Howdy do!

Hope you all had a terrific weekend.  Tim and I met up with our friends, the Minocks on Saturday at the Botanic Gardens in Tampa and had an outstanding time!  Well, of course we did, we always have a great time on Minock Day!

Would you like to hear about it?  Great!

The park itself is divided up into different sections which makes perfect sense and I'm pretty sure we visited them all, eventually, after wandering twisting curving paths, through gates and under arches and over bridges, marveling at all we saw.

 There was a wedding taking place in the Wedding Garden, which is kind of perfect.  The bride was beautiful, as all brides are, the groom was smiling so hugely his face was in danger of splitting open, and everyone who attended was dressed up and smiling and looking genuinely happy. (Yes we peeked in before it started of course we did!)

One of my favourite parts was the children's garden, naturally.  And we took time to play with the things that ought to be played with thus satisfying the small child inside us all.  There were things that made music and things to climb and clamber over and things that we honestly had no idea what to do with.  Enjoyed it all.

There was a tropical fruit garden with enormously tall Mango trees (no idea how they harvest fruit that high up!) and towering banana trees among others. There were even fruits that I did not immediately recognize and had to read the signs. Thank goodness for those signs!  

The herb garden was especially lovely. Some plants were in pots, others planted in the ground. It was fragrant, lush with bees and pretty garden decorations:

I was very taken by the lily ponds too; quiet, peaceful and contemplative. Sometimes that's exactly what I need:

The overall theme, naturally, was flowers. But there were a stunning variety of trees and shrubs too.  Along with that, almost as a package deal, is always birds, a few squirrels and lizards and bugs too  numerous to mention.   Here are some of the flowers and one of the birds:

Also was quite taken by the details in every direction: mosaics, benches shaped like butterflies, fountains, trellis's and more. There was just so much to look at we could have spent all day!

But we tore ourselves away from the blooming things and moved on to the other side of the gardens because there was also a Heritage Park to enjoy.  What's that you ask?  Well, it's a village of old buildings, some of them tricked out inside to represent era specific life!  Wow!  That's very cool.  

In addition to homes of various ages/sizes/ social strata there was also a General Store, a Model T era Auto Garage, a church, a doctor's office, a school, a train station and several other sorts of shops.  I was particularly taken by the way the kitchens were often separate from the main house in an effort to keep kitchen heat away from the rest of the building.  In a place with summers such a Florida has, I think that might still be a good idea!

I took no photos of the village, shame on me, as I was having too much fun oogling history. That's what this was, living history! Very Very Cool.

And what, you may ask, was the high ticket price for such a wonderful adventure?  It was free for nothing.  My favourite price.  Gratis. Can you believe it?  I have no idea how they manage to stay open and functioning and gorgeous without charging a dime, but they do. (donations cheerfully accepted naturally)

By the time we finished, we were ravenous and decided to have lunch at an nearby, adorable little restaurant called, Savory, which was quite good!  Both food and service checked all the boxes. We ate and talked and laughed and ate and talked some more.  Ultimately, we stayed, probably longer than we should have, but we were just having too much fun to break up the party.

As per usual, Minock Day was a terrific success!  We will find another adventure for a another Minock Day very soon, without doubt ;)

*You Are Here* 

 Well actually Joy and I were there.   You were probably where ever you actually are.   At any rate, the place Joy and I were was a different preserve. Kind of a Preserve within a Preserve, which is rather unusual. To the best of my knowledge, the only way into this place is though a gate, across a dirt road (with a locked cattle gate at the end) and then through another gate.

As you can see from the sign on the board, it is South of Border.  Border is the name of the road that is it South Of.  Clever eh?  As you can probably tell from the photo above, I was taking a minute to review the map on the board, get our bearings and try to map out our hiking plan.  Technically, of course, we had already hiked a little bit to actually arrive at that spot, but regardless, what i SHOULD have done, instead of just looking at the map and trying to remember it, I ought to have taken a photo of the map with my cell phone.

Yup. Shoulda. Didn't.  Oh well.  It all worked out.

Obviously, this is a Photo Safari Report and since I'm feeing singularly uninspired today, I'll simply call this the South of Border Hike. It's accurate :)

Joy and I have attempted to hike this wonderfully "secret" preserve within a preserve several times over the years and each time we had to turn back due to it being too "piggy". And by that we mean we are seeing either too many actually wild pigs or too much fresh wild pig indicators.  And setting out intentionally into a hike that you already KNOW is rife with cranky wild oinkers is just stupid.  It would be like going swimming in alligator infested water with hot dogs in your pockets.  Joy and I are many things, stupid is not any of them.  But on this particular day, there was not even the smallest suggestion of any walking bacon lurking about so we dared enter!

