It's That Time of Year...The Martineau's Come to Visit

None of us were certain this day would actually arrive this winter.  It's been an awful few weeks for Wendy and Dan.  Thankfully, the stars aligned and they touched down in Tampa around 9:30 this morning.  They rented a car and after an early misdirection, drove south to their rental, arriving around 2:00.  They reported that they were poolside with a drink shortly thereafter ;o)

We are happy to have them nearby but are very comfortable giving them space so they can relax and recharge, without expectations.  They invited us to join them after dinner at the new beachy area at Fisherman's Village for a drink and the sunset.  

It was so good to see them both!

Nothing spectacular but it was a beautiful, warm night and our family was close by.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Plan A, Take Two

Yesterday our plan was to visit the new Peace River Wildlife Center hospital, then go to Fisherman's Village for an adult beverage and the sunset.  

HA...not so fast!  First of all, we did go to see the new clinic but it was overcast and actually rained on us when we headed back to the car.  Not great sunset weather.

So...we decided on Plan B, go to Bocca Lupo for a pizza.  It was the full moon and they have Full Moon Madness specials.  

On the way, we stopped by Beef Country to get some chicken patties, which they were out of.  To top it off, we learned that the gentleman who owned the business when we first came to FL, that we had become friendly with, had passed away over the summer.  

And finally...Bocca Lupo was slammed, so we came home and ate dinner.  A total bust...no sunset, no chicken patties, no pizza.

Tonight we tried Plan A again.  We went to Fisherman's Village, got beverages and sat on the new beach to enjoy the sunset. 

5:46 pm

5:52 pm

5:56 pm

6:00 pm

6:03 pm

6:06 pm

It wasn't spectacular but it was 81* at 5:30 and we're retired and we're in FL with our feet in the sand, in JANUARY!  I guess it kinda was spectacular!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

The Martineau's Come to Visit...Day 8

It's their last day already ;o(  and it dawned windy and cold.  We picked them up at the Hertz rental location in Pt. Charlotte at 10:15.  We had coffees at Mercers, then came home and hung around till lunch.  After lunch we dropped them off at the  pool, even though it was cloudy and threatening rain.

We took Titan for a walk through the park, then sat on the deck and gave him a treat.  We came in when it started to sprinkle.  I napped on the couch and Bill napped on the floor.  He picked Wendy and Dan up at 5:00 and I put dinner in the over.

We ate around 5:45 then went to Fisherman's Village for beverages from The Brewhouse, which we took to the new beach there to watch the sunset.  

Wendy wanted frozen yogurt, so we all got some.

We got home about 8 and finished the desserts left from last night.  I made treats for Titan, Wendy & Dan packed and went to bed around 9:30.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)



  

The "Kids" Come to Visit

Friday...March 16:

Wendy and Dan arrived late in the afternoon ;o)  Bill went shopping for hamburgers for dinner and we sat on the deck visiting while he grilled.  It was a quiet evening at home.

Saturday...March 17:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We went to Mercer's Coffee House for breakfast, only to learn there was no cook, so we settled for bagels and coffee.  Very disappointing!  From there to the farmer's market, which surprisingly wasn't very crowded.  Dan did manage to get strawberry juice on his only green shirt.

We brought our purchases home and I spent a few minutes washing Dan's shirt so he could wear it later.  We took Titan for a walk along the Linear Path.

We headed to The Celtic Ray, Dan in a nice, clean green shirt ;o)  Dan found a place upstairs where we could stand to eat and the boys headed outside to order our meals...three corned beef and cabbage and one fish and chips (Bill doesn't like corned beef).  Wendy and I held down the fort while we waited.

Me and my girl celebrating Irish!

Bill and Dan were back quite quickly with a ton of food!

I wasn't able to finish my corned beef there was so much!

When we finished eating, we went outside to listen to the entertainment.  

Wendy was talking to the kitchen manager who told us they had started at 4:30ish AM and so far, (it was about 4:00 PM) they had gone through about 700 pounds of corned beef.  It's the only day they serve corned beef and cabbage.

We left around 4:00 and proceeded to Fisherman's Village.  The parking is horrendous this year but we found a place along the road and walked back.  Dan is such a goofball!

We went to Scotty's Brewhouse and found seats along the planter boxes.  We didn't plan to eat, so we didn't ask for a table.  Everywhere is crowded on St. Patrick's Day!

We had beverages and were entertained with some "traditional Irish music" while we awaited the arrived of the Lee County Pipes and Drums.  It was a beautiful afternoon, lots of blue skies and sun; however, we were able to sit in the shade most of the time.

The "pipers" arrived at 5:30 and played for 15-20 minutes.  Bagpipes always give me goosebumps.

