03-17-2017: Back Home Again

We arrived at our house at 10:30 on Friday.  The nor’easter that hit the area Tuesday and Wednesday set all kinds of records for snowfall.  We had followed the storm on the Weather Channel so we knew the snow would be piled high and would require a lot of work to clear.

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Arriving home – driveway entrance

We couldn’t even see the entrance to the driveway.  The town snowplows had made a mountain of snow that was nearly shoulder high.  My plan was to climb the mountain of snow and walk up the driveway to the garage to get the snowblower.  Then I could clear a path down the driveway so that Christine could get to the house while I cleared the driveway.

Climbing the mountain was harder than I thought.  I kept sinking with each step, but eventually, I got over the mountain.  Then I had to make my way up the driveway.  Someone had walked up the driveway at some point, so I was lucky to be able to step in someone else’s foot holes.  I learned later that our neighbor Gary got worried about us during the storm, having seen no activity, and walked up to ring the doorbell to see if we were okay.  How nice of him to do that.  Next time we leave on a trip we probably ought to tell at least one of the neighbors.

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Making my way up the driveway

I made it up the driveway and was able to get the garage door open and the snowblower started.  The height of the snow was about 22 inches.  With the sun yesterday apparently about 8 inches of snow had receded since the overall storm total in our area was about 31 inches.  But even still, what we faced was a lot of snow.

A lot of snow
A lot of snow

I did come down the driveway with the snowblower, which really taxed the poor thing.  The width of the blower is 24 inches and the snow was a little higher than its mouth, so it had to work really hard to clear a whole 24 inches in the first swatch down the driveway.

Then came the mountain at the end of the driveway.  That was a considerable challenge!  It took about 10 minutes for the snowblower to break through the mountain (this video will take a while to load).

But eventually, I was able to cut through the mountain.

Our mail, which had been held by the post office, was delivered on Thursday, so it was in the mailbox, which had been pushed sideways by the snowplows.

Christine collected the mail and made it up to the house.  She then helped to shovel near the front door.  Manually shoveling was very difficult due to the weight of the snow.  She also helped a great deal with breaking up the mountain at the end of the driveway by slicing off chunks and chopping them up so the snowblower could more easily clear the snow.  That was a really big help.  Again, I thank God I have that big, honkin’ snowblower!

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View from inside the breezeway

You can see the indentation of the front door panels in the snow from inside the breezeway.  And I don’t think I’ll be grilling anytime soon.

Grill on side deck
Grill on side deck

After we shoveled and blew for about 4 hours, with the sun helping to melt the snow, we got the driveway cleared (for the most part).  And the car was in the garage.

The reward of our efforts
The reward of our efforts

Suffice to say, we were exhausted, but happy to be home and in the house.

And that brings to a close this adventure.  We’ll be staying home now until July and we hope to be catching up on yard work at the house this spring.  I never did get the flower beds in shape after being away until July last year and missing spring entirely.  When the snow melts, we’ll be out getting dirt under of fingernails.  Can’t wait!  And also, we plan to get to the cottage early and get some projects started there.  We have a lot to look forward to.  I’ll try to post some progress reports on how the backyard is looking during spring.  We do have some lovely flowers and shrubs.

Thanks for going with us on our adventure.  I wish you all a happy spring!

 

 

 

03-16-2017: Last Days of Our Trip

We ended our visit with Shirley last Tuesday.  She had a YAG laser procedure on her eye early in the morning and I drove her back home from it.  It was nice to be able to be there for her.  After we returned to her condo, Christine and I packed up and took some last minute photos.  One was of this gigantic lemon that Shirley had.  Deeny had told us about a super lemon called a Meyer’s lemon and said it was much larger than a regular lemon.  Well, Shirley’s lemon was certainly a monster lemon.

BIG lemon
BIG lemon

There are several citrus trees around her condo – kumquat, lemon, lime, etc.  I’m sure when they have blossoms it must smell heavenly.

I got out the selfie stick to take some shots of the 3 of us.  Shirley had never seen or heard of a selfie stick.  She was enamored with it and so I left mine with her.

Christine, Shirley and Linda
Christine, Shirley and Linda

From Shirley’s, Christine and I drove up A1A about an hour to Melbourne.  Christine had arranged for us to have lunch with a friend of hers, Kathy.  We met her at the Hilton Oceanfront and had a really nice lunch.  Kathy is a lovely woman with whom Christine has had a friendship for many years.  Kathy was a snowbird and summered in the Binghamton area and wintered in Florida.  She now is a full time Florida resident and doesn’t get north anymore.  So I know Christine was really happy to see Kathy and spend some time with her.

Kathy and Christine
Kathy and Christine

After lunch, Christine and I drove to Cocoa Beach to a Hampton Inn for our final night in Florida.  We arrived to find that our room wasn’t ready, so we had to wander around the area for about 90 minutes.  The hotel isn’t exactly on the beach, but it really wasn’t a beach day.  The temperature was much cooler and it was very windy.  We bundled up a bit and at least walked down to the beach to see what it looked like.  It was a nice beach and there was a bit of surf, but still too cool for us.  While the northeast was having a n’oreater, Florida will be experiencing record cold for the next few days.

After walking around the neighborhood, we lounged in our room and relaxed.  We rearranged our packing in preparation for the auto train the next day.  We did have a view of the ocean from our room and so we enjoyed our final evening in Florida.