First of all I want to say that the South of Border hike was stunningly beautiful.  Almost like a mystical fairy land.  It didn't look quite real.  On the other hand, while we heard a cacophony of birdsong, we saw relatively few actual birds.  Of the few we did see, I was able to capture on a couple of photos. I may as well throw those out now since we are talking about it:

It was a really good morning for spiderwebs though. My gracious. They were everywhere. Each one unique and beautiful. I will show you just a few. I know not everyone is as excited about those webs as I am:  (those little spiders are just so industrious!)

It's been quite dry so there weren't a lot of pretty blooming things, but I have a small handful of flowering this'n'that:

And there is this one. My favourite photo of the day. A Mother/Daughter Portrait:

So yes, not a lot of my usual stuff, which is absolutely fine. It was still a beautiful day and a great hike and I always have a good time with my sister :)  Plus I was delighted to finally get to hike that South of Border Trail.  Seriously, who wouldn't love to spend time in a place that looks like this:

Hey thanks for coming along for the Photos Safari Report.  Hope you enjoyed the South of Border Hike!  

Have a perfectly Splendid Weekend!

Tried a new recipe tonight.  It's so fun to experiment with food, coming up with new and different things to present at a meal  BUT,  and I'm talking the big but, it's also terrifying.

I mean what if it doesn't turn out good?  Or what if it turns out exactly as it's supposed to but it doesn't suit the palate of those stuck either eating it anyway or throwing it out and having a PBJ instead.  What a let down that is.  It's happened before. Sadly.  Not often but it has happened.

I made a Quiche once that was so pretty. I mean, magazine photo worthy pretty.  And it must have smelled pretty good because the kiddo that was in the house that night at dinner time followed his nose to the kitchen with great interest.  I was so excited to present my dish with it's pretty little side salad. And then they took the first bite as I anxiously watched and both of them, at the exact same time, Tim and Kiddo, looked first at the slice of quiche on their plates, then at each other, then raced each other to the garbage can to spit it out. Oh dear, oh dear.  we ordered pizza.

We laugh about it now of course, and thank goodness Tim did not use situations such as that to suggest that I stop experimenting. And in fact, he encourage it., Mostly because most, hear that carefully, most, of my experiments turn out just fine. And in fact some turn out so good that they are dishes that are part of the usual meal rotation now.  A few things are even prepared, by request for special occasions ;)  

Still if an experiment goes wrong not only is my family disappointed, but we now have to pivot to find an acceptable substitution for the meal we've thrown away AND it was a waste of food. Maybe that's the worst part these days. We all know how freakin' expensive grocery shopping is and wasted food is also wasted money. Ouch!

Tonight's meal was a nail biter.   Tim had picked up, somewhere on some grocery excursion a package of beef ribs. Definitely not something we have on the regular.  And I did some recipe diving before even attempting it.  I knew, since it was being cooked in the oven, that it needed the low and slow treatment which generally suggests a slow cooker but I know that Tim really likes that little crust that only comes from a dryer cook method.  It needed flavour too but also something that will break down the meat and make it tender. Hmmm and also Hmmmm.

Keeping all those things in mind, I  singled out one recipe that had the ribs cooking at 325 for two hours (turned half way through) in the oven. Ok I'm interested.  It had an interesting sounding sauce poured over it before cooking:  tabasco, molasses, vinegar and soy sauce.  Ok Now I'm downright intrigued.  Tabasco for snap, molasses for sweet, vinegar to break it down and soy sauce for...I don't know..salt?  This was it, I decided.  Well I hoped, let's say that. I put it all together, lined the pan carefully with foil (I'm not stupid) put it in the oven and crossed my fingers.

About 30 minutes in, I turned on the fan to low because the "burnt" smell was pervasive. Dang. That's the molasses.  Molasses is a sugar and sugar burns. I began to have great doubts but hey, it's already in the oven, I am committed.  

Half way through  turned the ribs and I thought oh gosh, this really does look like it's burning. I re-read the recipe carefully. Did I miss something really important?  Nope, I'm doing exactly what it says.  Trust the process I said to myself and turned the fan up to medium.  

At the 3/4 mark I turned the fan up to full speed and I could also smell the tabasco and soy sauce, oh dear, oh dear. I began looking through first the fridge and then the freezer for some sort of acceptable substitution.  But I went ahead and prepared the sides just in case a miracle happened. (asparagus and potatoes in case you wondered).

With GREAT trepidation, shortly after 5 I called Tim to dinner. I confessed that I was concerned about the ribs and to let me know what he thought. Then I sat and watched.  He said he was sure it was fine.  They didn't look fine. They looked burnt. They looked beyond burnt. They looked like the last bits of logs in the fireplace after the fire goes out.  Seriously.

