I created this short video with my photos and music. The topic is this week’s occultation of Mars. I worked a long day on Wednesday, December, 7. When I came down to the third-floor patio for an office Christmas party, I saw it and began snapping photos. It ended later in my driveway with my iPhone mounted to my telescope.

Got my hair cut today. Feels good not to have it in my eyes.

It was foggy at home last night. It felt great to be back in my digs. The fog made everything so peaceful. Looking down the street was enchanting. The light and fog made its way through the branches and twigs of the trees and shrubs in my garden. It’s such a lovely effect.

Speaks for itself, but practically a meme instead of a warning

Part 4: End

And it was the holiday season: Thanksgiving Key West style merging with a Caribbean Christmas and other celebrations. It was a time to look back and reflect on the year we had, and on the life I’ve had. It was a time to break out of molds and live in the moment. Enjoy!

Part 3

Even the seemingly common moments reflected something extraordinary in these rambunctious streets. It was peace amid the chaos of drunken cursing and boys on parade with their scooters everywhere. It was irony personified in the puddled reflections of life as it is here. It was a mirror of our strange reality.

Part 2

Inspiration led to inspiration. I experimented with reflections in the flooded streets. It’s been raining furiously in South Florida. had to drive through that to get here. It pounded my car. Out of the storm came opportunity.

The reflections kept popping up as if they said, “Look at me. I’m beautiful too.” I was obliged to heed their calls on every corner. I felt like they were models posing for me, and each one was special in its own right.

Part 1

I call this series of photos, “Reflections in the keys.” It all started in the heart of Key West around the piers and restaurants. I was walking off dinner when I looked down into the water around the yachts. What did I see? I saw some fish lurking down there in the blue.

I turned my attention to the lights of the harbor and the stars next. I captured Mars and Orion shining down on the festive holiday-lit seaport. But for a series of roads and bridges, I am out at sea. It’s glorious.

The fire blocked my way off the pier. It was a cool, misty night punctuated by raindrops, but the heat of the fire made my skin feel like it would ignite any second. A skull staring at me from the flames laughed and said, “Hope you’re a good swimmer. Watch out for the gators.”

Pick your lodgings well when you’re on the run.

This is my Fireside Chat series of deeply disturbing, bone-chilling… No, wait! Not bone chilling, bone burning photographs. Goodfright, my fiends. Sweet screams? Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!

—Count Robbin Graves

PS: The skull is cast iron and it was a gift from my sister-in-law.

Nothing like a shakshouka coming together on Shabbat: spicy, Middle-Eastern delight!

I call this series of photos, “Saturday sunrise at the Seahorse Inn.” I took them last weekend at Neptune Beach, FL from nautical dawn to just after sunrise. Yes, nautical dawn is a real term. I post series of photos like this on my social media accounts. Enjoy.