Last view of the ocean
Last view of the ocean in Cocoa Beach

Wednesday morning we had a drive of a little over an hour from Cocoa Beach to Sanford, FL where we get on the auto train.  About 20 minutes away from Sanford we pulled into a little park.  This was Round Pond Lake in Ovieda. It is a city park that has several playground areas for kids, tennis courts, picnic pavilions, and walking paths.  What a treat!  As the name indicates, there is a nice little pond around which there is a boardwalk around about half of the pond.  We wanted to take a walk prior to getting on the train, so this park was absolutely perfect.  We really enjoyed the boardwalk through the vegetation around the pond.  And we really loved seeing an osprey nest in the a large tree dripping with Spanish moss that was hanging out over the pond.  An osprey was in the nest and its partner was flying around.  We saw another osprey nest a short way around the pond and watched as 2 ospreys circled around their nest.

Round pond
Round pond
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Our trusty vehicle

After our great walk, it was off to the auto train.  From checking the Amtrak app on my phone, I knew that the train from Lorton was delayed so when we got to the station cars we’re all queued up and cars were still being unloaded from the arriving train.  We eventually were able to release our car for loading and then we sat in the Sanford terminal for about 90 minutes.

We got to our roomette, which Christine calls a “cabin-ette,” and settled in.

Christine in the roomette
Christine in the roomette

We pulled out of the station at about 5:00, which was an hour late.  It’s really fun riding the train.  We signed up for the 7:00 dinner seating and sat with an elder couple from Maryland.  We had a nice chat while enjoying a really delicious dinner.  Our porter made up our beds at 9:00.  That involves sliding the 2 seats together to form the lower berth and dropping the upper berth down from the ceiling.  That leaves less than 12 inches between the lower berth and the sliding glass door, so changing clothes is quite challenging.  Then comes the other challenge for me – getting up to and in the upper berth.  However, for whatever reason, I found it easier this time around and managed to get myself into the bed without too much trouble.  I actually thought there was a little more room from my memory of the upper berth two years ago.

Christine slept more than I did.  I found the train motion intrusive and I kept rocking along with the train, which kept me from sleeping.  We woke up about 6:00 and dressed and then went to the dining car for a continental breakfast.  We sat with a couple from Reading, PA and had a nice chat.  The man was a math professor and his wife was a 2nd grade teacher and musician.  As an avocation, the math professor also is a jazz musician and plays in clubs with a band.  So, we had a good talk about music.

We rolled into Lorton, VA 90 minutes late at 10:30.  While waiting to disembark, I saw 2 signs that caught my eye.  One was about the auto train.  The other was sort of an advertisement for the auto train.  The phone number for reservations was very clever, I thought (I-95 is the primary interstate to/from Florida).

Our train had 33 cars, about 380 people and about 240 cars, so we weren’t as full as it could have been.  Amtrak adds or subtracts cars as necessary.  Near Jacksonville, the train goes through a horseshoe curve in the CSX rail yard where you can look out the window and see both ends of the train.  That was pretty neat.

Two years ago, our vehicle was almost the last car unloaded and we waited nearly 3 hours for it.  This time, we were much luckier.  Our number was called after just an hour, so we were on the road at about 11:30.  We had originally planned to drive all the way home on Thursday.  But, with having little sleep and a huge pile of snow waiting for us, I wasn’t keen to face that nearing darkness and in cold, windy conditions.  So, we made the decision to spend the night in a Hampton Inn in Hazelton, PA.  It was a good thing to do.  In Hazelton, we saw up close the size of the snowfall awaiting us.  We had a great valley view room and enjoyed the end of a sunny day and then a lovely sunset.

We had breakfast at the Hampton Inn on Friday (Happy St. Patrick’s Day) and then set off for Binghamton at about 8:30.  I’ll write about what awaited us in the next post.

 

03-13-2017: Saturday, Sunday, Monday

I’ll try to catch up on our trip.  We’ve been on the move the past couple of days, spending our last day with Deeny, seeing a performance by DeLuna, driving across Florida to Vero Beach to visit with Shirley, and enjoying a nice day with Shirley.

Saturday, Deeny took us to Englewood, a funky little town south of Venice that is mostly old Florida.  It has lots of art galleries and small shops and loads of cute little cottages painted in an array of pastel colors.  Our first stop was at Lemon Bay Park, a lovely small nature preserve on Lemon Bay, a body of water between the mainland and Manasota Key.  We left Deeny on a bench to enjoy the shade and a good book.  Christine and I took a short walk around one of the nature trails.  Much of it was a wonderful boardwalk through the mangroves and along the bay.

After our walk at Lemon Bay Park, we headed off to Englewood Beach.  We weren’t quite sure of our route, so we had quite a tour around the Englewood area, but we eventually found Englewood Beach, which was across the bay on Manasota Key.  It’s a very beautiful beach, and because it was Saturday, it sure was crowded.  What a difference from the day we had a Venice Beach.

Englewood Beach
Englewood Beach

We stayed under cover in two different pavilions.  We had packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it while taking in the sights.  We then moved to a second pavilion where we had a better view of the beach and gulf.  We spent a couple of hours there.  Being under cover of the pavilion we had the best of all worlds – no fear of sunburn, but a nice breeze and a wonderful view.