First he carefully inserted a fork.  To my great relief, the fork went in, directly in, no hammer or chisel required.  Then he cut off a chunk and popped it in his mouth, chewed with satisfaction and smiled.  That smile was everything. 

As I was finishing cleaning up, I asked for notes. I always do that when I either invent or try a new recipe. How could it be better next time? l Should there be a next time?  Was this a one and done? Should I ever try it again?

He had one note and one only.  Him buying ribs that had more meat on the bone.  LOLOL   And YAYAYAYAY!!  I can still hardly believe that the dish I took out of the oven after two hours that looked more like briquettes than food was actually edible, let alone good enough to repeat another time.  It was, as I said before, a gastronomical miracle!  Yay Again!

I will continue experimenting and trying new dishes and sometimes I will win and other times I will fail, but I learn from each attempt,  Mostly I'm grateful that Tim is such a brave soul who indulges my  attempts with no complaints!

It was nearly Dinner Drama instead of Dinner Delight!  BUT, what's life without risk?  I don't bungee jump or zipline, I don't fling myself down mountains with sticks strapped to my feet or explore underwater caves but I do experiment mightily in the kitchen. 

It counts!

Welcome today to the Fashion Edition of my blog!  

Okay yeah, I said that with a straight face but now I'm laughing.  The Audacity of me calling anything related to me a fashionable is hilarious.    The only times in my life that I have ever been considered stylish or in fashion as been were a total accident.

That said, I do believe in dressing appropriate to the occasion and like most ladies, I think it's very fun to, every once in awhile perk up my wardrobe.  Sometimes that little perk comes by way of a hand-me-over from Joy, once in a long while I actually do buy a new pair of shorts or a new top, but this time I went in a different direction.

I noticed, as I was going through my closet recently, how many oh so very plain round necked blouses and sweaters and etc that I have. In the olden days I might have filled in that "negative" space between the end of the garment and the beginning of my skin with a necklace. But for several reasons, I don't do that much anymore.

The reasons: 1) It's hot here.  And jewelry is metal. which heats up in the hot.  Also it sticks to me in the humidity and well, it's generally less comfortable to wear necklaces here in Florida land which is probably one of those 'princess and the pea' things  but it is what it is and I am who I am. 2) Old lady neck.  Can't get around it, at 72 I am old and one of the things that happens to most old ladies is we get that very unattractive crepe-y neck thing.  Round neck, u-neck, square neck, pretty much anything other than a turtleneck, shows the crepe-y skin off and seriously, it is not something that ought to be showed off.  I find that a necklace highlights the crepe-y (not creepy. well sometimes maybe) skin rather than detracts from it, so no.  3) for whatever reason, most of my jewelry is silver. Silver tarnishes. When exposed to the salt air/hot and humid air/island air/Florida air that we have here, silver tarnishes a LOT and very quickly. No matter how careful I am, how often I clean my jewelry, or how it is stored, it tarnishes. And sometimes for whatever alchemy/chemistry reason the tarnish cannot be removed. Which means I have fewer and fewer pieces of jewelry - necklaces in particular - to wear anyway

So the issue remains, how do I dress up, change up, address the round neck issue?  Sometimes, especially when the weather is cooler, I can tie a pretty scarf and that little change not only provides warmth but also a pop of colour,a little change-up that makes an older top look newer AND hides the crepe-y neck.  win/win/win

But once the cooler weather is gone, now what do I do?  Well sometimes I pretend I don't notice my crepe-y skin and just wear the shirts anyway. Other times, I wear a different shirt underneath. Specifically a shirt that has a collar. Looks snazzy and solves all the issues. BUT once summer arrives in all it's hot and humid glory I do NOT want to wear two layers of shirts. I would feel as if I were trapped in a sauna!

And while considering this issue, my brain wandered back to fashion in other centuries long ago when things like collars and cuffs were detachable. That was a clever idea.  And that made me wonder if such a thing still existed.   Enter mystical Google.  He (or she) knows all!

Turns out you CAN buy just a collar. Well sort of.  Back in my youth, it would have been called "a dickey".  Don't know why it as called that, but it was.  I only ever owned one.  It was turquoise - which is a beautiful colour as long as I'm not the one wearing it.  Makes my skin look yellow which in turn makes me look jaundiced and everyone around me wonders if I have some liver disease.  I'm fairly certain I did not choose the colour.  It was worn with a vee-necked white sweater that I had because lord knows that a female's clavicle should never be on display (insert much rolling of eyes here).  