People cleared out quickly once they finished.  We listened to the other entertainment a while longer, finished our drinks and did a little shopping on the way out.  We picked up Dominoes pizza for dinner and arrived home around 8:00.  It was a busy day.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Greg's Visit...Sticking Around Town

Today is the day between two busy days so we decided to stick close to home.  We ate breakfast at home, then headed to the farmer's market.  From there, we walked to The Foot Landing, which is a running/walking equipment store which also sells Hawaiian pressed coffees.  Of course, we had to each have one.  I didn't realize each cup took four minutes to brew and they were only able to brew two at a time, so this took awhile.  Once they were ready, we sat in the sun in the court yard and drank them.  They are quite tasty.

Bill continued to soak up some sun while Greg and walked through the Artist's Artelier, then to Publix, then home for lunch.

We wanted to get to the Peace River Wildlife Center in time to watch the pelican feeding, which I thought was at 2:00 but it turned out to be 2:30.  Needless to say, we were there plenty early, giving us lots of time to take pictures and observe the birds doing what birds do.

Brown Pelican (photo by Greg Wehmeyer)

Sandhill Crane (photo by Greg Wehmeyer)

Great Blue Heron? (photo by Greg Wehmeyer)

Well, it gave Greg time to take photos ;o)

We walked along the sandy beach to the pier, back to the car and on to Fisherman's Village.

Bill was duped into buying fish food although there were absolutely no hungry fish to be seen.

 Didn't stop him from trying tho.

"Here, fishy, fishy, fishy"

Greg captured this Great Egret perched along the dock.  The green on its face only appears during breeding season.

Greg did some shopping for Ella, we all got beverages and took a silly photo on our way out. Guess it would have been better if I had backed up and got the whole fish!

On the way to our next venue, we stopped to show Greg the exercise equipment located along the Liner Park Pathway and of course, he and Bill had to get their daily workout in.

work it, Bill!

From there we drove through Maria Manor to show Greg where my condo is, then to Port Charlotte Beach Park.  We stopped and took a short walk along the beach.

One more stop on the way home...T.T.'s Tiki Hut for an adult beverage.

According to Greg..."With the sun low in the sky and the wind coming off the water, the temperature plunged into the 60s".  hahaha  Actually, my teeth were chattering and I finished my drink in the car.

Greg said "I was just pretending to be cold in solidarity with New England" because it was brutally cold there, while he was here.  He has a great sense of humor.

Bill fixed pasta carbonara for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

"Cause a girls gotta see her mama!!" Day 3

Today was a slow, catch up kind of day.  Wendy and I walked along the Harborwalk while Bill and Titan walked along the road, meeting at the hospital and walking back together.  

Auntie Wendy and her favorite FL dog sporting their shades

We had lunch at home, then the three of us walked over the Peace River Bridge to Fisherman's Village.  

We did some shopping at F.V. including purchases for Bill and Wendy's birthdays and got beverages at the Good Ol' Days Coffee Shop, formerly the Ornery Attitude. 

(foursquare.com photo)

Luckily, we found one of our favorite swings to be empty and were pleased to discover that all three of us could sit there without breaking it.

View from the swing 3.8.13

Ah, very relaxing.  We walked back toward the bridge but made a very necessary stop first at Cubby's Home Made Ice Cream.

We Love Cubby's ice cream

We returned home after walking back over the bridge, where we sat outside for awhile before heading to Bocca Lupo for PIZZA! 

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Walk the Walk

Last year we got into the habit of walking along the Peace River every day.  We would start at the Fishermen's Villages, walk along the river through Gilchrist Park, under the highway, through Laishley Park to one of the small fishing piers and back.  Laishley Park was completely rebuilt after the hurricane in 2004. This year, however, because Gilchrist Park does not allow dogs, we park in the Best Western lot and leave from there, walking to the farthest little pier and back.  This takes us a couple of hours.  Of course, we all have to make a potty stop, or 3 or 4 (for the dog) rest a little at the pier, sit in the sun for a minute or two, get a drink from the water fountain (which precipitates more potty stops) and finally return to the car.

This serves two purposes...Mr. Bill and I get some good exercise, which burns calories, which creates some weight loss. It would if we didn't come home and snack on M&M's and potato chips :o( Sir Titan gets some good exercise, which makes him very tired and laid back.  Consequently, he spends most of the rest of the day like this...

 We are all happy when Sir Titan is tired.  He did play with his rubber duck in the yard for awhile this afternoon, which adds to his relaxed state.

He are a few photos of our walk...

 On the left is the bridge between Pt. Charlotte and Punta Gorda (Rt. 41, Tamiami Trail)

 Boardwalks make up a couple of the sections of the walk.  The condos were built after Hurricane Charlie.

I see this handsome man walking his exceptionally well behaved dog everywhere I go.  I think he is stalking me.

