Saturday Lost

We had a pretty good plan for Saturday, I thought. We were going to go to the Farmers' Market in downtown Punta Gorda, then over to Laishley Park to hang around the edges of a Tea Party rally. As plans go, it had a lot of promise. Then yesterday morning started out really cold and went downhill from there, with heavy rain arriving before 10:00 am. The skies had barely cleared by supper time, so we spent the day watching Olympic curling. Boy, was there a lot of it.
Today was quite a bit nicer, though still pretty cold. We explored the Cape Haze peninsula a bit, hunting down a hiking trail that TT had discovered on-line. It was a nice spot, but there were no benches at all along the 2 mile loop of trail that we walked, so I had to reach back into the archives for a photo I took of my house guest late Friday afternoon at Sunrise Park in order to continue with my benches theme.
I've gotten to prefer my own pizza to any available by delivery here, and TT's salad was an excellent addition to it for supper tonight. Sunset looked like a washout -- too many clouds on the horizon when the sun actually set about 6:30. But sometimes it surprises you later, and this was one of those nights. Add in a chat with my Grandchildren this afternoon on the video cam (Good Luck on Finals!) and it was a pretty nice day.

A Bench at Both Ends

The walk from Gilchrest Park, near the Banyon tree, to Fishermen's Village is about a mile.

That makes a round trip of, oh.... close to two miles, I think.
Fortunately, there is a bench at both ends. It was still coolish, as you can see from the jeans and jackets, but the sun was shining and the breeze was light. TT helped out a nice Canadian couple by taking their photo together in front of one of the fishing piers along the river. Naturally, they were quite pleased (but modestly so.... Canadians, you know) about the results of the women's hockey game last night. Sigh.

Bench with a View

It was a slow start to the morning, after a (very) late night at the airport last night. We spent a bit of time going over maps of Paris and doing some vocabulary practice. Eventually we shook off the cobwebs and ventured outside to enjoy the sunshine.
It was a cool and windy day, by Florida standards. My house guest, fresh from the Tundra, did not complain about the weather. It was a nice enough day for a long walk in the newly discovered Kiwanis Park. Feta grouper, oven roasted potatoes, broccoli and salad is on the menu for supper tonight.

Possibly Prickly Pear

I've been waiting for this cactus to bloom for over a year now. It didn't bloom while I was here last year, and it has shown no sign of blooming this year, either. I finally googled 'Florida Cactus' and I think that I know the reason. Those aren't buds. They're the fruit. This is possibly/probably a variety of cactus known as prickly pear.
The fruit is theoretically edible, and even medicinal. However the pads and fruits are covered with a very fine thistle which is hard to remove and quite painful. Heavy leather gloves are recommended for handling the fruit. I think I'll pass. It is referred to as Devil's Tongue. That's a clue. I'm glad I didn't get too close.

It is apparently an invasive species -- not native to this part of Florida. This one grows (and grows) in the park at the end of the street, just off the path. Beware. Now, I just need to find one of those Monkey Pod trees.....

Another Walking Trail

There aren't nearly enough photos of old women in bike helmets on this blog, I've decided. Seriously.
I've ridden past the lake/pond in the background of this photo in prior years, but I don't remember ever having seen a walking path around it before. I managed to scare off the ducks before I could get any photos of them, so I settled for a picture of my bike.
It looks like a place to explore on foot, so it will have to wait for another time. Since it is in a semi isolated location, I may wait and walk it some time when I have some company. It felt good to get out on my bike today, and I enjoyed the slight warm up from the 'cold snap' we've been having. Mostly I was happy that the winds have subsided enough to make it fun to ride again. (The lake in the photo is the one just south of Wintergarden on the map below.)

