The Old and the Restless

When I heard that Daren, Kyla and the triplets, Callum, Jack and William were going to be staying for a week two buildings over from us, I invited them for lunch. William was eager to show us the new additions to his rock collection. Kyla tried out the ring puzzle. The boys wanted me to solve it, but it is beyond me. When she came at the end of March, Carole looked it up on the Internet and found out that you are supposed to get the ring off. She did, but could not put it back on. Perhaps when Mark and Margot come again, Mark can fix it.

With Glen and Norma we went to Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands to see how the bird population is this winter. We left at 7:30 AM for the 1 ½ hour drive south. As usual, there were Great Blue Herons. Some were nesting. One of the more unusual birds was this Limpkin. Norma and I joined birders with telephoto lenses trying to catch this bird that they were calling "Larry". A male Anhinga. While we were watching the anhinga, someone was watching us. The Glossy Ibis caught something. The little Green Heron was an unusual bird to spot. After we went for lunch at the Riverview Restaurant.* At lunch time you can watch the boats going by as the bridge lifts up. *(Actually, the picture from lunch was taken in Fiji 7 years ago, but Glen just sent it to me this week and we look just the same....don't we??)

The best weather this winter was in December. Since then, it has often been too windy to bike. Still, the beach is usually good. When Maureen and Ramsay came, we did a lot of walking on the beach. Obviously, a deep discussion here. We visited the manatee. Maureen directing Stand there. Smile! Lunch at JB's fish camp. Is Maureen taking a photo of the ketchup?

We really enjoyed seeing Emma again after all these years. Her flight to Orlando and the exit from customs was an hour later than the predicted arrival. This was fortunate because there was a luggage carrousel on the first floor and a gate on the 3rd floor of the airport. This gave me time to run between floors three times to see if anyone had arrived where Paul was stationed at the empty carrousel and back again to finally find the correct gate with people waiting for the same flight. Emma arrived at the gate exit with her luggage and we went down to the first floor to collect Paul who was still waiting alone by an empty carrousel which had stopped running. Now I know where to meet someone arriving from the U.K. Forget the carrousel. After having some really warm days when the grandchildren were here, the weather tuned colder. Still, it was good for a walk on the beach. We went for a drive in Canaveral National Seashores to discover some of the fauna. Here, a turke...

Mark and Margot arrived in Florida for dinner on December 26 after a hard, (at the end) 2 day drive. On New Year's Eve, Joshua, Ella, Grandma and Grandpa did an after dinner walk on the beach to see the fireworks while Mark and Margot went for a special dinner at the restaurant across the road. After dinner and getting ready for New Year 2015. Mark helped me select and set-up a new flat screen TV. There was an early "New Year's Eve" program at about 9:00 pm for children on TV. Time for bed. On New Year's day, we went for a walk to see the local gopher tortoise. He was still in his hole but he liked the carrot we brought. Joshua hoped he didn't mind me sticking the camera into his hole. The drive back through freezing rain in Ontario was even harder than the drive down.

Although Tom seemed initially doubtful, Megan talked him into trying out the pool. We thought we should capture the moment from the condo balcony, in case it was a one time event. We needn’t have been concerned. Tom went to the pool almost every morning and afternoon. Here Megan helps him learn to jump forward into the pool. All of the adults took turns in the pool with Tom. Sometimes, that led to a soaking Tom also played on the beach each day. Here he learns to fly a “space shuttle kite” in the stiff south wind. Soon, the kite was flying high in front of the condo flag in the southern wind. Tom also rode on the beach each day on his new bicycle. He gradually increased his distance from a half mile to over 2 miles. Sometimes, he could get close to the egrets on the beach. Christmas Eve is Grandma McCrossan’s birthday.  As Sandra leaned forward to blow out her one candle, Tom got in the way. After the birthday dinner, we went out driv...

Two day’s after Tom and Megan arrived in Florida, we took an airboat tour of the lower Saint John’s River nature reserve. K The air boat propeller was just behind our heads, so we had to wear protection for our ears while the boat was moving. Water buffalo? No, swamp cattle! The cattle are allowed to run loose in the nature preserve wandering about the land and the water even though there are lots of alligators. Apparently, the gators don’t bother the cattle (even the young ones are too large for a gator to digest). Soon, we came alongside two roseate spoonbills searching the river bottom for shrimp. Generally, the birds cooperate; but, they can also be territorial. The birds allowed us to get quite close to them as they looked for shrimp along the shore or searched through the reeds. Of course, there were many birds that we could get close to including a great heron. On a hot sunny day, how better to pass the time than lyi...