Hi, all! We’re back. Actually, we returned Monday, and this is the first time I’ve been able to blog. I’ve worked through a mountain of laundry, and am back in the office. I’m back on schedule as Elegante Mother’s chauffeur, too.
We took off a week ago, on Thursday afternoon for Florida. We left O’Hare about the time a warm front was coming in. I was disgusted. At the very least, the weather could have stayed cold while we were away! *G*
We had a good flight, landed at Orlando International, picked up a rental car and made it to our motel in good time. Dear Husband’s daughter, son-in-law and our not-quite-three-year-old granddaughter all stayed at the same motel, and Friday morning we had breakfast and headed off to the Magic Kingdom. It’s always wonderful to see a child’s first visit with Mickey and the gang. As always, the people at Disney made our experience move smoothly. We arrived some time between 10 and 11:00 and stayed well into the evening. The fireworks went off at 7:00 and we were still going strong. Our granddaughter was frightened by the fireworks so her parents took her on “It’s A Small World.” DH and I, who have been on that ride, chose to watch the last of the fireworks! *G*
Saturday, the guys participated in the golf tournament named in memory of Dear Husband’s oldest son. DH doesn’t golf, but he was game to join the tour. He got off several good shots, I’m delighted to announce. One of the tournament organizers assumed that my step-daughter and I were there to drive the carts with water and beer. We were rather surprised that he was insistent that we take on the chore. I have never met a man as sexist as this one. We acquiesced, but my step-daughter was really offended.
Saturday was a little cool, and very windy. The serious golfers were not happy campers. It was too cold and too early for beer, so for the most part we handed over bottles of water. We were on the course for about five hours. Lunch and awards followed at the sports bar that hosted the tournament, followed by naps for our entire group. (All that fresh air….)
Dinner Saturday night was Greek food. It was excellent! I had pastitsio, and a Greek salad, and I may have had the best meal at the table. I was even complimented on my pronunciation of “pastitsio,” which took me by surprise.
Sunday, the kids went back to Disney, and DH and I drove east to the Atlantic. One of my all-time favorite Florida activities is walking at the edge of the Atlantic. We found a lovely public beach at Smyrna Beach and walked for an hour or so.
We were trying to find Turtle Mound, but our map wasn’t adequate. Ultimately, we began winding our way back to the motel on a little two lane highway through a marshy area. Like Elegante Mother, I really enjoy seeing the wildlife, and egrets are among my favorites. It was a nice trip. A storm was beginning to come in. The clouds were as fascinating to watch as the ocean had been. We made it back to our room and napped a bit more. By 7:30 I assumed that the kids had eaten at the Magic Kingdom, but DH said to wait, and he was right. At 8:00 they called and asked us to order pizza.
The baby was out for the night, but the four of us shared pizza and watched the first half of the Oscars. That was about all we had the patience for, given that we needed to be up at a reasonable time on Monday to make the plane.
Our flight home left 15 minutes late and got in 3 minutes early. If I have the time I’ll tell you more about that. We had a tiny bit of turbulence over Indiana, otherwise it was a smooth flight. Too bad we came back to four or more inches of snow!
It’s nice to be back. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I’m happy to be back. I hope you all had a good weekend!
Daily Archives: March 1, 2007
Leafy things
Bogie! I saw a sign at a nursery in Florida, saying they were selling KNOCKOUT ROSES! I wouldn’t have known what they are if you hadn’t mentioned them.
I was in the grocery store/pharmacy today, picking up a few items to get us through the weekend, when I discovered a huge display of seeds! I’m SUCH a sucker. I bought two large packets of mixed seeds for plants that butterflies like. I hope to scatter sow the seeds in an area along the north end of the driveway. I’ll have to see if dear husband will till a strip for me over there so I can be sure the seeds are in contact with soil.
We had a rainy morning, with temperatures rising to the 50s. There’s lots of melting going on. I was taking down the Christmas swags and bows when I discovered that four pots of Iris are drowning. The pots are sitting on the soil in an arm of the garden that is next to the opening of the garage door. The ice that covered the top of the pots from Sunday’s storm is melting, but there’s nowhere for the meltwater to go, because the bottom of the pots are encased in ice. I dug one of the pots out, but I think we can safely say that these Iris are kaput. Still….I’ll leave them, just to make sure that I am right.
I have dozens of plant and seed catalogs flooding my home. I think it’s time to look for romaine and spinach seeds. I used to plant a wonderful French bean, but the bunnies and deer all feel that the bean starts are a delicacy. They leave me bare stalks. I’d have to wrap the garden with chicken wire for the first month or so….and they still might eat the beans!
I bought morning glory seeds! Remember last year, when I discovered that the reason I couldn’t grow morning glories was the bunnies? I have several rings of chicken wire already in place. I’m going to plant LOTS of morning glories and see if I can get them to climb like crazy. Now that I know what was eating them, I might be able to get some to grow.
Are any of you going to attend Flower and Garden shows? We have one coming up in Chicago on Navy Pier. It’s always so jammed with bodies that you can’t stand back and see the effects the designers had in mind, but you get to see some wonderful new plants. Maybe we’ll get there this year.
Lions and Tigers and BEARS!
Well, I lied. We’ve seen LOTS of wildlife in the past week, but no lions or tigers or bears.
We saw an amazing number of egrets as we traveled through central Florida, and there was one big old grey heron at the golf course in a dwindling water hole.
Sunday and Monday I was treated to pelicans, storks (we think), and a short sandpiper-like bird at the shore. The storks were white with black-tipped wing feathers…..very dramatic looking birds!
I was surprised to see an amazing number of hawks circling the urban areas. I would have expected to see them over the drier areas of the marshes, but we saw groups of three where there were large concentrations of homes and businesses.
We came home to cold weather following a snow storm that left at least four inches at our doorstep, maybe more. I took pity on the deer, raccoon and the possum and set out ears of corn. Of course, the squirrels and raccoons and bunnies claimed a portion of it. Everybody is hungry, with all the grass and plants covered up. I saw a bunny pruning my sage plant the other day.
I put up a bird feeder that is a cylinder of hardware cloth with four wood ribs, a wood platform and a wood lid. I think the raccoons have been getting a diet of wood at night. Today when I checked the feeder, I found that half of two of the wood ribs have been eaten away. I think Dear Husband can create replacements so I can rebuild the feeder, but it’s aggravating to have to do this kind of maintenance.
Edward Scissorhands missed me while we were away. My-Sister-The-Nurse tried to get him to sit on her lap, but he said it just wasn’t the same. Rather than getting the cold shoulder when I returned, I had a cat glued to my body, asking to be loved up. Ed is fifteen, and this past year has been hard on him. Our vet asked me to try to shift him to either Iams or Science Diet foods. Ed informed us in no uncertain terms what he thought of that. Rather than starve him, we’re going to let him have the food he wants. I think this is likely to be our last summer with Ed.
Soooooooo…that’s the fur and feather news for the day!