I hadn't thought about that old turquoise dickey in decades but as soon as I looked up women's collars and the results popped up there it was in my head immediately. I was not a fan of that old heavy knit turquoise thing, but these new ones looked so very different. Lightweight, pretty, feminine and perfect.  

I scrolled through the possibilities (there were nearly endless choices) for a long time and ultimately ended up getting a set of 4 because I couldn't seem to choose just one.  I tried them all on with the shirt I was wearing in the moment which was a purple tee-shirt and honestly they even made that tee-shirt look good.  So Excited to wear one for real in my actual life and see how it worked out.

Wednesday, which is known is this house is Museum Day, was the maiden voyage.  It was a cold, windy day so I knew I would absolutely be wearing a sweater and ended up in a somber outfit of black slacks and a plain back sweater.  Boring but toasty warm.  Jazzed it right up immediately.

Still, the question remained, how comfortable would it be worn all day while moving around, walking, gesturing ( as I do while talking), driving, cleaning, etc.  The answer was, it went great!  Loved the way it looked and how it dressed up a very  monochromatic  and far too often worn look.  Bonus points it was perfectly comfortable and easily washed.  

I think I've found my solution!  I'm excited for the opportunity to wear each one in turn and see how it changes the look of my old outfits.  A success story for sure.  Big Yay!  And it harkens me back to a rather vintage phase of fashion and that is definitely my style - fashionable or not!

Have a terrific weekend y'all. See you next week!

Over the weekend Tim and I had a singular experience.  And it had to do with my car.

The above picture is, obviously, of a car engine.  It is merely representational as I am too lazy to go outside and take a photo.  The story which follows, a true story, is about my car's engine.  The car I drive, which used to be Tim's car, is a twenty year old Ford Explorer.   She still works just fine and is paid for. That's all that I need. It gets me to and from the very few places I am still willing and able to drive to (and from).

Generally speaking, when Tim and I go anywhere together, we take his car.  For many reasons.  First of all being that Tim is the one driving and he likes his car.  'Nuff said.  It's also a newer, nicer, definitely more reliable vehicle. But in a pinch or if I'm driving, of course, there is the Explorer, just sitting there. Patiently waiting.  

Sometimes, it has to wait a very long time.

And that is probably part of the problem.  

Another part, of the problem, as it turns out, is that we have no garage.  Which, when we first were looking for a home here, we had on the "would be nice but not absolutely necessary" list.  When Tim and I are house hunting we have categories of lists. (Doesn't everyone?)   The most important category on the list is "Absolutely Must Have" which has things like the number and type of rooms we require at bare minimum and the fact that for whatever reason, we feel the need to have both a living room AND a family room.  Then there are the things that "would be nice but are not absolutely necessary", things like a pool or, as it turns out, a garage.  And the reason we didn't believe we absolutely needed a garage, is because winters here are no big deal. In fact they are very small deals. Zero snow. Zero ice.

Turns out there are other reasons to require a garage. We know this now.

Soooo last week, Tim's car had to go into the garage for some work. Just safety maintenance really.  Things like new brakes, new shocks and a new oil pan (the other one had developed a leak - yikes!)  Which left us with one car, mine.  Soo we had wheels. Technically.  But the car I drive, again, is 20 long years old which is getting up there for a car and has a few issues.  Small things like the clock no longer works, the radio also is kaput and a little more annoying, the AC also has crapped out.

You might think that living in Florida as we do, AC is really high on the gotta have list, but I drive so rarely and such short distances that honestly, it isn't an issue at all.  Most of the time.  The only time it is possibly a problem is situations such as, this past weekend, when we only had my car and there is some place we need or want to go that is farther than I normally drive.

Another issue, as it turns out, is that there have been times - sometimes long periods of time -when I don't drive at all.  For instance, the past 5 or so months when my right foot (my driving foot) was broken.  I couldn't walk on the dang thing, I absolutely could not drive with it.  I've only begun driving again at all about a month ago which means, my car just sat in the driveway for 4 months like a giant paper weight.  Patiently waiting. 

And now it's spring in Florida. (it comes early here)  Lots of things happen in spring. The grass greens up, trees bud, flowers bloom and birds nest.  Not just bird, actually, lots of little critters nest this time of year.   Naturally, the mom and dad critter try to choose cozy safe places to build their nests.

I think I've painted the picture for you fairly well.  In fact, you probably see where this is going.  Most likely you see where this is going much better than we did on Sunday because we had very few concerns when we got in the car on Sunday afternoon planning to head up to Sarasota.  In fact, I remember asking Tim if he thought the old girl was up to the drive and he was fairly certain that it would be ok.  We would go slowly and carefully (not too slowly of course, don't want to honk of traffic patterns). And it was a nice enough weather day that we could just drive with the windows down so that the lack of AC wouldn't be an issue.