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Deeny and Linda

Christine got a little reading done – NOT!

We headed out from Englewood Beach to find where DeLuna was performing, which was a nice little dance studio.  Nearby was a café, so we stopped in for a quick dinner at the Spinnaker Café, which turned out to be a great little place.

We then settled in for DeLuna’s performance.  She gave us a tour around the world, starting with Native America, then going to Ireland, Scotland, France, Malta, Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Boliva and back to the U.S.  The music was lovely and we enjoyed it very much.  DeLuna is really an accomplished harper.  I didn’t get very good pictures during the performance, but here are two.

An extra added component of DeLuna’s music was that she was joined by a drummer who played along with many of the tunes on various kinds of drums.  We thought this really added to the overall musical experience.

And that ended our nice day Saturday.  Sadly, we had to leave Deeny on Sunday.  Deeny is so very kind and generous and we have a terrific time with her.  We are so appreciative of her hosting us.  Thank you, Deeny!

Christine and I drove across the state of Florida from west coast to east coast.  It is an interesting drive through the Florida heartland of beef ranches, citrus groves and sod farms.  And boy is it flat!

We arrived on the east coast and made a little detour to the beach to have a picnic lunch.  We were at South Park in Vero Beach.  The Gulf of Mexico is beautiful, but I miss seeing bigger waves.  As we sat having our lunch we enjoyed watching kids playing in the waves and riding their boogie boards.

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Vero Beach

We then arrived at Shirley’s, and I think within 15 minutes we were in the pool with her.  Shirley loves paddling around in her condo’s pool, and so do we.  The pool tends to be the gathering place and lots of socialization occurs there.

Just as we were leaving the pool, Shirley’s daughter Brenda and her husband Dick came around the corner.  We all walked back to Shirley’s and hung out with them for a while.  Brenda and Dick are in the process of selling their home down in Palm Beach Gardens and will be moving an hour closer to Shirley.  They have a granddaughter nearby in Ft. Pierce and so it will be nice for everyone to be closer.

We then had a nice dinner with Shirley at home and spent the evening watching TV.

Monday morning Christine walked  down to the beach to see the sunrise and Shirley joined her.  Christine took some nice photos.

She also took some pictures of the lovely vegetation around Shirley’s condo.

After breakfast Christine and Shirley went over to the pool to participate in a water aerobics class.  I stayed at the condo and finished a book.  I then walked over to the pool and sat with Christine for a while.  We had lunch and then we all had a nap.  The weather had turned rainy, so it was a perfect opportunity to sleep a little.  The rain sounded so nice rustling through the palm fronds.

We then drove up to Sebastian, FL to have dinner.  Driving to the restaurant I saw the Sebastian welcome sign which really cracked me up.

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The restaurant was a place called Squid Lips.  What a fun and nice place this was.  It is right on the Indian River and very picturesque.  It’s not fancy, but the atmosphere was homey and the food was really good.

The river views were really nice.

We had a really good dinner, coconut shrimp, fried clams and scallops. It was an enjoyable evening with Shirley.

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Shirley and Christine

Shirley's AOK

We’ll be moving on in the morning.  Shirley is having a little eye procedure in the early morning, which I’ll drive her to and from.  Then Christine and I will bid our goodbyes and head to Melbourne to have lunch with a friend of Christine’s.  We have one more day and night before boarding the auto train on Wednesday.

We’re hearing about the big storm coming to the northeast.  We hope that everyone stays warm and safe.  We’ll see the end of that storm as we head home from the auto train on Thursday.  I’m not looking forward to the winter weather, having been spoiled by this wonderful, sunny, hot Florida weather.

 

 

03-10-2017: Beach, Bistro and Symphony

On Thursday, our plan was to meet Deeny at Snook Haven for lunch.  She teaches a pottery class at the Venice Art Center on Thursday mornings so off she went at about 8:30.  I went to the grocery to pick up some things for dinner.  Publix is much like our Price Chopper and apparently the owners of Publix down here in Florida wanted to be sure that there was a Publix at least within every 5 miles.  These stores really are everywhere.  Winn-Dixie is its competitor, but I see many more Publix stores, some being “super” stores.

Christine and I drove to Snook Haven, which is owned by the folks who run Sharky’s at the Pier.  Snook Haven is a restaurant on the Myakka River and is a “down home” kind of place.  It’s a restaurant, performance venue, bar, boat ride dock, kayak/canoe rental place and a real fun place to spend some time.  Deeny took us there our last visit.  One of the attractions is every Thursday is a banjo band, which we heard the last time.  I was interested in seeing this collection of banjo players, mostly older people who enjoy playing the old tunes.  Deeny was going to meet us there after her pottery class.

When we got near Snook Haven, we were directed to a large parking area along the highway about a half-mile from the restaurant.  There must have been 200 cars already parked.  Lots of people were queued up for a little trolley that was shuttling people from the parking area down the road to the restaurant.  We decided that this wasn’t a good idea, especially for Deeny who wouldn’t want to walk down the road to the restaurant.  And, we figured there wouldn’t be any seating available due to the large crowd.  I guess the weekly banjo band concert has become a huge hit in the area.  There certainly were loads of people attending.

