The Old and the Restless

Megan, Tom, Joshua and Ella came to Rice Lake for four days near the end of August. When Megan decided to go swimming she was a magnet for the children. Here comes Ella. Joshua caught a bluegill. Megan caught Tom... …and a few weeds. Tom, a little soggy. The next day, Tom caught a perch. To persuade the children to go for a walk, there has to be a playground. Still going. Crawling through the engine of the wooden train. Joshua's turn. Looking through the window of the engine. Of course there has to be the ice cream reward at the end.

Ella likes to pose… … as you can see. Jake has certainly changed! Sharon.

On Friday February 7 Maureen and Ramsay came for a few days. We had been worried that they would have problems travelling because of the snow in Atlanta which had left I75 as a parking lot with abandoned cars everywhere. Fortunately the snow melted and they arrived with no problem. With the weather turning sunny and slightly warmer in Florida, we went for a dolphin discovery tour again. Enjoying the warmer weather, a group of dolphins was frolicking in the river. A sea turtle covered with moss and barely moving was sighted. Fearing hypothermia the skipper phoned the marine centre. The coast guard came along to help catch it. Since they were unsuccessful, the marine centre said the turtle would probably be OK and to just leave it. The weather began to cool but it was still sunny enough for a beach walk. Ramsay, are you OK? Traditional lunch at JB's fish camp. Notice who is not eating Key Lime pie! Meanwhile back in Atlanta…another storm! Count th...

In February 2010, Nick and Julie came to visit us. Revisiting that Blog, I could see that it had been cold then. We hoped the weather would be better this year. It wasn't. It rained every day except for the day they left to go further south for their cruise. A good place to visit on a rainy day is the Kennedy Space Centre. As I was taking a picture of the Canadarm, someone said, "Must be another Canadian." Nick, Julie, Paul at the Space Centre. A misty, chilly beach walk. The last day was so nice that Nick was determined to walk barefoot on the beach. A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

The youngest grandchild After Christmas Megan and Tom came to visit. Unfortunately the weather was not as warm as it was the previous week. Fortunately it was fine for biking to the beach. Tom is not used to hills. Here he is dragging his shoes to stop the momentum. On the sand. Examining a sand sculpture of an alligator. Let's race. On the beach you can ride anywhere. I won! Tom took our picture. We went on a dolphin discovery boat ride. Although we saw a lot of dolphins, I wasn't fast enough to get their picture. The pelicans obligingly posed, though. Megan bought Tom a huge box of lego and extra wheels for Christmas...enough to build many imaginative trucks, planes and cars. On their last day, we visited the alligator farm at St. Augustine. Waiting to be fed.

Before Christmas Margot, Mark, Joshua and Ella were able to come to enjoy some warm weather. December 22 … Getting ready for the beach. December 24 … Colder today but not like Toronto. We have electricity! Jogging on the beach. A Christmas dinner on the evening of the 24th. Next day the Hamiltons flew back to have a Christmas dinner with Mark's family.

This year, in early December, we went to the Sebring Winter Bikefest about a 2 hour drive south of Orlando with our friends Carole and Roy Hill from the Toronto Bicycle Network cycling club. We were joined there by Dinsmore, also from TBN, who had first been to Sebring a couple of years ago. Each morning, the cyclists gathered in front of the historic, almost century old, Kenilworth Hotel to start their rides for the day around 8 am. There were two short rides of 10 and 20 miles and 3 longer rides in the 35 mile, 60 mile (100 km) and 100 mile range. Sandra and I started with a 20 mile tuneup and finished with rides of 38 and 36 miles. Carole and Roy started with 38 miles, increased to over 60 miles and finished with the same 36 mile ride as us. Dinsmore took rides of about 60 miles each day. On our second day, we rode to the Highlands Hammock State Park (which was the medium distance 38 mile ride done by most cyclists on their first day). The terrain was interesting; but wild...