Looking back and looking forward

December 31, 2018 / Harry Selsor

Hello friends and family. The New Years Eve is upon us. The Editor and I wish to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy (and Healthy) New Year for 2019. 2018 has been a wonderful year for us. We celebrated our 40th Anniversary last week with family and friends. Had some good times (and some sorrow) as we said hello to a new nephew and farewell to loved ones and some friends too. We are looking forward to our move to the mountains and the new adventures that await us there.

I have chosen some of my favorite photos from the past year for this last weekly publication of Reflections on Broward. The winter and spring were highlighted with some amazing reflections and my first Painted Bunting. We were able to follow the Pileated Woodpecker family of Chipper and JoJo and welcome Pete and Polly and some Barred Owlets into the world. The summer saw the familiar shorebirds and a colony of Brown Pelicans establish nesting for the first time at my favorite beach at Huguenot Park. Some road trips followed with glimpses of Bald Eagles, a Belted Kingfisher, and nesting Snail Kites. The fall brought the familiar Broward Herons and Egrets that frequent the marsh.

As we prepare for our move I will only have time to publish on a monthly basis. Once we get established in our new mountain home I hope to continue a blog called Mountain Musings. Until then we wish you the Happiest New Year and all the Lord’s Blessings. Mr. Doohickey and the Editor send with all our love.

**My first capture of a Painted Bunting on the Broward**

This pair of Barred Owlets made my annual Christmas card cover..

**Who can forget welcoming Pete and Polly into the world with Chipper and JoJo..**

**Springtime brought the mating season for the birds. Wedding Veil was on of favorite images..**

**Male House Finch awaits a turn at the feeder..**

**Roseate Spoonbill bringing in nesting materials..**

Male Snail Kite bringing food (apple snail) to the nest for the young ones..

**Male Belted Kingfisher highlighted another road trip.**

**Fresh fish is what is for dinner for the Osprey family today**

**Great Blue Heron relaxing at the beach**

Brown Pelicans nested at Huguenot Beach for the first time..

**Stop and smell the flowers..young Brown Pelican ventures out..**

**Osprey keeps an eye out for an Eagle..**

**The majestic Bald Eagle, symbol of our nation..**

**Time to look forward to the coming New Year…**

**Soon the Editor and I will be flying off to new adventures in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina**

**See ya on the mountains soon I hope..**

**Until then we will be waiting on the dock and hope to see ya soon..**

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Fire on the water

December 24, 2018 / Harry Selsor

Why do some sunrises and sunsets seem so surreal with breathtaking colors while others are just another sunrise or sunset? Red sky at morning, sailors take warning…red sky at night, sailors delight. This time-tested rule of thumb has been the basis of many a forecast. Red light has a longer wavelength than the blue colors and travels faster through water laden mosit air. Thus, the red light arrives first in the mornings when going through moist air. I love to capture these moments but oftentimes if you see the red light, by the time you get your gear ready and set up it is gone and fading to orange.. Such was the case on Wednesday morning this week. The photo still was good enough to be featured on the local evening newscast though. I captioned the photo as “Fire on the water”. And true to the forecast rule, the next day was a rainy one.

While giving thanks for the amazing sight, a Hooded Merganser duck landed not far from my sunrise Doohickey set up. The “hoodies” have arrived in the area so I took a drive over to my “Secret Hoodie Hangout” to see if I could get some better photos. Several mating pairs were swimming around the far end of the hangout. A Great Blue Heron was also basking in the clear afternoon sunshine. Although the hoodies warily steered clear of me whenever I tried to get close, I managed a few keepers. Hope you enjoy them.

The Editor and I just celebrated our 40th anniversary this week, guess she plans to keep me. Blessings to all and have a very Merry Christmas from Reflections on Broward.

**Fire on the water….just missed the red glow..**

**Great Blue Heron relaxing in the afternoon sun and drying its wings**

**Mating pair of Hooded Merganser ducks,,male on the left..female on the right..**

**Handsome Male Hoodie wishing you a Blessed and Merry Christmas from Reflections on Broward.**

**Merry Christmas 2018 from Reflections on Broward**

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Fog

December 17, 2018 / Harry Selsor

Poet Carl Sandberg’s poems short but poignant prose came to the Editors memory as we stared out the window early in the morning this past week.

“The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.”

It is nearly 1 AM Saturday as I pen these words, awakened after but a few hours of sleep. I am still in a bit of a fog myself. I returned from my dear brother’s wife’s funeral in Ohio on 1 December. Upon arrival there in wintery conditions on the 27th of November, I slipped on some unseen black ice at the airport parking lot and badly bruised my rear end. A trip to the ER upon returning home to Florida later confirmed nothing was broken, only badly bruised. My leg began to turn black and blue as blood from the injury pooled down my leg. Complications from the injury caused such severe pain that I was hospitalized from 6-8 Dec but got home in time to see Navy lose to Army for the third year in a row. Next year! On Monday morning this past week my vision suddenly started to go haywire. I called for the Editor and we headed back to the ER. By the time we got to the hospital only about 5 miles away, I could barely move my arms and legs and had to be lifted out of the car. While the Editor parked the vehicle, they took me to admitting. I could barely speak or move my tongue by then. Stroke was all I could think of. The Editor was talking to someone and it felt like the left side of my face was being pulled from my skull, I could not move a muscle on my left side by then. I tried to get the Editors attention by waving my right arm, the only thing I could move. She came and laid her hand on my face and prayed. A moment later all feelings and control suddenly returned to me. I could talk again. Praise God for His touch.

