Missed the train, got soaking wet, and I'm the very picture of happiness

I missed a train today through sheer stupidity .

Ginny & I spent a wonderful day together snapping photos along half the length of Jacksonville’s Northbank Riverwalk so that we can post the pictures on my website, cowart.info ,when we’ve finished our survey.

The riverwalk passes over the railroad tracks right where the trains cross the St. Johns River next to the new Acosta Bridge. I heard the siren alerting boaters that the drawbridge was going down. I heard a train coming. I rushed up the ramp and positioned my borrowed camera so the train would pass directly beneath my feet. I snapped dramatic photo after photo as the engine approached head-on. Two guys in the engine waved to me as I snapped close-ups of the engine.

Greatest train photos ever taken --

Except, as I realized later, I had not turned on the digital camera!

I only got one lousy picture of the tail end of the train on the bridge.

Not only did I miss the train, but I got soaking wet as I tried to get a picture of a fountain. Now I know what the zoom lenses is for.

So much for disasters.

Now for the good stuff:

I did get lovely photos of the Riverwalk, the loggerhead shrike’s nest, Jacksonville’s skyline, and Ginny’s long hair blowing in the wind.

We visited a unique home downtown and took photos of this beautiful dwelling for posting on my website in April. I think it’s Jacksonville’s most charming home.

Then we drove out to Silver Star, our favorite Chinese restaurant, where we chanced to meet Peggy, a friend we have not seen since long before Christmas, and we enjoyed playing catch-up and I snapped a picture of her against a background of Chinese decorations.

Next, we drove to a swamp where we took photos of marshlands and waterways to make the book cover for my novel, Glog, a tale about a sentient dinosaur who eats muskrats, illuminates manuscripts and prays to his Creator -– mostly about catching more muskrats .

While we were in the marsh, we saw a pair of swallows, a bird we have seldom seen in Florida. And we saw the dorsal fin of a large fish breaking the water as it chased a school of smaller fish for close 50 yards right on the surface .

A thrilling happy day in which we accomplished a lot and enjoyed being together .