Florida – Our Adventures

11-15/19-2023: Goodbye Deeny; Autotrain

On our trip back to Deeny’s from Lehigh Acres, we encountered rain, and then it rained all the next day. This was a Godsend to this area as there has been a considerable drought. It also gave us a day of resting and lounging about, also a good thing.

On Thursday, we visited the Clyde Butcher gallery. We have been to the gallery one or two times before, but it is always a joy to soak in the phenomenal photography of such an artist. Butcher’s specialty is black and white wilderness photography of the Florida landscape. He’s spent a great deal of time standing chest-deep in swamps in order to capture the perfect moment of water, vegetation and sky. Here’s a couple of photos taken from Wikipedia and the internet.

Butchers photos are printed in a gigantic format, covering an entire wall in some cases. You can stand looking at a photo and feel yourself pulled into the landscape. Butcher was a friend of Ansel Adams, who likewise specialized in large-camera, black and white work, mostly in the West. I wish I could afford one of his prints, but they sell for thousands. Even the smaller reprints cost hundreds, so I’ll just have to be satisfied with copying images from the internet. A real treat on today’s visit was that the darkroom was open for viewing. All around nearly the entire perimeter of a very large room were enlargers, and one very, very big enlarger/printer took up the entire middle of the floor. When I say large, I mean prints of 5 by 7 feet. It would be very interesting to actually watch the enlarging and printing process.

After visiting the gallery, we drove over to the Casey Key jetty. There’s a break in the barrier island allowing boats to get into Robert’s Bay where there are many marinas. Unfortunately, the south jetty got damaged by Hurricane Ian over a year ago and has been closed, but it’s still fun to look out over the water. There was a group of Snowy Egrets nearby and one came over to have its picture taken. Their yellow feet are so cool.

Later in the afternoon, George and Lorraine stopped by to say goodbye and wish us well on our trip home. It was nice of them to take the time to come see us.

Friday we spent considerable time getting organized and packing, preparing for our departure tomorrow. But the highlight of the day was going to the Venice Symphony’s concert. The group is celebrating its 50th anniversary. They perform in a beautiful, new auditorium, the Venice Performing Arts Center. Deeny took us to see the symphony a couple of years ago. They had just hired a new, dynamic music director, Troy Quinn. We went to the pre-concert talk to learn about the pieces, which was interesting, especially learning that Berlioz wrote the Symphony Fantastique under the influence of opium. That little tidbit certainly explained that wild work. We heard a wonderful horn concerto by modern composer Eric Ewazen played by Andrew Bain. I really enjoyed how lush the string orchestra was. It was a beautiful piece. And that Berlioz symphony was quite something!

Saturday, we sadly had to say goodby to Deeny. I hate goodbyes! We had such a wonderful visit. Deeny is facing some possible heart surgery and she is also contemplating a possible move back to Allentown, so she has some serious issues ahead. We hope to be a support network as she navigates through some challenging decisions. We love you, Deeny!

We set off on a 3+-hour drive to Sanford, FL to board the Amtrak autotrain. Unfortunately, the drive took about 5 hours as there was a huge slowdown on the highway that added nearly an hour. Apparently, there was an accident that brought traffic to a near standstill. I was getting nervous about arriving in time. There was a deadline for arrival for boarding cars. After the slowdown, we encountered further traffic slow downs all through Orlando. It was nerve wracking! But we made it to Sanford in time. I made a mistake, though, in not checking in upon arrival. It wasn’t until boarding that there was an announcement that boarding passes were required to enter the train. I went up to the counter to check in and learned that we would be getting our dinner served in our roomette, but not until 8:30. Amtrak has changed all the food service on the train. We heard that there were about 460 passengers onboard and about 280 cars. With all the car carriers, the conductor said the train was 3/4-mile long.

We settled into our roomette, a rather small room with two seats facing each other and a pull out table in-between. We departed Sanford at 5:00pm. We still had some daylight left so we could see things as we rolled by. I got a nice sunset picture when we were passing by a lake.

At bedtime, the porter comes to turn the two seats into a lower berth and pull down an upper berth. With the beds made up you have about 8 inches of space in which to try and change into your nighties. And then, there’s the challenge of getting into the top berth. Guess who got to do that??!! There isn’t enough headroom to actually sit up in the upper berth, so you have to step up on a storage area and essentially throw yourself up into the berth. But what I was dreading was the middle of the night bathroom trip, climbing down out of the berth in the dark and then throwing myself back into the berth again. At any rate, everything worked out just fine. We actually had a pretty good night’s sleep. The gentle rocking of the train was quite soothing.

Sunday morning we went to the cafe car for breakfast. That was nice because you could see out both sides of the train so we saw more scenery. As we got closer to Lorton, we passed over the James River near Richmond and then we were near the Potomac River for the last hour of the trip.

