March 24 Happiness

Tuesday:  I had lunch today with my friends from Bible study, Julie and Jenn. We eat lunch every Tuesday over at Russ' and order their yummy fried chicken. We had such a nice time together today. I am so thankful for good friends like these.

I arrived over at Dylan and Kelly's shortly after 1:00 and did some cleaning and picking up around the place. Their front room was a bit crowded from big boxes with shelving units inside, so I didn't do any cleaning in there. Soon, Brendan was home from school and we visited for a short while before the other kiddos came home.

A few weeks ago when Brendan had his overnight here, we were watching some short videos I had saved to show him. One of them was of five brothers who were using large plastic buckets and sticks as drums--they were super talented, and it looked like so much fun. Yesterday, while I was out and about, I picked up a Lowe's bucket and a set of dowels and tried it out. It worked! It doesn't sound like a real drum by any stretch of the imagination, but it's very fun to do percussion on it anyway. So I brought this over to the kid's house to see if they would like playing on it. They did! Especially Aidan. I'm keeping it at my house, though, because the kids would drive their parents crazy with how the noise would echo all over the house with no relief whatsoever.

We hung out together for a few hours--we played a few games, we ate snacks, we talked about their day, and we had a very nice time. Dylan came home from work and I left shortly thereafter because my back was aching terribly--I just needed to come here and lie down for a little while and then I felt better. It was super nice to be with these guys today. Aidan has a "concert" Thursday night over at the high school, so I will see them all then.

March 21 Home Again

Saturday:  My flight was ON TIME--we actually took off a few minutes early from St. Petersburg. What a totally packed plane it was too! I always reserve a window seat, so I enjoyed watching the sun rise while we took off ...

Can you see the little circle surrounded by light just below the wing of the plane? I think it is the plane's shadow being reflected against the clouds by the sun! The flight was completely unremarkable, and landed at GRR about 15 minutes early. Jesse was already waiting for me in the "cell lot" outside the airport. Thank you for being my chauffeur, Jesse!

For some reason, it's always good to get home. I love my little house. Look at the beautiful flowers Kelly had picked up for me the Tuesday before my trip. I wondered if they would still be pretty when I returned home, and they were. I removed a few dead flowers, freshened up the water, and had four more days to enjoy them before they died.

Now it was time to unpack my suitcase and my backpack (which is actually bigger than the suitcase) which I did right after I ate lunch. It always feels good to unpack, do laundry, and get back to "normal."

It was wonderful being with my brother for nine days. He has always been such a good gift to me. Even when we were really young and I had to "babysit" him, or mom would say: "Go play with your brother!" he was never a burden or a problem. He just has one of those fun personalities that is great to be around. I most likely will not see him again until he comes north over Labor Day weekend. If I do see him before then, it will mean someone has died--so I guess I need to just look forward to September, even though it seems far away. Love to you, David.

March 20 Other things we did

Since David and I traveled up to Georgia (a nine-hour drive one way) and needed to stay a few nights to support family, we ended up having to be in hotels for four of the nights I was on vacation. What to do in a hotel room after one is winding down from seeing family?

Thankfully, David brought his Parchesi game along for just that reason! It's always fun to play games with David, and we had so much fun playing this game during our trip. We played a total of 37 (yes, you read that correctly) games. My brother says that I am "so lucky" all during our games when I just miss getting "sent home", but if you look at the final tally of the games, he won SEVEN more games than I did!

We also watched a little bit of TV at the end of our day--sometimes "Jeopardy" or "Wheel of Fortune". I also asked if they would watch a much recommended movie with me from Prime. Jesse shared this movie with me just after Christmas, and I loved it so much. "Warrior" is an amazing story. David and Carol liked it so much, we watched it Wednesday evening and then again Friday evening! There is just so much packed into this story that I think you could see it over and over again and still learn new things about the characters. 

