Scenes from a Sarasota Mini Vacation

Spring is my very favorite time of year.  I love to see the bright green buds on the trees and the first signs of tulips and daffodils poking up through the ground!  In a way I didn't want to miss a minute of it... especially being in a new house this year that has already surprised me with things popping up where I didn't expect them.  But one of my dearest friends lives in Sarasota and it has been a couple of years since my last visit, so when the chance to accompany my husband on a business trip meant a  mini-vacation for me, I just couldn't pass it up! 

Our first night there we dined at a very popular restaurant in Sarasota called Owen's Fish Camp.  It reminded me of cottage style restaurants that you find in Northern Ontario.  I loved the huge banyan tree in the front of the building, and I was quite taken by their wine list!



Entrance to Owen's Fish Camp



The wine list!

The Banyan tree and company!

The next morning we took a trip down to Punta Gorda, and one of our favorite places - Fisherman's Village. There is nothing quite like sitting at a restaurant, right on the waterside eating raw oysters and watching dolphins play!  (Sorry, I didn't get any pictures this time.)

We also visited St. Armand's Circle and had a snack at the famous Columbia Restaurant which specializes in Cuban food.  We sat at one of the outside tables and had fun people watching.  The food was delicious and I would definitely like to go back there for a meal when I am hungry for more than a snack.

Self explanatory!

Columbia Restaurant - delicious!

Our last dinner in Sarasota was at a Japanese restaurant called JoTo.  We sat at one of the hibachi style tables that I had only ever seen before on television.  It was fascinating to watch the chef cooking.  He made a little volcano out of an onion half!  And, of course, the food was excellent!

JoTo Restaurant chef

Onion volano!

So, enough about food!!

The weather was spectacular the entire time we were there - blue skies - termperatures in the high eighties with a breeze.   What a difference from what Mother Nature brought to us here yesterday.....



Hail on April 17th - yuchhhhhhh!



We stayed at a Ramada. which (unbenounced to us) had just recently been purchased by them and had more than a few glitches to work out. What started off as not such a great stay was made right by the staff. We ended up with a lovely executive room looking out at the marina and I would definitely go back.   

The hotel is right on an inland waterway with a marina. I was intrigued by what looked like a church at the end of the dock, and upon closer inspection it turned out to be a floating chapel. It was beautiful and wished I could have seen the interior to see if it was as charming as it appeared from the outside....maybe on another visit!

Back of the Ramada.

Floating chapel.

And of course, I got lots of visiting in with my friend and my very favorite dog, Basil.... what a face!!!!

Love you Basil!

Oh - and it's snowing again!  Enough already!!!!!!! :-)

Introducing Cy and Helen

In my post about our birds, I mentioned the geese.  Little did I know that they would actually be a developing story. 

Living right on the creek, in the fall we saw flocks of geese swimming by and as the weather grew colder we would hear their honking as they flew past in their V formation.  Only a couple of times would we actually see any of them venture up into our yard, and then there would only be two of them.

Well, lo and behold, once the creek thawed, I started seeing two geese come up into the yard, stroll around, pick at something on the ground, honk a bit, walk over to our neighbours, stroll back our way and then eventually go back into the creek. 

They like to "rest" under the pine tree.

 It seemed to be on a daily basis (at least until spring delivered this unexpected and unwelcome blast of snow!) and I suggested to my husband Jim that we name them.   And after a few minutes he came up with Cy and Helen.   I thought they were perfect names - Helen is named after Jim's mother, and Cy is named after my father.  He considered it the other way around - after my mother and his father, but then it would have been Edna and Jim...and I am not sure that having another Jim in the family would be the best way to go!

So Cy and Helen they became.  They did disappear for a couple of days (I wonder where to?) when we were delivered that frosty, snowy blast of winter but today they were back again!  Still snow on the ground, but they came for a visit.   I get the feeling that they are looking to nest, and I am sure that if they do, I will have a far more difficult time dealing with nesting geese than I had with the nesting robins in our last home.  Geese ar e big and they are mean when they think you are threatening their young!

So I have become quite thankful for the chain link fence that divides our yard ....they don't seem to be interested in flying over it, so hopefully if they choose to nest, it will be on the creek side of the fence!

 Cy and Helen's visit today. 

See you soon!

Bird Update

Hooray!  I saw the first Robin on our yard on Tuesday!  What a lovely sight! 

And birds have started paying attention to the Purple Martin house.  I can't tell through the binoculars if they really are martins, but I am going to think positive!

With some help from a friend, I solved the mystery of the bird I saw in Cuba.  It is a Green Heron! 

