The Disappearing Lights

Dateline Venice Florida

And we haven't quite missed all the Christmas lights. Florida, in its own Florida way, is good at Christmas lights, if you can suspend a little disbelief. Here are the palm trees along Venice Avenue, all decked out in strange, headless wonder.

Sadly, though, the light display at the arboretum had been turned off for the season. Remember it from last year?  I was sorry to miss that and thought it a bit of a poor show to turn it off the day after New Year. But never mind. I discovered another interesting display, which seemed to be concentrating on the wonders of the natural world.

With special emphasis on Florida's own beloved fauna

And various things sea-related

The blue water was a nice touch

Maybe this is meant to be one of the notorious Burmese pythons currently laying waste to the Everglades

And of course there had to be one of these - but what's that behind it?

See below. I'm not sure where he fits in but this chap is more like it.

Here's a little taste of the New Year's Eve fireworks on the beach

I found a nice peaceful spot to watch, in the company of a grandma and two small boys excitedly blowing party trumpets. We got chatting and one of them looked at me earnestly and asked, "Did you arrive from a foreign country".
  Meanwhile, here's another shot of the headless palms.

And a classic Florida front garden Christmas spread.

At least in this one, Santa isn't wearing beach gear.

And here's a rather lovely crib scene in someone else's front garden.

Make the most of it. Soon it'll all be gone and time to get ready for the next big seasonal extravaganza. Though if we're talking about Easter, we've got plenty of all-too-real bunnies here, busily munching on my flowers. They're worse than the western New York deer. If it's not one thing it's another.