A quiet moment in the sun.  (You can't really blame the handsome man, can you?)

We use these decorative posts to work on Sir Titan's heeling by weaving in and out so that he has to follow us and actually think about where he is going.

As you can see, it's a really nice place for a walk!

Tomorrow is another farmer's market (our favorite) and the first CRAFT FAIR!  Woo Hoo.  I won't buy anything but it's fun to look.

Thanks for stopping by... (don't forget to feed the fish)
;o)

Friendly faces

Although we have made some new acquaintances since we arrived 2+ months ago, we haven't really made any "friends".  We are friendly with the two woman that prepare our coffee at the Ornery Attitude coffee shop in the Fishermen's Village and of course, all the wonderful people that work and volunteer at the shelter.  But friends...not really.

This past week has found us visited by friendly faces.  First off, a former coworker, Brian and his girlfriend, Rachel were down visiting his parents.  They are staying just a few miles north of us.   We met last Sunday for lunch at Gators, a sports bar a few minutes from us.  The weather was nice enough to sit outside, although there was a cool wind blowing.  The food was adequate but nothing special and we won't go there again. 


After lunch we went to the shelter and introduced them to our favorite dogs.  Mr. Bill really enjoys Sirus (a big, white American bulldog), Baby (another big, white bulldog with a black eye patch), Roxanne (a black and white pointer mix who has been at the shelter since November) and Will (a brown pitbull terrier that can climb over the fences so has to be in a kennel with a "lid").  My favorites include Tigre (a white and brindled pitbull terrier with a coat like silk), Buddy (a small brindled pitbull) and Diamond (a beautiful black pitbull terrier with a white chest).  Diamond has been adopted since their visit and Buddy was supposed to go home but he was still there today.  You can see all of our doggies here.  From there we stopped at FV and had a cup of coffee outside in the sun.


It was a nice day and a nice visit.


Last week my former husband's brother, David and his wife, Paula came to say hello.  They arrived around noon on Thursday.  We started our visit by going to lunch across the bridge in PG.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant but they advertise the "best pressed cuban sandwiches" which the boys enjoyed and Mr. Bill says that's true.  I had a really good chicken salad sandwich and Paula had a wrap filled with cooked spinach and cheese.  She liked it so much that she got another one on Saturday.

We drove to Ponce de Leon Park so they could see one of the beach possibilities for the next day.  A visit to the wildlife center was enjoyed by all of us.  David, Mr. Bill and I watched one of the volunteers feed the pelicans and share some of his knowledge, which was very interesting.  Paula left early to sit on the beach for awhile.  We went to FV to check out the menu from one of the restaurants that we thought they would enjoy and stopped for a cup of coffee.  We left there and went for a walk along the river to Laishley Park.  They spotted the Laishley Crab House and after looking at the menu, decided they would like to have dinner there.  It was a 30 minute wait, just enough time to hustle back to the car and bring it back.  We got one of the "beepers" and dashed back to FV, jumped in the car and headed back.  Mr. Bill dropped Paula and me off while he and David parked the car.  The beeper went off just as Paula and I started up the stairs.  We were never sure if it was perfect timing or if we had finally gotten back in range.  They treated us to an excellent dinner and marvelous company.

On Friday the weather looked pretty good.  We stopped at the City Deli for sandwiches and drove north to Venice Beach.  There were quite a few people on the beach although there was a cool wind blowing.  Although Paula found us the "perfect" spot by the dunes, I was chilly and kept my fleece on but David and Paula seemed very comfortable.

We went for a walk to the jetty and back before returning home early so that Mr. Bill and I could go to the Rays vs Yankees game.

They went to dinner at Carrabbas while we went to one of the longest games I can remember.  The Yankees didn't send anyone whose name was familiar, except Jorge Posada.  We had standing room tickets so got there early in order to get a space on the rail above the Yankees bullpen.  We went to a game earlier in the week and nearly froze to death because a cold wind was blowing but the weather was warmer on this night.


Saturday brought temps near 80, finally!  Mr. Bill, David and I headed to Ft. Myers for a ballgame...Red Sox vs Orioles.  Again, we got there early and got great standing room spaces with a nice wide rail to lean on along the third base line.  

Paula enjoyed having the day to herself including a nap on the sand at Ponce de Leon Park.  We met near the park after the game.  She and David headed north to Tampa to visit more family; Mr. Bill and I headed to FV for a coffee by the river.  It was great to sit on our swing, basking in the sun with shorts and no need for a sweatshirt.


It was fun seeing friends and family from home.  It was also good to get back to our routine and see our doggies today.  It poured rain this afternoon so I started painting the lanai ceiling and Mr. Bill installed a new kitchen faucet.  It's fabulous!

Thank you very much, Mr. Bill...xoxoxo