The Old and the Restless

The Geen Swamp is a vast area in the middle of Florida. It is noted for an abundance of wild life (deer, otters, boar, snakes and tortoises). While some wild life had been seen earlier in the day before we started bicycling 25 km south into the swamp we saw none because the swamp was almost dry due to lack of rain. Finally, when we found a swamp pool with water in it, Sandra decided to take pictures of the cypress reflections in the pool. But, the view wasn't quite good enough, so she went to the edge of the pool to take pictures of the cypress and commented "it would be a lot better if we had animals in the pictures". My response was "what about the alligator?" There, in plain view about 15 feet from Sandra was a sunning 'gator at the pools edge. She had missed it completely. After that, the animal excitement was restricted to "running" tortoises. We spotted this one about 20 feet ahead of us scurrying across the path. Sandra dropped her bike imme...

As the photos below illustrate, it seems that I was very interested in the lighting in some of the homes. The first three pictures here are from one house. In this house, the ground floor was a separate, guest apartment. The main living quarters were on the second floor. The above lights were over the kitchen counter. This beautiful Murano glass chandelier was at the entrance. The owner told me that his wife found the lights on the internet and bought them through a company in England. This Tiffany light in another residence was from the period of when the house was built.  Glen caught this photo of Norma and me going up the steep stairs to the second floor kitchen of a guest house.

There were 1600 people registered for the tour of the historic homes. We arrived early and were on the first trolley. There was virtually no line to enter the first of the historic houses built between the mid 1700s and the early 1800s. All have been extensively renovated and extensively redecorated. Most of of the homes had large balconies facing into the St. Augustine harbour. The harbour view from one of the balconies. This "guest house" is used to accommodate guests of the owners of the waterfront house behind it. It was newly restored in 2006.  Basically the "guest house" was taken down to the frame and rebuilt. A picture of the reconstruction is on the side of the house. This is the jacuzzi for the guests to use. Some owners have spared no expense in decorating their houses. Here is a Chagall mask from the production of the "Firebird" ballet. On the other hand, this owner purchased the oak table from an artist at a garage sale for $25. Then, in a ga...

Last week we explored trails in Orange County. The Little Econ Trail and its nearby trails were about 25 km long and close to the Orlando airport. There were lots of ever dependable great blue herons to see - but no migratory birds. The blue heron on perched on a fence rail is much more distinct blue than the ones in the water. On the last day of November, we rode the West Orange Trail for 56 km. At the west end of the trail, they have left the rails and ties in place. Long ago, trees grew up in the middle of the long abandoned railway line forming an interesting "slalom course" for bicyclists! :-) This was the only tree that Sandra was able to get around while staying inside the railway "slalom course". Tough dudes those Floridians!

After parking the car at the Altamonte Springs southern trail head, we began our trail ride. The trail immediately crossed a bridge over a creek that we followed for 2 miles. Paul is barely visible crossing the bridge. Close to the northern end of the trail we got lost - but stumbled upon a group of sand hill cranes. These cranes were not shy at all and let Sandra get within ten feet or so to take pictures.  When we managed to find our way back to the trail, it headed inland to a series of springs. This spring had picnic benches on which to eat our egg salad sandwiches. The northern trail end was at Markham, a freed slave village. The history of Markham continued. All traces of the former village have disappeared to be replaced by a gated estate home community. Paul coming back on the wide paved trail through the Florida scrub. Wild berries at the side of the trail.

Charleston is city on a peninsula and at the tip of the peninsula are gorgeous majestic homes. Typically, they are long and narrow houses (designed to capture the summer breezes) with entrances on the narrow side of the house and huge balconies along the side of the much larger side of the house. This is the house closest to the harbour facing Fort Sumter (where the Civil War started). This house is now divided into 3 condos. The same house from the narrow street front (see the front entrance in the lower right). This type of house is called a "single house" because it is only one room wide. The "simple" house next door, narrow on the street side and very deep from the street, is still owned by one family. While historic Charleston didn't have day care, modern Charleston does. The children get fresh air 6 at a time. This single house has a flowering Winter Cassia tree just inside the wrought iron gate.   A close up of the yellow Winter Cassia blossom. The stre...

This Barrie concert spectacular featured Carmina Burana sung by 3 choirs accompanied by the Huron Symphony Orchestra. While Margot was at the rehearsal, we showed Ella and Joshua videos of a previous concert. Below, Ella is telling Margot about the videos.

Show those teeth! Now that Megan is back at work, Thomas goes to daycare at a local school. I wonder if they sing this song there.

We decided to leave Vienna early to bicycle the Wachau (the very picturesque section of the Danube River Valley that starts 60 km west of Vienna from Krems to Spitz to Melk). So, we selected a B&B recommended by Rick Steves in Krems, punched in the GPS coordinates and drove there. Surprise! When we arrived, the B&B was only a hundred meters from the town square at Stein where we had stopped for lunch and seen the 10-10-10 wedding assembly line! [Mediaeval Stein and Krems are now one city.] That afternoon, we rented bicycles (at 5 euros for 24 hours each) from the municipality (with a lot of help with German translation from a former Denver resident who had returned to Austria). Our first stop of the afternoon was to take a picture in the now deserted Stein square with our three speed rental bikes. Each bike had a functioning headlight and tail light as well as a dual braking system. Safety was the watchword. Notice my bare legs! The temperature dropped markedly during the almo...