Pastoral Ponies Post

Monday, as I was racing to St. Augustine on a tight deadline, early morning light bathed both a bald eagle in a dead pine and the pasture below in that perfect golden hue that makes us get up early for morning shots.

Unfortunately, I had to be in St. Augustine on time for a change. Dad was having a wee bit of surgery and I was the driver.

So, cursing myself for not budgeting some stop and shoot time, I blew past both photo ops.

On the way home yesterday afternoon, the sky had gone from crystal clear to scudding clouds and I figured I would not get a second chance on this trip.

As I approached Hatchet Creek Farm, the clouds made stopping seem like a waste of time, so I drove past.
A mile down the road, the clouds parted and the sky gap seemed big enough to give me a few moments of decent light, so I pulled over and swung the JEEP back around the way I had come.


I pulled into the farm driveway and parked to the side so I would not block anyone coming or going. Then I hopped out with my monopod and camera and shot a bazillion pics over the fence for as long as the cloud hole gave me some sunshine.

I was so glad I didn't talk myself out of turning around and going back for photos.

How many great photos do we miss when we rush or talk ourselves out of a ten minute stop?

The lilies in the field look like Atamasco lilies to me. They are blooming along roadsides right now and I even have a little patch of the here at PFHQ, but I have never seen them massed like this pasture at Hatchet Creek Farm.

It's nothing short of spectacular.

Toss in a handful of pretty miniature horses and ... well, pastures just don't get any prettier.

Thank you Hatchet Creek, for allowing a pasture of wildflowers to thrive and bloom each spring.

... and GO GATORS!