Florida, February 22 - 28

   We came home from Lake Worth, stayed a few days in Lake Worth and then left to spend a day and a night with Denise and Jack in Fort Lauderdale. Denise, Mark and I binged on 4 episodes of Downton Abbey. We watched two on the day we got there and then two the next morning before we left to head back to Vero.
     We took a nice beach walk with Denise the first day we were there. That evening we went to a Greek restaurant walking distance from their condo, called Thasos. Maureen and Dick joined us. A good time was had by all. The next morning we had all hoped to go in Jack's new boat up the inland waterway for a few hours, but it was far too windy, so we cancelled. (Hence - two more episodes of Downton.) Before we left, we had a lovely lunch with Denise and Jack at their condo restaurant by the pool.
     

L'Hermitage, Denise and Jack's condo

Mark and Denise, beach walk

Denise and Mark, beach walk

Maureen, Dick, Mark

Mark, Jack, Denise

  We got a nice message from Willy in Massachusetts on the progress of their Maine house. It is very exciting, so I am posting two photos here.

Maine House going up. This is a view of the back.

Maine House going up. View of the front toward the water.

We had a lovely day with Diane and Bob, but....did not take any photos! Darn! We went to see As You Like It from the National Theatre live from London. (It was at the Majestic Theater in Vero.) We really liked the production - the acting was stupendous and the set interesting. The entire set from the first act (set in an office) was lifted by chains to the ceiling for the rest of the play, making an eerie, dark set that was used as a forest. Intriguing. Then, we went to Toojay's Deli for dinner. A nice day.
   On the 26th, we left Cal and Alice and drove to Clearwater Beach to visit Ted and Bev in their condo. Michael and Nancy are also here, which is nice. We had a lovely walk on the beach although it was chilly and windy. The sand is extremely fine and soft.

Michael, Ted, Nancy, Bev, Me: Clearwater Beach

Bev at the Beach

Nancy, Ted, Bev, Michael, Me

Mark and I at Clearwater Beach

And....I had yet another birthday dinner! And, it was yummy! We all watched President Obama's last musical gathering at the White House. It was a wonderful tribute to Ray Charles.
   Michael and Nancy left on the 27th to go visit Nancy's brother, Bob. Ted, Bev, Mark and I went to Moccasin Lake Wildlife Preserve for a walk. They rehabilitate wounded animals, mostly birds. Beverly and Elvis, a black vulture mimicked each other in a way we have never seen before. We also saw yellow crowned night herons, ibis, egrets, yellow-rumped warblers, limpkins.

Barred Owl, blind in one eye

Beverly and Elvis seeing eye to eye

  Then, off to Columbia for tapas dinner and to the beach for the sunset.

Mark, Bev, Ted at Columbia's

One of our last sunsets in Florida.

  February 28 - left Clearwater Beach nice and early and drove to Chipley, Florida. We crossed our first time zone on this trip and have begun our westward trek!

My Week of Birthday! Florida, Feb 14 -21

   We left Vero on Valentine's Day because Megan and Jackie flew to Florida from Massachusetts to pull a surprise visit on their grandparents. We cleaned the bed room, made dinner for everyone and left Cal and Alice around 3. They seemed a bit sad that we were leaving and seemed puzzled that we had decided to go back to Michael and Nancy's. We said it was for a special Valentine's Day dinner. Megan and Jackie arrived about an hour after we left and really pulled off a huge surprise.

  We spent four nights in Lake Worth with Michael and Nancy, really relaxing and having fun. On the second day we went to Green Cay to go birding. We got caught in two downpours on the boardwalk, but had a great time. We saw the "usual" birds for there, but have never seen so many roseate spoonbills in one place and so close up. Beautiful. Of course there were lots of ibis, heron, red-winged blackbirds, storks, cormorants, gallinules, blue-winged teal, sora...... But, the spoonbills stole the show.

Roseate Spoonbills

Michael, Nancy, Mark

    Afterwards, we went to visit Noreen in Boynton Beach where she and John were lying tile. The four of us went to Fresh Catch on the inland waterway and had a lovely fish dinner.
    On the third day there, Nancy and I went to have pedicures which Nancy treated me to for my birthday. The owner of the salon was celebrating her first anniversary of owning the business and had stayed up late cooking Vietnamese food for her clients, so we also had fresh spring rolls while being pampered.

Pampered and pedicured!

I had a wonderful 66th (!!!!- how can it be????) birthday in West Palm Beach. It started with a wonderful fruit cup for breakfast and just got better and better. I was thoroughly spoiled all day long. We went with Michael and Nancy to Palm Beach at mid-day. We went to the Palm Beach History Museum in a beautiful building, the original courthouse from 1917. The special exhibit was about Florida and the Civil War. It was all very interesting and well done. Then, we went to downtown Palm Beach; the weather was in the mid-70s with a breeze, but not a cloud in the sky. We sat outside and had lunch at Barney's. (I had mahi mahi - I have had 3 wonderful days of fish, fish, fish)
    I am feeling very loved. I chatted with Nick, David, Willy, Jecca, Otis and Sage, not to mention an incredible amount of email and Facebook best wishes. (I have responded to each one - whew!) Mark gave me some beautiful silver earrings and a Mason & Pearson hair brush. But, mostly, he, Michael and Nancy gave me a perfect day.
     Then, we came back to Vero for several days to be with the folks. We had another birthday dinner for me - this time at 12A Buoy in Fort Pierce with John, Cal and Alice. It was delicious! And, we all had a good time.
       We also went to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang at the Riverside Theater in Vero Beach. We were thoroughly entertained and amused. It was very well cast and well directed.

