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).
Perched only a few yards from a boardwalk over a wetland, a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) was warily observing me from over its shoulder...but obligingly remained posed for the camera.
South Peachtree Creek PATH in Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 16 August 2025.
Danny Gatton: Sky King
Album: Cruisin' Deuces (Label: Elektra, 1993)
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.
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
Close-up blossom: just one in a riot of orange jewelweed wildflowers blooming on a woodland trail.
Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 21 August 2025.
— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.Impatiens capensis — commonly known as jewelweed, orange jewelweed, touch-me-not — is an annual plant in the Balsaminaceae family, native to North America, growing in moist soil including forests, streambanks, and bogs.
Jewelweed is a herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 5 feet tall (0.9–1.5 m), branching extensively. The leaves are ovate, with shallow, rounded teeth on the margins. The plant blooms from late spring to early fall. The flowers are orange (sometimes yellow), ¾ to 1¼ inches long (2 to 3 cm), with a three-lobed corolla[collection of petals in a flower, sometimes in the form of a tube.]
The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence, triggered by a light touch, hence the name 'touch-me-not.' Dew or rain beads on the leaves forming sparkling droplets that give rise to the common name of 'jewelweed.' "
— Wikipedia.
***************Charles Mingus: Orange Was the Color of Her Dress then Blue Silk-----more-----
Album: Revenge! The Legendary Paris Concerts (Label: Revenge. Released: 1996; recorded 1964)
Since 1997, Cask Marque has been ensuring that the cask ale you drink in pubs in the U.K. has been in perfect condition. Qualified ass...
" 
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