Nassau, The Bahamas

Mickey is in town (port)

South Carolina Birds

Savannah Sparrow

Mockingbird



Carolina Chickadee



Yellow-rumped warbler

I know, I know , I have tons of cruise pictures still to post but could not resist posting these sweet little birds photos. I took all of these today at Huntington State Park. Plus, I also got loads of shore bird pictures. So, this is where all our Michigan birds go in the winter ;-)

I saw the little Savannah sparrows in the same area last April. I ran into two lady birdwatchers this morning who pointed out the Carolina Chickadee. It looks just like a Black-capped Chickadee except for a narrow white band on the wing. I never would have noticed. The Mockingbird is so bold. Posed for me. The picture of the warbler isn't a good one. It was pretty far away but I was happy to get the shot.

Love it here for birding, walking and the sea.

Brown Pelicans

Happy Christmas to all my feathered friends

Christmas in Myrtle Beach

Allison's first layer cake....good job!

Allison's Christmas gift....a compound bow.

Guns and monster energy drinks don't mix!

Let's talk guns....really!!!!

Santa came!

Carnival Fantasy

Lido Deck thru the eyes of a 15 year old

The Grand Spectrum

Serenity at night

Window on the Sea Bar and Grill

Serenity Deck...adults only

Lido Deck

Water Works

As I am going through these pictures (some taken by my daughter), I can't believe that our cruise is over. The ship was lovely and we got so spoiled. Wonderful memories. I plan on making a Shutterfly book after the holidays.

Carnival Cruise 2011 Highlights

Our ship "Fantasy" docked in Freeport
Towel animal with Allison's sunglasses...so cute

Allison, Takeshi and Amy

Yum

Ships docked in Nassau, Bahamas

Our ship

The cops. Nassau

Casino at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Nassau

John and Allison

John and friends

We had such a great time on our cruise. This is just some of the highlights. I have many, many more photos. Between my two cameras and Amy's and Allison's, we have plenty of pictures to remember our cruise.

I had some problems on our second day out to sea. It was very rocky and difficult to walk. I'm a dizzy lady anyway, so this was not fun.

We had great food for all meals with many restaurants to choose from. My favorite was the main dining room that we were assigned to...the Celebration. I loved the formal dining. Anyway we sure got our money's worth with the food. We waddled off that ship.

More on my trip later. Right now we have mountains of laundry, gifts to wrap, and holiday events to attend.Tomorrow we plan to go to Charleston for The Festival of Lights which cannot be described in words.

Allison's Christmas Concert

St. James Middle School
7th Grade Band

Slate Gray Junco

Winter is officially here when you see this little bird. I have always called it a slate gray junco but I think that they may now call it Dark Eyed Junco...I call it cute.

Crack O' Dawn Coffee Club

Fox squirell tracks
Muskrat lodge

Duck hunters

Highbush cranberries


Really had a nice morning walk with the coffee club on Saturday. It was 18 degrees when we started out but the sun was shining brightly, wind at 2 MPH. We had a nice turn out of about 18 and a great turn out of doughnuts and other sweet things too. Even walking the 2 miles didn't burn off those calories.

Saw a lot of animal tracks in the snow but when I got home I couldn't remember one from another...except my nemsis the squirell. A lot of interesting things out there even if it is winter.

Owl Prowl

Screech Owl

(stock picture from Wikipedia)

This picture is the closest I came to an owl last night on our Owl Prowl walk. We walked the Long Bark Trail along the river for about a mile or so. Periodically we stopped and called to a Screech Owl...played a tapped call. Everyone stood in a circle facing out to look in every direction for an owl. Unfortunately, last night, neither group saw an owl.

The walk was really cool though. It was about 26 degrees and no wind. With the snow on the ground and a full moon, the wood was really beautiful. I always thought that walking in the woods at night would be really creepy but it was so pretty. I guess being with 20+ other people helped. :-)

Mute Swans

I am officially done taking swan pictures...I am swanned out. For a very gloomy day, these pictures needed a little enhancement. I've taken better swan photos.

I found out that the male swan has a brighter orange beak than the female. Mute swans are an invasive species that uproot 20 pounds of aquatic plants a day. They threaten aquatic plants and native waterfowl with their aggressive behavior. There......I am done with mute swans!