Aerie

A bald eagle, sitting on a nest in Punta Gorda. About a block inland from the linear park along the Peace River. The tree itself appears to be quite dead. A 'local' said that there are two offspring. (Tomorrow is February 1. Another theme day. Bloggers using Windy Wellington and the Cathedral in Christchurch have posted a theme ... "When people think of my city..." )

Pelican

Taken outside the Peace River Wildlife Center in Punta Gorda on Monday.

Walk Along the Peace River

Spitting rain and dark clouds kept me off the bike this morning. It did turn into a nice day by early afternoon, as you can see by the way TT is dressed. A little breezy, but no complaints. I don't remember ever having seen a squirrel crossing sign before. Squirrel, I believe, are vermin.

I think this is also a variety of hibiscus. I like its pink, salmon-y color.

Something Old, Something New

I don't have many old photos here, but this one is from Hovland, on the North Shore of Lake Superior. He's a much younger man in this than he is in the photo on Andy's blog. That's Tommy that he's holding, and it looks like winter, perhaps even January.

It is winter today as well, but not so much so here. It was a chilly start to the day, but we were overdressed by the time we got back from an early ride to the beach. Later we went on a hunt for oranges -- Moro oranges, specifically. The ones that are blood red inside. We returned with tangelos and grouper. The DeSoto Grove citrus store has gone out of business, so we had to settle for what was available at the grocery store. Still Florida grown and still good. Feta fish and couscous for supper, with some broccoli on the side.

Myakka River

I took the ride today that I had begun on Tuesday when I was interrupted by the rear tire of my bike exploding. (It's my story, and I get to tell it.) This is the turn around point -- a neighborhood of very pricey houses that back up on a back channel of the Myakka River. Fog courtesy of Mother Nature.

Bike Story

So I bought new tires in Holland - Armadillos - from Laura and had her ship them to Florida. Because I didn't want to get a flat tire down here and get stranded miles from home and have to call John to come and get me. So today, with my brand new tires on the bike, I got a flat tire, got stranded miles from home and had to call John to come and get me. The moral of this story is ????????????

Stadium

As you may have heard, I am the great flatlands rider -- no, really -- I am. Here is where I rode today. It doesn't get much flatter than this. (I took this picture on a brighter day. Today is overcast with only a few glimpses of the sun.) I rode out to the baseball stadium on SR 776. Hope's baseball team usually spends their spring break in Pt. Charlotte, but they will not be here this year. Lynne wondered why. This explains it, I think. It is not currently in playable condition.

And this explains why. I have a question, though. Who are the Tampa Bay Rays?

The last mile or so of the ride out, along SR 776, was a bit gritty and unpleasant. The rest of the ride went pretty well. It started to mist on my way back to the house, but stopped before it got to full on drizzle. It was kind of a long bike ride for me this early in the year, but since I didn't ride yesterday, I'm not too knackered.

Winter?

This is a (an?) Hibiscus, I think. Along the front sidewalk next to the garage.

Not Fun

The weather channel indicated an east wind about 13 when I left. It was obvious fairly quickly that they were understating it by quite a bit -- but I persisted. I was frustrated early on when one of the streets I'd planned to take was under construction. Alternate routes had more traffic than seemed reasonable. I finally turned around about 7 miles into the ride at Harold Park, part of which is shown here. The weather channel is currently announcing 20 mph winds, gusting to 25. Ugh. It was a route and a direction I will not ride again soon. All in all, it was not much fun at all. Except, of course, that it was a bike ride.

Mix and Match

This was taken this morning -- at the beach, again. The young Native American woman is there every other Sunday, she said. I bought some tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and an onion. Eat locally. It was a bit tricky getting it home on my bike, but the tomatoes tasted good on my sandwich at lunch. TOPWLH was pleased with the addition to his lunch, as well. I still have no epic rides to report -- but I do have a bike story. When I went out to the garage to get on my bike, it had a flat front tire. Rather than change the tire, I rode my other bike. So now I have a few sore muscles from riding an unfamiliar bike (with slightly soft tires -- rider error), even though it was a fairly short ride. And while I was trying to reset the bicycle computer I accidentally zeroed out the odometer -- which I knew -- and somehow switched to kilometers, which took longer to figure out. Fortunately, I know how to convert, so this ride was loggable, as well as bloggable. Not much of story, but it's all I've got for now. Still 80 and sunny, but that is supposed to change overnight tonight.

