A Day of Leisure

After we had taken Kev-Inn and Mildred to the Gulf Coast, we.....

.... took a day off to relax and enjoy the Florida weather - and let our guests recover from the trek on the beach.  We took them.....

... on a little tour around our area.  They admired the spring blossoms on nicely groomed properties, and...

........spotted the Direct TV blimp navigating through the skies above some Orlando skyscrapers.  We also took them past all the sights that you've already seen in previous blogs....

.......... like this very patriotic storefront that lets you know you are in the USA.  We drove through.......

......... an orange grove, where there were oranges and orange blossoms on the trees, and the aroma was wonderful.  Kev-Inn...........

............. got a pic of his Mom by the orange tree (this one is small - some are much larger) and....

......... his Mom got a picture of him, while.........

......... I got this photo of the orange grove so you could see just how large some of these enterprises really are.  If you could see past the larger trees, you would see a whole bunch of tiny new ones thriving in the sandy soil.  Poppa stopped in a residential area so that.....

... Kev-Inn could get a photo of his Mom getting a photo of....

......... the hanging Spanish Moss, which has an eerie appearance from a distance........

.......... but as Kev-Inn found out when he went to get a close-up.........

........ it is actually a pale green and rather pretty when you can see the detail better.  We stopped in at JoAnne store so Mildred could get some crochet cotton for dishcloths and....

.......... finally brought them back to the villa where.........

........... we enjoyed a dinner of Chinese food outside by the pool in the balmy Florida evening!  A day of leisure????

What We Found .........

.............at the airport.........

............. we were looking for the book store, and we found a Build-A-Bear store!  We went in to look around, but didn't see anything there that Taffy or Mikey needed, so we wandered towards the Arrivals Gates, and found...........

.......... Kev-Inn and his Mom - Mildred!  Kevin has been wanting to come down for a visit with his Mom for a looong time, and he finally made it.  They arrived late on Saturday night (the 16th of March), so we stopped at a Bob Evans Restaurant for a bite to eat and headed to the villa so they could get to bed after what was quite an exciting day for Mildred.  It was her first time out of the country, her first trip on an airplane and she had come a long way!  They stayed for a week - and it was a busy one for all of us.  We spent a day shopping and idling to give them time to relax.  We spent a day shopping.  On Tuesday we headed to Siesta Key....

... on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Siesta Key has been voted the best beach in the USA for several years and....

........ it was quite busy there, but, as you can see, there was still lots of beach available.  We....

.......... strolled up and down for a while, and then....

..... Kev-Inn decided he was too hot and it was time to take the plunge!  He waded out........

......... quite a way and turned around to give us a wave.  Then I watched as a huge wave came in.........

.... and he was gone!  We all held our breath until..........

............ he finally popped up again and waded towards shore........

....... where he emerged looking quite pleased to report that he had dipped in the Gulf!  On our stroll back to the car.........

....... we discovered the Florida version of a snowman, which happened to be a sandlady!  We also saw....

.... a more typical sand castle, and eventually ......

........... we retrieved Mildred from the bench where she had stopped to enjoy the sunshine, and headed back home.  The next day was Wednesday and would be the halfway mark in their vacation!

My Preference

I like to be in a place where..........

........... the streets are lined with palm trees......

....... when they aren't lined with traffic cones indicating road construction.  They do that year-round in Florida and there always seems to be at least one stretch of road under improvements while we are here.  But, once you get past all those cones....

............ there are stores that look like giant toy boxes......... and some.........

......... displaying giant images of ocean denizens, and some...........

.......... that are just designed to catch your eye and convince you to stop in and spend some money.  You can cruise past..........

........... one of Squeegie's favourite places to eat - Chick Fil-A.  This is a fast-food restaurant where the food is really tasty, reasonably priced and the staff are always friendly and polite - and it is closed on Sundays - not many places do that any more!  Even further down the road.........

......... is one of my favourite stores!  Jo-Ann is a large chain store which specializes in everything crafty - yep - you guessed it........

......... I bought a ball of yarn and a few nifty knitting gadgets.  The craft supplies at Jo-Ann are endless and varied - everything from fabric to stickers to scrapbooking supplies to artificial flowers and all the stuff in between.  Then we head back to the villa.  Along the way we see.........

