Friendly Fisherman Lighthouse

One of the forums I belong to is called, DPS (Digital School of Photography). They have weekly assignments and this week's assignment was, "Bird's Eye View". Last week, you may remember was "Worm's Eye View".

Again, I didn't want to do the obvious by shooting down from my high-rise building, nor did I want to shoot down a flight of stairs. I've seen too many of those and they're posted all over the internet. I'm trying to see things from a different angle.

This particular lighthouse is fake. It sits atop the Friendly Fisherman Restaurant at John's Pass in Madeira Beach, FL. John's Pass is a natural pass caused by a hurricane that separated  Madeira Beach from Treasure Island.

It has since become a popular attraction that both tourists and locals visit often. There are many restaurants and shops on the boardwalk, and I took advantage of that by going up to the top of the parking garage to get above the "lighthouse" to see a "Bird's Eye View" of this beautiful place.

Dinghy on the Rocks

This little dinghy just sat here all alone on these rocks with nothing else in sight. It just goes to show how trusting people are in northern New England.

The chain that's holding it isn't strong enough to keep someone from stealing it, yet it just sits there. In the big cities, it wouldn't last an hour, let alone for however long it's been there.

Cities have become unsafe to live in. I can remember as a kid my parents never locked the door, never locked the car, and we lived in a project. In those days, a project was a great place to grow up. There were always other kids to play with, activities planned for after school, weekends and school vacations at the community center. There was always something to do. In the summer it was play ball, roller skate and play outside; in the winter it was ice skating, sledding, snowball fights. What a different world we live in today.

We feared and respected our teachers, the police and our parents. Our mothers stayed at home and made us tole the line. If we got in trouble with our teacher, we not only got whacked by the teacher, our parents whacked us on top of it. Today, mothers are forced to work to make ends meet, and there are no activities for kids after school planned. We yell back at our teachers, our parents and have no respect for authority. When did all this happen? No wonder we're a mess!