Mission Nombre de Dios: St. Augustine, Florida, USA.
3 September 2025.
— National Park Service (pdf)Mission Nombre de Dios (Name of God) is a Catholic mission founded in 1587 in St. Augustine, Florida, on the west side of Matanzas Bay. It is likely the oldest extant mission in the continental United States. The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, the oldest shrine in the southeast U.S., is located on the mission grounds.
The mission traces its origins to September 8, 1565, when Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed with a band of settlers, including a Catholic chaplain, Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales. The mission would serve the colonists and nearby villages of the Mocama, a Native American tribe.
The 'Great Cross' was dedicated in October 1966 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the mission's founding. It is made of stainless steel and towers 208 feet above the Matanzas marshes. An eleven-foot-tall bronze statue of Father López stands in front, created in 1958 by Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), a Croatian sculptor (then dean of Art at Notre Dame University, in South Bend, Indiana, USA).
— Wikipedia.
Donald Byrd: Cristo Redentor
Album: A New Perspective (Label: Blue Note)
Released 1964; recorded 1963.
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
Españolas (2010)
painted concrete
— Marianne Lerbs
St. Augustine Sculpture Garden:
City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA.
12 September 2025.
St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental United States, established by Spanish explorers in 1565. The sculpture garden, established in 2010, sits just beyond the city's southeastern border, in St. Augustine Beach, a suburban-esque town of mid-20th-century vintage.
I first made the acquaintance of these charming ladies on a visit to St. Augustine in 2018 and took their portraits. One could easily envision female colonists of the 1700s, 'Las Españolas,' leisurely strolling on Sundays, their parasols in hand, evoking the imagery captured by the sculptor.
I wasn't overly pleased with my effort, so I returned seven years later, in 2015, to try again. The park looked a bit worn, in need of care, and the sculpture's plaque was missing. Nevertheless, 'en alborada,' the ladies appeared particularly resplendent. Felicitaciones!
I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, during the sixties. Now in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, I am a multidisciplinary artist, painter, muralist, and sculptress, a college-level art instructor, and a recipient of 'Artist in Residence' grants.— Marianne Lerbs
I have participated several times in Jacksonville's Cultural Council Art in Public Programs, developing murals, banners, and large art panels. I have designed and executed large mosaic murals for the Florida Museum of Natural History. I recently completed [in 2009] three monumental sculptures for the St. Augustine Sculpture Garden in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.
Album: Light as a Feather (Label: Polydor)
Released 1973; recorded 1972.
The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle") is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, built by the Spanish to protect the city. The Castillo is a masonry star fort made of a stone called coquina (Spanish for "small shells"), which consists of ancient shells that have bonded together to form a sedimentary rock similar to limestone. Construction began in 1672 and was completed in 1695, though the structure would undergo many alterations and renovations over the centuries. Native Americans from Spain's nearby missions did most of the labor, with additional skilled workers brought in from Havana, Cuba.— Wikipedia.
In 1924, the Castillo (then named Fort Marion) was declared a U.S. National Monument. In 1933, the National Park Service assumed responsibility. In 1942, the original name, Castillo de San Marcos, was restored.— National Park Service pamphlet.
St. Augustine is a city on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years.— Wikipedia.
The waning gibbous moon set as the sun rose, over the St. Augustine Lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida, USA, on 5 July 2023 (7:06 am EDT).
Missed it by thaat much. Only two days earlier, the 'Buck' moon had been a full 'supermoon.' That's the price of a vacation itinerary!
The St. Augustine Light Station is a privately maintained aid to navigation and an active, working lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida. It stands at the north end of Anastasia Island and was built between 1871 and 1874. The current lighthouse tower, original first-order Fresnel lens and the Light Station grounds are owned by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc., a not-for-profit maritime museum.— Wikipedia.
The St. Augustine Light Station consists of the 165-foot (50 m) 1874 tower, the 1876 Keepers' House, two summer kitchens added in 1886, a 1941 U.S. Coast Guard barracks, and a 1936 garage that was home to a jeep repair facility during World War II. The site is also a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather station. The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
The tower, however is the second lighthouse tower in St. Augustine, the first being lit officially by the American territorial government in May 1824 as Florida's first lighthouse. However, both the Spanish and the British governments operated a major aid to navigation here including a series of wooden watch towers and beacons dating from 1565.
The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (Trachemys scripta elegans) is a subspecies of the pond slider (Trachemys scripta), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. The red-eared slider is native from the Midwestern United States to northern Mexico, but has become established in other places because of pet releases, and has become invasive in many areas where it out-competes native species. The turtle gets its name from the small, red stripe around its ears, or where its ears would be, and from its ability to slide quickly off rocks and logs into the water.— Wikipedia.
To the north [of Fort Mosé], there is a rookery, a nesting colony of gregarious birds, such as wood storks, egrets, and herons. These birds showcase their breeding plumage from mid-March through July. One of the largest birds to nest in this area is the wood stork [a large American wading bird]. This area is ideal for nesting because the changing water level reveals higher concentrations of fish during lower tides. Females lay two to five eggs, which both parents incubate for about one month. A pair of nesting wood storks and their young need approximately 443 pounds of fish during the breeding season to survive.— Fort Mosé placard
In the 1930s, there were an estimated 20,000 breeding pairs of wood storks [in Florida]; today, the population is approximately 8,000. The numbers have declined drastically, mainly from loss of feeding grounds due to land development, logging, and draining.
Fort Mose Historic State Park is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had the fort established as a free black settlement, the first to be legally sanctioned in what would become the territory of the United States.— Wikipedia.
The park is located on the edge of a salt marsh on the western side of the waterway separating the mainland from the coastal barrier islands. The original site of the 18th-century fort was uncovered in a 1986 archeological dig. The 24-acre (9.7 ha) site is now protected as a Florida State Park.It was designated a US National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994.
Quercus virginiana —also known as the southern live oak— is an evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States and the lower coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South.— Wikipedia.
Depending on the growing conditions, live oaks vary from a shrub-size to large and spreading tree-size: typical open-grown trees reach 66 feet in height (20 m), with a limb spread of nearly 89 feet (27 m). Their lower limbs often sweep down towards the ground before curving up again. The southern live oak has a deep taproot that anchors it when young and eventually develops into an extensive and widespread root system. This, along with its low center of gravity and other factors, makes the southern live oak extremely resistant to strong sustained winds, such as those seen in hurricanes.
The bark is dark, thick, and furrowed longitudinally. The leaves are stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray. Although live oaks retain their leaves nearly year-round, they are not true evergreens. Live oaks drop their leaves immediately before new leaves emerge in the spring.
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