A Busy Day

When the kids were little and tucked into bed, we would often talk about the day.  I remember many times when one of them would say "I had a busy day".  Well, today was one of those days.

We were up early, well early for me, before 8:00.  After a quick breakfast at McDonalds (I know, I know, yuck) we headed to the farmer's market.  It was a busy day at the market, too.

Bill was so excited to see that these are now in season.

They are the best onion you will ever taste.  The gentleman that totaled up our purchases apologized that they were so small, it's the first week they have been available.  By the time we leave, the season will be drawing to a close but the onions will be huge!  We picked up more strawberries, which went up 50 cents a quart since last week, more feta stuffed olives and a few other items.  Only spent about $20 this week ;o)

Where, or where, is Bill McG?

We walked our veggies back to the car, then walked a block past the market to peruse the Sullivan Street Craft Fair.  It, too, was very busy.

 

 

 

Several blocks of Sullivan Street (one of the main streets running through downtown Punta Gorda ) are closed to traffic and lined with numerous booths full of the usual craft fair wares.

orchids and exotic plants

a carnivorous pitcher plant

leather

interesting paintings

glass work

wood carving, almost as tall as me

It was definitely one of the nicer days we have had since arriving, sunny and warm.  Actually, the temperature was in the 80's and humidity about 180!  The weatherman stated this morning it would be "air you can wear".  No complaints here, tho.  Good reasons to purchase a nice beverage and stand in the shade for a minute or two.

Along with the usual, there was the somewhat unusual.

All fun and games till someone gets an eye poked out with one of those babies

Ahoy, Matie

Plus, there were dogs, lots of dogs, big and small, short and tall...

 

This was the only stroller I saw that actually carried a human baby.

From here, we returned home to get Titan and went for a short walk.  We keep forgetting to turn on the app, Map My Ride, on Bill's phone to track our mileage while walking.  We did go back and drive our route today, 1.7 miles.  Hopefully, between the two of us, we can remember to track it each day.  It will be interesting to see how many miles we log this winter.

We had lunch at home, then headed to Ponce de Leon park and the beach, where we stayed for a couple of hours.  Although it was hot at "home", the wind was coming directly off the water and I got cold enough to cover up.

All in all, it was a busy day.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Farmer's Market

Our first visit to the Punta Gorda farmer's market was very successful.  We spent most of our $40 but got a lot of great, fresh veggies.

I can't remember all the prices but the stuffed olives were $9, the most expensive item we purchased.  We have been craving them ever since we left last April, the ones at W-M aren't quite the same.  

The three lemons were $1 (something like 47 cents each at W-M), the two containers of strawberries were $5 and the avocado was $2.  Now, that seems like a lot for an avocado but it's huge!

happy avocado

I bet it weighs more than a pound and it's nearly as big as Bill's head.

Bill is such a good sport...the avocado had no choice

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

That's Not How We Left It ;o(

Last year we were in the habit of getting our coffee at a little shop in the Fishermen's Villages called "The Ornery Attitude" (O.A.).  From there we would wander outside and sit on a swing, overlooking Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River.  Many nights we sat there sipping our coffee, enjoying a biscotti and watching the sun set as we heard the signal for the boat leaving the harbor, taking passengers on the sunset cruise.  You can read more about this favorite spot of ours here.

This is what we found when we stopped today...

The supports are still there but...THERE'S NO SWING!  We asked Dave, the O.A. owner about it.  Apparently, we are the only ones missing it because he had no idea it had disappeared and no one else had asked about it.  However, he is going to check with the maintenance person and see if he can get some answers.  We were very disappointed.

We went to our preferred farmer's market today, along with most of Punta Gorda and the surrounding area.  Where did all of these people come from?  It was never this busy last year.  We bought some crab filled homemade ravioli, which we had for dinner along with vodka sauce and they were fabulous!  I forgot to get the name of the vendor but we'll get it next week and find out where the business is located.

We also came across a new vendor displaying some of the cutest little dresses I have ever seen.  I commented to Mr. Bill about one that I thought would look especially cute on my granddaughter, Ella.  However, when I looked at the back, there wasn't anything there, other than a little strap, which I found odd.  Luckily, it only took a split second (okay, maybe a couple of seconds) to figure out that it was designed for a dog, not a child.  duh  This little booth belonged to Koolnani's, owned and operated by a very pleasant woman by the name of Theresa Diaz.  I did ask if I could take a couple of photos for my blog and told her about one of the volunteers at the shelter, Beth H., who designs outfits for the shelter dogs.  She explained that she owns a couple of Yorkies and started designing outfits for them, then others asked her to make some and next thing, she was in business.

This is only a small section of her display but gives you an idea of how cute these outfits are.  Mr. Bill spotted the next one, which makes us think of Wendy Bee...

How freakin' cute is that?  She also had collars, bandannas, small animal beds and other animal items, along with some very cute aprons for people.  There may have been other people items but her space was getting busy so I didn't get photos of everything; there was a lot more to see.  She doesn't have a website but her card says "Kustom Apparel For people & their pets".  If you see something you like or want to get in touch with her regarding something for your special furry friend or yourself, you can email her at - koolnani@centurylink.net.  I did place an order but it's a surprise, so I can't tell you about it.

It was a very nice day here, 72*, mostly sunny and windy.  We had a great walk along the river but came back a different way, just for a change of scenery and because we can. 

Titan is a little out of sorts today; hope he's back to his usual self tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Eagle update

We had a few veggie items on our shopping list so we left this morning and headed to the farmer's market in Punta Gorda.  We were disappointed that there wasn't any crown broccoli this week.  ;o(  We didn't get to listen to the entertainment today.  The weather was kind of overcast but warm and very windy.  The canopy that the musician stands under blew over and crashed into his head.  He was getting medical aid at the local coffee shop while we were shopping.  At one point a leaf/branch blew off one of the palm trees and crashed to the ground.  I don't know exactly what you would call this part of the palm but I do know that you would not want to be standing under it when it fell to the ground.  It made a very loud crash.


We did take a walk over to the coffee shop for an iced coffee.  

Isn't this an awesome flower?  We think it is a Bird of Paradise but we could be wrong.  It's growing next to the wall by the Cafe Ruelle.

On our way to the Fine Arts and Crafts Fair we stopped to check on the eagles.  Mr. Bill's camera takes some great photos.  You can see the one and only baby again in this shot.  

When we arrived, one of the adults was in the nest and the other one was sitting on a branch.  As we continued watching they both perched on the branches.  It's hard to tell the male from the female but the female is the larger bird.

 

One of the birds became very vocal and Mr. Bill set the camera so that it would continue to take photos as long as the button was depressed just in case it decided to fly.  I was the lucky one holding the camera and these are the shots that turned out well.

 

 

 

  

How cool is that?  They are such a majestic bird and watching them is incredible.  We believe that it will be sometime in March when the young one fledges.

The fair was okay, nothing really special.  We did purchase a couple of soapstone coasters that fit into the cup holders in the car.  This is a photo of the area at Fishermen's Village where we go dancing to live music.

There are a number of cats that call FV their home and someone created this so they have places to sleep, hide and eat.

 

It rained this afternoon so we went to the gym after lunch instead of walking outdoors.  

(All pictures were taken by Mr. Bill's new camera.)

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)