Carl and Pearl with Ollie and .... the Waffle House?

This was a pretty good day for the visitors from the north, I think.  Neither had been to Ollie's Pond, but both of them were familiar with it -- from the blogs, apparently.  It was an ideal morning for a visit there, with quite a few bird sightings without having to walk too far.  Ollie's paths are not ideal for walking sticks, but I think they got a good sense of the place. No alligators this time either.

The one word puzzle to be solved today was "Waffles."  Apparently Waffle House represents the true southern experience to Carl.  Neither Pearl nor I were eager to go there, thinking that if we did, we'd have to follow it up with a trip to "the Walmart."  But we caved and had lunch at the Waffle House near the big highway.

As it turned out, no trip to Walmart was necessary, as the people of Walmart were all enjoying a late lunch at the Waffle House.  Though by far the most entertaining person there was our waitress.  Ask either Carl or Pearl how many beans there are in a cup of Waffle House chili.  I don't think they'll be forgetting that any time soon.

Having dined at Waffle House for lunch, the logical choice for supper was boneless chicken wings from the deli at Winn Dixie.  With a little mustard potato salad on the side.  

Carl and Pearl and Ponce

I asked Carl what he'd like to do today, and his one word response was "Ponce." So we drove over the big bridge to Punta Gorda and dropped in on Ponce.  He wasn't busy.

Ponce de Leon Park is a good place to spend a little time on a sunny January day.  (Carl and Pearl for scale.)

We walked the boardwalk through the mangroves -- not quite the Everglades, but it's an interesting spot, and a visit there is another one of those traditions that seems to persist through the years.

When we left Ponce's park, Carl made a request for one of the three basic food groups (coffee, chocolate and ice cream), so we stopped for a while at Fisherman's Village for coffee.  Pearl had to translate the food groups for me since coffee has not made it into my top three.  It was a nice day to sit outside the coffee shop and enjoy the sea breeze.

Carl and Pearl have officially arrived.

It was an early morning for them, as their plane pulled away from the gate at MSP a few minutes before 7:00 am.  Delta delivered them to SW Florida, and like so many others who have made that trip, they marveled at the green grass, blue skies and warmth.  And we were still in the parking lot at the airport.  Carl was looking forward to spending some time in the hot tub here, but had to wait for M.C. Quacker to give the okay.  Pearl took a book to the dock to soak up some Florida sunshine and Carl took a short nap before supper.

Sunrise Park is a short walk from here, and once on the the fishing pier, Carl remembered having been there before.  It's been a few years since they did their Spring Training baseball tour.

Supper was feta fish, mashed potatoes and tomato/okra stew.  Simple but tasty.

Finally the thermometer in M.C. Quacker's tail said 95 degrees, and our guests took advantage of the last rays of sunshine with a soak in the hot tub.  We are very glad to  have them here.  I think they'll sleep well tonight!

Full Day

We walked up to the Walgreen's on the highway this morning, a 2.75 mile round trip.  So we're still on track with our plan to accumulate some miles each day that NCW is here.  This afternoon we drove over to Punta Gorda and did some shopping at Fisherman's Village before heading out to the Ponce de Leon Park, both places that many of us have been -- some of us many times.  Driving back across the big bridge, NCW commented that she was running out of reading material so we detoured past BAM (Books-A-Million) where she picked up a couple of books.  One was a biography of Winston Churchill's wife and the other was the first book in the Kidd series, for her to get a taste of Sandford's style.  We then spent a little time  sitting down (I was knackered) before beginning dinner preparations.  JB is very fond of NCW's seafood au graten, which we paired with a winter salad with poppy seed dressing.

I got a few text messages  from my beloved grandchildren during the food preparation, as well as a few photos.  They were at the beach house checking up on things for us.

Everything was fine, and they knew I miss my lake when I'm gone, and rightly guessed that I'd enjoy the photo of the people riding fat bikes on the beach.  It was another good day.

Coyotes, shoes and chocolate.

NCW and I both like to walk in the morning while it's cool and before the sun gets too high in the sky.  (I know, I know.  But we're not where you are, we're here.)  We are pretty much past the point in our lives where we expect to get unsolicited attention from working men driving trucks -- or at least I am.  So we were a bit surprised to be hailed by the driver of a big water truck (water trucks need their own story, but it's hardly worth the telling).  It turns out that, after some good natured bantering, he wanted to warn us about walking near the wooded/swampy area near the Sunrise waterway bridge.  He claimed to have seen three large coyotes in there, "three feet tall at their haunches" he said.  Footprints as big as his hand.  We listened to his story telling for a while before moving on, only half believing in coyotes in Port Charlotte.  I did a google search on coyotes in southwest Florida a  bit later, and lo and behold, they're a real thing.  Two attacks were reported in Punta Gorda last summer, both of them resulting in the loss of small dogs.  I have no where to go with this story, but it seemed kind of interesting.  Maybe I've been overly concerned with alligators and insufficiently concerned about coyotes.  (Big sticks are recommended for walking in areas with coyotes.)

