Speaking of flying . . .

. . . we hated to see our good friends, Blake and Taylor, go back to their home in Indiana.

We can hardly believe that we are coming up on our tenth anniversary together. That's ten for Blake and almost nine for Taylor. Wow, how they've grown. That's a fact that really hits home when you see them walking down the jetway without a parent in tow. What great kids they have become - - it takes away some of the sadness that they're not our "babies" anymore. Then again there are some in the 30-plus category who are still our babies; you know who you are!

We had a really good visit, though, with a zoo day, a beach outing, seeing the new Indiana Jones movie (highly recommended by all of us). In between we had mostly pool time interspersed with the usual electronics times and some arts and crafts. This visit we didn't finish our projects, but we will eventually and they are so much more sophisticated than last year's polymer clay zoo. We are becoming more sophisticated in our use of methods and materials as well:

By the way, these friends have set the new standard for visitor attire -- it's either PJs or swimwear, take your pick! Yeah, now that's what I call a vacation!

Here are a couple quick videos of pool time - -





We'll miss them and can't wait until they come back!

A perfect beach day . . .

. . . at Honeymoon Island, Dunedin, Florida.


Stormy skies and the fact that it was a weekday provided us with a nearly deserted beach.
Here's a blurb from the state park website:

Welcome to Honeymoon Island State Park
The pioneers called it Hog Island, but it became Honeymoon Isle in 1939 when a New York developer built 50 palm - thatched bungalows for honeymooners. Today, visitors can drive across Dunedin Causeway to enjoy the sun - drenched Gulf beaches, mangrove swamps, and tidal flats. Nature lovers will find osprey nests, a wide variety of shorebirds, and one of the few remaining virgin slash pine forests in South Florida. The park boasts several nature trails and bird observation areas. Visitors can swim, fish, and snorkel in the warm waters of the Gulf or picnic while they enjoy the beautiful scenery. Shelling is particularly good here, as the Gulf currents deposit an incredible variety of seashells on the shore.

In 1948 a hurricane split the island. The southern half was renamed Caladesi Island and is one of the few natural barrier islands of Florida. It is reachable only by boat and to this day remains undeveloped. We had never been to this area before and decided to take our visitors there, in particular to check out the only beach we've found so far where dogs are allowed.




The sky was mostly dark and there were periods of rain but, thankfully, no thunder or lightning to deter us from our outing. Blake and Taylor were awesome, playing together for the better part of seven hours; shelling, building sand structures and just hanging out enjoying their water adventures.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was the appearance of a pod of dolphins. At first glance Blake and Taylor thought they were sharks, as I did the first time I saw them, but it quickly becomes obvious that they are dolphins. They came back several times during the day but alas, our digital camera was just too slow to catch the diving act.

Peanut, a.k.a. "Digger," also enjoyed her day alternately excavating (for what?) and lounging.

We have so many nice photos from this trip, too many to post here. See them all at http://www.palmcoastart.com/beach.htm. Although our friends are growing by leaps and bounds, we're hoping this day will be one of their many happy memories for years to come.

And all the monkeys aren't in the zoo . . .

. . but we sure saw lots of them when we were there! Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is one of my personal top three along with Brookfield Zoo in Illinois and the Milwaukee Zoo. Here's one way to keep cool:

Blake started right out getting a map and volunteering to lead the tour.


We think when you've seen zoo photos, you've seen zoo photos so we won't post the 50 or so we have, just a few of the highlights. We got to feed the giraffes!

I love the meerkats, they remind me of Peanut.

Which way should we go next? The navigators consult their maps.

Awesomely colored tree frogs weren't any bigger than a half dollar.

We felt especially lucky to see a baby manatee with its mom.

Got to feed shrimp and sardines to the rays . . .

The baby rays were about the size of an adult's hand. Adorable!

Hey! Isn't that the gray-tufted jimmy?

Beautiful white tigers with pretty blue eyes . . .

And the komodo dragon, always a favorite.

We saw LOTS of animals but we were all very happy to get home to cool off in the pool.

Teacher let the monkeys out . . .

. . . and they are at our house! Our best friends, Blake and Taylor, arrived in Tampa yesterday and wasted no time jumping in the pool and wrestling the alligator into submission.





There were several attempts at surfing that met with varying success.


Here's Blake's official welcome from Peanut -- luckily Taylor is a little more discerning.

Eeeeew! Dog slobber! Sorry Mom!

When the storm clouds rolled in we moved into the studio to work on art projects. Polymer clay won, as it always does. Blake's project required the use of some heavy equipment. Stay tuned to see the finished projects in a later post.

Today we are off to the vet after lunch for P's pedicure and we are planning a trip to the award-winning Lowry Park Zoo for tomorrow morning.

Am I the only one . . .

. . . who is sick to death of "reality" TV? The ladies on The View were discussing the season finale of The Bachelor this morning. Apparently the bloke finished bleeping his way through the 25 or so contestants and actually chose one to propose to. Whoopie was bleeped during a comment about the chosen one and Joy Behar said that, upon receiving the engagement ring, the contestant was so surprised that she "dropped her calculator."