Off we went.  

As we do, we talked, we commented on things we saw out the window, ideas that popped into our heads, plans for the future, reviewing recent happenings, sharing things we had recently read about. We were having a perfectly pleasant time.  Until I said, "do you smell something burning?"

Tim immediately pulled off the road and into a gas station, far from the pumps. He jumped out and lifted the hood. I also got out to hold up the hood because it has a nasty tendency to close at it's own whim.  At first glance everything seemed to be ok though Tim pulled out a few very thin bits of palm frond here and there that clearly had to do with where I park my car in the driveway *under a tree*.  On second glance he saw more tree ferb and carefully (the engine was superhot) pulled out yet more. And it wasn't just bits and pieces of palm tree. Nope, there were also oak twigs, bougainvillea blossoms,  clumps of grasses, and things unidentifiable but organic. As he pulled out more and more of it, more and more was revealed.  Ultimately is became very apparent that what we had here was a critter nest of some sort and naturally it was dead centre in the hardest part to reach. Of course.

Well dang.

We decided that we needed to just turn around and go home.  Closed the hood, got back in the car and very carefully headed back to Venice.  About half way I called out softly, "there it is again".  This time Tim pulled off into a self-help carwash place. He drove right into one of the bays.  I was a little mystified until he started up the water wand.  Once again, I held up the hood while he water forced more of the next debris out and at the same time, cooled the engine.  Brilliant! I tell you the man is a genius!

Eventually, we were ready to finish the drive home and made it with no further issues.  Tim gave the car about an hour to cool off then he set to with his shop vac to remove any remaining nest debris.  The engine is now about as clean as any working engine can be. Huzzah!  

The assumption here is that because I was parking under a tree AND the car just sat unmoving for several months while my foot healed AND is was nesting season it was a confluence of separate moments that came together perfectly just in time to attempt to set my car on fire!

Why didn't we know before this? Our best guess is that, even though I am driving once again, I don't go far enough for the engine to heat up and it's rarely more than once or twice a week that I drive at all.  It didn't impact the nest at all.

Needless to say I have moved where I park my car in the driveway and we've decided that every once in awhile someone who drives further than I do  (that would be Tim) will take my car out on the road to make sure it's all good.

Dodged a bullet there. Well dodged a car fire I suppose.

It was an interesting experience but one I would prefer to never experience again, thank you.

Lesson learned. Periodically check for critter nests!  Got it!

Let's hear a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOY!!!   Woohoo!  Best Happy wishes to the Birthday girl whose birthday, this year, landed on Friday the 13th which is why I am not the least bit superstitious about such things as triskaidekaphobia. (fear of friday the 13th - yes it has an official name).

Having a sister, this particular sister, has been one of the best gifts I ever received so naturally I wanted to make her birthday special for her.  When I asked what she wanted to do to celebrate, to nobody's surprise at all, she wanted to hike.  Wish Granted!

Happily the Birthday gods were smiling on us because even through most of the hike was rather gloomy and cloudy, there were birdies galore!  Another Wish granted! Joy especially likes to photograph wildlife.  Therefore this Photo Safari Report shall be entitled, The Birdie Birthday Hike.

First of all, I don't think we have ever seen as many cardinals before.  It seemed as if they were at every turn. Which does not mean we were able to capture each one, but we saw them, marveled at them, admired them and as always learned about them more and more.  For instance, the Mr. always makes sure the Mrs. is safe and usually hidden away, before he zips to another spot to either secure food for them both or to distract the potential enemy from the Mrs.   Chivalry is not dead, it's alive and well in the lives of Cardinal Birds.  Here are a few of the cardinal photos I got:

Then there were the eagles. Yes plural.  We have seen eagles in that particular preserve before so it wasn't a surprise, but it's always a pleasure!  Since it's nesting season for eagles right now, there is a barrier to prevent anyone from getting too close to the nest. But we could still see it from the trail (just gotta know where to look and what to look for)  It's a very long distance shot but still an eagle in the nest.  Then we began to look for the mate.  If there's only one in the nest (probably with the young) then the other one has to be  nearby.  Took us awhile but eventually, there he was in all his magnificent glory.

The Best of the Best though were the owls.  For whatever reason, I can never see owls.  I know they are around, probably in every preserve I've ever hiked. I just don't have the "eye" necessary to find them. And in fact, I've only ever seen one other owl on a hike. The only reason I actually saw it was that Joy was with me and pointed it out. I still couldn't see it but she persisted until at least, there he was!

