2/27/20

The rain came in last night and it rained for quite a while.  The good news is that we did got have thunder storms.

view of the rain clouds from our screened in balcony

We went to dinner at Walt's Fish Market and Restaurant.  Three of us had char grill: shrimp, sea scallops, and grouper with a variety of sides.  Cathie had hog snapper.  Everything was delicious and we had plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight.  We also bought key lime pie and chocolate lava cake to share for dessert - very yummy.  We played cards again and again the boys won, but it was close so the standings are 4 to 1 in favor of the males of the species.  Cathie and I will have to up our game again.

The high temp today was 61 - so I wore long pants for the first time here.  We went to breakfast in the village at Sun Garden Cafe - quite good.  We then walked down the main street at bit to take a few pictures of signs we had seen.

Meany's mini donuts - little hole in the wall

For my coffee loving friends

That doesn't even sound good!

 We then drove into Sarasota to the Ringling.  What a wonderful museum!  We spent six hours exploring everything.  We started in the circus museum which was very educational and interesting.

The bearded lady

One of the elaborate circus carts

An act under the main tent in the diorama

Another act in the diorama

Stilt walker

Dave, Russ, and Cathie in the circus

The next building had the Ringling train and circus wagons.

We then walked around the mansion.  It was heavily influenced by a trip to Venice.  The location was perfect - right on the bay.  We did not go in for a tour, but had a grand time walking the grounds and visiting the rose garden.

Ca'd'Zan - the mansion

Just a few roses were in bloom

We then went to the art museum and the Asolo theater which was brought over from Italy and lovingly restored.

2/26/20

A report on last night:  We took a walk after dinner down by the bayside marina and found a new type of sea life called a sea hare.  It is an invertebrate related to the sea slug. It seems to move at the top of the water like a squid, but without the tentacles.  I tried to take a picture, but it was too dark.  We went back in and played cards.  The boys won again (the score is now 3 to 1), but it was a very close game - we didn't know until the last round who would win.

This morning after breakfast we drove into Sarasota to the Red Bug Slough.  It was not a very big preserve, but we saw 14 species of birds including two new ones.  We also heard a several barking spiders.  We drove to Lido Island where we dropped Cathie off at Armands Circle on Lido Key Beach so she could do some shopping.  The rest of us headed to South Lido Park where we saw very little new birdlife (only 6 species), but did spot a red squirrel and a fiddler crab.  We picked Cathie up and drove to Publix to do our grocery shopping.  Dave went in for a nap and the three of us went out by the pool to read.  It is cloudy, but pleasant at the moment, but we are forecast to have thunder showers and and then rain late this afternoon into the evening.  I'm not sure where we are going out to dinner tonight.

limpkin

wood stork

tri-colored heron

male and female wood ducks

white ibis

cattle eget

common gallinule

unidentified anole

great egret

brown pelican

great blue heron

2/25/20

Well, first I'm going to tell you about our dinner at Owen's Fish Camp - it wasn't!  The restaurant opens at 4 and we got there at 4:30 because we heard it gets real busy.  At 4:30 there was already at 2 hour wait!  Crazy!  We asked the hostess how that was possible and she said that people start lining up at 3:15!  By 4:30, they had their first seating and a waiting list long enough for a second seating!  We decided not to wait, but to come back another night to see if it is really worth the wait.  Cathie asked the hostess for another restaurant nearby as the car was already parked and we walked a few blocks to Boca.  The food was very good - all farm to table and organic.  They even have a wall of lettuce growing inside.  Cathie and I had sweet potato gnocchi with broccolini and butternut squash in a basil cream sauce.  Dave had meatloaf with potatoes and Brussel sprouts with maple and bacon, and Russ had shrimp and grits. Each couple split a dessert - we had blackberry cobbler and they had guava cheesecake.  Everything was delicious!  We came home and played cards and the girls whomped on the boys!!!! Yeah!  They are still ahead 2 to 1, but we will catch up.

This morning after breakfast, we went into Sarasota to The Celery Fields - a lovely birding place run by the Sarasota Audubon Society.  We saw 32 species of birds.  Our favorites were the blue-winged teal, a wood stork, glossy ibis, limpkin, roseate spoonbill, a young bald eagle, a Northern Harrier hawk, purple gallinule, a loggerhead shrike.  A surprise siting was a trifecta: a great egret, a woodstork, and a roseate spoonbill all in one shot - amazing!  We also saw an otter, a large turtle, and a young alligator.  We walked about 2 miles and visited the gardens and the feeders at the nature center.  We saw many purple martins (they have several houses at the center), red-winged blackbirds, a yellow-rumped warbler, and my personal favorite, a painted bunting.  We came back for lunch and then headed down to the pool area.  We didn't stay long though as the clouds have come in an it got a bit chilly (I know, I know - you guys are all coping with the cold and we are complaining about being chilly when this morning the temperature was 79 degrees.  The wind has picked up and I think we will get rain tomorrow.  We will have leftovers for dinner tonight and choose somewhere else for tomorrow.  If it is not raining, we may go back to the Fish Camp.