Now I ask you, where is the reality in a young man tramping (literally) through 25 girls in a matter of nine weeks and finding the love of his life, the woman he wants to spend the rest of with? Saw a few comments on people.com and I'm amazed at how many people say these two are "perfect for each other" and will, no doubt, have a lasting relationship. Lasting? Isn't she about 22 years old? With life spans as they are now that would mean about sixty years. Can a man who chooses from 25 women in nine weeks be expected to spend sixty years with one? Her odds, I would say, are much better for this since she didn't mind "sharing" with the others in order to reach her goal. And was becoming engaged REALLY her goal? Or was she just in for the TV exposure that the rest of her illustrious acting family doesn't get anymore?

Bact to the subject of reality. "Survivor" assured us that a somewhat diverse group of people could be dumped on a tropical island, watched over from afar (or maybe not so far) and would have to survive on only their wits, tenacity, and a helicopter to rescue them from harm. Very realistic; I do that all the time. Would the losers be called "non-survivors," or "dead?" Seems like that's what the newspapers call most of the non-survivors of our daily reality. No, au contraire, they can go on to marry NFL players, have their babies, and make millions spouting their pro-Republican views on daytime TV.

Then there was "The Osbournes." Or more recently "Hogan Knows Best." People in the Tampa Bay area in particular are laughing up their sleeves at that one. A short bald man that wrestles for a living and is raising(?) his family in a $5 million dollar house on the Gulf of Mexico -- now THAT'S reality. What we didn't see on the screen was the reality of Terry Bollea (yeah, that's his real, but not reality, name) ruining his marriage by having an affair with his daughter's best friend. We caught a couple of glimpses, if we watched carefully, of Terry treating his son like a peer, teaching him about fast, expensive cars and slow, expensive women instead of instilling some positive values to prepare him for adult life. I would propose this for a reality show: "Nick Bollea Survives 8 Months in Prison." Guess that one could only air on HBO what with the inevitable dropping of the soap in the shower.

How about some REAL REALITY? No, I don't think that is redundant. Not based on the networks' ideas of "reality." How about following a single mother around trying to raise a couple of kids? We could watch her morning routine with the kiddies, follow her to the office and see what she does to earn her couple of hundred dollars. We could accompany her to the grocery store and watch her agonize over how to stretch the food stamps while trying to provide nutritious food for her babies. Hopefully we won't see her kidnapped, raped and murdered because she has to hitchhike everywhere due to high gas prices.

The way I see it, there are many untested opportunities for the networks to capitalize on in reality TV. How about watching a family disintegrate as the father becomes unemployed and the house goes into foreclosure and they all have to move into the SUV? I would personally tune into a show where Hillary, Barack and old what's-his-name give away their campaign funds to help the poor, but then that's not reality.

This is one topic on which I could blabber forever, but right now it's time for me to get back to my own reality. And BTW, I say the football player is the next dancer eliminated, how about you?

Happy (end of) Mother's Day . . .

. . . to all of you moms who made it through another day. For some reason unknown to me the universe has, a couple of times, been unnecessarily cruel to me on Mother's Days past, hence my routine: I sleep late, leave the bed cautiously and attempt to fly under the radar for the rest of the day. When the phone calls come, I answer with fear and trepidation. Why, you ask?

A certain child of mine, let's call it Alniece, had a habit of getting itself injured on Mother's Day. You get up, you put on that goofy dress and the kids pin their corsage on you. You go to church where you are handed a flower because, yes, you are a mother and THIS IS YOUR DAY. Any idea how bad it feels to be wearing the dress and the corsage while sitting in the front seat of an ambulance screaming its way to the local hospital?

Now that the kids are grown and living hundreds of miles away I regard my cell phone with mixed feelings on Mother's Day. It rings and I take a very deep breath before answering. What name does it say on the phone display? Okay, that probably means it's the other one who is hurt. What is it this time? Another near concussion from falling off the bike? Another chipped tooth? Or is the lower half of the leg pointing in a direction that it was never meant to take?

Come to think of it, this family has a bit of a history of holiday mishaps. I'm happy to report, though, that despite his work with the electric miter saw today, Jim's fingers are still mostly in their original condition. I'm hopeful at this late hour since I haven't heard from my offspring a second time today that all is well with them also. I'll retire for the evening with visions of Little Tommy tucked in his bed suffering no ill effects from his work with a power tool. And, finally, I believe, I believe, I believe that Little Alniece finished mowing the lawn with all body parts still intact.

My deepest and most heartfelt thanks to the universe for these two, the greatest gifts of my life.

There are worse things . . .

than living in Florida. The longer I live here and the more time I spend in other areas the more I realize none are good or bad, just different. With Jim's work finished in Memphis, we are back at home in Tampa. As soon as he left this morning Peanut and I headed for the sweltering bike path that runs along the Sun Coast Highway. We can walk as many as 42 miles one way on that path but Peanut can't really make it. In Memphis we would have had a sweltering 2.5 mile circle to walk around the man-made lake in the new subdivision. Heat and humidity in both places, but a breeze is much more likely in Tampa. I have to admit I was looking forward to gardening in a more hospitable place, meaning with more of the plants I've known and loved in the midwest and less of the creatures we have here. It was going to be swell to be able to wear jeans and sweaters more than two weeks out of the year and exceptionally great to have a fireplace once again. Oh, well, bloom where you're planted!