The doctors said I had what is called a “Transient Ischemic Attack” or TIA. Often referred to as a mini-stroke. Unlike a stroke, there was no permanent brain damage and I should recover fully in due course. That is the good news. The not so good news is that I feel I must bring a weekly Reflections on Broward to a close this month as I recoup, and we prepare now to sell our home and start a new adventure in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Until we sell the house, I plan to publish but once a month in 2019 towards the end of the month. When we finally get settled in our new home I plan to continue my photography on a different level. I am thinking of a blog called Mountain Musings.. In the meantime, I will review the past years efforts with you. It has been my privilege and honor to share these moments and images with you the past six years. The fog of life will lift and the sun will shine again. Blessings…Harry

“The fog comes on little cat feet” (Carl Sandberg)…and covers the Broward…

Snow covered fields of Ohio where all the “fun” began…

Golden Snowy on the Broward..See, the sun did shine again!

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Piling it on..

December 10, 2018 / Harry Selsor

What is your favorite morning place? The kitchen? The porch? Lounge chair? Mine is the dock next door. A pink hue appears in the sky and gives way to the gray December dawn that greets me as I walk down the dock. There is a small lagoon that extends along the neighbor’s yards. At low tide this lagoon is a favorite feeding ground for the local marsh birds. There is an old fallen down pier with some bare pilings still exposed at the far end. All of the locals love to wait on their favorite old piling while waiting for the water level to be just right.

As they sit in the pilings I capture them in various poses and interesting expressions. Most of them let me get quite close and seem to love to pose for photos. That is what I call “piling it on”. Some of the herons have their favorite piling and won’t share or let others on their perch. The Snowy Egrets get rather expressive when a rival tries to land on or near their piling. Old Man River, the Great Blue Heron has been photographed every year on the old pier. I hope to get a close fly by soon but he does not like his photo taken and lets me know it with a loud squawk of protest before flying off. Going to miss that Old Man River.

Hope you enjoy these photos of piling smiling faces and feathers. Winter is just around the corner. Keep warm. Blessings.

**A pink glow appears as the sun struggles to climb.**

**Gray December skies greet me on the pier as dawn breaks on the Broward**

**Can’t I do my feathers without you pointing that Doohickey at me?**

**Mr Grumpy,,,,Tricolored Heron on his piling..**

**Adult Black-crowned Night Heron in a bit of a fluff..**

A graceful Great Egret on the old dock

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December morning..

December 03, 2018 / Harry Selsor

The twelfth month has arrived on the Broward. Winter is just around the corner. For us Floridians, it just means get the fireplace ready. For you folks up north, break out the snow shoes and shovels. Contrails of hope stretch across the predawn sky. Dawn breaks on the river chasing the darkness away. An Eagle flies overhead. A sign of good things to come.

A Florida “snowfall” begins to float slowly down as the Snowy Egret stretches its wings in for a graceful dock landing. It peers into the rising waters in search of food. The Tricolored Heron races down the dock to look for minnows and takes a peek too, its reflection showing surprise at the bounty below. Time for a little Snowy on the rocks. A Little Green Heron circles above and lands on the dock. It looks skyward as the sound of a Pileated Woodpecker fills the air. Something obviously perturbs the bird. It does its best impression of “Angry bird” before flying up into “The General”. The leaves on this Bald Cypress have turned hues of gold and red and will soon fall leaving the tree branches bare and stark with the coming winter winds. Hooded Merganser ducks have arrived in the area as have the Editor’s favorite Pied-billed Grebes. I hope to capture some photos of them soon.

The Editor and I are now landowners of a ridgetop lot in North Carolina near the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. We have started packing and cleaning in preparation for a new adventure soon to come. In the meantime we wish you health and happiness in the coming winter season. Let it snowy!...Blessings

**Contrails of hope stretch across the predawn sky…**

**Dawn breaks chasing the darkness away on this early December morning. Beats shoveling snow ehh?**

**Florida “Snowfall”. A Snowy Egret floats down to the dock…**

**Tricolored Heron wings by heading for the dock**

**Tricolored Heron racing down the dock to get morning minnows…**

**A Little Green Heron lands on the dock and is perturbed by the noise of the woodpecker**

**I am gonna whoop some tail feathers !**

**I know you are in here Mr Woodpecker….oh when I catch you…!**

**The General, a Bald Cypress in fall foilage..It was a 3 ft sapling when we planted it, now over 30 feet tall**

**Snowy on the rocks…ya’ll keep warm now!**

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Reflections on Broward is now "Mountain Musings"

Looking back and looking forward

Fire on the water

Fog

Piling it on..

December morning..