Further Inspection

I went back to the Kiwanis Park today, without my bicycle. I walked most of the trails, though I skipped one of the loops. I think two miles is stretching the truth here -- at the most you could claim a mile and a half.
There are four different paths off the parking lot, but it is primarily one big loop with some smaller loops inside it. Getting lost seems highly unlikely. It is mostly wooded, and on the first leg of my walk I heard some rustling in the grass near the path. I eventually determined it to be from squirrels, but it was a little unsettling for a while.
There are a number of exercise stations along the way -- this one was where the path loops back on itself. No one else was using the walking trails while I was there today, though there were a few people eating their lunches in their cars in the parking lot.
The outside loop brought me to the pavilion area, and the water feature. The bridge is a short cut back to the parking lot.
The squirrels were the only wildlife I saw, though I heard a lot of birds in the trees. The area is well maintained -- it was a peaceful walk, and pretty tame. The habitat was clearly Florida, though. It made a nice change of pace for some low key exercise.

The Origin of Slow

I learned a few useful things watching the Olympics this past weekend. I was listening to some goofus commentator explaining why there were not likely to be many speed skating records set at Vancouver this year. Elevation, he says. The Vancouver rink/venue is near sea level, while the rink/venue in Torino Italy was quite high. I tried to check out just how high, and Google failed me. (The rink was near Turin -- the closest weather station I could find was at Torino, which is an elevation of 942 feet.) So here's what I'm thinking. The elevation where I am now is about 30 feet above sea level. Less, really. But that's the official number at the airport. It's hard to get much lower than that and still be on dry land. (Or in the Netherlands, I suppose.) So while I was thinking that I am really, really slow right now because of things like lack of fitness, an extremely heavy bicycle and the relentless wind, it looks like the real culprit is the elevation! Wow.
Holland, where I ride considerably faster than I do here, has an elevation of 608 feet. And while GZ is undeniably stronger than I am, he also lives at an elevation of from 695 to over 1,000 feet, thus making him automatically faster. I feel better now. One other Olympic issue before I move on.... does anyone know why all of those cross country skiers fall down when they cross the finish line? Moving on, yesterday I took a (very slow) ride over to the Kiwanis Park to check out a story in the local paper (for TT) about the 2 miles of walking trails in the middle of Pt. Charlotte. They exist, and it looks like a nice venue.

Valentines

I think that OSLO and the COTU would like this shop in downtown Punta Gorda. I know I do.

Going With the Flow

Boca Grande is a small town on Gasparilla Island which sits in the middle of the entrance to Charlotte Harbor in the Gulf of Mexico. The sign at the toll both where GZ paid $4 for us to get onto the chain of islands said 8 miles to the lighthouse, which sits at the end of the islands, roughly .... oh, I'd say 8 miles, out into the gulf. Gasparilla is a charming little spot, but it was more than a little bit chilly on their beaches today. Notice that Gino not only has his jacket on, but it is zipped all the way up. And his fists are clenched. This was taken at the street end mentioned in Gino's blog today. "Really nice real estate" was his comment, I believe.
The Gulf looked a little calmer behind GZ at the State Park lighthouse. It's in a more sheltered location, but there are constant rip currents there as the tides push through the narrow opening between Gasparilla Island and Cayo Costa Island to its south. He's reading a tide table that I picked up at the Boca Grand Outfitters store a little earlier. It was more or less high tide at that point. Notice his jacket is unzipped, exposing his sweatshirt. Yep. Three layers. Everyone knows he was wearing an orange shirt underneath it, right?
Back to the west side of the island, and the surf is still up. It's a beautiful beach, but there were no takers for sunbathing today. Or surfing.
The Ft. Myers TV weather guy -- Bob Van Winkle, I believe his name is -- says we are in for another 7 or 8 days of temperatures that flirt with freezing overnight, that won't get out of the 50's during the day. This H*ll Hole sure is pretty.

Obscure Sports

Totally Jammin' seems to think that it is not fair that it is warm here, but it is cold (and snowing, and blowing) where he lives. Gino and I took a bike ride today, including a loop through the beach complex, where a group of senior citizens were engaged in a water exercise class. If you think it was warm, TJ, look at how the lifeguard is dressed. That's the person in the red sweatpants and sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up. Okay. It wasn't cold -- but it is probably cooler here than you think.