We arrived in Lorton at 10:00am Sunday. It’s a nice station, which is good because you have to be there waiting for your car to be unloaded. There’s no rhyme of reason to the unloading, so they announce the car numbers as they roll out of the car carriers and are brought to the front of the station. We were fairly lucky in that our car came after only a 40-minute wait.

Then we set off for home. It was one of our longest legs of driving, a little over 5-hours. There was a lot of traffic around Washington, DC, but once we got into Maryland, and then into Pennsylvania, the traffic thinned out. Route 15 through Pennsylvania is quite beautiful, traveling up a wide valley with the Catoctin mountains to the west. And then finally onto I-81. It was a long trip, but we arrived just after dark. We were very happy to be home.

This has been a very lovely trip. We saw and did so many wonderful and interesting things. I don’t regret choosing to drive to Florida because it gave us an opportunity to explore areas that we haven’t seen before. We feel very lucky and blessed to have the ability to travel. However, home is the best!

Stay tuned for our next adventure.

11-12/14-2023: Capitol Fools, Rookery, LaRoses

On Sunday, we had tickets to see the political parody comedy group Capitol Fools. We attended with George and Lorraine, Deeny’s brother and sister-in-law, at the Venice Performing Arts Center. We saw the matinee show and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Capitol Fools is a group of singer/comedians, some from the original Capitol Steps group. The Capitol Steps was formed in 1981 by a group of senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them. Sadly, the group didn’t survive the pandemic because they were a live-performance group. However, some of the original players regrouped and formed the Capitol Fools, and I’m very glad they did because their political parody is superb. We laughed ourselves silly!

The group made fun of everything political and all the key players. I was curious as to how a Florida audience would respond to all the DeSantis and Trump jokes, but everyone seemed to find things very hilarious. In addition to simple commentary, the group excels at putting words to popular and well-known tunes. One of the performers excelled at backward talk. I don’t know how he’s able to do it, but he transposes the first letter or two of two words and exchanges them, e.g., Tronald Dump. It takes a few seconds to figure out what he’s saying, but when you do, it is a marvel how he’s able to quickly talk with words in sentences getting scrambled. It was like a grown-up version of pig Latin. It was very entertaining. After he said something scrambled, he’d stop and wait for the audience to figure out what he said and he’d nod his head as the audience who got it would start to laugh. You can see some of their promos on YouTube if you want to get a flavor of their shtick.

After the show, we went to Sharky’s for dinner with George, Lorraine and Deeny. George suffered a stroke several years ago and so has a bit of difficulty getting around, but he was a trooper getting in and out of Sharky’s. It was a nice evening and we loved catching up with George and Lorraine. George has a witty sense of humor.

There was another beautiful sunset and we stood along the beach appreciating the view.

Monday evening we did another traditional activity. We went to the rookery to watch the birds fly in. Venice Audubon Rookery Park is an oasis of natural beauty surrounded by urban development. The central feature of this small park is a rookery island where birds roost and nest. It always amazes me that so close to a heavily traveled highway and dense areas of development all around, this bird paradise exists. Just before sunset, birds begin to fly in and land on the shrubs and trees growing on this tiny island. Most of the birds tonight were Egrets, but there were some Anhingas, Ibis, Tri-colored Herons, and Blue Heron. It’s fun to watch a bird swoop in, often circling around the little island and picking a spot to land. Often, a bird lands near another and there is cackling and wings flapping as a bird moves to another spot. It is just a bit early for nesting season, December, so there weren’t as many birds as we’ve seen in the past, but it is a wonderful way to spend and hour, watching the beautiful birds come in to roost.

On Tuesday, Christine and I drove to Lehigh Acres, about an hour south, to visit our good friends Marlene and Elliott LaRose. We know them from our lake association. Elliott and I have been best buds in the summer for years. We’ve worked on the Water Committee together and he as treasurer and me as secretary of the association, we’ve worked closely on association business. He’s a great guy and I really love him. Marlene is a pip, too. She is very funny, and Christine really enjoys spending time with her. Although they’ve lived in Florida since 2006, we’ve never visited during any of our trips.

We got to see their house and we walked around their yard. Elliott has been growing milkweed in order to attract Monarch butterflies and he showed me some chrysalises. That was cool to see. Marlene was very happy showing us lots of nice, interesting things around the house, many of which their son Rick made. Both Elliott and Marlene are in their upper 80s and have been experiencing health problems, so much so that for the past two years, they’ve only gotten to the lake for a week each year. I really miss Elliott when he’s not at the lake because we do lots of things together and I like helping him out.

We went out to lunch, which was a story in and of itself. There was a long delay in getting our food and Elliott asked for the manager, which he said he never does. He told the manager that he was a stock holder in the company and that led to a long conversation with the manager about the difficulty in running the business and in keeping chefs employed. It was an interesting discussion. The manager eventually comped one of the orders, which Elliott was happy about.