This time however, we knew about the owls (and in fact specifically looked for them) because we happened across another hiker while we were out.  The other hiker had a pair of binoculars around her neck and she saw our cameras and after an exchange of howdy's asked if we were looking for birds. Joy was a little ahead of me on an important phone call, so I answered that well, we were looking for whatever struck our fancy while taking photos, but yes, sure birds were great.  She then told me that at the other end of the trail we were on, there were a pair of owls. Wow! She tried to describe the tree (in a forest of trees which makes it tricky) so in exchange I told her where to find the non-nesting eagle. Fair Trade.  I caught up to Joy and told her about the owls and off we went on the hunt.  

Naturally it was Joy who found them and once again, persisted in verbal directions until finally I too saw them.  Two Great Horned Owls!!!  They are huge by the way.

There were other birds, of course.  Loads of woodpeckers of every sort including the big old Woody Woodpecker looking piliated woodpecker who is unmistakable.  Anyway, here's a sampling of the others:

There was one more bird that we saw a lot of and that is the Scrub Jay.  Similar in colour to a BlueJay but totally different personality. These guys Love to be seen, love to have their photos taken. They pose and preen and show their personalities. Naturally, therefore, I took lot of Scrub Jay photos.  Here's a few:

Also got a few botanicals because it just wouldn't be me if there weren't:

And I guess that's about  it.  The highlights from the  Birdie Birthday Hike.   It was a great hike. Joy and I both had to ice our feet when we got home (she oddly, has a similar foot injury to mine!) but it was Totally Worth It!  

Thanks for coming along. I'll leave you with wishes for a terrific weekend and one last photo.  Bunny says, Bye, see you next week!

As you can plainly see, that's Joy and I (Joy on the left, me on the right) out in a forest ON FOOT for the first time in a long time. Way Overdue!  Joy patiently waited until I was ready and last week, at long last, I felt as if I had turned another corner in the healing of my stupid foot.  So with no small amount of trepidation but even more excitement, I felt ready to do an exceedingly small, short, brief actual real out in the forest hike.  

I should be embarrassed by how brief a hike it was, but, for a change, this time 'round, I am actually listening to both my doctor AND my foot and therefore, I am taking it very slowly and carefully.  Recovery is a long series of baby steps (especially at my esteemed age!).  I am, therefore, calling this Photo Safari, the Baby Steps Hike.

Joy and I took all of the local preserves (and there are quite a few) into consideration when choosing our destination for this first foray and ultimately decided upon Lemon Bay preserve, primarily because it is very LEVEL with no obstacles, usually, and with grassy paths.  Our goal was to find something where we didn't have to climb up or down a ravine, or climb over fallen trees, or hop over rushing streams, or wade through the ones we can't hop over, and didn't have to walk on loose sand.   Also keeping in mind the fewer hidden tree roots, the better! Lemon Bay is check check check.

But as soon as we arrived the very first thing we see is a GIANT and Very LOUD mowing machine. We arrived on the day they mow the paths. Dang it!  Change of plans.  Turned around and headed to Carlton Reserve instead.  Normally Carlton is one of our absolute favourites but alas, this time, not so much.  It's not Carlton's fault either.  

Right now Florida is experiencing a massive drought while other parts of the country are virtually snowed in. Very Bizarre. Ponds, Lakes, Rivers, Streams and other water sources are drying up which means less beautiful foliage and a lot less wildlife.  Cannot blame anyone really. It just is what it is.  Mother Nature's whims and all that.   But it surely makes for fewer photo opportunities.

Of course, Joy and I can always find something to take pictures of, even when we come home with far fewer than normal. Kind of makes sense anyway, shorter hike, fewer pictures, right?  Perfectly Logical.

At any rate, here are the very few photos that I took.  I guess if nothing else, it makes this a shorter post, which means quicker reading and fewer photos to cruise through.   Hope you Enjoy!!

Little by little, the hikes will get longer, the photos will get better and more varied, I promise! Hang in there with me please!

​Have a Great Week!

As I'm sure I've mentioned before (at least a hundred times no doubt), Tim and I live a fairly quiet, calm, uneventful life.  It's peaceful and very happy.  Some folks may even refer to it as dull and boring (we don't but other's might). At the very least it could probably be considered relatively predictable. We are good with this by the way.

In an ordinary week, on a normal day the most interesting thing that might happen is noticing that a neighbor's tree was cut down or they repainted their front door a different colour.  When I call something exciting I usually mean the grocery store has exceptional BOGO's that week or maybe we got an unexpected refund in the  mail. Woohoo!

But this past Wednesday began with a different sort of excitement and this is the story of that:

The day began as most of our days do with Tim jumping in the shower to get ready for work and me staggering sleepily around, feeding hungry kitties and making Tim's coffee and peering around through squinted eyes waiting for both vision and brain function to stop being muzzy.  I went to throw something (don't recall what) away in the kitchen garbage can and that's when I saw it. Ants.  Not just one or two frightened tiny little specks running for their lives when they saw the Giant coming their way but a veritable Conga Line of Ants calmly and steadily marching forward. What the what?

