I hurried to get to the Naples Botanical Garden this week because it was a foggy morning. The fog provided a very different context for observing and experiencing the garden. It was quiet, inviting me to also be quiet. The normally sunny garden with bright flowers and foliage was now shrouded in a blue-grey veil.

Familiar walks were softer, and more inviting in an unusual way.

Walk through the lily ponds.

And as the sun tried to break through this veil of mist, it created silvery water.

The biggest surprise was the spider webs. They were everywhere, and probably always are. But this morning they were strung with crystals.

Two people stopped me to say there were lots of birds in the wetland area so I went in that direction. The lower water levels make these wetlands a popular place for the wading birds to fish. The fog produced an atmosphere of awe as I watched birds wade and skim the water as they moved from place to place.

The fog created in me an increased understanding of, respect for, the grasslands being their home and I was a visitor. As a birder said to me as he pointed out interesting specimens, it is all about the water in southern Florida. Water is our context.

Sue, who posts her interesting photos and stories at A Word in Your Ear, posted the word Context this week. You can check out how others interpreted this work at:

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-context/