Saturday, February 15, 2014

2011 - 2012 – Getting away from the cold, about time!

- The Trip
Doing things a bit differently this year, we are heading out December 26. (notice that it is getting earlier every year…) Going to spend Christmas with my parents and then leave from their house on Boxing Day. (It is actually about an hour closer to get to the border from my parents – still four hours is long enough)


 One of my cats went missing over the summer, Toffee L (living in a rural area who knows what is out in the bush and I think something must have gotten him) They are indoor/outdoor cats but they are never far from home – probably because I spoil the hell out of them… So this year it will be just Fred and Screech. [In Florida I never let them run loose, they can go in the pool area because it is all screened in, but I am just too nervous to let them run free here.]

We ended up selling the RV, we figured that now we have the house we really wouldn’t use it. So back to grimy hotel rooms… Wouldn’t you know it, we hit more snow when we left! (I sense a theme here…) Took two days to get here. Pulled in pretty late at around 11 pm.  

- The Garden
The garden was coming along beautiful until the dreaded frost came again. This time it took our beautiful Banana Plant, it was doing so well, we planted two of them the first year we were here. We bought them over the internet and got them in the mail when they were just little sprouts… Even covering them couldn’t save them. Good thing is that they will come back  J   Most everything we planted has gotten shocked by the frost, including the Areca palms and Hibiscus that are around the pool. At least the Palm trees along the driveway could handle it better and don’t look so devastated. 


Banana plants a few weeks after getting them in the mail
Banana starting to grow (2011)
This year (2011/2012)
 After the frost – we removed the cover and it obviously did no good…

This year I decided to change the trim colour on the outside of the house, I like the main colour of the house - yellow, to me it looks ‘Florida-ee’ (yes, I know it probably is not a word J  ) however, that yucky brown trim has got to go! So I painted it with a nice dark turquoise blue, looks much more ‘Florida-ee’ now J

Before

After

- Visitors
We have some guests coming this year, this time it is my other half’s family. Will be quite the houseful too, his mom, sister, niece and nephew. Lucky we have enough rooms J  Yes, we did a lot of touristy things when his family came, we went to Bush Gardens (incidentally that was the first time I ever was there, so I really enjoyed it) Went to Sanibel Island (a must see) and checked out all the beaches – we rode the bikes and let the family take the truck. Next was Fort Myers Beach, had a wonderful supper along the dock while the sun was setting... Also went to Everglade City (on the bikes of course) and we all took an Airboat ride (something else I had never done before) Guess it was good that I was acting like a tourist J It was great having guests, but now I need a vacation J

- Motorcycle Tours
Went to Pine Island, not much there – it is not where you go it is how you get there J



Headed to Lake Trafford in Immokalee (Ann Olesky Park) Very Pretty. 

We always seem to stop at the Harley Dealer in Fort Myers, even though we don’t have Harley’s (Yamaha and a Honda) You never know, maybe one day…. 
(I will have to buy one soon if I keep buying Harley clothes J )


- The Goodbye
Another year gone…

Well we had another very busy time this year, and I loved every bit of it. We haven’t even left yet and I already want to come back….

What a surprise, still snow…. 



No comments:

Post a Comment