We spent some time at the local mall today, looking for shoes and chocolate.  We found the chocolate, and saw some nice shoes. We bought only the chocolate.  On our way back to the house we stopped for a walk along the Harbor/Peace River, where I took the above photo of NCW.  We're working on accumulating some walking miles while she's here, and have logged at least 3.5 miles each day.

All of that walking makes my ankles sore (better shoes?) and we spent some time yesterday evening in the company of MC Quacker, pictured above.  (The COTU named him, he lives on our back porch/lanai.)  NCW was lead cook this evening, with a delicious and colorful meal (again).  Pork tenderloin with whole berry cranberry/rosemary/vinegar sauce, asparagus, mashed potatoes and gravy and texas toast.  It was a pretty good day.

A visitor from the north.

"You can take the woman out of the north country, but you can't take the north country out of the woman."  The North Country Woman, or NCW as she has long been known here in the blogosphere, made that comment to me over the breakfast table this morning.  NCW she has been, and NCW she will remain.  And as Jimi noted on one of her first trips to Ollie's Pond, women from the north country smile in the face of obvious mortal danger.  That's taking the long way around to saying that although she no longer lives as far north as she once did, she still likes being referred to as NCW.

Yesterday was a travel day for her, and she arrived in Ft. Myers pretty close to on time.  We took a few walks around the neighborhood here both before and after sunset, and had a nice dinner at Olympia Restaurant with JB.

Ollie's Pond remains 1.09 miles around, and we walked it in just the one direction today.  Again, no alligators made their presence known to us.  There were plenty of pine cones, though not in the abundance that they were in 2012 (link  above).

Obligatory alligator sign photo.  (All photos taken next to the Ollie's Pond Park sign were significant failures.)

Grocery shopping followed by credit card hassles (all resolved, or at least we think so) and dinner rounded out our day.  (Fresh tilapia with feta, mushrooms and tomatoes, roasted white and sweet potatoes, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.)  We haven't made many plans yet, but we're hoping to have a few more bloggable moments while she's here.

Good Timing

MLFVFM  (My little family visiting from Michigan) caught the 7 am flight out of Punta Gorda yesterday morning.  In spite of concerns about the snowy, cold weather at the other end, their flight went smoothly and arrived on time.  The College Girl texted me a photo from the tarmac after they landed in Michigan.

This morning at 7 am the fog in southwest Florida was dense, with very limited visibility.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow, and Sunday looks to be quite chilly by southern standards.  So it appears that they timed their visit and their departure pretty well.  Looking back through the photos I took while they were here, there's just one significant outing that didn't make it to the blog -- a trip to Ollie's Pond.

A representative of the roofing company stopped by today to pick up their check, and we are officially done with that project.  Our next guest won't have to experience that distraction, I'm pleased to say.

My hibiscus bush, which had few if any blossoms on it during the month of December, has decided to sprout a few blooms.  With our shortened time here this year, I though perhaps we'd miss it.

Finishing touches on the week.

"Finishing up" might be a good name for the theme for today.  The shingles were installed today, day three of the process of replacing the roofing materials on this house.  With the new floor tiles that were installed this fall, we're now claiming top to bottom renewal.

There was an electrician here for a while today, replacing a circuit breaker.  No photos were taken.  Eventually we broke free of domestic duties for a walk along the Bayshore Boulevard linear park.

There was one last chance for a sunset, and we missed the actual setting of the sun.  We walked over to Sunrise Park anyway, and caught the vibrant color left in the sky after the sun went down.

We're anxiously watching the weather in the state with the second worst winter weather in the country, hoping that the accumulating snow, wind and cold temperatures will not impact their travel plans.  It has been a great visit with them.   MLFVFM.

New Year's (Observed)

Monday is a work day for many, no matter what the calendar may say.  And so it was for Schwartz Roofing, who rang our doorbell at 7:05 am to tell us that they were here to start tearing off our old roof to prepare it for a new one.  Photos taken throughout the day.

This was the major entertainment (if you can call it that) for the day.  We left for a while to get away from the noise, but felt that supervision was part of the homeowner's responsibility.  They will be back tomorrow, and probably the day after and maybe the day after that.  Filed under things that need to be done.

The New Year doesn't really start today.

Nobody ever started a new plan on a Sunday.  It's still the weekend, I still have company, there is still fudge (and cookies) in the fridge.  Resolutions, and I have a few, will have to cool their heels until I am ready for them.  Today was a family day here, and my little family visiting from Michigan (MLFVFM) and I took a walk late this morning.  Spring Lake Park was our turn around point.

Afterwards we took a break for some downtime while OSLO tried out the hot tub on the back porch.

Later the Grands requested that we make a visit to Ponce de Leon park in Punta Gorda, one of those places here that hold good memories for them.  I think we've passed along a minor obsession with traditions to their generation.  We walked the boardwalk through the mangroves, visited the Ponce statue, and did a tour of the Peace River Wildlife refuge before heading back across the big bridge to Port Charlotte.

The Grands hadn't been to the beach here for a couple of years, so we stopped by the Port Charlotte beach complex on our way home.

Looking back over the day, we were all pretty active -- and we didn't need a resolution to motivate us.