We decided to try and get back to the Art Center before Deeny left.  We were sweating bullets about missing her, especially since the traffic going into Venice was very heavy.  But we got there in plenty of time.  Deeny, of course, was really surprised to see us.

Christine saw a trolley bus outside the Community Center across the street and found out this was a free scenic tour bus that made a 20 minute circle around Venice.  So we hopped on the trolley.  We had seen most of the area the trolley circled, but it gave a little different perspective.  Deeny wasn’t driving so it gave her the opportunity to look around and see some things she’s not noticed before.

One of the entrances to the beach
One of the entrances to the beach

Deeny then took us to a little French restaurant, Le Petit Jardin Café, where we had a delicious lunch.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon back at the house.  After dinner, Deeny’s brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine, came for a visit.  George and Lorraine built a house in another section of the development where Deeny is.  Over the last two visits, Christine and I got to see their house being constructed, and then the finished product.  They have a lovely home.  George and Lorraine were really nice to us the year we visited Deeny when she was ill and hospitalized.  And they were very gracious to have us visit them at their home, so it was nice to see them and catch up on their travels and lives.

Friday was a beach day.  We’ve had such beautiful weather the whole trip and Friday was no exception.  We drove to the Sharky’s at the Pier beach and picked our spot.  Surprisingly, there really weren’t many people at the beach.

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Our spot

Christine and I went for a nice walk down the beach.  A few hundred feet down the beach we came to the dog beach.  There were many more people in this section and it was fun watching owners throwing balls and floaty things into the surf for their dogs.

The gulf is such a beautiful color and with the bright blue sky, it is a sight to behold.

Deeny
Deeny

All too soon, we needed to be heading home.  We planned to have dinner at a French bistro where DeLuna is playing.  And later, we were going to hear the Venice Symphony.

The bistro is Cote France.  It’s a small place, but very nice.  DeLuna has arranged to play there on a somewhat regular basis.

DeLuna managed to tuck herself inside near one of the entrances.

Deeny made a point of telling our server how wonderful it was to have live music at the restaurant.  When Christine made our reservation, she also made the point of asking whether the harpist would be playing Friday evening.  So we’re doing our part to support DeLuna.  She’s been working hard to make contacts around the Venice area.  She’s busking a lot, but needs some more dependable income.

We had a great meal.  The food was really good.  Deeny and Christine had shrimp and I did an unusual thing and ordered fish, which was snapper.  All meals were delicious.  Christine also ordered a Kir, a drink containing white whine and black currant liqueur.

We shared a terrific dessert, something with white chocolate mousse and coffee something or other.  It looked just like a cup of cappuccino when it arrived on the table.  Christine had ordered a cappuccino, so we were initially confused.  But we soon dug into the dessert and found it heavenly.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t dawdle because we had a date with the Venice Symphony, but it was great getting to experience DeLuna playing at the bistro.

DeLuna
DeLuna

Then off to the symphony.  There is a new Performing Arts Center attached to the Venice High School.  I think that is a great match in that there is a performance tract at the school and kids can participate in all kinds of arts learning and participation.  The auditorium is very nice and comfortable.  The Venice Symphony is a really good orchestra.  Imre Pallo is the interim conductor.  The symphony is on the hunt for a new conductor.  Deeny thinks Maestro Pallo has really improved the orchestra and thinks he may be in the running.

The concert included a Dance Suite by Bartok, which was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the joining of Buda and Pest and was full of Hungarian folk music.  Then a favorite of mine, the Prokofiev Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet.  It’s a great piece, especially the Montagues and Capulets movement.  We played this one year at GrassRoots and it’s really fantastic.  Then the Venice Chorale joined the symphony in a performance of the Poulenc Gloria.  Unfortunately, the soprano soloist, Elisabeth Slaten, was not at the front of the stage, but rather behind the orchestra in the middle of the front row of the chorus.  She had a great voice, but it seemed that she was really trying to project to be heard over the orchestra and it was difficult to see her.  That was a real shame to me because the soprano part has some really moving moments.  But, we enjoyed the performance very much.  It was nice of Deeny to get us tickets.  She has season tickets with her brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine.

Time is flying by and the visit with Deeny is passing quickly.  We leave on Sunday.  I’m not sure how we’ll be spending Saturday, but I know we will be going south to Englewood late in the afternoon to again see DeLuna perform.  I’m sure we’ll have another wonderful day.

03-08-2017: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Over the years that we visited Dad and Shirley during their winter stays on Siesta Key, we went to Selby Gardens a couple of times.  Also, during past visits Deeny took us to Selby Gardens, so we’re very familiar with it.  When Deeny suggested that we go to see the Marc Chagall exhibit at the gardens we jumped at the chance.

Marie Selby was an interesting and amazing woman.  She was born in 1885 in West Virginia.  Being of an adventurous nature, she was the first woman to cross the United States by car.  In 1908 she married William Selby, an avid fisherman who brought her to see Sarasota a few years later.  Marie fell in love with the area and the couple purchased a 7-acre parcel bordering Sarasota Bay.  That acreage forms the cornerstone of the botanical gardens.  When Marie died in 1971, after years of planting flowers, trees and shrubs, she bequeathed the property to the community, and since 1975, Selby Gardens has been open to the public.  An abutting property, the Payne House was purchased and together the properties pack an unbelievable amount of vegetation into just 13 acres.