After lunch, we took a ride over to Fort Myers Beach. If you recall, Hurricane Ian devastated the beach town. It’s been about 14 months since the storm, and while to debris is cleared away, nearly all the buildings are still closed and all the first, and sometimes second, floors of the buildings are totally gutted. It was rather shocking to see the devastation. Although, the community vows to return, it is difficult to see how that’s going to happen anytime soon.

So, we spent a nice few hours with Elliott and Marlene.

Christine and I had a very wet ride home in the rain. It’s scary how fast people drive in Florida, even in the pouring rain. But we made it home safely. We’re glad that there is rain in the forecast because this area of Florida has been in drought conditions. We’re slated for rain all day tomorrow, which is really a good thing.

11-11-2023: Naples Botanical Garden

One of the “traditional” ventures we’ve done while in Venice is to go to Marie Selby Garden in Sarasota. This visit, however, Deeny suggested, and encouraged, us to drive south to Naples to visit the Naples Botanical Garden. It’s about 90 minutes from Venice. I think it is funny to be driving from Venice to Naples while in Florida. Christine and I set off Saturday morning for a day in a garden.

Naples Botanical Garden is a 170-acre, world-class garden that features plants from around the world. A botanical garden is a garden with a documented collection of living plants for the purpose of scientific research, conservation, display, and education. Naples Botanical garden is a relatively young garden having been founded in 1993 with the construction of the garden starting in 2008. During founding and construction, people were fund-raising, purchasing land, planning the layout, and working on acquiring plants, trees and shrubs. Two lakes were dug and the 250,000 yards of fill from the lakes was used to sculpt the garden. There are several distinct gardens with the overall garden showcasing plants and trees from different ares, the Caribbean Garden, Brazilian Garden, Asian Garden, as well as numerous water features and other distinctive garden areas.

It’s a wonderful garden and we spent about 4 hours wandering around the paths and trails taking in plants and trees I’ve never seen before and seeing some old favorites. There was something interesting to see and learn every step of the way. At several points one can scan a QR code and pull up an audio recording to hear some detail about what you’re looking at.

I love textures and patterns in plants and, of course, I want to touch everything to see what the plants feel like.

There were numerous water features throughout the garden, which I think was my favorite part of the garden. There’s something about water, especially if it is moving, with the sound and thesky and clouds being reflected, that is magical and beautiful.

Another of my favorite sections was the Asian Garden. I like the statuary, the neatness and lines, and Asian gardens feel somewhat spiritual to me.

One tree that I’ve never heard of was a cannonball tree. It’s seed pods look exactly like cannonballs hanging in clumps. The tree is in the Brazil nut family. This tree also apparently has lovely large, aromatic flowers.

I could post a great many pictures of the various plants, we both took lots of pictures. But I will just end with a few more. The garden has a nice orchid section, and we did see some other very interesting shrubs and flowers.

We’re so glad Deeny suggested we visit this garden. It was a great day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The only thing that would have made it a perfect day was if Deeny had accompanied us (she wasn’t feeling up to the drive and all the walking), but we came home and showed her the 292 photos that Christine took!

11-06/09-2023: Arriving in Florida

I’m a little behind in posting so I’ll try to catch up a bit. We left Brevard on Monday, November 6. One of the things I dislike is constant interstate driving. So, our GPS, whom we refer to as Gigi, actually plotted a route that took us through secondary highways. I love getting closer to the countryside and being able to look at houses, yards, and what’s going on in small towns. Gigi did not disappoint! Our route ambled through South Carolina into Georgia, where we stayed Monday night in Augusta. Tuesday, we ambled through Georgia into northern Florida, where we spent the night in Lake City. I think in those 2 days we were on a bit of interstate for about 20 minutes. And both days provided a lovely drive through the rural south.

We drove past thousands of acres of cotton, just ready for harvesting. The thick cotton tufts looked so nice across the fields. Once harvested, the cotton is rolled up into these gigantic bales and carried off to wherever cotton goes. Along the road are dribs and drabs of cotton spillage from the large bales. At one point, we stopped to try and scoop up some cotton, but the road was narrow and what little traffic there was made it a bit dangerous to park along the roadside.

The secondary routes passed mainly through farmland, but into southern Georgia we came to timbering country. We rolled by thousands of acres of Southern yellow pine groves and lots of logging trucks. I didn’t realize that Georgia and northern Florida were such big producers of timber. And clearly, the logging companies are into renewables. As we drove along, each mile had groves of trees of differing ages. You could see a clear cut area, followed by 3 foot tall saplings, followed by 10 foot tall young trees, and on down the road until we saw groves ready to be harvested. The other crop that was very prevalent was pecans. We saw lots of pecan groves with straight lines of trees rolling across the low hills. We really enjoyed these two days driving through the countryside. It was very pleasant and very interesting. And the price of gas in South Carolina was $2.69 a gallon! When we left Binghamton, I paid $3.89. Gas is routinely lower priced in the southern states than in New York. Even in Florida, the price is just a couple of cents over $3.00.

