Sailing....takes me away....

Hi Everyone -

Not a lot of pics from this week, so this will be a short blog, but hey, it's better than nothing!

Glenn worked on Friday night and half of the day Saturday. For Saturday night, I made us reservations to go out on the Kai Lani Catamaran in Clearwater for a sunset sail.

We had a nerve-wracking trip there, because there was a huge traffic jam and we were afraid we were literally going to miss the boat. Luckily, we made it just in time.

The Kai Lani is a 50' sailboat that seats up to 40 people. Mike and Claire (the captain and first mate) are a married couple that own the boat and were very lovely hosts.

Sadly, we didn't get any pics of the boat when we weren't actually on it, so I stole a couple pics from their website so you can see it better.

In a related story, my parents, my brother and I once rented a small catamaran and in a rather disastrous series of events, ended up being rescued by the coast guard. This was a much more successful trip.

Also, surprisingly, the other passengers were really nice and fun - we had a great time. Anyway, here are a few pics.

 

So anyway, a lovely evening.

Sunday, Glenn did yard work and built me a new and improved flower bed for a "fragrance garden" with Gardenias and our long-sought-after Confederate Jasmine (which smells AMAZING!). Those flowers are pretty tiny now...we'll keep you posted on their progress.

In the meantime, here are our newest orchids that have bloomed. (I know you are dying to see more orchids!)

 

 

Additionally, we have some Pentas bushes that are going crazy and attracting lots of butterflies.

Sunday night, we went to St. Petersburg for a lovely dinner outside, and then walked down to the marina to look at more boats and take selfies.

Ok, that's enough silliness. Couch monster does not approve.

That's all for this week, folks! Hope all is well with you guys!

Happy Flowers and More!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry, I am a little behind in my blogging. Not too much new and exciting around here, but Florida continues to be awesome.

The week before last, Glenn spent most of the week in Jacksonville, where he attended a Relay. (Right now, he is at one in Fish Hawk Ranch.)

Look, Tom - he got a luminaria in your honor.

 

 

He also saw a goose family in Jacksonville.

See the little goslings?!

Once back at home, we had to convince Deuce to leave the comfort of the couch cushion he is slowly flattening to go on a long walk.

What?

Glenn took some nice pics just as we walked through the neighborhood, and through the little Marshall Street Park.

So anyway, my blog title promised you plenty of flowers. Here are a couple wildflowers that I found when walking during my lunch hour.

So cool!

You've probably figured out by now that we really like orchids, and it turns out that they seem to like us back. Here is a status update of all of our orchid friends on our lanai.

So happy!

Our little mini orchids

This is our newest one. He just bloomed overnight.

See the orchid on the second tier is covered with buds.

Go orchids!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day, and Glenn and I decided to go to the beach. We went to Pass-A-Grille which is a weird name for a beach, but one of my favorites down here, and adjacent to St. Pete Beach. Thankfully, the Spring Breakers are finally gone.

Check out the puffy clouds.

Glenn, as usual, decided to build a sandcastle.

Surveying the conditions

He completely wore himself out and got sunburned on his back. I told him he is the only person I know who goes to the beach to work.

Still, a nice ocean-front castle.

A couple people took their pictures with it, and one woman came over and shamelessly flirted with Glenn. (Really?! I am sitting RIGHT HERE!) He told me he builds castles to pick up chicks.

Ok, so this weekend I worked on the blog :-) while Glenn relayed. Saturday night we went to a new restaurant in St. Pete Beach called Castile at the Hotel Zamora. Even though it was a somewhat cloudy evening, we had a fabulous dinner out on their porch, which overlooks the intercoastal waterway.

So anyway, you're about all caught up now. Some big storms rolled through today and we had a tornado warning at work, but thankfully, we just got some heavy rain.

Hope you guys are all doing well. I shall leave you with a pic of lizards in love. (They don't even let a screen keep them apart.)

Love and lizards -

Diane

Easter Adventures

Hi Everyone, and Happy Easter!

Hope you had a lovely holiday weekend.  We did.

Before I start on the weekend, I will once again share my favorite pics from Lake Carillon.

First, this pic is a little blurry, but it isn't often I come upon a singing alligator.

"HELLO My honey, hello my baby, hello my RAGTIME GALLLLL!"



Another gator decided to snuggle up close to the boardwalk, which let me get a closer shot than usual.

I hope you aren't getting sick of alligators yet, because I really like them.

In other news, I had another close encounter with my crazy heron friend.

"What the hell are you lookin' at?!"

Also, during one of our evening walks, we discovered a cat on a hot tin roof.

So Friday night, we went to Oystercatchers which is always a nice spot for a meal and a sunset.

On the way home, we saw a pretty moonrise.

Sorry for all the selfies - it was a full moon!

Saturday morning, we once again decided to get up early to try to fish, and were rewarded with another beautiful morning.

And yes, we caught a couple fish!

Not sure what kind of fish this is.

Another very active Ladyfish. This one did jump out of the water as I was bringing her in.

We also were visited by a family of manatees. I think this might have been the little one.

Easter Sunday we had a great time at Merylyn's house with Chad and Lisha and Chad's family. Here, Chad and Lisha received their Easter gifts, which were Australian hats made out of possum hair. I am not making that up.

Sadly, when we got home, we discovered our house festooned with garbage, as Deuce somehow got the cupboard open and decided to take vengeance on us for being gone too long.

Evil Dog. And yet, during the day, he seemed so content.

So anyway, that's about it for us. Here are some Easter flowers for you all.

Love you all! Take care!