Selby Gardens is best known today for its collection of epiphytes, especially orchids and bromeliads, as well as their canopy ecosystems.  They currently have the largest living bromeliad collection in the world.

Selby Gardens was curating an exhibition, Marc Chagall, Flowers, and the French Riviera:  The Color of Dreams.  Throughout the gardens were quotes by Chagall about flowers and gardens and in several areas plantings were of flowers that one would see in France.

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Chagall quote

I wasn’t familiar with Chagall’s stained glass work, but the gardens exhibit included several “faux” stained glass pieces in the conservatory.  The conservatory holds a fantastic collection of orchids and bromeliads and the stained glass fit right in with the riotous colors.

In one corner of the conservatory, they created a little French cottage door.

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Cottage door

The orchids and bromeliads in the conservatory are breathtaking in size, color and shape.  I don’t know many of the names but I certainly love every one.

I could spend several hours in the conservatory.  It really is breathtaking and you can find all kinds of interesting flowers and bromeliads tucked into and behind other vegetation.  It’s like a treasure hunt!

Down a path from the conservatory there’s a little waterfall and koi pond.  The koi are huge and just walking up to the edge they congregate and stick their open mouths up out of the water waiting for a little treat.  I watched a little girl and her Dad feeding the koi.  I’m surprised the little girl wasn’t frightened by all the fish.

Selby has created a wonderful children’s rainforest area around some huge banyan trees.  There’s another waterfall, all kinds of musical instruments to play, a rainforest walk up in the trees, and then there are several little huts where volunteers host various activities for the kids.  It’s a really great section and kids of all ages, like me, enjoy this section a lot.

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Enjoying the rainforest activities

We rested for lunch and sat outside on the patio of the original Selby home.  It must have been an amazing property when the Selbys lived there.  The grounds were certainly a work of art and of love.

Our last stop was to see the 3 Chagall paintings on display in the Payne house.  There was also an exhibit of many photographs of Chagall over his life.  The 3 paintings on display were The Lovers, Bouquets of Lilacs at St. Paul, and Couple with Lilies of the Valley.  The largest, The Lovers, was very interesting.  It is a blend of sentiment and fantasy, and I guess much of Chagall’s work is described as having a dream quality.  The paintings do tell a story in a dream-like way.  And of course the flowers contained in many Chagall paintings are often wildly colorful.

It was a great visit to Selby Botanical Gardens.  If you are ever near Sarasota, a visit to Selby is a must.

After dropping DeLuna off at her apartment, we made a quick stop at the jetty.  There is a water pass between Venice and Casey Key (Casey pass) and a long breakwater was built.  It attracts fishermen and sightseers, and of course birds.

Back at Deeny’s we sat out in her back room and gabbed.  We eventually had dinner, which was salad, smoked oysters, and cheese and crackers.  Deeny buys these little pots of soft asagio cheese which is out of this world.  We all really enjoy it.  We then finished off another wonderful day watching Rachel Maddow.  We all seem to crave hearing her explain what’s happening related to the current administration.  Fortunately, we are all of the same political, moral and ethical ilk, so we can watch Rachel together and carry on our own commentary on how we feel about the current administration.

03-07-2017: Historic Spanish Point

We had a pretty laid back morning today while we awaited DeLuna’s arrival.  We had made a plan to all visit Historic Spanish Point, a 30-acre museum and environmental complex located in Osprey, FL.  The museum includes an archeological exhibit of a prehistoric shell mound known as a midden, a turn-of-the-century pioneer homestead historic house museum, a citrus packing house, a chapel, boatyard, gardens and nature trails.  Deeny had taken Christine and me to Spanish Point 4 years ago and we really enjoyed it, so we were happy to go again.

After lunch at Deeny’s, we loaded into the car and drove to Spanish Point.  We had tuckered Deeny out yesterday on our walk on the sandy trail at Oscar Scherer State Park, so she brought a good book along with her and settled down to do some reading.  Christine, DeLuna and I set off to tour around the grounds and visit the interesting Native and homestead exhibits around the area.

One of the first places we visited was a sweet little chapel named Mary’s Chapel.  It was built as a memorial to a young woman who had visited the area in hopes of curing her tuberculosis.  Unfortunately, she died, but her parents donated money to the homestead family to build the chapel.

Nearby was a renovated packing house where citrus was brought from the harvest to be washed, sized, wrapped and packed.  It was interesting to read about the history of the citrus industry in Florida.  It was also amazing to think that oranges were individually hand-wrapped in tissue paper and packed into wooden boxes until the mid-1940s.  The packing house was at the shoreline where boats arrived to take the fruit to market.

There were several cottages on the homestead.  These weren’t like the “cottages” on Jekyll Island, but were lovely white clapboard houses with nice porches.  Near one of the cottages, a nice portico and garden were created.  The bougainvillea was beautiful.

There were some other flowers that caught our eyes.

We learned about one tree called the gumbo limbo.  Locals call it the tourist tree because the bark is reddish in color and flakes off, which the locals said resembles the peeling sunburns of tourists.

Gumbo limbo tree
Gumbo limbo tree

Here’s one of the main homestead cottages that was built in 1901.  The family used to rent out bedrooms to northerners who came to Florida in the winter.