On Wednesday, November 8, it was back on the interstate for a 4-1/2-hour drive from Lake City to Venice. We arrived at our friend Deeny’s mid-afternoon. We were glad to get there and be off the road.

On Thursday, we spent the day doing laundry, catching up with Deeny and settling in. Thursday evening, we went to Sharky’s for dinner. This is definitely a tradition for us. Venice Beach has a long pier and Sharky’s (and it’s neighboring more upscale Fin’s restaurant) is a real draw. It’s always crowded, especially if dinner is around sunset, which it was for us. It was a fantastic evening to be out strolling the pier and enjoying a good meal at Sharky’s. Being with Deeny is always wonderful, but doing our “traditional” outings with her makes it that much more special because we have good memories from the past to share and are making more memories to share in the future.

11/07-08/2021: Final Days with Deeny

After our wonderful Selby Garden visit on Saturday, we opted to hang out at Deeny’s on Sunday. We were enjoying not having someplace to go. Later in the afternoon Deeny’s brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine, stopped by. We had visited them briefly shortly after our arrival. We got to know George and Lorraine during a hospitalization that Deeny had about 8 or 9 years ago. We had planned a visit prior to an Olivia cruise we were taking. We met them at the hospital and then they picked us up and took us to see the house they were building. The Plantations is a very large development that has numerous smaller communities. Deeny lives just 5 minutes from George and Lorraine and so it works out well with them being close. It was nice to spend a bit of time with George and Lorraine.

Sunday evening we stayed in and had a smorgasbord of all the food we’ve either cooked or brought home from meals out. We certainly have not wanted for food while we’ve been here. We watched the PBS shows Call the Midwife and Grantchester and had a nice evening.

Monday Christine and I went for a walk around the community across the road from Deeny’s. We love looking at all the vegetation and trees and seeing how folks decorate their houses. I put my LeafSnap app to work to identify a couple of plants.

Bottlebrush (calistemon)
Peregrina (jatropha)
Beautiful bougainvillea

There are so many varieties of palms in Florida. These are a row of beautiful trees in the median along the street behind Deeny’s house.

After our walk Deeny got out the Scrabble game. As I said, it was Scrabble that brought Deeny and Christine together and was the beginning of a 63-year friendship. One can feel truly blessed to have such a long-term friendship.

Scrabble created a great friendship
Both pondering the next word

Monday afternoon we again went to the beach. It was a beautiful day and a pleasure to be at the beach. The temperature was mid-70s with a light breeze. There was a bit more surf today, but there were warnings of strong rip tides so we didn’t go too far from shore when Christine and I swam, but at least we did get in to the Gulf. It was heavenly.

To celebrate the end of our visit, we went to Sharky’s for dinner. It’s just at the end of the pier so we didn’t have to go far from our spot on the beach. It’s a great place to kick back and enjoy the sunset and have a great dinner. And it is a tradition to eat there with Deeny.

Sharky’s sign
Mermaid at Sharky’s

And we enjoyed a wonderful sunset. Although there were no clouds to give the sunset more color, nonetheless, it was a beautiful sunset.

Venice pier at sunset
Fantastic golden sky

And so, our time with Deeny was coming to an end. We had a great visit and enjoyed being together. Tuesday morning we will go to Sarasota airport for our flight to Detroit via Atlanta. We will spend the night in Detroit Tuesday and then fly home to Binghamton on Wednesday.

We took one last photo prior to our departure from Deeny’s.

Thank you, Deeny, for a wonderful visit. We hope to see you again soon.

11/06/2021: Marie Selby Botanical Garden

Friday, 11/05/21, was a chilly, dreary, rainy day and so we mostly stayed in. Deeny had a lab test in the morning and went off to that, but returned shortly. After that, we talked and talked and shared information and things with each other. In mid-afternoon Christine took Deeny clothes shopping. They returned before dinner with a couple of new tops and a pair of pants for Deeny and fixings for a baked shrimp dish that I was making for dinner. After dinner we watched an episode of Vera. I helped Deeny get Acorn TV installed on her TV and we’re practicing accessing the shows on Acorn and then getting back to regular TV.

Saturday started out kind of gloomy, but did turn into a lovely day, albeit very breezy and somewhat chilly. But it was a great day for a trip to Marie Selby Botanical Garden. We’ve been several times, both with my father and Shirley, and with Deeny. It is a favorite activity and no matter how many times we go, there are many, many wonderful things to see. And readers of this blog know how much Christine and I love gardens. So get prepared for way too many photos.