Big Bird

Taking a picture through a screen is not very satisfactory. Using the zoom on my camera makes it worse. It makes for a blurry image, and even Picasa can't seem to fix it. But this guy -- I assume it's a guy -- has been hanging around in our back yard off and on since we got here. I guess -- and it is only a guess -- that it is either a heron or a crane. Anybody know?

High Tide

Breakfast at the beach. If you can call Oatmeal to Go and water breakfast, then I had breakfast at the beach this morning. (Oatmeal to Go is an energy bar made by Quaker Oats.) It was close to high tide, from the looks of it. Very pretty. With music being played at the adjacent public pool for their geezer water aerobics class for entertainment.

I ride by these orange bushes on my way to and from the beach, and I do not know what they are, but they are striking. They always remind me of Gino -- it's the color, I think.

End of Edgewater

I have ridden to the end of Edgewater Drive a couple of times, by using streets that run parallel to it -- except for the bridge crossings. It is a narrow, two lane road with a lot of traffic and no shoulder, so I prefer to minimize the time I spend on it. At it's very end is this fence and this sign.

Behind the fence is this rather nice view of a waterway that goes to the harbor and eventually the Gulf of Mexico without going under any bridges. Sailboat property, it's called locally.

There are some natural dangers here that don't exist where I usually live. Snakes, alligators and black panthers, to name a few. But I was not aware of the presence of killer gates until this trip. (The sign says 'moving gate can cause serious injury or death.') Well, I consider myself warned.

Sunset over Spring Lake

It makes sense that if it has been way warmer in Minnesota than is normal for January, then it was probably also warm in Florida. In fact, it has been almost too warm to ride in the mid day sun the past few days. So this morning I left the house at 8:30, with the temperatures in the low sixties, and had to push down the sleeves on my Nike dry-fit shirt, and zip up my yellow fluorescent vest. Bare legs were fine, though. At that hour in Port Charlotte, there are young kids waiting for the school buses in their shorts and short sleeved shirts. One group was entertaining themselves by throwing rocks at a street sign for target practice, but they stopped when I approached, and bid me a cheery good morning. I planned my route today so that I would nearly always have a waterway on one side of me or the other. Except for a couple of manageable transition zones -- necessary to cross the waterways -- it was a pleasant ride, mostly through neighborhoods. Just about a dozen miles, enough to get some exercise and plenty of TT's full spectrum sunlight. The Fuji League I got last year is doing fine so far -- no flat tires yet, and GZ's tube repair held up through the summer heat. I visited a new LBS today, and made arrangements for new tires to be put on the bike -- Laura is shipping some Armadillo's to me. ~ This photo was taken shortly after sunset last night. We don't normally get colorful sunsets here -- don't know why -- but there was a wild fire south of Punta Gorda yesterday which put some smoke into the air, which may have helped.

Morning

I wonder if it is the same sea gull that makes such a mess of the beaches in Holland? Do sea gulls migrate? I suppose they do. I think the other bird is a heron, though it could be an egret. I bet Opal would know.

Heading out for a day of fishing? There is more daylight to play with. TOPWLH announced that there is 10.5 hours between sunrise and sunset in Port Charlotte today. Add a half hour at each end for 'nautical twilight' and there is 11.5 hours when it is possible to see your hand in front of your face. Holland has about 9 hours and 10 minutes between the rising and setting of the sun about now. If you could ever see the sun.

Somewhere Else

There is a place where there is no snow, and people take their cameras to the beach to photograph the birds flying over the water. And to see how the sea grapes are coming along.

In this place, fruit grows on trees, beside people's houses, in January. I know this to be to be true because I have seen it.

Favorites

This is just a sampling, and others could just as easily have been chosen. These are the Cardinal flowers that are too rare, but beautiful. And I didn't know their name until Kelsey found it out for me, and I sent her a picture of some and she used it as background on her computer in college. Beyond sentimental favorites, I like photos of the big lake, at sunset and during storms mostly, but I've photographed it a lot. This one was on my blog this fall.

Many other water shots also made it to print, from Pigeon Lake and Pigeon River, to the Black River, Lake Mac and the bayou where Pine Creek Bay used to be.

Lots of others -- family, friends, foliage -- to name just a few that start with F. It's been fun to look back on a day when I'm mostly snowbound. And I didn't include a single picture of a bike!