Guptill House
Guptill House

Although I don’t have any pictures of the most interesting thing at Spanish Point, we listened to a video about a very large midden, which basically is a Native landfill comprised of thousand of years of shells, animal and fish bones, and ash.  Archaeologists have studied the middens at Spanish Point and have learned loads of information about the lives of the Native peoples.  The midden we learned about is 15 feet high and several hundred feet long.  We saw cross sections showing layers and levels of the material contained in the midden.  Very interesting.

Walking the grounds was really beautiful.  The vegetation is dense and interesting, and as always, we really love the live oaks and all the Spanish moss.

So, we had a great afternoon at Spanish Point.

And then we went off to one of our favorite dinner places, Sharky’s at the Venice Pier.  This has become a tradition for us.  It’s fun walking out on the pier while awaiting the pager to go off telling us our table is ready.

There were some beautiful birds on the pier waiting for a little snack from fishermen.

Dinner was fantastic.  Three of us had coconut shrimp, which was really, really good.  Deeny had shrimp scampi, which she enjoyed and consumed the whole meal, which is unusual for her.

And we got to see a bit of the sunset.

Once again, we had a very enjoyable day.  Tomorrow, we have another wonderful day planned.  We’re going to Selby Gardens, another of our favorite botanical gardens.

 

 

 

 

03-06-2017: Oscar Scherer State Park

Deeny and I had a very lazy day on Sunday.  We spent the day at her house watching TV and talking.  Christine’s sister DeLuna came to pick up Christine and they went off to church, came back to Deeny’s for lunch and then went off to DeLuna’s apartment.

The remainder of the day was low key and enjoyable being with Deeny.

On Monday, Deeny went off to teach a pottery class and Christine spent the morning catching up on stuff with her business and personal stuff.  I lazed around and finished reading a crime novel.  Deeny came home and we had lunch and then set off on a visit to Oscar Scherer State Park.

On our way out of Deeny’s development, we saw a couple of sandhill cranes, a really lovely thing to see.

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Sandhill cranes

This is a small state park just north of Venice.  One of its claims to fame is that it is home to a somewhat rare bird, the Florida scrub jay, and a turtle, the gopher tortoise.  We chose to walk along the scrub jay trail, which turned out to be a very sandy walk.

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Deeny and Christine

We did see one scrub jay, a very pretty blue and white bird.  When not flying, it takes these huge hops along the ground and it made me laugh.  Unfortunately, the bird we saw did not cooperate in standing still enough to get a good picture.  But we did get to see a scrub jay.

We then walked around Osprey Lake, a small lake near a nature center.  It was such a pretty day, not too hot, a very nice breeze and enough cloud cover so that the sun didn’t bake us.

Christine and I then decided to walk the South Creek Trail while Deeny drove to the end of the trail to meet us.  This was a short half-mile walk along the creek.  To our right was scrub grass and to our left was very thick scrub forest along the creek.  Across the creek was a very nice looking camping area.  We enjoyed our short walk.

We met up with Deeny and ended our visit to Oscar Scherer State Park.  We set off to do some grocery shopping, making stops at 3 different places  to get their specialty items, like strawberries, which are in season here.

Back at Deeny’s we fixed dinner, which was salmon, rice pilaf and salad, a lovely meal.  And now we’re watching Rachel Maddow and catching up on the latest chaos in the political world.  It has been a really nice day, but I fear that we exhausted Deeny.  Tomorrow, we’ll be hooking up with DeLuna and will be visiting Spanish Point, another lovely place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03-04-2017: Going Our Separate Ways

Today Reva and Jo go off on the rest of their adventure to Sanibel Island.  We’ve had a great time celebrating Reva’s 60th birthday.  They will end their week in a tiki cottage on Sanibel across the road from JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, which was on Reva’s list of wishes for her birthday celebration.

In the hotel there was a print of a Dali painting that we saw at the Dali museum.  JoAnn apparently hadn’t realized that as you come closer to the painting what you see changes.  She didn’t believe it, so Christine took a series of photos moving closer to the print.

JoAnn was gob smacked!

JoAnn
JoAnn

After checking out of the hotel, we drove Reva and Jo to Bradenton to pick up a rental car at Enterprise.  We drove across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which is one of our favorites.  We found the car place and had to say goodbye to Reva and Jo.  We have had such a nice time being with them.

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Reva and JoAnn leaving for the rest of their adventure

Christine and I then headed towards Anna Marie Island to visit Christine’s high school friend Toby and her husband Jeff, who live just 20 minutes away from the car rental place.  They recently built a winter home in Harbour Isle on Anna Marie Sound which is a lovely gated community.  Christine had reconnected with Toby a couple of years ago when they had their 50th high school reunion.  Christine did not attend, but she heard all about it from Toby who did attend.  We also had dinner with Toby and Jeff when we were attending a conference in Alexandria, VA a couple of years ago.  They live in Washington, D.C. when they aren’t in Florida.

Toby took us on a wonderful long walk around the lake in their community.  We also toured several of the model units for both the homes and condos in the community.  We can always dream about a beautiful home overlooking the sound out to Anna Marie Island.

Their community has a huge, beautiful clubhouse which was serving lunch.  We sat out on a porch on the second floor that has a fantastic view.

Toby and Christine
Toby and Christine

Toby was so gracious showing us around and spending time with us.  It was a very nice, but short visit.