There was an orchid show going on in the conservatory; however, I didn’t think there were as many showy orchids as in past visits. Deeny thought that possibly the show was showcasing more exotic, little known orchids, and there were certainly orchids I have never seen before. But who doesn’t like orchids, no matter the variety. I’m going to try my hand with orchids. Our friends gave us some orchids for our anniversary last February, and after enjoying the beautiful blooms, I apparently killed the plants. Deeny has been sharing her knowledge of orchid care with me, including giving me a book, so our visit to Selby has stirred an increased interest in orchids.

Cricket or spider orchids
Purple Guaria
Blue orchid
Purple Guaria
Some type of Cattleya orchid
Spider orchid

The lady slipper orchids are especially interesting and beautiful.

Lady slipper orchid
Another lady’s-slipper orchid

Here are a couple of photos of the weirdest orchids we saw.

Wispy umbrella orchid (really weird!)
Batflower (another weird one)

There was also quite a collection of carnivorous plants, those that eat insects and even, surprisingly, mice. One reason for the largest pitcher plants to eat mice and other small rodents, we learned, is because they need the minerals coming from the bones.

A type of pitcher plant
Another type of pitcher plant

In addition to beautiful orchids, there are vast numbers of bromeliads, and ferns, and palms. Everywhere one looks throughout the 15-acre garden is something beautiful and/or interesting.

Bromeliad
Bromeliad
Giant dioon (gum palm)
Garden statue
Stepladder ginger
Yellow bells

I am a touchy visitor to gardens. I like to touch plants, leaves, bark, etc. I am fascinated by patterns and textures, so I don’t need to always be wowed by flowers. I can enjoy all parts of a plant and want to know more about how a plant “works.” I somehow became aware of an app that I downloaded called LeafSnap. Now you’ll notice that most of these photos contain both genus and/or common names because I upload a photo of a plant (leaf, flower, fruit or bark) and the app will identify the plant for me and provide a nice description of the plant and send me to other sources of information.

Here are some texture and pattern photos.

Monstera – Swiss cheese plant
Calathea – Zebras back
Prayer plant
Monkey puzzle tree
Silver pothos
Bark of the Brazilian ironwood tree

There’s a wonderful koi pond. These koi are huge! But it is a very peaceful place to sit, listen to the waterfall, and enjoy the surroundings.

Deeny
Christine playing garden chimes
Deeny and Christine – it was chilly today

We had a nice lunch in the cafe at the garden and then Christine bought Deeny an orchid on the way out through the garden shop. I saw the orchid below and wished I could have purchased it and taken it home. I really found it to be a delicate, exquisite orchid.

It was a great visit to Selby Garden!

We then went into Venice to wander around the very large art show going on down the main thoroughfare of Venice. There were so many booths set up displaying everything from paintings to pottery to jewelry to crafts to wood carvings. I’m glad the weather turned fine for the art show. There were lots and lots of people attending this outdoor event.

We rested back home for a bit and then went back into Venice for dinner at the Thai Bistro. We had a great dinner. Back home we watched a few episodes of Doc Martin on Acorn TV. We all enjoy Doc Martin. Deeny popped us popcorn, so it was like we were at the movies.

So, another wonderful day with Deeny doing the things that we love to do with Deeny.

11/03-04/2021: A Beach Day and a Great Visit

Wednesday was a great weather day for a trip to the beach. Before our arrival, the Venice weather had been unbearably hot, like it was during our Tulum week. But since we’ve been here, the temperatures have dropped a little to the mid-to-upper-70s so it is much more comfortable. Every trip to visit Deeny we’ve had a beach day near the Venice Pier, and this visit was no different.

It was lovely, and sunny, and a little breezy. We set up close to the water and really enjoyed ourselves. The gulf was very calm.

Deeny at the beach
Beach day!

I took a long walk on the beach, always enjoyable. We have bowlfuls of shells at home collected over the years, but who can resist picking up a few more to take home. When I got back to our spot Christine was in the water and so I joined her. It was lovely, but I wished there were some waves. I really enjoy jumping waves. But nevertheless, swimming in the Gulf was great. Christine stayed in the water for quite a while and was chatting with someone. Christine always strikes up a conversation with someone wherever she is. Another pleasure at the beach is watching children play in the sand and along the shoreline. We watched some very active children and could feel ourselves smiling and enjoying their play.

Venice pier
Sandpiper
Under the Venice Pier

At the land end of the pier is the famous Sharky’s Restaurant. Although we didn’t have a meal there today, we will before we leave next week, always a favorite place.

For Thursday Christine arranged a visit with a friend, Meryl Blackman, who lives about 90 minutes north of Venice in St. Pete’s Beach. We drove up late Thursday morning, going across the beautiful Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the distance
Sunshine Skyway Bridge

We stopped and picked up fabulous deli sandwiches from La Casa de Pane, a real Italian bakery and deli. We arrived at Meryl’s and had a wonderful visit and lunch with her and her mother Sally. Christine and Meryl’s connection is via the American Dance Asylum and they have known each other since the mid-1970s. They were involved with the ADA with Bill T. Jones, Arnie Zane and Lois Welk. It was funny to hear from Meryl that just coincidentally she got a phone call from Lois this morning. Must be the dancer’s ESP that told Lois that two other dancer friends were getting together today. Christine and Meryl reconnected a few years ago when the ADA had a reunion in Binghamton.