Suddenly I was a lot more wide awake. I followed the line of dancing ants under the kitchen door, to the utility room and then down the entire freakin' length of the utility room, under the exterior door and outside.  Dang it!  I got to work immediately irradicating the little varmints.  I use a pet and human safe spray in the house which works, but smells so strongly of peppermint that it put me off candy canes for life.  I sprayed with determination and prejudice down that entire line, massacring ants with no mercy.  Once I got to the outside of the exterior doors I switched over to an outside spray that reeks of chemicals and is probably cacinogenic. (this was all done while I was still wearing pajamas by the way thus presenting myself at my very best to anyone passing by. Oh well)   

Once I completed my killing spree of course, I immediately showered to get that nastiness off of me. Hum dilly hum. I relaxed and took my time and reflected on the odd start to the day.  While I was pampering myself with shampoos and conditioners Tim was in the kitchen.  He had "slept funny" and woke up with a sore neck. In my family's lexicon that means you have  "crick" in your neck.  Best solution for that is a warm compress and perhaps a little Advil.

Now we have a number of different heat source products in the house from electric heating pads to full sized hydrocollators. But the best one for this particular issue and is in fact why we have it, is a bean/grain filled long tube with plastic loops on each end that fits perfectly around the neck. Just thinking about it makes me sigh with relief.  A quick 2 minutes in the microwave and the sufferer is quickly on their way to relief. 

We keep all of these items in a hall closet on the same shelf. Each one wrapped first in a towel and then in a bag.  Generally speaking, we take the item OUT of the bag but leave it in the towel (to keep it clean) to microwave.  Now the last time the neck warmer heater thinger was used, it was by me.  And I "cleverly" used to twisty tie threaded through both plastic loops and then twisted closed to keep the neckwrap in place while I continued working around the house. When I was done with it I intentionally put the twisty tie IN the bag so that whoever used it next didn't have to scrounge up another twistytie.  You probably see where this is going, right?

When I finally got out of the shower and was combing, lotioning and powdering and so forth I kept thinking......"that's  a funny smell, I wonder what that is?"  After a second or two I recognized it as burnt plastic. Oh no!  Did I leave a bread bag leaning on the toaster oven?  I mean, I didn't make any toast that morning, but perhaps Tim did?  I was prepared to spend some time later attempting to scrub melted plastic off the toaster oven but for that moment, I just wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out of the bathroom then wandered down to the kitchen where the smell was noticeably stronger.

There was Tim in the kitchen and not his office in front of the microwave with the door open. Odd.  I asked him if he noticed a funny smell.  And that's when I heard the story.

Now first you have to keep in mind that Tim never panics. Ever. He calmly assesses a situation and then addresses it equally calmly and correctly.  So, again, bothersome neck issue.  Obvious solution is the neck warmer thingie.  He finds it in it's usual spot, pops it into the microwave and returns very briefly to his office as he will hear the little Ding when the mircrowave it done.  Instead, right away he smelled the same odd burning smell that I did.  So, immediately, he returned to the kitchen and when he looked at the microwave, instead of seeing the neckwarmer circling endlessly, he saw flames.  Wait, not flames... FLAMES!    That's not normal!

He immediately opened the door (which automatically turns it off), pulled out the flaming object and dropped it on the stove top. He patted out the flames on what was left of the neck warmer and then again inside the microwave, got yet another towel, scooped the entire burned mess up and put it outside in the courtyard to think about what it had done!  By the time I stepped into the kitchen all of that was done and Tim as trying to clean up the mess left behind.  (despite putting out the flames with his bare hands, he did not get burned by the way thank goodness)

He told me what happened and both of us were agog at the idea that those bean/grain filled warmers could catch on fire!!!  Bizarre!  I told him that I would finish the clean up and he gratefully returned to his desk and back to work.  I got dressed and then began attacking the melted/burnt/yucky remains.  As I worked, I was thinking the entire thing through and then, as I was scrubbing a particularly resistant bit of melted something, I remembered the twisty tie.  Dang.  This was my fault.  I did leave the twisty tie, not still attached to the actual neck warmer, but definitely in the bag it was kept in.  Ratz.

I trudged, head down, into Tim's office and confessed.  He was very understanding about the whole thing.  As long as we are both safe and the kitties are fine and the house is still standing, it's no problem are his thought on the matter.

