Happy Valentine's Day

We enjoyed a super nice Valentine's Day!  We walked Titan from Landmark to the hospital and back.  After returning him to the house, we decided to have lunch at the Celtic Ray.  We sat at one of the covered swings in the front and had a great meal of fish and chips.

Gingerale and Strongbow

We used the gift card Greg gave us for Christmas!  

We came back home, let Titan out and Bill did some reading on the deck until we left, around 4:00 and drove to Venice.  Our first stop was Ciao Gelato, yummy!  

This stuff is so much creamier than ice cream.

We sat on one of the benches along the sidewalk and did some people watching while we finished our cones.  I stopped into the quilt shop and wandered around briefly, since it was time for it to close but the owner was nice enough to let me shop.  I bought a quilting pattern and a pattern for some small bags.  Bill waited patiently outside.  Unfortunately, most of the shops close at 5:00 but we found one that stayed open until 5:30 so I was able to get a postcard for Lori.

From there we drove to the Venice Beach jetty and were fortunate enough to find a parking spot right in front ;o)  It was fairly breezy, and we were early for the sunset, so we waited in the car for a while.  We got out around 6:00 and found ourselves a nice place to sit on the rocks and watch the sunset.  There weren't any clouds in the sky, so the sunset was nice but not spectacular. There appeared to be some fog along the horizon because the sun sort of disappeared.

I think I like the ones with the birds the best.

We even waited for the "after show", which is often better than the sunset itself, but not tonight.

I took these two with my phone because I wanted to try black and white.

We stopped at Bocca Lupo for a Margherita pizza on our way home.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

We Had a Busy Day...

It was 50* when I got up this morning; however, it was -3* at home (felt like -27*).  We enjoyed a nice, slow morning.  While Bill took Titan for a walk, Greg and I did a little reading.  We left about 11:45, got gas and headed north to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota.  As it turns out, not only is today Valentine's Day but it was also the first day of the Orchid Show, so it was really busy!   

We started in The Tropical Conservatory, which is where all the orchids are and ended going back through there, when it wasn't quite so busy.

There were several large displays of orchids, providing a great backdrop for photos.

There were over 500 varieties of orchids in this one room and the different colors were amazing!

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

Looks like a bug!

Some of the blossoms were as big as a hand and others were super tiny.

I enjoy all of the different textures found in the gardens.

Zombia antillarum

Philodendron williamsii

And they have super cool names ;o)

There is the koi pond

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

We enjoyed the children's section, except for all the children...

and the area that overlooks Sarasota Bay.

What do you see?  What do you seeee? 

I really like this photo ;o)

Not exactly sure what the theme was but there were a lot of mannequins throughout the gardens outfitted in flowers.

We stayed for about three hours, wandering around and taking pictures...lots of pictures!  We also had a bite to eat at the Selby Cafe.  The food was good, although somewhat pricey. 

We left about 4:00, stopped at McDonalds for iced coffees and drove to Venice.  The beach parking was full so we drove to the jetty and were lucky enough to find a parking space!  Continuing our lucky streak, Bill ran into a cousin of his, Richey Kenny, who he hasn't seen in years and years and years.  So weird!

We walked along the jetty and the beach, then decided to stay a little longer and watch the sunset.  So glad we did, I think we have a new Valentine tradition...sunset at Venice Beach!

There is a lot of erosion at this end of the beach but we were able to walk above it until it flattened out.

shell seeker

 It was really a beautiful evening!

Someone couldn't put down their stick (Bill)

The sunset was well worth waiting for...

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

Photo by Greg Wehmeyer

After a quick stop at home to feed Titan and take him out to do his business, we went to The Icehouse Pub for dinner and darts.

Greg takes aim

Although we didn't finish the game before our table was ready, someone got lucky and threw a bullseye on HER first turn.

Bullseye!

and consequently SHE was ahead and declared the winner!!!

Such a good winner...HAHA

Ended the day at home around 9:30.

Sorry for the long post but it was a very busy day!  Thanks for stopping by...
;o)