April 27, 2011

Last sunset at North Redington Beach

A day of last things - walk on the beach, search for sea shells, coffee on the deck, reading on the beach, sunset. The wind was blowing today and the waves were really high and strong. Tried to swim but the current was too strong to be swimming by myself. Have to leave it till next year. After a couple of hours on the beach had to move to the deck of the condo as it felt like I was being sand blasted. It has been a wonderful time on the beach.

April 22 - 26, 2011

Balcony of condo on North Redington Beach.
Our chairs and umbrella in the background

Another sunny and warm day. Donnie and Karen arrived for a visit and lunch with us and Pete and Beth. After getting caught up on all the news, they took off to drop Karen at Orlando airport and Donnie and Bernie headed to Daytona for a week of golf with the guys. Jen has been left "unsupervised " at the beach. I passed the time by walking every day, a bit of shopping, relaxing on the beach, dinner with the Duvars, Jeannie, Mark, Murray and Heather, a sunset cruise out of pass a Grill with Milners, Duvars and Chapmans, more relaxing on the beach, reading. Having a wonderful vacation. One more full day on the beach and then we head north.

April 16 - 21, 2011

Bernie on beach at North Redington Beach

Saturday in St. Pete's area is market day and you have to experience it once during a stay. Acres of buildings with everything you can think of from food to jewellery. You meet at the beer and music tent at noon time so everybody can show off their "great" buys (and to have a good beer and sing some tunes). It was Marlene's and Joe's last night so we took the trolley to Crabbie Bill's at Indian Rocks Beach and had our fill of deep fried fish and crab legs and lots of laughs. Of course we all bought the group picture to remember the good times.
Sunday - Aaron's 3rd birthday. What a treat for all of us when he popped into our lives 3 years ago. Weather is still beautiful, water warm, sand soft and Jeannie and Mark cooked a big spagetti supper for us tonight. Treat not to cook.
Monday - Sun and more sun. Bernie and I played golf with Eugene and Ginny today at the Mainland course and what a great game - shot 86.(the course is a lot shorter than ours). After lunch at the Fireside and afternoon on the beach we went to the hockey game with Pete and Beth - Tampa vs Pittsburg. Arrived early enough to park ourselves at an outside corner table at Gilligans to have supper and watch the world go by - Tampa fans, Pittsburg fans, scalpers, traffic, etc. Great seats in second level and what a PR job done by Tampa - music, videos, cheerleaders, etc, etc. The game won by Pittsburg.
Tuesday - After our morning walk we drove to Clearwater Beach to visit a couple we met on the Danube Cruise. Sandy and Mike Maslowski are from Chicago and it was great to see them. She is on new medication and it has enabled her to get out of her wheel chair and walk again. They have a beautiful condo on the beach and are able to see both sunrises and sunsets from their balcony. Had a delicious lunch at the Beachcomber (been there since 1958). Beach time and then skyped the kids and heard all about Aaron's birthday and the dragons. Highlight of the day! And then out to eat again - this time with Dianne and Ivan at Da Sesto, an Italian on the corner of 66th and Park. Been there before and would go back again - out of this world pizza.
Wednesday - Bernie leaves tomorrow for Daytona so it was laundry day. Enough work so we hit the beach and ended off the day with Beth and Pete for a barbecue at our abode.
Thursday - Email from Jeff and Angie with news that the girls adoption is final. Fantastic !! They are off to Crystal Palace to celebrate. Donnie and Karen arrived at noon time for a visit and lunch and then the boys were off to play. They will have a great time in Daytona. I'm on my own and as some friends were saying "Unsupervised on the beach". Relax even more especially while Greg is home working on the cottage bathroom. :-)

April 13 - Apr 15, 2011

Oh my, time goes by so quickly and if I don't write it down the days all blend together. Bernie has played golf with Dick, Eugene and Eugene's son Alan. We went to dinner with the Chapman's to Rosie's on 49th and it was an experience. A little family run restaurant with dancing waitresses, a Newfie singer and great seafood ie: clams, grouper, fish and chips, etc. I think 80% of the customers were Canadians. Everyday is walk the beach, swim, cool drink, relax and more relaxation.

April 09 - 12, 2011

Saturday morning up and on the road thru central Florida to North Redington Beach. Came across the Skyline Bridge and it was such a gorgeous day with the sun shining and many, many boats on the water. Checked into Far Horizons and it felt a little bit like being home. Hit the grocery store for that peanut butter and other favourites to have in the fridge. So nice to unpack a suitcase, eat out of a real fridge and cook some meals. The past few days have been sunny and in the mid 80's. Morning walk on the beach, swim, read, snooze. Can't get any better.
Have connected with a few people in the area, Beth and Pete, Jo and Marlene. Supper at each other's units, social time on the beach, dinner at Wahoo's and lunch at the Green Sage Cafe have made the time go quickly. Lots of stingrays in the water this year so the "stingray shuffle" is a must when entering the water. A few dolphins have passed by, lots of seagulls and the pelicans doing their dives. It is a great place to people watch as you see all sorts and shapes. Spent some time on the beach with Jeannie, Melanie and Maryanne yesterday. Got caught up on the news at home.

On the home front it has been busy - skyped Jeff and the kids, Katja started a new job, Anita finished her course, baby brother Alan's birthday, Greg has the bathroom at the cottage all torn a part, Paul"s 60th birthday, Leslie is selling like crazy at the store and will soon be retired, Dennis is in Ireland and there is still snow at home.


