Red Sox vs Rays

David and Paula brought Red Sox tickets with them when they came to visit.  Although David originally purchased tickets for standing room on the grassy knoll berm in the outfield, which sounds very romantic but is actually a small grassy area in full sun, he was able to upgrade to seats, actual seats!  Thanks, David.

Ticket for a real seat...yay!

View from our seats.

We got there early and had a chance to check out the practice fields but we just missed batting practice.

Back side of the outfield wall

Two handsome dudes but not Red Sox dudes.

Speaks for itself

We even got their early enough to get some free food!

Land O-Lakes grilled cheese

 OMG, these were awesome...and, did I mention...they were FREE!  I ate two.

The weather was perfect, in the 80's but we were glad when 2:50 arrived and our seats were in the shade.  We had a great time and the Sox WON, killing massacring beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-0!

We returned home to enjoy a marvelous dinner of filet mignon, grilled veggies and two side dishes prepared by Paula, one involved spinach and the other involved a combination of root vegetables.  Everything was delicious!

David being responsible for the veggies, Bill keeping an eye on the steaks, Paula soaking up the aroma

Looks good, tasted great

It was an awesome day...good friends, good food, good fun.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

The Icehouse Pub...Revisited

When Wendy came to visit, we went to dinner at the Icehouse Pub in Punta Gorda.  You can read about that evening here.  Tonight, we went with David and Paula, who arrived yesterday for a few days visit.

David and Paula at The IceHouse Pub

David and Paula, Bill and Kathy

We started with drinks and TWO orders of the fried artichoke hearts.  YUM!  Dinner was excellent, as it has proven to be each time we have eaten there.

There are several maybe a dozen dart boards in the rear of the restaurant and although we have seen people playing, we never tried to play ourselves, until tonight.  We learned that they have leagues on Mon - Wed nights but any other time, if there is an open board, anyone is welcome to play.  They even provide the darts.

Sooooo, we played.  I'm happy to report, everyone was on the winning team at least once.

David and Bill, winners

Kathy and David, winners

Paula and Bill, winners

There was, however, someone that won more often than the others.

The biggest winner

A good time was had by all.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Sneak Peek

More on these when I have time to sort through the 320 pictures I took.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Wordless Wednesday 3/21/12

Gopher Tortoise

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wishing everyone a super holiday.  I went for a walk with my two Irish lads this morning

My two Irish lads

Our St. Patrick's Day walk

We left Titan at home, had a spectacular breakfast at McDonalds, shopped at the farmer's market, then headed to the Peace River National Art Festival at Laishley Park.

A vendor that makes jewelry from watch parts

A vendor with bronze sculptures

This is a very nice art festival, which we also enjoyed last year.  There is some beautiful art work, lots of jewelry and glass work, along with pottery.  I did purchase a Christmas ornament but nothing else.  The painting I really liked, by a quadraplegic artist named Marcus Thomas, was $12,000 so we left it for someone else to buy.  He paints with his mouth, check out his website, you will be amazed!

We picked up sandwiches and ate them in the car at Ponce de Leon Park

then checked out a little park near us called Spring Lake Park.

This was the sign near the path to the lake, so we looked everywhere to see if there were any alligators around.  Nothin'

After dinner we decided to check out the sunset from the park on our side of the river.  The temperature was around 80* and it was beautiful!

We walked out onto the pier and had a perfect view of Venus, Jupiter and Mars.  It was a great holiday.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Until Next Time

It's only been a week and we already have to return Wendy to the airport so she can go home.   She's easy company and I think we had a fun visit but it went by way too fast.  

I enjoy saying "hi" a lot more than I enjoy saying "good-bye"; it always makes me cry.  We waited until she was cleared through the security gate and then we left.  Boo Hoo ;o(

Love you Wendy, see you in a few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Wendy's Visit...Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

In an earlier post, I talked about our visit to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Wendy asked if we could go when she came to visit.  So.We.Did.

It was a beautiful day, with a temperature around 87*.  Luckily there was a nice breeze.  We packed a lunch and ate it at one of the picnic tables located outside the entrance, surrounded by a dozen or so children there on a field trip.  Admittedly, the kids were quite well behaved.  

Once inside, we traveled in a counter clockwise direction because Bill and I found the most interesting areas to be at the "end" when we started from the other direction.  Wendy was a good luck charm and we saw a lot of great wildlife today that we didn't see the last time.

Can you spot Wendy?

Hawk

Barred Owl

Same Barred Owl

There were two telescopes set up which allowed us to look at a 10-12' alligator (take my word for this, please) along with several of her babies soaking up the sun with a couple of turtles.

Photo taken through the lens of the telescope

We saw a couple of really cool spiders and webs.

Just a neat web, no spider in attendance

This Anhinga has speared a fish on the end of his beak

The bird has swallowed the fish and it's working itself down his neck.

This was cool to watch!

Pileated Woodpecker

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

White Ibis

2, count them, 2 Eastern Indigo Snakes

Immature Cottonmouth Water Moccasin

This dangerous semi-aquatic snake is truly an aggressive reptile that will stand its ground or even approach an intruder. 

The Anhinga is also called the Snake Bird

Diamondback Rattlesnake

The rattlesnake was about 5' long and was attempting to travel under the boardwalk to the other side but was afraid of all the people.  The guides advised us that it was the first one they had seen in about five years.

We saw another smaller alligator, 5-8', but I didn't get a picture of that one either.

There were more flowers blooming this time

Flag Iris

and there were more leaves on the trees.

February, 2012

March, 2012

Bill and I really enjoyed seeing all the wildlife but the spiders and snakes "creeped" Wendy out.  She's such a girl!  Hopefully she enjoyed the visit.

Thanks for stopping by....
;o)