After our dinner of leftovers last night, we walked down to the beach across from our condo to watch the beautiful sunset. Apparently this is THE event of the evening. There were lots of people on the beach watching the sun go down. At the moment that it disappeared, someone in one of the beach front condos played taps on a loudspeaker and then someone let out a blast from an air horn. It felt like a modern pagan ritual for the sun god. Cathie and I won at cards again - we are on a streak!
This morning was a beach day. Dave stayed (he is so not a beach person) and walked around our little neighborhood, checked out a few shops and walked on the shore. The rest of us went to Siesta Key beach with its talcum powder sand. It was breezy on the shore, but that was a good thing because without the wind, we would have been hot. Cathie and I took a long walk and then when we got back, Cathie and Russ went for one in the other direction. Cathie got hungry so she took half of her sandwich out of the food bag and as she was chewing and holding the rest in her hand, a gull swooped down and snatched it! The gulls here are very brazen. When I got around to my sandwich, I kept it in the bag and ducked my head down to take a bite - I felt like I was doing something illegal, ducking my head into the bag to take each bite. We read and people watched - lots of Amish people here walking the beach - women with their long dresses and men in their black pants with suspenders, both with bare feet.
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| Turn(or tern)ing into the wind |
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| sandpiper |
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| one of the many life guard stands |
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| yoga on the beach |
After showering, we went to Owen's Fish Camp. Russ and Dave saved our places in line (at 3:30) while Cathie and I checked out an art/jewelry store and an antique store nearby. We got seated just after 4, which was really early for dinner, but by the time we read the menu, etc. we ended up being served the main meal at 5 which wasn't too bad. We have plenty of leftovers for tonight. We stored the leftovers in the fridge and walked over for the sunset again. It was not quite as brilliant as the one last night, but nice just the same. Cards - we are definitely on a winning streak. The score is now 5 to 5!
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| Dave keeping the old dude company at Owen's |
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| For my vegetarian friends |
We headed back to The Celery Fields today and added Northern Harrier (marsh hawk) and a red shouldered hawk. We also saw a banded water snake, a red-eared slider turtle and two tilapia. There were no painted buntings today. We then drove into Sarasota to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens to visit The Souk - a collection of artisans from the area with their wares - jewelry, clothing, yard goods at very hefty prices. I saw a lovely blue quilted jacket for only $1200 - needless to say, I left empty handed. We came back to the condo for lunch. Russ spent some time at the beach, Cathie did some computer work, Dave took a nap and I read at the pool for a short while. We will have our leftovers for dinner tonight and go down to the beach to watch the sunset. We may or may not play cards tonight as NCIS is on. We have not watched TV since we got here.
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| purple martin |
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| American egret |
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| banded water snake (look in lower center of pic) |
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| red-eared slider |
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| tilapia |
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| osprey |
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| Someone's lucky number? |
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| mottled duck |
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