Sunset at Redington Beach

April 08, 2011

Beautiful hot, sunny day at Palm Beach. Breakfast, lazy hour on the beach and a swim in the Atlantic and then off to the Barrett-Jackson auction. Met Jane and Gary Stack and we spent the afternoon auction watching, touring the tents, people watching and drooling over some of the cars. Bernie said "If we ever come again, we are coming to buy". Just sitting and watching just didn't cut it. This evening we went for a drive with the Stack's to see again all the gorgeous homes in Palm Beach and ended the night with the most delicious meal at the Palm Beach Steakhouse. Excellent meal, service and musical entertainment. Paul M will be soooo jealous. I had the most wonderful peppered steak.

April 07, 2011

Lazy time after breakfast on the deck. Then off to the Barrett-Jackson auction at the West Palm fairgrounds. Huge tents with cars and more cars - old and not so old. Interesting to watch the auction and just people watch. Even saw two guys from Amherst - Pete Estabrooks and Joe VanVulpen. They ended up staying at the same motel and the boys went for dinner. For Jen it was dinner from Publix and the Masters for entertainment.

April 05 - 06, 2011

Rain, rain, rain. Dark sky, high winds and a temperature drop. Not a beach day. We said goodbye to the Daleys as they were heading home ( with all the bad weather they did not get home until 4am Wed morning ) and we were planning on heading south to Punta Gorda. A last minute phone call from Boyd and Carol (who had arrived on Anna Maria Island the night before ) changed our plans to "doing lunch" at Rotten Ralph's on the bridge St wharf. A sailboat is still sunk from the previous storm. Great visit and then we hit the road. Stopped in Punta Gorda to visit Danny Gallagher from Amherst. And we were in for a surprise. His girlfriend, Dale MacLeod, is from PEI and she went to school with Leslie. Her sister Valerie  and I were in the same class in high school. To make it even more unique, Valerie is married to Paul MacEachern's cousin. Oh the stories and people we chatted about. And Marion and Danny Grant ( who I hung around with on school weekends ) had just been to Dan and Dale's for a visit. The world is getting smaller every day. Spent the night in Fort Myers.

Wednesday the sun was out but temp had dropped. We had a full day with a drive across the 80/98 thru the central part of Florida to Palm Beach on the Atlantic. Miles of sugar cane, orange trees, corn fields, and greenhouses kept us company along the way. We stopped at a Safari compound and had a very interesting drive thru an animal habitat. Saw lions, zebras, rhinos (really ugly big animals), ostrich, many kinds of antelopes, giraffe, water buffalo, monkeys ( they were loose on an Island because they cannot swim). Some of the animals were coming right up to the vechiles. Had never seen these wild animals so close before. The next adventure was Palm Beach. Oh my - the money spend in this town. The houses, the landscaping, the stores - even the Fire Dept was something else. And we have never seen so many policemen in such a short time. They patrolled 2 at a time - not 2 people in one car but 2 cars together. Absolutely no speeding. The homes are huge and one place we are sure had artificial grass because it was so perfect. Our hotel is a bit of a dive but clean, on the beach and reasonably priced - one of the very few under $500 a night ! Before supper we toured the home of Mr and Mrs Flagher built in the early 1900's and is now a museum. The front hall alone is 5000 sq ft. Two stories with several quest rooms, each have their own bathroom and heating, library, dining room, master bedroom, billard room, ball room, parlour and on and on. Their railcar is also on display. After a nice long walk on the beach we toured the city and found a place to eat.

April 01 - 04, 2011

Sunset at Barefoot Beach, Florida



Friday was a boating day with the Dow's along the Imperial River and the Inland water ways. Hundreds of boats, especially the pontoon boats and we had a ball watching the dolphins, boaters, fishermen, peligins, and fish. A little lunch on the boat and a swim in the water to cool off almost ended the day in perfect form.  The perfect end was skyping Jeff and the kids. They were all very talkative.

Saturday was pack the suitcase, load up the car and head north to another adventure. With Steve and Denyse we headed to Boco Grande on Gasparilla Island. What a beautiful town and Island, quaint Inns, no highrises, residents and guests travel around on golf carts, beautiful beach, restaurants, biking and walking trails, and marinas. It was quite a hilarious outing as they were having a "golf cart poker rally" and every cart and every person was decorated to the hilt. They were having fun ! We hugged goodbye to the Dow's and drove to Anna Maria Island to spend a couple of days with Blake and Vicki. They had booked us a room at Bridge Walk condos, bedroom/living room combo and just across the road from the beach. Perfect ! Dinner at the Bistro ( our own little balcony for dinner ) and early to bed. Huge day.

Sunday we went for a long walk along the beach and on the way back to the condo we located the condo where Karen and Donnie Cormier are staying. Little visit with them, and then went to hit some golf balls. That and getting on and off the Island ( the weekend traffic is unbelievable )  took a lot of work so lunch became a high priority - found a local restaurant called the Rod and Reel Pier. Not fancy, picnic tables, great food and loads of people fishing off the deck. They were catching fish left and right. Then it was beach time. Oh, so relaxing. Poor Blake had a bit to much sun the last two days so he had an early night. We and Vicki ate supper at the Beach House Restaurant and ran into the Cormiers again.

Blake, Vicki, Jen & Bernie

Monday - another beautiful day in the 80's, a nice wind to cool things down a bit. We had a great golf round at Manatee Golf Course and saw our first alligator of 2011. And we saw several more alligators, turtles, eagles, a pink flamingo, and ducks. It was a great little course and we all had some good shots. Vicki was the hot one with the putter. Ran into Donnie and Matt Cormier again on the course. After lunch at Rotten Ralph's ( restaurant on the Bridge St pier owned and run by a Canadian ) it was beach time again - lots of waves today and felt so good after all that sun. Mar Vista on the beach at Longboat Key for supper - crab cakes, King crab legs, scallops, flounder, Key Lime pie, Pecan pie on the beach. Can't get any better than that. Sounds like all we do is eat and eat some more. Keep on walking :-)