Meryl moved to the same condominium development as her parents a few years ago. She was in the neighboring building. Her father died in 2019, I think, and so she has been helping her mother. Sally had a health event that caused her to need additional care so Meryl asked her to move in with her, so they sold Sally’s apartment. They are both happy with the arrangement. Meryl also has a very cute dog, a Havanese, Maya.

Meryl and Maya
Sally
Meryl and Sally
Maya
Christine with Meryl
Us with Meryl’s mom Sally

Meryl has a beautiful apartment with a wonderful view. Deeny said she’d never get anything done if she lived there; all she would do would be look out at the view. I’d be the same. Meryl said they often see dolphins playing out across the bay.

View from Meryl’s
Gorgeous view from Meryl’s balcony
One of the pools at Meryl’s

It was really great spending some time with Meryl and Sally. Meryl is such an interesting woman. She’s been an activist and community organizer for many issues and is incredibly smart and knowledgeable about so many things. Deeny enjoyed meeting Meryl and we hope that they will stay in touch.

After our drive home, I was ready for a little walk so Christine and I walked around Deeny’s community. I had heard some birds cackling and, thinking that they might be sand hill cranes, we set off in search of these birds. All of a sudden we saw this huge bird fly close by and it had a fish hanging down from its talons. I was shocked to see that the bird was a bald eagle. I never in a million years would have thought I’d see a bald eagle in Florida, but there it was. Unfortunately, cellphone zoom photos aren’t very clear, but here’s a couple of photos.

Eagle with fish in talons
Eagle

We watched the eagle for a while as it had its snack. Eventually, I think it was bothered by me being close to the tree, it moved off to another area. It was quite an incredible sight. Later, Deeny said that she one saw an eagle in her yard while she was sitting in the house which shocked her.

We did see a group of 4 sand hill cranes fly but I didn’t get a photo. We saw a heron sitting on a neighbors roof.

We also noted a type of palm tree that fascinated me. Upon returning home I did a little research and learned that it was a Christmas palm. What makes it so striking is the huge bunches of fruit that it grows. This fruit turns bright red in the winter, looking like a cluster of red bulbs. And Deeny showed me that she has a Christmas palm near her front door. In the past Deeny has lopped off the bunches of fruit while they were green because the fallen fruit causes a mess. Now that she knows that the fruit will turn red, she’s going to leave the fruit clusters on the palm this year and hope for a nice Christmas decoration.

Christmas palm
Christmas palm fruit

It’s been a lovely 2 days. Friday’s forecast is for rain, so I think we may be having a lull day and not plan any activities.

11/02/2021: Pottery, Garden and Music

Today we engaged in two fantastic activities and had a wonderful time during each.

The first was a visit to a friend of Deeny’s. Deeny is a potter who has a wonderful collection of work created over the years as well as pieces collected from other potters. Christine said she loves looking in Deeny’s cupboard because there are so many wonderful plates, cups, bowls and other things to choose from. In her teaching and involvement in the pottery world Deeny has established a great friendship with Slavka Pacherova, another potter. We visited Slavka at her studio which is housed in part of a garage on the property where she and her partner Todd live. Todd is a landscape architect and over the years has created an incredible oasis on their property. So in addition to visiting the studio to see Slavka’s incredible work we got a tour of the garden.

Slavka does beautiful work, so creative and intricate.

Beautiful pots
Edging on a pot
More beautiful pots
Very unique pot with weaving
Love the birds nest top

In addition to beautiful artistic pots she makes pots for plant hangers. These are really cute because they often have clay frogs hanging from the side of the pots. She had a bunch of the plant pots drying on a table.

Pots drying

These pots become plant hangers.

Pottery plant hander
Pottery plant hanger

Slavka also creates great garden totems.

Garden totem
Garden totem
Love this garden totem with the face

Slavka had some pieces sitting in her kiln ready for firing.

Ready to be fired in the kiln
Exquisite detail

We so enjoyed seeing Slavka’s studio and some of her beautiful work. She then toured us around her garden which was a paradise. In a relatively small space there were many areas, kind of like different rooms for sitting and enjoying the abundance of nature around.

Garden bench in a serene spot
Gorgeous wall adornment
Lovely water feature
Water lilies
Big koi
Garden owl
Garden statue
Large garden Buddha

What a joy it was for us to have Slavka share both her work and her fantastic garden. I’m so glad that Deeny has Slavka as friend and sister potter. It is very clear that they have a very special relationship.