And I saw the tulips starting to push through the ground when I was out enjoying the nice weather yesterday.... all good signs for spring!

Birds in our Backyard and in Cuba

My last post was a tribute to my friend Sharon, and Sharon was a nature lover extraordinaire!  I love nature too, but she loved to be IN it, not just look at it!  I am more of an admirer from the warmth of a cozy room with a fire in the fireplace in the winter months, and enjoying the summer from an airconditioned room or with a cold drink under a shady umbrella.  I do enjoy the renewing aspect of spring and seeing the first green buds on the trees and delicate green shoots of new growth pushing through the earth. And I do enjoy gardening.

But I digress, already.  In our last house, my adventures with birds involved robins repeatedly building nests on the cross beams of our raised deck, and even a family who decided that my hanging plant would be a lovely place to raise their young.  But in our new house, which is on property that stretches right back to Four Mile Creek with lovely mature trees, there has been much more activity of the avian kind.

Shortly after we moved in and I started noticing the variety of birds, I kept thinking of the day when Sharon would come for a visit and be able to identify all the birds without blinking an eye.  And far too soon, we lost Sharon.  I am sure she would have enjoyed our back yard - certainly nothing compared to her beloved Fire Towers, but I think she would have liked it here. 

So, I was left to my own devices to identify these birds.  I can hear Sharon chuckling about that!  I went to Chapters to buy a bird book and I stopped at a Birder's store and bought a poster.   (I think I can hear my Mother chuckling from above too). 

Now some of them were easy - Blue Jays and Cardinals and Mourning Doves. 

Although the male cardinal is stunningly beautiful, I found the muted tones of the female to be equally beautiful. 

And then I was able to identify two kinds of woodpeckers, Juncos, and black-capped chicadees. 

The smaller of two woodpeckers that look very similar - this is the Downy Woodpecker, the larger version is the Hairy Woodpecker. 

But then there are all those small birds that to me look pretty much the same to me. Finches, swallows, sparrows, nuthatches.....which is which?  (Sharon - your chuckling is getting louder!)

These are some of those UFBs (Unidentified Flying Birds) feeding at the kitchen window feeder.

We have placed several bird feeders in the trees close to the house and some out by the creek.  The feeder on the kitchen window  was initially a huge source of entertainment for Picabo, our cat.  He has since gotten bored with the whole deal and rarely pays any attention to the action at the feeder.

I love it when a Bluejay or Cardinal comes up to the feeder and as long as I am still, I can observe their beauty closeup.

Picabo is ready to pounce at the birds at the feeder on the outside of the window.  He reminds me of Arte Johnson on Laugh-In peeking from behind the Palm Plant saying " Verrrry Interesting".

One day a hawk visited and I actually managed to snap a picture of him sitting in our Manitoba Maple.  He didn't stay long, but there were no other birds to be seen for quite some time after his visit.  Squirrels either!

And I shouldn't forget the Canada Geese.  I don't have any pictures but it was so peaceful to watch them gliding by on the creek in the early mornings, and as the weather got colder, they would fly in formation over the creek, honking all the way!  

A peaceful autumn morning picture of the creek.



The creek had been completely frozen over for some time and the mild weather recently has caused it to thaw.  I saw geese back swimming for the first time since very early December.

 

We went to Cuba for a week in February and I found a number of interesting birds there as well.  I have been able to identify most of them, and I have a guess at one of them.....

 

This beautiful brown fellow is another UFB.  I did see a picture of a similar bird that was a Louisiana Heron.  Now if that's the case, he's a little far from home but provides a connection to my beloved New Orleans.  He stood as still as a statue for many minutes at a time.  If anyone knows what kind of bird it really is, please let me know!



I identified these birds as Greater Antillean Grackles.  They were always around the pool and quite entertaining.



You need to look closely in the centre of the picture and you will see an Emerald Hummingbird.  There were probably a dozen of them that were feeding in the tree right beside our balcony, but it was very difficult to snap a picture.  I tried taking a video but they move way too fast!  And I never realized how noisy a hummingbiurd is......chitter chitter chitter!





This was a Blue Heron that spent an afternoon lounging at the pool.



This fellow is my favorite.  He is at the same place on the beach every day.  He was there last year and I checked for him the first morning of our vacation and there he was!  Again, there is my connection to New Orleans, the Brown Pelican being the state bird of Louisiana.



What a handsome fellow!

Well, I am hoping that the next bird I see will bring the word that spring is here....come on Robin!

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the tsunami in Japan today.