Ponce

Carl and Pearl won't be here for as many days as they were last year, so the list of traditional spots to visit had to be pared down some.  Ponce de Leon Park was one of the winners, with a walk around the boardwalk through the mangroves and a photo op with old Ponce himself -- or at least a reasonable enough copy.  (As far as we know.)

Sunday night supper was provided by Culver's -- not exactly home cooking, but no one complained.  I do really like that in a visitor.

Carl and Pearl at Olllie's Pond

We have guests from the tundra this weekend.  Their incoming flight was delayed because of weather in MSP and they arrived a bit tired from the journey.  Carl did inform me almost immediately that he was a good traveler, and Pearl agreed that he was correct.  We spent some time after supper sitting on the porch watching the water and discussing how many curmudgeons we knew.  It was Carl's favorite word of the day, and it's a good one.

Pearl and I got in some morning exercise today and after lunch the three of us took a trip to Ollie's Pond. Later Carl napped while Pearl read on the dock, soaking up some Florida sunshine.  (It's still mad dogs and Englishmen hot here.)

Second Warmest February on Record for SW Florida

We knew it was a warm month of course.  Too dang hot, mad dogs and Englishmen hot and get my exercise in before the heat of the day hot.  Here are a couple of photos from morning bike rides yesterday and today.

Flowering trees like this don't happen until about May in Michigan.  It looks like spring.

Overcast skies made it more comfortable to bike this morning.  The sun came out by 10 am, but I was back at the house by then.  The rides are short, but that's my new plan.  So far it seems okay.

9 doesn't feel as early as I thought it would.

9 am (or so) at home is when the morning walking group arrives at my kitchen door.  We usually walk between 2 and 3 miles, and it often takes about an hour.  We blame our slow pace on Charlie, the dog who must be walked. In reality, the pace suits us.  It's not much of a shift from walking at 9 ish to biking at 9 ish, it turns out.  Two days isn't long enough to be sure about this but it's long enough to get a feel for the possibility of changing my routine.  I do like having banked some real exercise by 10:30 though, before the real heat of the day arrives.  An hour or so on the bike, ten to twelve miles, so far it feels like something I can do regularly.  So far.

Photo taken at West Spring Lake, which was also the usual destination for sunset walks with Mrs. Smith during their visit. 

I drove over to the Peace River Wildlife Center this afternoon and took a few photos before stopping to buy a few things at Publix.  Somehow we'd run out of cinnamon.

Out and about

Monday was a good day to go to Gasparilla Island, hoping the crowds would be thin.  It mostly worked, though it's "season" here, so there are people pretty much everywhere. 

These were all taken at the state park at the end of the island before we walked down to the South Beach Restaurant for an early lunch.

Today we took the short drive over to the Kiwanis Park for a walk before going to Punta Gorda for lunch at Harpoon Harry's restaurant in Fisherman's Village.

The Smith's visit is drawing to a close soon.  It's been good to have them here.

Friday and Saturday photo dump

Here are a handful of photos from Friday and Saturday.  Outings to Ponce De Leon Park in Punta Gorda and the Port Charlotte Beach.

What is this, London?

It seems like a petty complaint for early February, with most of our family locked in the frozen tundra.  But today was just too dang hot.  We made a morning excursion to Ollie's Pond to take the classic one mile walk.  The birds watching was pretty good, with kites, heron, ducks, and a pair of cranes to name a few that we recognized.  But it was too dang hot.  The sun beat down relentlessly and those of us without a hat suffered for our lack of foresight.  (That would be me.)

The "mad dogs and Englishmen" rule was put into place after lunch, when we ventured out only in the air conditioned car to air conditioned shopping.  The rest of the week promises to be more of the same, so we may have to get creative with our outdoor activities.  Supper was Carrabbas, quite good, and Mrs. Smith and I attempted a post supper walk.  A rain shower turned us back early, though we had a nice sunset. 

We're hunkered down for the evening watching curling at the Olympics, and the air conditioner repair man is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9 am.  Hoping for the best.

Visitors, Finally!

It's been pretty quiet  here since the Grandchildren left about a month ago, so we were ready for some company.  Delta did its thing, and late yesterday afternoon the Smiths arrived for a visit.  Today started off on an odd note, with a strange looking creature hanging out on the floor of our lanai/porch.  I was pretty sure it was a baby alligator, though GZ and BDE both thought it was too small.  Our painter arrived shortly thereafter and swept it out the door -- his opinion was that it was a lizard.  So not very exciting.

It's been three years since the Smith's have visited us here, but they have been here several times over the years and know the area fairly well.  GZ especially wanted to see the parrot tree in Gilchrest Park in Punta Gorda so we headed south across the bridge.  The first stop was the ancient banyan tree, a bit the worse for wear from hurricane Irma.  Photos by BDE.

We walked along the Peace River through the linear park that eventually ends at Fisherman's Village, looking and listening for signs of the parrots.  It was an unsuccessful quest, sadly.  Rumor has it that the birds have gone but may have relocated in Englewood.  Seems unlikely and we have no plans to check it out.  We made a short stop at Fisherman's Village since we were close by, this photography also provided by BDE.

We returned to home base for lunch and a sit down before venturing out on a quest for reading materials and writing implements.  Successful on both counts we continued on to Winn Dixie, a local grocery store, where we acquired fresh foodstuffs to prepare for supper.  (Feta fish with tomato and mushrooms, asparagus and baked potatoes.  All good.)

This was the second evening in a row that Mrs. Smith and I have walked across two of the new bridges to Spring Lake Park.  Tonight we got an early enough start to have decent light for photography, and to view the evening sky as the sunset reflected off the clouds.  The Grands Facetimed with us to say hello to our guests, a very nice end to a pretty nice day.  More later, most likely.

The Last of My January Photos (for OSLO)

Post dating this is possible, but these photos don't especially say "January" to me.  They are from a particularly nice walk that I took after supper a night or two ago.  The sun is finally going down late enough that it is now possible to walk in the evening -- obviously it helps that we eat our evening meal on an early bird schedule.  These were taken the night before that blue/blood moon thing that theoretically we could only see for ten minutes the following morning.

Taken from one of the new bridges, looking back over Spring Lake.

The walk to Spring Lake Park from here is about .7 miles, across two bridges and be careful at the roundabout.  I think this was taken from the second bridge, and it was the first time I noticed the moon in the sky directly above that tall tree (Florida pine, I think.)

This was taken at Spring Lake Park looking back towards the lake.  You can see the moon between two branches of the tree.   Mostly I included this picture because I think it's cool.  And weird.  Like space aliens are about to land, perhaps.  The light at that time of night does odd things.

I took this one as I was walking back to the house.  It was after sunset, beginning to get dark, and the moon is more obvious in this one.