To my great surprise, once I got it cleaned up and did a trial cook with a bag of microwave popcorn, the microwave itself still works~!  So really, we are only down one microwaveable neck warmer and two towels (and one twisty tie)

And there ends the tale.  It was an exciting morning for sure.  And now I'm good on the excitement meter for awhile. Life can resume it's usual serene, lovely, levels.  Please.

,My Dad was seriously into genealogy.  He did years of research and interviews, letter writing campaigns and library hauntings. He prowled attics and basements and poked through other people's giant boxes of unlabeled photographs.  He consulted endlessly to, eventually, put together a very comprehensive picture of his family's lineage. It was a truly impressive piece of work.  It included everyone from the first family member who landed on the east coast of the US way way way back before this country was an official country of it's own, to the newest littlest members of the family.

I loved reading the names (some really awesome unusual names in this crew) and hearing some of the stories about serving in the various battles, from the revolutionary war forward and excerpts from the diary kept by a woman travelling by covered wagon, slightly farther west than they began. It's all just endlessly fascinating to me.  All of those hundreds of people on the list and somehow, I am related to all of them! Wild!

All of them shared hopes and dreams, all experienced terrible losses, they worked hard, laughed out loud,  loved their families and  lived their lives and then the next generation did the same, over and over, until my generation and then my kids generation.... It's like a fountain of related bloodlines. And, honestly, related experiences. 

It's true.  From the first family member who stepped foot on what is now American's soil to the family members here right this minute,  we all have a familial thread that binds us.  I'm not just talking about DNA, I'm talking about the way we live our lives.

From what I can see, we all work hard.  They worked without electricity or indoor plumbing originally but whether you are sitting behind a tractor wheel or a computer screen, hard work is hard work.  They were all courageous and took brave chances.  Sometimes the bravery was getting on a giant wooden sailing ship, leaving everything they knew behind to come live in a new land. Nowadays that bravery might be shown serving in the military, moving to a brand new state where you don't known a single soul,  beginning a new job, starting a family or following a dream wherever it leads. All of those things require a person who is courageous enough to first take a deep breath and then that first step into something new. Not just playing it safe, y'know?

Throughout the generations, even though I never met the vast majority of these people, I know that we are more alike than we are different. I've never had to use a button hook to put on my shoes and lord knows I've never attempted to wear a corset but I have struggled amighty to walk 'normally' in high heels and zip up a pair of snug jeans.  Close enough.  I'm working on either a gas or electric stove cooking meals to feed my family and previous generations cooked over open fires or wood fired stoves, but we are doing the same job, feeding our families come heck or high water.

I only remember ever attending one family reunion on my dad's side of the family. It was at my Grandparents farm up in Michigan. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old and probably younger than that. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who attended.  The line of cars seemed to go on forever and each vehicle was like a clown car with a seemingly unending stream of people spilling out.  The food offerings were many and varied and splendid and amazing and there was more food than even that size group could ever possibly consume.  There was deafening conversation and laughter in every direction with kiddos running amuck and babies crying.  And there I stood, dumbstruck in the middle of it all, mouth open, brain reeling and I even remember wondering to myself how could it be possible that I was related to each and every person there.  Untangling the whole puzzle of exactly how we were related was a place I didn't even try to go for years!

This all came to mind again this past Sunday when, Joy and Bob, Tim and I, and Joy's eldest daughter gathered together to spend time with our cousin Carol from up in Michigan.   Carol is always a delight to spend time with. Not only is she our source of information regarding all northern relatives on that side of the family but Carol is also a wonderful raconteur. She tells the most entertaining tales of her adventures which are both interesting and hilarious.  She is also one of those rare folks who remembers things about each individual at the table.  She asks about us and our lives and remembers things we've discussed before.  She is a treasure.

For, I don't know how long, Carol comes to Florida for awhile every winter and we try to make it a point to get together as many of us as possible each time.  It's not anywhere near the same level as that giant family reunion all those years ago, but it still reminds me a bit of it.  And I feel the link, the connection from my kids to me to my dad, to his brother to his kids (my cousins) and then further back, grandparents, great grandparents, great great's and many greats further than that.    

There are a few old photographs around and occasionally you can even see a family resemblance here and there which is remarkable.  But as I look back even further I wonder sometimes, what traits do we share?  Do we have the same blue eyes?  The same general hatred of licorice but love of music?  How many of my forebearers loved books as I do, or quilting as Joy does?  How many of those folks who came before were wizards with numbers as my boys are?  Did any others have my general clumsiness or were they light on their feet dancers like my sister?

I suppose I'll never know the answers to my questions but I do know that I'm so glad Carol still comes to Florida every winter and chooses to make a little room in her Crazy Busy life to spend some of it with us and help to keep that family connection strong. Like a tree.  A family Tree :)