Pictures - Old and New

Today I scanned in four more items; these are all old pictures. I think I took two of them and my dad Harold took the other two. The common theme is vehicles. I guess they did not fit in to any previous scan groupings in my simple matrix. I lie, it is a complex matrix. I have scanned almost 6,000 photographs and still have more to do. I am getting down to the oddballs like these four...

The first picture was taken by me in 1983. It is a shuttle launch but I am not positive which one. I am guessing the April launch of Shuttle Challenger. What makes this particular photo unique is where I was at launch time. Most launches I went to were NASA passes that got you up close on NASA owned property. This was an Air Force pass which got you onto the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now it is Air Space Station.)  It was actually the closest place the public was allowed. They stopped using it after, this shuttle, blew up in 1986. We were to the SSE of the pad. It was a beautiful launch.

The second picture was taken by my dad from behind his trailer next to the Pineda Causeway in Melbourne Florida. That is the Goodyear Blimp, flying very low. That bridge is US 1 going over the causeway. I am guessing it was after a Daytona race. It is marked as 1983.

The third picture is the Shuttle Enterprise being lifted off a 747 that brought it to Kennedy Space Center. It is a Polaroid and dad, who took the picture,  marked the back with the date April 13, 1979. I was just about to graduate from the University of Vermont. My dad had taken my mom and niece Lori to see this. They were on the end of the shuttle landing runway. Enterprise never went into space, but it did glide to earth a few times. In 1984, I saw it at the Worlds Fair in New Orleans.

The fourth picture was taken by me. The vehicles are sailboats in a harbor. I was on a 38 foot sailboat named Excor, owned by my friend Peter Fortunato. I had sailed with Captain Peter from Port Canaveral and one of our stops was a place called Hopetown, on Elbow Cay, in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas. It was May of 1992. On this trip, I would fly back to Florida (West Palm) from Marsh Harbour after my two weeks was up. Peter continued the trip with other people. Side note, my dentist has a painting of this lighthouse in his waiting room.

 

Last week I scanned a parade that was held in downtown Melbourne Florida during the Melbourne Art Festival. They stopped having the Saturday night parade but it use to be a lot of fun. This was the 1993 parade. The Mayor was there...

My friend Roger Williams was in costume on a unicycle, juggling. I like the stripes...

There was a bagpipe band...

Other people in costumes including Pinhead...

A lady on her bed....

Am Earth Day advocate...

And traditionally, MAF always has a pink flamingo on the official poster, and back then, in the parade...

So, as my inventory of old pictures grows and I create a digital backup, my digital inventory continues to progress, as I take new pictures almost every day. Here are a few from today.

We have been very dry in Florida with no rain for a long time. I mowed a very brown lawn this morning and then watered my plants and garden. While watering my jasmine, I noticed a weird white color among the dark brown branches. Here is a picture...

Upon a closer look, I could see it was a snake skin. I am pretty sure it is one of the black racers I have hanging around. They are good because they eat bad things. Some more detail...

I decided to pull it from the bush and see how long it was. Just over two feet. The one in the house last fall was just over four feet. This must be it's baby.

The jasmine is blooming and smells great at night...here are a few blossoms...

My neighbor has a wonderful garden and these Ferrari red amaryllis just started to bloom. Beautiful!

In my backyard I have these little tiny daises. Weeds. Each flower is about the size of a thumbnail. I was taking a few photos of the blooms when a tiny butterfly made a visit. It was tromping around the pollen like a puppy in dewy grass...so cute but so little...

I mentioned I watered the garden. I just planted these a few weeks ago. They are cherry tomatoes. Looks like some fruit has already come out...

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, both old and new!!