On the way home we stopped at the famous Amish market, Detwiler’s Farm Market. We love coming to this market because the produce is always incredible. It is also a classic Amish deli and bakery. I noticed that many of the cheeses were from Pearl Valley Cheese which is a cheese factory very near Newcomerstown, Ohio where my father was born. I have made many visits to Pearl Valley to watch cheese being made and to buy great baby Swiss cheese, so I was thrilled to buy some Pearl Valley cheese.

The second fantastic activity today was dinner and a show. Deeny told us about a jazz club that she wanted to take us to. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we had a fabulous evening. We arrived at the Allegro Bistro, an Italian restaurant and quasi-nightclub. It was really quite a place with all kinds of ornamental lighting, a long bar on one side, dining tables on another side with a small stage in the corner. The place was beautiful in a rather glitzy fashion.

Allegro Bistro lighting
Ceiling adornment

The bistro was founded by an Italian woman, famous in the area for her bakery and cookie-making, who wanted a venue for live music. The food was fantastic. Christine said the chicken marsala was the best she ever had.

The group performing was the Kitt Moran Quartet. Kitt Moran is quite a famous cabaret singer, being nominated for both an Emmy and a Tony. She was a lovely singer and does the classical American songbook. Her husband, Mike Moran, the keyboardists in the quartet, is a famous piano player and has had a long career in his own right.

Kitt Moran performing

One of the things that happens during the show is that Kitt invites other musicians to come up and perform. There was a great saxophone player, a singer, and a clarinetist who each did a couple of songs. But the most incredible performer to come up on stage was Dick Hyman, introduced as jazz royalty. Even I know the name Dick Hyman. He is a jazz virtuoso on piano. At 94, he sat right down at the keyboard and played an entire set. I was astounded to have been privileged to see and hear Dick Hyman.

At the end of the evening’s set, the bistro’s owner, Nella Valenti, comes up on stage and belts out a couple of songs. She ends with Volare, in which we all participate. Volare was one of Christine’s mother’s favorites so Christine was touched by it.

What we didn’t know is that Deeny is acquainted with Kitt Moran through Kitt’s potter daughter Georgia. Kitt came by our table to greet Deeny and later came by again to chat. Kitt is a lovely, dynamic woman, who in addition to music, is quite an artist who paints, portraits primarily. There’s one of Kit’s paintings on the wall behind her above.

We all loved spending the evening listening to great music and eating great food. What an incredible treat!

10/31 – 11/01/2021: Settling in at Deeny’s

After a week in Mexico we arrived at Deeny’s with a suitcase full of dirty clothes, so Sunday was spent doing laundry and taking stock of our stuff. We also spent most of the day chatting with Deeny and catching up on all the news. Deeny and I went to Publix, the big supermarket chain here in Florida, but that was probably the most productive thing that we did.

Christine met Deeny in Malta when she was 10 and they have been friends since then – 63 years. Christine’s father was a ham radio buff and Deeny was in Malta with her husband who was stationed in Malta with the U.S. Navy. Deeny was pregnant and Christine’s father would radio Deeny’s family back in upstate New York to keep them posted on Deeny’s condition and whether she had given birth. Christine was very shy and Deeny took notice of Christine’s interest in reading. She brought a Scrabble game over to the house and brought Christine out of her shell in playing Scrabble. From then on they’ve had a very special relationship. I’ve been fortunate to now be included in the friendship.

Other than hanging out and doing laundry, we went out to dinner at Captain Eddie’s, a very good seafood restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner. Our server was a very nice woman who knew Deeny from the Venice Arts Center. Her name was Giselle, and of course Christine got very interested in her as Christine’s daughter Eve’s middle name is Giselle, so Christine wanted to learn more about Giselle, our server.

After dinner we returned home and watched all the Sunday evening PBS shows.

Monday we hung out some more. What’s really great is all the laughing we’re doing. I told Deeny I thought she was a hoot. She’s very witty and funny and we all get downright silly, but we’re having so much fun.

I am still trying to get over a bad cold and so Deeny and I went to CVS to get me cold remedy supplies. I sat up for a couple of hours during last night because I couldn’t stop coughing. I’m now armed with cough syrup, throat lozenges, and Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus. That should help.

The big activity today was visiting the Venice Area Audubon Rookery. We do this every visit and I’ll never get tired of watching all the birds swoop in to the little island in the middle of this very small lake. The area is right near a main highway behind the Venice municipal offices, not an area typically thought to be a great location for a rookery. But it is really wonderful.

Starting about a half-hour before sunset, birds start flying in to roost for the night. During nesting season, pairs build their nests all over the vegetation on the little island in the middle of this tiny lake. Nesting won’t start until next month, but nevertheless, as birds drop down onto the vegetation there are fights for placement. The biggest birds are the Great Egrets, and they certainly go at it when someone lands on another’s turf.

When we first arrived there were only a few birds roosting, but as sunset neared more and more birds arrived.

