Swamps and Art

Last weekend we spent Saturday afternoon taking a 2.5 mile walk through the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. This area is under the supervision of The Audubon Society. There is a very nice boardwalk system that allows you to get up close and personal to flora and fauna. Sometimes too close (see water moccasin picture later). We saw a couple of alligators, a deer, a hawk, an owl and a great variety of other birds. This area is a gathering place for those who actually know about birds. We saw many people with giant lenses on their cameras taking pictures and identifying the birds.

On Sunday, we attended the Bonita Springs Art Festival. This is the second festival. They held another one in January, but we missed that one. We were surprised by both the number of artists and the number of visitors. Many of the artists were from Florida, but some came from the New England area, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, etc. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. We finished the afternoon by having dinner at The Silver Spoon, a nearby bistro.



You can pause this slideshow and use the arrows to go at your own speed.

It will be a busy musical week for me. Tomorrow, rehearsal for Friday's IBE show. I'm sing with the choir for four songs, doing two with the barbershop quartet and two more with the guitar trio that came from our jam sessions. Wednesday is the regular jam session. On Thursday, Sue and I travel to Upriver RV Resort, where we stayed during the 2008 and 2009 winters. My friend Gator asked me to play and sing again with their musicians for the afternoon "Upheaval" picnic. On Friday is the "Choir and Friends show here at IBE. It will feature the choir and eight others acts. Finally, the choir is singing two songs at the Sunday evening church service. It's no problem to keep my singing voice in shape for when we get home.

Speaking of home, we plan to start back to Ohio on Monday, April 5th. We will stop in Cincinnati on 4/9 to spend the weekend with Kris and Mark, and then go back to Kent on Monday, 4/12. My quartet has a gig on 4/15. We are singing The National Anthem at the home opener of the Akron Aeros baseball team (Indian's AA affiliate).

Updates from Bonita Springs

It's finally showing signs of getting back to normal, weather-wise, down here in FL. The forecasters say that by the end of this week we should be done with the string of cold, windy days that have been filling the spaces between our sunny days. We are ready for that.

These pictures show the little park that is at one end of IBE, along the Imperial River. It is a nice spot to watch turtles, otters and of course manatees. The orange shapes in one of these pictures are manatees with the sun reflecting off them. The squirrels at this park have become used to humans, so they don't really run away anymore.



























































Both Sue and I have been continuing our activities. The pictures below show the two finished baskets that Sue made. Her other projects were shown in the last post but the baskets were not finished at that time.

































The barbershop quartet that we formed here at IBE sang a song at the church service last night. We get together at least once a week to work on songs. We are scheduled to sing a couple of songs at the "end of the season" show on March 19.

There are two other guys who play guitar and sing that have joined me on a regular basis for the Wednesday jam sessions. We are providing the entertainment for an ice cream social this Friday (3/5). It could be our big break. Should we call ourselves "The Oneders"? I saw that movie and the name was too confusing. One name suggestion was "The G-strings". I am going to suggest "Three Sheets To The Wind", since there are three of us. This group is also booked to do two songs at the show on the 19th. Ah, show biz!

In conclusion, Wickett is also enjoying the winter. He is at Petsmart getting more handsome this afternoon. Below, he is shown hogging the little ceramic heater that we used on some of our cooler evenings. Tough life being a dog.

Here is what he looks like after a trip to the groomer. Ignore the satanic eyes. I used the flash.

That Sue Is A Crafty One

Sue has been going to craft making sessions down at the rec hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is not one to brag, but I convinced her to let me show you what she has been working on.

1) The first project was a pair of earrings.



















2) The next project was a knit hat suitable for Ohio winters.



















3.) Next, the art of Oragami, particularly the "iris" technique, was used to produce these two greeting cards.





































4) Project number four was a "microwave hottie". You put this under a container that you are heating in the microwave. When it's time to remove the item, you just grab the ends of the hottie and lift it out. No need to resort to those dangerous individual hot pads.

































5) The current project, which is not finished yet, is a casserole carrier basket.

Naples Cars

The area around Naples, FL has some very upscale, expensive real estate, to say the least. It not hard to notice a high percentage of Lexus, Cadillac, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, etc. logos on the highway.

A couple of weeks ago, Sue and I went out to dinner at Mel's Diner, a popular eating place in southwest Florida. As we were walking from the parking lot, I noticed a car that looked very much like the one in the picture above. An elderly couple, no doubt in their 80's, were exiting the restaurant. Both walked slowly and the husband was helping his wife negotiate the sidewalk.

To my mild surprise, the lights on the Ferrari flashed and the gentleman helped his wife into the passenger side of the car and then got in himself and they drove away. Don't get me wrong. I think that this was really cool. It's just that it is not something that you would see everyday.

Get My Drift?

Having a lot of snow is not all bad. Be creative.

How'd He Do That?

If I was in Las Vegas, or anywhere else for that matter, and this guy wanted me to play cards with him, I would run away quickly.

Little Barbershopper Antenna Guy, We Hardly Knew Ye

I am saddened to announce the unexpected demise of my little barbershopper antenna guy. He was a gift from Kris and had ridden proudly on the tip of the Elantra's radio antenna for the past couple of years.

Last Sunday, we drove the car through a car wash at the gas station and when we got home, he was gone. I don't think that he suffered. As you can tell in the picture, he had gone downhill a bit, so I guess it was his time.

I'll miss seeing his little faded yellow head in the rear view camera, hanging on for dear life as we tow the car down the highway.