We got to stop at a "Buc-Ees" gas station while we were traveling to Georgia, which is always fun. Buc-Ees is a gas station with an enormous store attached full of souvenirs, yummy food, and just about every item under the sun. Thankfully, they had blankets too--I needed one for the truck rides because David is a warmer bodied person than I am and needed the truck to be cool enough to where he wouldn't fall asleep while driving. So I looked around for a blanket--there were very nice ones that probably would have looked nice in my little Beach House back in Grand Rapids, but I didn't feel like spending $25 on a blanket. Thankfully, they also stocked "Buc-Ee" blankets, same size as the $25 ones, but these ones were $15. It really is the softest blanket I have ever had! This blanket was used a LOT during the next few days, and I was so thankful to have it. No one likes "whining" while driving, i.e. "it's too cold in here," "can you turn some heat on?", "I'm freezing to death!", etc. Wrapped in my super soft Buc-Ee blanket, I was as happy as a clam (before it is fried).

I had to be dropped off at the St. Petersburg airport (PIE) at 5:30 am Saturday, so I made sure all of my stuff was packed for the flight and then went to bed.

March 20 Caladesi Island

Friday:  David had some extensive yard work to accomplish Friday morning, so while he was busy doing that, I took a walk in the "park" where they live. The "park" where he lives is nearly as big as Leisure Village (where I live), but I don't think it is as spread out--I could be wrong. Anyway, I walked down his street to check out the pond and the fountain, hoping with all my might there would be an alligator out sunning itself on the grassy banks.

Look! There is even a "DO NOT FEED ALLIGATORS" sign posted right at the edge of the pond. It's illegal and it's dangerous (the sign claims) to feed the wildlife. David told me that perhaps two years ago, they DID haul an alligator out of this pond and put it in a pond less frequented by old folks. Probably a good idea.

Once David was finished with his "to-do list", we drove to Caladesi Island in the afternoon. This is an uninhabited barrier island near Dunedin (pronounced DUN-E-DEN, NOT DUNE-DIN). It was a beautiful day (sunshine from start to finish), and this was my last afternoon to be in Florida. MUST GO TO THE BEACH!!

However, I told David that a trip to Florida would hardly be legit without a meal at "Frenchies", and he was very agreeable to oblige, reminding me that we had eaten enough fried food to put an extra 10# on the both of us (that might have been me that said that). David ordered the fried shrimp, and I ordered the fried groupie. YUM. We split the orders and shared. 

After lunch, we took a ferry over to the island. The ferry "captain" was a very funny man, and told as many corny jokes as he could get away with as he took us over to the island. The ferry dropped us off not far from the beach, with clean bathrooms right near the ferry docks.

David found us a "sheltered" spot among the trees, which helped to shield us from the gusting winds (!!) and provide me with a little bit of shade. I had no intention of adding to my sunburn this afternoon. David had plenty of sunscreen, so I used it.

We were far enough from the water that it felt like we were the only ones on the island! David told me this is his favorite thing to do--go to a busy beach, find a quiet isolated spot, and enjoy the solitude!

I sat with him for awhile, but I figured if I walked a bit, I could maybe work off some of the extra calories I had put on over the last few days--plus, I have never been on Caladesi Island in my entire life and needed to explore it a little bit. Maybe if I walked real fast, I could get warm!

You can't really see from these pictures, but you can walk quite a distance down the beach. There were a few others out walking away from the crowd, looking for shells and other treasures--I enjoyed myself 100% doing that very thing. 

There was an important corporate meeting of the seagulls of the Gulf being held ...

... they were not a bit bothered by me walking this close to them! They were all standing on ONE skinny leg discussing the woes of the world.

I hated to leave them, but I was nearly frozen solid after walking for about 30 minutes. I rejoined David and wrapped my Buc-ees blanket around myself, along with David's unused beach towel, and took a little nap. It was a wonderful afternoon.

March 19 Anna Maria Island

Thursday:  We left Myakka River State Park and drove the 90+ minutes or so to Anna Maria Island to finally enjoy some beach time. Mind you, the temperature was only in the low 60's away from the water. On the beach, it was perhaps 56 degrees and WINDY!!! Naturally, I was COLD.