Set of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Ahi Tuna at 12A Bouy

Mark's seafood meal at 12A Buoy

John and Alice at 12A Buoy

Cal and Alice

Cal and Mark

Me, Michael, Mark, Palm Beach on my birthday

Mark and I, birthday lunch, Palm Beach

Michael and Mark, Palm Beach, birthday lunch

The morning of my birthday in Lake Worth

Second Entry from Florida, February 8 - 13

  We have long wanted to find the bird watching area that can be seen from Route 95 near Vero Beach, so we set off on a quest to find it. (off 90th street).  Like many of Florida's bird sanctuaries, it is part of a water plant. The area is quite large and we saw a lot of birds: lots of wood storks, white and glossy ibis, tree swallows, yellow-rumped warblers. We saw quite a few tri-colored herons as well as one very very still green heron, one of our favorites. We got a spectacular fly-over of an osprey right above our heads and we saw a bird of prey which we think was a harrier, but...may not have been. And, there were also quite a few ducks - mostly common gallinules and blue-winged teals.

Bird Walk in Vero: ibis

Pelican in flight: Fort Pierce

Pelican in flight: Fort Pierce

Pelicans

Great Egret fishing in the marsh at the Vero bird walk

  On Tuesday, Carol and her friend, Barbara, arrived after driving straight through from Bridgewater. Yikes. We could NEVER do that. They had 3 nights in Orlando and tickets for a day at Disney. We made scalloped potatoes for them. Michael and Nancy stopped in en route from Jacksonville to Lake Worth and we followed them down.
   We stayed at Michael and Nancy's for two nights. We got all the paperwork to buy the "paper roads" around our house and had to print and overnight mail them back to the town. It has been the opposite of "hurry up and wait" as we started this process in 2008! But, the town needed it all suddenly. So "wait and hurry up"!
    On the night before we left to go back to Vero, cousin Noreen and her niece from Israel, 25-year-old Orial, came over for dinner. Nancy made two wonderful soups. It was an interesting evening with lively conversation. We think that Orial is Mark's 2nd cousin, once removed.

Mark, Lake Worth

John, Nancy, Orial, Noreen, Mark

John, Michael, Orial

John, Michael, Nancy

FIrst Entry from our time with the Folks in Vero Beach, February 2 - February 6

  We arrived in Vero on Ground Hog Day. John is here, too, working and he has graciously given us the spare bedroom and has been sleeping on the couch.
   Mostly we have just been keeping Cal and Alice company so far. We took them to a neurology appointment for Alice to check out her "drop foot." She got good news - that it is remedial by physical therapy, but the doctor needs to do one more test to diagnose it definitively.
    We met Diane and Bob Robusto for lunch (Thai/Japanese) but neglected to take any photos- next time.
      The folks' dermatologist gives an annual celebration for his patients and Cal and Alice were very keen to go. It was quite amazing - probably close to 2,000 people attended. There was food, music and a K-9 exhibition. One of the dog handlers spoke at length right in front of Cal and Alice which was excellent as the initial demonstration was quite difficult to hear as they were not miked and there was a lot of background music.

The next day was Super Bowl Sunday. We had John, Cal, Alice, Mark and Barbara plus a friend from the park, Terry. Mark made three kinds of wings; I made date and nut bread and John made an apple pie. (Also salsa, hummus, veggies)

Jacksonville, Family, Friends, January 31-February 2

   We arrived in Jacksonville at Michael and Nancy's just about in time for dinner. Ted and Bev had been there for 2 nights already and it looked as if everyone was having a wonderful and relaxed time. They made Mayport shrimp on the barbecue for dinner - yum, yum, yum. Christina, Mike, James (age 2) and Sawyer (14 weeks) also came over, so it was all very festive. We were impressed by all that Michael and Nancy have done to their condo in the past year. Wow, so much work.

Bev

Bev and Nancy

Mark and Christina

Mark and Christina

Michael and Sawyer

   The next morning, Ted and Bev left for their condo rental in Clearwater. Christina dropped Sawyer off for babysitting because she had a client in Jacksonville. Nancy and I tried hard to keep him happy, took him for a walk in the neighborhood. After Christina returned, we walked the stroller over to Christina's and sat and chatted with her for a while. We played with both boys. Mark and Michael came over later and we all walked the beach.
    That night, the gang all got together for hamburgers on the grill. (And pecan pie)
    It is wonderful to be with family.

Out of Order Posting: A "grand" day with the grands! January 27

  Today we started off with another gargantuan breakfast at the Mark Addy Inn.  It meant we did not leave until 10 a.m. but we only had to get to Morganton and Asheville today. Today was the first day that we got to 55 degrees and.....I was able to shed my long underwear which has been a daily  necessity since leaving Nantucket.
  We drove Route 29, new road for us rather than take the interstates the entire way.
  We got to Morganton around 2:30 where we picked Cole up and took him to a Mexican restaurant for a bite to eat. It was lovely to see him and he was chatty and happy. I think it was partly because he was on his own turf and had no competition from anyone. It was great.

Cole in Morganton at a Mexican restaurant

Cole T. 

Afterwards we drove to Asheville, N.C. and checked into a very nice Sleep Inn. Sherah brought Sage over to see us. She stayed with us for a bit in our hotel room and then we went out to a Chinese buffet with her which she really, really enjoyed. She is such a sunny little girl.  It was so nice to see her again.
      

Sage at Chinese restaurant enjoying ice cream