So above we have the wall of lettuce at Boca, a purple martin condo, a great egret, a roseate spoonbill, the perfect trifecta, a red-winged blackbird, and a painted bunting.

2/24/20

We had a lovely evening last night.  After our dinner of leftovers, we walked behind the complex to the bay side.  While we were enjoying the water and the view of the bascule bridge over to the mainland, we saw a dolphin swim by.  It was quite exciting!  The evening was so lovely we decided to walk to the beach.  They were having a huge drum circle on the beach and there must have been close to 1000 people watching the sun set and listening to the drums.  It was wild!  Apparently this huge drum circle appears every Sunday evening an hour before sunset to entertain the crowds.  We were lucky that we were able to enjoy the spectacle.  People were dancing in the sand, someone was blowing incense (and marijuana) over the drummers - a unique experience to be sure.  I am so glad that we are within walking distance to the beach.  The line of cars trying to get to the bridge was steady for an hour after we were back in the condo.  We walked back (close to 2 miles all told and had our nightly game to cards battle - again the boys won!!!  Horrors - Cathie and  will have to up our game tonight!!!

This morning we rented beach chairs and an umbrella and headed to the beach.  This is probably one of the widest beaches I have ever seen and the sand is so soft and white - it is like powder.  I learned that it is 98% quartz. There were lots of walkers (Cathie and I took a long one), bikers, and people pushing wheelchairs with balloon tires. We had a lovely breeze and stayed about 4 hours.  We saw parasailing and giant kite flying.  There were a number of Amish people at the beach - most of them in their traditional garb, but we saw a number of young ladies in their head coverings and one piece bathing suits - there must be different sects here.  Cathie though she heard there was a convention of Amish here this week.  As we were leaving the beach, someone from Essex Junction Vermont recognized Russ from the gym.  It is a very small world!  We will go to dinner in Sarasota tonight at some place called Owen's Fish Camp.  I will let you know how the food is tomorrow.

2/23/20

We had a lovely morning exploring the very large, spread-out arts and crafts festival booths.  One thing we have noticed is that a lot of the young girls (not the senior citizens, thank god) wear thong bikini bottoms even while walking downtown on the sidewalks (at least they throw a tee shirt on top when off the beach).  We wandered around for a few hours enjoying the art and the homemade products.  We stopped at Meanies - a mini donut place that a friend of Cathie's had said was very good.  I am not a donut person generally, but these little bite sized ones were very good.  We bought some strawberries and grapes at the Farmer's Market and then came home for lunch.  After lunch Russ, Cathie and I went to the pool to read and swim while Dave took a nap.  We will have our leftover dinners tonight and then play a game of cards.  I think we will go to the beach tomorrow as it looks like the nicest day for a bit.  It is lovely to be so warm!

The top pic shows the thong bikinis - doesn't look comfortable to me, but is it because my rear never looked that good?  The next pic is of two dogs we ran into downtown - a Bernese mountain dog and a Leominster dog (I had never seen one before).  The Leo was only a year old and already weighed 130 pounds!  The next pic is of a painting - the scene is of famous people at the beach.  You can pay to have your picture taken and put into the painting - quite clever and would certainly make a conversation piece.  The next two are of signs seen while walking along downtown.  The last pic is of the pool here.  The funny thing is that there is a group of seniors standing on the other side in the water reading with their books on the concrete edge.  I hope they know that they are getting a lot of sun on their backs!

2/22/20 photos

Here is a photo of a grooming pelican, Russ relaxing in the living room, our bedroom, and the sunset from our screened in porch.

2/23/20 Siesta Key, Florida

After catching an early plane from Providence to Charlotte (had to wake up at 3:45 AM), we had a quick breakfast at the airport and then boarded our flight to Siesta Key.  Russ and Cathie picked us up at the airport.  They had come down Thursday afternoon as the flight was cheaper on that day than the weekend.  We drove into Sarasota and took a walk by the water - watching the pelicans and shore birds.  We then went to the grocery store for provisions and made our way to Harbor Towers and up to the fourth floor to settle in.  We decided to stay on the key for dinner so went into the center and had a lovely meal at The Cottage.  Cathie and I had bay scallops on a bed of risotto - delish!, Dave had grouper, and Russ had a seafood combo over pasta.  Everyone was stuffed and satisfied.  We took a ride down the key and drove by some impressive houses.  When we got back to the condo, we played a game of Hand and Foot - the boys beat our butts!  It's okay though, Cathie and I will have revenge tonight (fingers crossed)!  I have a few shots on the camera, but was having trouble downloading so will do so when the computer decides to behave itself.  We are off to an arts and crafts show this morning and then will probably just relax by the pool.  We will start our exploring tomorrow.