A few egrets and a blue heron are visible

Christine and Deeny sat on a bench while I walked around the lake.

Little egret
Egret taking a drink
Egret with another bird reflected in water
Some type of heron

Within about 30 minutes, the little island became covered in birds, mostly egrets and ibis. I really love the ibis coming in showing their black wingtips. For some reason I think of Ichabod Crane when I see an ibis in flight, all kind of gangly with their curved beaks. Some of the birds swoop around and around the island, I expect looking for the best spot. Others just plop down after making a beeline for a spot. And the sound! All grunts and growls, chirps and chatter. A real cacophony of sounds.

Only a few
More birds have landed
Space is filling up

The photos only show one side of the island, so you can image just how many birds there are roosting when you consider the other side. It’s amazing to watch the birds coming in both as single birds or in small and large flocks.

The other very cool thing at the rookery is the bat houses. Several houses were installed near the lake.

Deeny said that the bats start leaving their houses 15 minutes after sunset. With the sun down, we were waiting for the exodus of bats. It was getting chilly and Christine had forgotten her jacket so she shared Deeny’s jacket each with an arm in a sleeve.

And Deeny was right. Exactly 15 minutes after the official time of sunset, the bats started dropping out of their houses and flying off to feed. One or two dropped out and flew off. It was a slow start, but eventually clusters of bats come out in a line and fly off. There are likely hundreds of bats in these house. We watched for a while and then headed back to the car for the ride home. Below is a short video of some of the bat action. It may take some time to load but it captures a little bit of the action.

Bats leaving the bat houses

A visit to the rookery is a tradition for us and each visit is a joy. It’s really a marvel that in the midst of a busy commercial area one can sit and watch a wonderful show of nature.

10/30/2021: Off to Florida

Our departure from Dreams Tulum was relatively uneventful, except our luggage was supposed to be picked up at 5:30 a.m. Our shuttle to the airport was departing at 7:00 and we needed to be in the lobby at 6:40. At 6:15 I called the bell captain and was assured they were on the way. At 6:35, we decided to leave our room and head to the lobby with bags in tow. Fortunately, once out of the elevator from our room, we met the guy with a luggage cart heading to our room. So that worked out okay.

Our bus ride to the airport was good, faster than our trip from the airport to the resort. We arrived in plenty of time to get checked in, bags dropped, and through security. Just before security, thought, there was a pileup of people because some form about COVID exposure was required to be filled out before security. One could scan a QR code and fill out the form on line, but you had to join something to get to the form and I didn’t want to do that. Fortunately, we found 2 paper copies of the form on a table, but he printing was so tiny we had trouble reading what information was required. I guess we answered the questions because we got through the checkpoint okay.

We were keeping an eye out for my brother Grant and his partner Bob. We were looking out the window and noticed a JetBlue plane arriving at just a couple of minutes before 10:15 and we’re pretty sure that was there plane. It would have been so nice to actually see them, but at least we know they arrived safely.

Developments right into the jungle
Last view of Mexico

Our flight from Cancun to Atlanta was fine. The Atlanta airport, on the other hand, was not fine! What a crazy messed up place. We first went through immigration, which was okay. Then we had to retrieve our luggage in order to go through customs. From there it was anyone’s guess what the next step was. Some border agent was standing in the middle of the hallway yelling instructions that were totally unclear. But we figured out that our bags had to go through a screening checkpoint and so they were dumped onto a conveyor belt. Then the guy screamed that we needed to turn around and go back the way we came, but go up the escalator. From there it was on to security. We were given TSA precheck cards, but I messed up and had my cellphone in my pocket and tripped the alarm. I had to go back through, but since I had already handed in my TSA precheck card, I was treated to the customary screening. Christine also encountered the same problem and got rather flustered since she kept saying she was TSA precheck and didn’t understand why she had to go through the regular security. It was a mess. Then we had to find the train to Terminal B. There was no signage anywhere and we wandered around until we found the train. Once in Terminal B, we started looking for a place to have a meal and after a long wander around the vendors, we settled on a panini and salad place. After eating, things seemed better, thank goodness. It was a good thing we had a 4-hour layover in Atlanta because it took us nearly 3 hours to get through everything.

Our flight to Sarasota was fine except we were in the last row of the plane which made our disembarking a very long wait. Flying along the Florida coast was pretty at night, though.

We landed pretty much on time. Our friend Deeny had arranged for a driver for us and we rendezvoused with her without trouble. It was about a 45-minute drive from the Sarasota airport to Deeny’s house in Venice, Florida. The driver, Joyce, was very talkative and we talked the entire drive about travel as Joyce is a travel agent but has been driving to earn money during the pandemic. We arrived at Deeny’s place at about 10:00 p.m. after a long day of traveling.

We were very happy to see Deeny and to be “home” at her place where we’ll stay until our departure on November 9.