Valentine's Day

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Al walked early. Breakfast for Valentine's Day was mushroom omelet, Ribs of lamb (leftover last night), grapefruit hearts, orange juice, and toast.
Around noon we drove into Sanibel for the Rotary Club annual Arts and Crafts Fair at the Community Center. This jury show of artists is ranked as one of the finest in Florida and draws artists country wide and people from all around. Ikki Matsumoto now living in Ohio used to have a Sanibel gallery and is known worldwide attended. Another Sanibel celebrity Kate Gardenia had a booth of dolls that she designs. She was the original owner of the Bubble Room and Mermaid Factory. 105 booths in all. Lot of great photographers, artists, jewelers, and other craftsmen.

Shopped at Jerry's for Valentine Dinner. Decided would enjoy dining at home since Valentine's is a mad house at all the restaurants on the islands.

Dinner tonight was Filet Mignon with Pinot Noir sauce with mushrooms, garlic, and fresh Rosemary. Served with Caesar salad and baked potatoes. Dessert was Creme Horn from Jerry's Bakery. David Bruce Pinot Noir 2005 was wine of the evening. Dinning table was decorated with red candles and rose petals.

One Angry Alligator at Bailey Tract

On Wednesday we took a hike through Bailey Tract, part of DDWR. It was a beautiful and comfortable day. At Mangrove Island, we heard a bellowing alligator before we saw him near the water edge....never heard this before....sounded like an elephant. He bellowed for several minutes....sounded like one angry alligator! Al got some good pictures but missed catching him with his mouth wide open. Was the highlight of our walk. Saw other alligators in another water area. Also saw ibis, heron, blues, osprey, mottled ducks, and grebes.

Roseate Spoonbills Bathing

On our drive through Ding Darling this week we saw a group of roseate spoonbills bathing by the mangrove island. They are one of the most colorful birds here. Beautiful color for Valentine's! We were here again yesterday but did not see many roseates but did see a kingfisher in the same spot as last year.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Another lazy morn...Al did a short walk. After late breakfast of basted eggs,bacon,toast, and juice we headed to beach about 1:00 and enjoyed the surf and sand for couple of hours.Decided to have dinner at Timber's, one of our fave seafood places. Called ahead at 6:00 to get on seating list. Left at 6:20.....arrived at 6:40ish to walk right in and get a table....in season always a 15-45 min wait. Ordered calamari with marinara to share. Al had fried oysters with salad , broccoli and rice pilaf. I had salad and peel n eat shrimp appetizer and shared some of Al's broccoli.Home to watch "Mentalist" but fell asleep on couch.

Enjoying Surf and Sand at the Beach

Spent last 3 days doing nothing more than sleeping, eating, enjoying the beach, and eating. Has warmed up to high 70's......very pleasant on the beach. Al does morning walk and I upload pictures from cameras. Spend afternoon napping, walking, and reading at beach. Then have dinner....have cooked in several times...bought fresh seafood at Timber's....made grouper, shrimp pasta, crab cakes....and one night steak and one night pork chops. Had Dinner at Traders last night ...Al had veal chop with portobella mushroom and garlic mashed potatoes and I had salmon with avocado salsa.

Reopening the Bay into the Gulf

Al walked about 3 miles early Friday morning. While crossing the bridge at Blind Pass he made some video of the work going on there. Sanibel and Captiva are again clearing the sand under the bridge to reopen the flow of water between the gulf and bay. Then the island of Captiva will be a true island again. The video on the top shows work on the gulf side and the bottom shows the bay side. The Miville's home can be seen to the far end of the row of homes on the bayside. We stay at the guest house on their property.

Enjoying the Birds

Weather has still been on cool side but did reach 70 yesterday afternoon. Not warm enough on the beach yet but we have driven through Ding Darling Wildife Refuge a couple of times. Pictures above were shot there Wednesday. The pink birds are Roseate Spoonbills. The ugly bird on the left of the spoonbills is a Woodstork. 3rd picture down is a Brown Pelican. Bottom is a trio of Willets.

Looking forward to more birding.

Ben and Rob Skiing in Telluride January

Rob flew out to Telluride the end of January to spend some time skiing with Ben. Ben sent these pictures to me. I think that is Ben in the top picture and Rob in the lower one. Both are shown together in the middle.
We are glad we are in sunny Florida but temperatures are in 40's and 50's with frost forecast again tonight. Still beats Ohio and Telluride for comfort.
Theresa

Pictures from Ben

While we are waiting for some warmer weather here in Fl, I have received some pictures from Ben from the ski slopes in Telluride.

Ben wrote: "I thought you all would enjoy these pictures. Yesterday I hiked up Palmyra Peak at the ski resort. At an elevation of 13,000 plus, it made quite an adventure. The first pic (right) is of me heading up the first pitch. Don't worry, you can see the 3 ski patrol in front of me. 2nd pic (left) is me skiing down the "roy boy" chute. 3rd pic is me in front of the crazy rock formations in the middle of the run. This terrain just opened last year and has been fun to ski."

We Made It Finally!

Well, where to start ??
Our scheduled departure was delayed 24 hours because of the never ending snow storm. We had another one on Wednesday during which we decided that postponing our departure 24 hours might be the best thing till the roads clear. Tomorrow was to be better driving. That takes us to Thursday morning when we both awoke feeling under the weather. Another decision to be made. Lets leave on Saturday when we will both feel better.That decided, Saturday turned out to be the best decision.

We escaped the snow and headed for Norris,TN to Jack and Loy's. Arrived, none the worse for wear, by late afternoon. Roads were clear and dry but the berms were piled high with snow. The road crews had done an excellent job!
Going thru Kentucky we could witness the devastation from the ice storm several days prior. (See picture above) Trees down, limbs down,and hundreds of thousands of homes without power. The ice clinging to the trees was still apparent even days later. Guess the temperature had never warmed up enough to melt it.

Jack made a pot of his famous hot chili with cornbread and a delicious bread pudding for dessert. Little single malt scotch and I was ready for bed. Next morning around 8:30 we departed for Ocala, our second stop. Arrived at our lodging about 6:30 and drove to a local Olive Garden for dinner (our favorite gourmet restaurant, Bella Luna, had closed) What a delicious dinner! Can not believe how much the Gardens have changed. We hope to go back next year...may even visit our local O.G. when we get home.

Our Monday morning drive (4 1/2) hours went very smoothly and we arrived on the island, after stopping for groceries, around 3:30.
Tired from the 3 day trek, we opted to visit a local lounge at Tween Waters Inn for drinks and dinner.
The weather reports show chilly nights and 60 degree days ahead till the freeze on Thursday night. Then onward and upward to the 70's and 80's on the weekend. Something to look forward to. We did however do a quick run-thru to Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge just to make sure the birds were still there.!

Tomorrow: another day in paradise..!!!
Al