David brought us comfy beach chairs and settled down to ... breathe in the beauty. I sat with him for awhile, but then decided I would take a walk. Since it was so blasted cold outside, and I thought it might warm me up a bit to walk for awhile, so I did. What I did not take into account (because I am oftentimes bereft of brain) was that I could still get sunburned in the cold. Thankfully, I was fully dressed (unlike most of the other beach visitors) but I had on a pair of capri jeans that came to just below my knees; as well as my water shoes to protect my feet from the sharp shells that were everywhere. I didn't use any sunscreen because I just didn't think of it whatsoever--it was COLD outside after all. How could the sun possibly burn a person in the cold?

Most of these pictures are just of the waves coming off the Gulf, along with a few seagulls enjoying the breeze. I love waves, and I love seagulls.

David was very content to sit in his beach chair and watch all of the people walking by (none of whom are in any of my pictures--who wants a bunch of strangers in their pictures anyway?). 

We met Carol for dinner at a nice restaurant that they frequently visit--one of those small little places that serve amazing food without all of the hoopla of a big restaurant. We had such a nice dinner together.

I didn't realize how sunburned I was until we got back to the house where I got redder and redder as the night went on. No worries, though--it was just my face and my lower legs to my feet. David and Carol supplied me with a bottle of Aloe to soothe the heat, and I was just fine.

March 19 Myakka River State Park

Thursday: I've been looking forward to seeing a bunch of alligators again in the wild and photographing them for the thrill of it. Why is this a "thrill" you might ask? I don't know ... it just feels like an adventure to kind of be where an alligator could eat you if you weren't very careful. Know what I mean?

Well ... it turns out that it was even TOO COLD for the alligators! 

David and I arrived at the State Park early--I think it wasn't quite 9am. It was super windy and super cold. Not like in Michigan or anything -- but this is FLORIDA, where people expect it to be toasty warm. Let me say right now, though. I do NOT come to Florida every year for the weather (although it is a nice bonus). I come to spend time with my brother and his family. I love them so much.

Myakka River State Park is 37,000 acres of wetlands, prairies, pineland's, palm trees, alligators, birds, trails, etc. It's a really unusual looking place (to a Michigander). The trees are SO different than up north. When you are deep in one of the trails, it feels like you are in a jungle--except jungles are NOT cold.

We did the "Canopy Walkway" which is basically a trail that the trees meet together overhead and it resembles a canopy. But there is also this "tower", which I mistakenly thought was over one of the alligator-filled ponds so that I could get a nice overhead shot ... but the tower and walkway are NOT over the river. Still--it was cool to climb and to walk across this wobbly bridge.

We climbed 115 steps to the TOP of the tower and this was our view!

Looking down, down, DOWN through the stairwell ...

I love heights ...

After our hike, we drove to a place where we saw some alligators a year ago. I don't remember all of the vultures a year ago, but there were even signs warning that "vultures can damage vehicles". How on earth?

Here is our CAUTION sign about the boasted alligators ... which by the way, could NOT be found ... not anywhere! Not on a trail, not in the river, not in the wetlands ... ZERO alligators! WHAT?!?!?

We walked everywhere searching for alligators. What a bunch of chickens. Just because it was windy and cold, they were nowhere to be found!

Aren't these the oddest trees ever? I was so tempted to climb one because it would have been so much fun--but then I remembered that I am 72.5 years old and talked myself out of it.

After eating our lunch at one of the park outposts, and stalling until about noon when we figured it would be warm enough for the alligators to come out, we backtracked and actually SAW a few alligators. The water is higher in the river this year than last, though, making it difficult for the gators to find any warm, dry "bank" upon which to sun themselves.

This is the first alligator we actually SAW and it was not close. This was the best I could do with zooming in.

Last year, I was able to walk UNDER this bridge where a nice big alligator was almost out of the water. I got some good photos of him--but this year, there was no way a person could walk under the bridge because ... you would have to swim.

We got a few more photos of these two alligators ...

And we found these TWO gators sunning themselves nearby where we got our lunch. They were quite large, but too far away to get a really good photo (I don't have any fancy lenses).

We finally had to give it up! I was thankful to at least get these few shots of the critters--look at how long their tails are!