We then set off for our drive to Deeny’s.  We opted for the slow route down the coast rather than back to the interstate.  Being Saturday, there was a lot of traffic, but we enjoyed seeing the gulf and all the little beach towns.  This was a very nostalgic drive because we drove down Longboat Key, through Sarasota and then down Siesta Key, which is where Dad and Shirley spent many winters.  Christine and I reminisced about the many visit we made to Dad and Shirley at the Peppertree on Siesta Key.  I was really missing Dad then.

We found our way to Deeny’s in Venice, arriving about 6:30.  It was great seeing Deeny and landing where we’ll stay a week.  Being on the go every couple of days is quite tiring, so we’re happy to be staying with Deeny for a spell.

 

 

03-03-2017: Chihuly and Dali

We had to bid farewell to our lovely Rainbow River House this morning.  None of us really wanted to leave because it was such a wonderful place.  We didn’t want to leave the river.  We hope that some day we’ll return for a longer stay.

We set off for St. Petersburg.  Another birthday wish Reva had was to visit the Chihuly Collection.  Christine and I have been big fans of Chihuly for a long time.  One year when we visited Dad and Shirley in Siesta Key, we learned of a Chihuly exhibition at the Fairchild Gardens and we drove over to Coconut Grove to see the exhibition.  It was fantastic and very memorable.  The Morean Art Center in St. Pete recently built a new building to house its Chihuly Collection.  We visited it this morning.

Dale Chihuly is a fantastic glass artist.  His work has spanned decades.  Many of his glass pieces are quite distinctive and when you see one you know it is Chihuly.  His massive suspended glass pieces are incredible.

He also does these huge flowers.  There was one piece in orange of several huge plate-like flowers that was really lovely.

We had seen a Chihuly ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas that was out of this world.  There was another ceiling exhibit here is St. Pete.

The biggest piece in the collection is a huge oblong installation containing most of Chihuly’s most common pieces.  It was wild with color and various shapes.  It was pretty impossible to photograph the entire piece, so here are many of the various parts.

Here are two close ups of some of the intricacies on some of glass in Chihuly’s large bowels.

I loved this very basic white and black piece.

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Really lovely piece

And here is the classic Chihuly boatload of colorful balls.

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Boatload of color

This is a Chihuly collection worth seeing.  I think we all enjoyed it a great deal.  Since it didn’t take as long as we expected to go through the collection, we decided to also take in the Salvador Dali Museum just a mile away from the Chihuly.  We walked to the Dali Museum which took us through the Art Center in St. Pete, which is a charming collection of shops, galleries and eateries.

Upon arrival to the Dali Museum, we bought lunch in the café there and sat outside.  It is cooler today than it has been with quite a brisk breeze.  But there was bright sunshine so when in the sun, we didn’t feel too cold.

At the Dali, we had double treat because there was also a Frida Kahlo exhibition.  We toured that first.  The exhibition focused a lot on the very tragic life she lived.  There were many photographs of her and her cohorts, including husband Diego, and several of her drawings and paintings.  The exhibition focused a lot on how the pain and suffering in her life came through in her work.  It was an interesting exhibition, but also very poignant and quite sad in terms of Kahlo’s tragic life.

We then walked through the Dali exhibit.  He certainly was quite a character and his work got more and more unusual over his lifetime.

I didn’t know anything about Dali before seeing this exhibition and I can’t say I know a great deal more.  However, I do know that his work is quite mind bending.  Surrealism is pretty interesting and also quite weird.

After our museum tours, we headed off to the Hilton Carillon.  After a couple of screw ups in directions, we found the hotel.  After resting a bit, we then walked around half of the lake that is a nature preserve around the hotel.  It’s a nice boardwalk of about 3/4 of a mile in length.  There are birds and water fowl and other things in the lake.  We didn’t see a lot, but it was a nice walk in the late afternoon sun.

We opted on going out someplace for dinner.  We picked an Indian restaurant, but I didn’t want to get back on the highway as we headed out so we turned around and went to a very nice little Mediterranean café across the street from the hotel and had a yummy dinner.

We’re now settling in for the night.  Tomorrow we end our time with Reva and Jo and go our separate ways.  That will be bittersweet.  We’ve been having a good time with them, but we’ll go our separate ways to enjoy more vacation.

The 4-pack
The 4-pack

 

03-02-2017: Swim with the Manatees

Today is the day for our celebration with Reva who said for her 60th birthday she wanted to swim with the manatees.  So, a very happy 60th birthday to Reva!

We arrived at the Fun2Dive home base at 7:45 a.m. and got checked in.  JoAnn had signed us up for a VIP manatee swim tour, so it was going to be just the 6-pack.  With Pat and Eve not able to come due to Eve’s illness, we were fortunate that we still were able to go out on the boat as just the 4-pack. We had to start with a short video about what is prohibited in seeing and being with manatees.  It was quite informative with lots of don’ts, but it was so fun seeing all the manatees in the video.  We were advised by our guide, D.J., that due to the unusually warm weather in Florida, there were not as many manatees around as usual.  That’s because the manatees come to the Kings Bay region in search of the warm spring-fed rivers in winter.  Since it has been so warm in the gulf, there hasn’t been as much need for the manatees to seek out the warm water.  So we hoped for the best that we would even see one today.