Earlier in the ride GZ and I had ridden past Higgs Park, which has a group of about 8 shuffleboard courts, all of them totally empty of players at that point. GZ wondered out loud where all the geezers were. A few miles later we discovered that apparently they were playing Bocce Ball at the beach. We watched a couple of pretty good shots made, enough for Mr. Moohoo to be able to tell that the scoring was very similar to that for Curling.

Bicycling, shuffleboard, water aerobics, bocce ball and curling. I think this might be a sports blog. A pretty nice ride.

Punta Gorda Wild

Mostly photos today.
Taken at Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda this afternoon.
More or less the same spot. A variety of sea gull? Funny colored beaks, and an odd tuft on their heads.
At the Punta Gorda History Park, later this afternoon. A bald eagle and its nest.

Oh, What a Lovely Bunch....

Even in Auckland, there are 'lay days', when it is just too windy to sail. Or bike. Today was one of those days here. The clouds this morning looked a little threatening, so we stayed close to the house when we took a mid morning stroll. By early afternoon the sun had broken through -- but the winds had not abated. Gusts were around 30, I believe. A second excursion? Sure. Why not?
The waterfront park in Punta Gorda was exposed to the full force of the winds coming across the harbor -- strong enough to blow salt water in our faces even though we were several yards from the water, and lift the manhole covers and drop them back with a clang. Disconcerting to say the least.
Walking underneath a coconut palm seemed risky. We risked it. And survived to tell the tale. There were a number of soft southerners wearing sweatshirts and long pants taking the same walk that we were, but we declared ourselves to be on the up side of comfortable. Even without having biked in these gales, I'm declaring us to still be hard core.

Warmest Day So Far This Week

It is apparently spring time here in the desert. The cacti are in bloom. This one belongs to one of our neighbors.
It seems strange to me that many of the palm trees here are showing signs of significant damage from the freezes earlier this month, but for the most part the cactus plants seem to have come through without too much damage.

Out and About

It took a while for the promised sunshine to show itself today. It was still jacket weather (at least by Florida standards) when we made a visit to the organic farmer's market this morning. It's not your typical farmer's market, but we got some nice tomatoes and mixed greens while we looked around to see if their were any hippies loitering in the area. It had that air, somehow. Maybe it was the guy with the guitar performing 60's music while people carried their little bushel baskets around and filled them with produce.
After the shark fishing charter was concluded, we swung by the local bike shop to view the art work. Or maybe bike gear. This red bike sculpture outside caught my eye -- it serves a purpose, I'm told. Shoppers who arrive by bicycle can lock their bikes to the bike. Cool.
As reported elsewhere, eventually the sun came out and our house guest and I headed out on the bikes. The Rock Creek Loop is one of my favorite rides here, paralleling several waterways as well as the other half of Spring Lake.
The breeze seemed more aggressive than was strictly necessary while we were out, I thought, though manageable. February miles can be fairly rare, though. When I entered today's 11 miles into my bike log -- the first miles I've ridden in February this year -- I noticed that I have pulled myself out of the basement already. In February of 2003 I rode just 5 miles. Just riding around.

Wood Docks

Yesterday was theme day again, and I missed it. February 1st's theme was wood, so I have a couple of photos of the wooden docks that line the waterway/lake behind the house here. Making a cameo appearance in the role of my brother is Mr. MooHoo, of Tundra and Internet fame. He's lining up a shot of what might be a snowy egret.
The first photo was taken this morning, after the first line of rain showers had gone through, but before the sun had come out. It looked promising for some decent weather, then another line of showers produced a pretty good downpour, making it look like today was going to be a complete washout.
It eventually stopped raining long enough for us to get in a two mile walk before supper, and the wooden docks above worked as the setting for an after sunset photo. Tomorrow's another day.