........ trees coming out in flower.......

........... lovely clumps of palm trees in a busy restaurant parking lot...........

.......... fruit trees blooming for the spring crops........

........ and turning into our community, we notice that the landscapers have planted begonias....

......... the hedges are bursting into bloom, the decorative grass is luxuriant.....

... and the palm trees at the entrance are very regal (and tall!) ........

......... and the villa looks inviting!  It always feels good to get "home".......

........... from the screened pool area, I can look one way and get another view of those tall palms, and....

....... in the other direction are three different varieties of palms in the yard next door - we have watched them grow tall enough to see them peeking over the fence, into those tall trees you see now!  Of course, from out there I can also.........

......... check out that little hedge that Poppa was so carefully taking care of last year.  The landscapers trimmed it earlier while we were here, and it is already sprouting up again!  Finally after a swim.....

 and some sun, I hang up the bathing suits and towels and go back inside to make supper....

.......... this turned into left-over pork roast stew - it tasted quite good!  Then it is time.........

.......... to grab my knitting and settle in to watch some TV until bedtime!  This is definitely the place to be when it is below zero and snowing in Canada!  Yaaaaaaaaaaawn!  But.........

.......... what is Poppa doing???????

Which Do I Prefer????

Another note about snow in Canada.  I was talking to my cousin recently.  She had visited Aunt Peggy's house and was worried about the weight of the snow on the roof there.  In order to make a decision about what should happen regarding that snow, I asked Auntie Colleen if she or Uncle Shaun could possibly take some pictures for Poppa to have a look at.

Good grief!  Talk about snowbanks!  And look at the snow hanging over the front of the house!

In this shot you can see not only that overhang, but also the depth of the snow in the front yard!  Subsequent to these pictures being taken Kev-Inn went over and pulled down as much of the snow as he could manage. It has also stopped snowing quite so much and there have been some sunny days.  He says it is starting to slide down - the roof is metal so it should slide off when the sun gets stronger.  Uncle Shaun did notice that some of the eavestrough along the side of the house....

........ has been damaged by the weight of the snow - but that happens almost every year - it is just somewhat worse this year.  Then......

........... he actually slogged through all that deep snow to get a photo of the rear of the house.  It doesn't look quite as bad, but the snow is up past the stairs that go up to that rear door!  If you look carefully at the left side of the picture you can see footprints in the snow.  I bet Uncle Shaun had wet feet when he got home!  Thank you so much for being so prompt at getting these to us, thank you for your usual excellent photography - some really impressive shots, and thank you for slogging through all that snow at my request - Uncle Shaun - you're terrific - we appreciate it!  And thank you to Kev-Inn for pulling some of that nasty stuff down - too bad we didn't get a picture of that - I can imagine Kev-Inn standing under the snow as it cascaded down from the roof!  Thanks boys!  I'm glad I'm in Florida!

Which Would You Prefer????

My friend from work..........

...... yep - that's Lucy!  She is a very industrious little lady, and recently I asked her if she could possibly get me a few pictures of the snow at home.  I had been hearing tales of large amounts of snow from both the news media here and folks on the phone from home.  With her usual enthusiasm, she soon sent me some pics.

For instance - this one - what is that???  Well.......usually out this window beside her desk at work, she can see a fenced area at the top of the hill and behind that a Catholic high school!  Where are they???  Behind all that snow!  Egads!  So, I wondered about snow banks.....

............. as you can see - the roads have been well taken care of and are mostly bare, but you can also see the large snow banks along the edges of the road and the sidewalks!  (Lucy's apartment is waaay up high - I think she took this from her balcony!).  She also.........

............ sent a picture from a residential area of our city - on the side streets the roads are not as effectively plowed and the snow banks are hiding the houses ( and she says the banks have been winged back a couple of time already!).  Want another angle????

This pic really puts it in perspective!  For those of you who live in my city - you'll recognize the old convent at the end of the road and know where this one was taken.  As a final blast............

......... get a look at the snowbanks in the parking lot at work!  That is the factory behind that huge snowbank!  I'm sooooooo glad..........

...... we're in sunny Florida!  Which would you prefer?????