Islands And Alligators In The Stream, Clouds, And Good Statues

...Continued fro yesterday:    
     Here are some things that I didn't know about Florida before my visit: 
     1.  There's water, water, everywhere, not just along the island-ringed seacoast, but inland, as well.  
       2.  Florida is a big sponge with water seeping out of the sponge-holes.
       3.  Any body, large or small, of fresh water in Florida is fair game for  alligators.
      4.  Alligators are not aggressive and will not bother you if you don't bother them. But this I did not believe. Hence everywhere we walked around the island of Lido Key I thought I saw an alligator.

     This turned out to be a big fish,

​...this was a little island of brush,

...this a bird,

​...this a dolphin statue,

...and this, my sister assured me, not a newborn baby alligator.

     In truth, the only actual alligator I saw on the island was this one at the Mote Marine Aquarium (see yesterday's post),

...whom I strongly sensed was trying to think of a way to get out of that pen and get me.

     5. Above the beautiful Florida palms float the most magnificent clouds I've ever seen.  So I developed a dual-Florida obsession, of which I couldn't stop snapping pictures: 

      Palm trees,

...and clouds.

     Too bad the place is crawling with alligators.

      6. If you'd like to see some nice statues, some good statues that don't carry any more weight than the stone they're made of, come to St. Armands Circle, the island center within the island of Lido Key (See post from 8/29/2017).

         St. Armands is Statue Central.

 There are statues are everywhere,

     But rather than being monuments to valor or virtue, real, imagined, or debatable,

...these statues are pieces of art paying tribute to  mythology.

​...which is maybe what all the statues we erect really are doing anyway.