Ready to swim with the manatees
Ready to swim with the manatees

Brian was our boat captain, D.J. our guide, and the two guys kept us entertained.  We first went to the Three Sisters Springs.  We were aware that there were no manatees there.  All the many, many manatee tours keep in communication and they share manatee sightings.  But D.J. told us that the Three Sisters Springs was on the list of the 1,000 Places You Must Visit so we did want to see it.  We all were decked out in wet suits, masks and snorkels, but no flippers.  We used noodles around our bodies to keep us buoyant and so we didn’t really need flippers.  We sort of dog-paddled our way along.

The springs were entered through a long shallow channel and then the 3 springs bowled out in 3 sections.  The water was wonderfully clear and not very deep.  The sandy bottom reflected the light giving the appearance of an even lighter environment.  On the bottom, you could see round areas in the sand where the spring water was bubbling out.  It was cool to see and these round sandy areas looked alive.  The Kings Bay area is entirely spring fed and just from the Three Sisters, millions of gallons of fresh water flow out of the springs each day.  It was pretty impressive to hear about that.

We then got back on the boat and headed out into the Kings Bay in search of manatees.  After about 30 minutes of checking in some of the tributaries, and hearing from other boats that there weren’t any manatees, we all got a little disillusioned.  That might be except for Christine, who just loved being on the boat and didn’t really want to swim with the manatees anyway.

Ready, but not very willing
Ready, but not very willing

After a while we noticed a couple of other boats in an area called the flats with their swimmers all huddled together in the water.  That was a sure sign there was a manatee.  We waited a bit for a large group to go back to their boat and the 4 of us went into the water with D.J.  He said very quickly, “there’s a manatee right under us.”  This area was incredibly murky and it was difficult to see even a foot down below you.  D.J. said the manatee was coming up to breathe and we all then became aware of this huge thing coming up from below us.  It was so startling because it was so huge. This one was 8-10 feet long and very fat around.   In the murky water, all we could really see was a hazy shape, but as it came up from below, we were aware that we were going to be touched by the manatee because we literally were right above it.  One of the prohibitions is touching a manatee and so we all were quite panicky about what to do because the thing was going to touch us.  Jo got the most touched because of her position and she had to place her hands on the manatee’s back to keep it from bumping into her face.  After that, Jo backed away.  Christine had decided to go back to the boat when the manatee started surfacing, but then she came back to our little group to try and see it.  It was really unnerving because the murky water prevented clear views and so we didn’t really know what to expect or where the manatee would surface.

The manatee was eating grass on the bottom.  The water was only about 8 feet deep and we just floated over the huge shape.  Every 3-4 minutes, the manatee would rise so that it could lift its nose out of the water to breathe.  It would first exhale, kind of like a whale blowing out through its blow hole, and then would take a deep inhalation and go back down to feed more.  It was really exciting to be so close when it came up for air.

After that experience, we were all pretty pleased, even if the water was so murky.  I wished, for Reva’s sake, that we had seen lots of them, but at least we all can say that we swam with a manatee.

Brian and D.J. said we had some more time, so we headed to another spring, this one called Jurassic Spring.  I think it’s called that because there is a very deep crevice from where the spring water comes up.  D.J. asked us if we wanted to swim in the spring.  Jo didn’t want to and the rest of us almost said no, but we then did decide to see the spring.  As Christine, Reva and I were swimming over to the entrance to the spring, D.J. popped up his head and said there’s a manatee, a surprise to all of us.  Being in the spring area, the water was much clearer and we were able to see the manatee perfectly.  This one was much smaller, probably 6-7 feet long.  It was resting and what was so funny was that it looked like it was face down in the sand, literally.  But then it came up for a breath and started to move a bit.  It was thrilling to see it so clearly.

We were floating just a foot or two away from this manatee.  She wasn’t at all bothered by us.  D.J. said they are very gentle creatures as long as they are observed passively.

This was the experience we all wanted Reva to have for her birthday, and this last few minutes here in this spring with this manatee were absolutely perfect.

All the manatee pictures were taken by our guide D.J.  That was part of the VIP tour, and he certainly knew how to best position himself for these really great pictures.  So it was a very memorable birthday for Reva and we all were thrilled.  And we’re very sorry that Eve had to miss the experience due to her illness.

After the manatee swim, we headed back to the house for lunch and then headed out to Rainbow Springs State Park to go see the headsprings of the Rainbow River.  It’s a beautiful park that is on the site of a former tourist attraction that highlighted all things river oriented.  That attraction closed in the 1970s and the state eventually purchased the land and it became a state park.  We had a nice walk through the main part of the headsprings area and then took a nature trail through a couple of different ecosystems.  It was a nice walk, although it started to rain at the end and by the time we got back to the car we were soaked.

We saw many lovely flowering shrubs.  The flowers are so colorful.

We returned home to dry out.  We did a load of laundry and hung out for a while.  Then guess where we went to dinner?  Yes, Swampy’s!  We walked over to the restaurant and had a nice dinner.  Back at the house, we hung out again and eventually headed to bed.

Tomorrow we’re heading to St. Petersburg to visit the famous glass artist Dale Chihuly’s exhibit at the Morean Art Center.  That should be great.  The gallery is new and was apparently constructed specifically to display some of Chihuly’s work.  Can’t wait.