After the Storm - 18 Jan 2015

The live starfish were doing this 'tent' thing.

Amazing how stuff attaches itself to other stuff.

Its been a week of rain, wind, and tornadoes in Naples and it has definitely given us time to ponder the issues of living in an area where weather is potentially deadly.

Early Sunday morning my cell phone started to flash and an announcement that "a tornado is scheduled to touch down in this area" loudly pulled me out of a sound sleep. As soon as I had my wits about me, I realized that the wind was howling outside and rain was pounding on the windows. When I came out of the bedroom, Wayne was already in front of the television watching the weather tracker station and true enough, the tornado was headed for a number of subdivisions near us. By the time we discussed whether or not we should get out or where we should bunker down, it had passed. Clearly we don't have much experience with this kind of weather. Snowstorms....yes. Tornadoes...no. It certainly did some damage in the city and some surrounding areas but other than lots of palm fronds on the streets, nothing serious near us.

We decided we would head for Barefoot Beach and see what treasures the tide might have brought in. It was quite cool but the sun was shining and we bundled up and headed out.

Access to the beach is reached by driving through a multi-million dollar, gated community. The houses are 4-5000 sq ft and so beautiful. How the developer ever convinced potential owners that hundreds of cars driving through their community, over 1 1/2 miles of interlock brick streets would be okay is beyond me! I'm sure they all knew it going in but once the reality of mega traffic started, I'm sure the owners weren't happy. The beach is a Golpher Tortoise Sanctuary and run by the city but the parking pass lent to us by friends gets us in free and it's really a wonderful spot. We had never attempted to go there as we assumed it was a closed community.

I'm so glad we went. There weren't too many people there...mostly serious shell pickers or locals doing their morning run. There was a lot of seaweed brought in by the high waves and lots and lots of starfish! Some of them were still alive and people are prohibited by law from collecting them...dead or alive. There were piles of shells and the storm had brought the tide in 8 feet higher than normal so there were shells everywhere. The three big jars of shells I have at home didn't prevent me from poking and picking but I concentrated on taking photos today so Wayne ended up with many more than me.

We will be going back here many more times....as soon as the weather improves. I'm glad we aren't here just for the month of January as it has not been nice at all. However, at least the sun comes out and we aren't shovelling anything!

Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx

Cool and Cloudy in Naples - 14 Jan 2015

It's a cool, cloudy day in Naples, Florida--the perfect kind of day to stay at home and get caught up on banking, emails, or to just sit by the big window and read a good book. I'll do all three today. Wayne has gone to the gym and to run a few errands so I have the condo to myself for a few hours.

The crew came yesterday and removed the last of the giant fans and dehumidifiers. Everything registers 'dry' on their magic monitors and I have to admit I'm happy to be able to hear myself think again. We were determined to run them 24 hrs and deal with the noise but it sure is nice to have the quiet back. One of Wayne's errands is to Home Depot to get some nails and calking to replace the few baseboards they removed to facilitate complete drying and I'm sure he will appreciate the chance to cruise through one of his favourite haunts. He and his buddy Al probably visit there once a day when working on a project in the workshop at home and Wayne has been 'HDFree' for almost 2 weeks now. The plumber comes next week to replace the water pipes and connections to the washing machine.

I went to the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday for the Writer's Group and it was wonderful to connect with the girls again. There were a couple of new people attending that day and we all enjoy having different ideas and perspectives to add to the group. Once again we will be helping the students at the Culinary College with the resumes so that they can get a head start on summer employment or internships at the local restaurants. The students spend a couple of days a week at the Botanical Gardens learning how to cultivate and use vegetable, herbs, etc. and our group was asked to give them some advice on doing their resume. That will take place sometime in March. The Lego exhibit is on again and Sean Kenney's creations are incredible!

I went back to the Gardens yesterday to take some photos. I'm always amazed at how there is something blooming all the time. By March there are so many things blooming, including the cactus, but even now the water lilies are showing their colours and will continue for the entire time we are here. A few Orchids were in bloom but it is a bit cool for them to be outside the green houses right now. It was cool yesterday as well and I was not dressed for an extended stay so headed home after and hour or so. I want to try and visit at least 3 days a week, not including the day I go to the Writer's Group, and do some photography. If the weather warms up I will also go to the new Yoga group on Sunday morning. I can't think of a more wonderful spot to do Yoga than in the Garden.

We watched the movie 'The Revenant' last night and I can see why the movie and Leonardo di Caprio is getting lots of Oscar buzz. It was quite a movie!

We haven't been to the beach yet...just too much going on in the condo and not warm enough for me. I don't mind the cooler temperature but the wind has a bit of a bite to it. I absolutely refuse to go to the beach in my winter jacket! Yes, I've been watching/listening to the weather in Ottawa and I know that it's still easier being here than at home. However, at $1.40 Cdn, I'm really wanting to get my moneys worth of sunshine this year. The future of the Cdn dollar doesn't look much better...I'm not sure what next winter will bring for us!

That's our week so far. Gillian lost her first tooth and that's always an event to remember. It doesn't seem that long ago we were excited because she was getting her first tooth!

Oh...we are as poor today as we were yesterday and so are all the family/friends that we got Powerball tickets for...somebody won but it wasn't any of us.

Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx

Where is Noah when you need him? - 10 Jan 2015

Our lives are certainly not uneventful and for the most part, that's the way we like it. As we get older I find we both prefer a quieter day-to-day life. It doesn't seem to be what we get!

We went to bed Friday night after sitting by the pool with Susan and Ralph, catching up on condo gossip (who's here, who's not, who sold, who's renting, etc) and yes, we did have a glass or two of wine but it was quite a tame evening by all standards. We may have sat out longer but both Wayne and Ralph started to complain about 'bug bites' and we packed up our cheese, crackers, dips, etc and called it a night. Neither Susan nor I ever get bitten, only the men, which is why we like to keep the boys handy in the evenings; they are our personal, non-toxic bug repellent.

Now that our internet is hooked up we put in the ear plugs, turned on CBC live, and proceeded to sleep the sleep of the dead. Anyone who knows me knows that once I am asleep, only God or Wayne pounding through the house can wake me. God I always forgive...Wayne suffers my wrath if he wakes me up.

About 11;30 pm I awoke out of a sound sleep to some kind of electric appliance screaming in the kitchen. I came out of the bedroom with, "What in the name of God are you doing?" on my lips but hit a squishy wet carpet and then an inch of water on the kitchen floor. Once I got my eyes fully open I realized Wayne was using a tiny wet-vac (1 gal) to try and soak up water that extended into the living room and beyond....and wasn't having much success.

Apparently the hose from the washer had busted right off the tap and for at least an hour or so, had been flooding the condo. We hadn't heard anything! Yes, it was pouring into the condo below us and by the time the residents realized all that water pouring through their light fixtures, down the walls, and over their floors was coming from our condo, Wayne had woken up and started bailing water in the guest bathroom. He greeted our neighbour, who was banging on our front door, in his underwear and by that time had managed to turn off the water. The whole tap came off in his hand as it had corroded.

The neighbour found a bigger wet-vac and Wayne and I spent the next couple of hours trying to soak up water and finally gave up and went to bed. In the morning he phoned the landlord in Tennessee to give him the good news. Wayne knew with the mold issues in Florida that every home owner faces, this cleanup job needed the professionals and Jack agreed. Within a couple of hours he had arranged for a crew to come in to both condos and do what was necessary.

We currently have 4 huge dehumidifiers and 12 large fans going throughout the condo and some downstairs in our neighbours place. They will go full blast until Monday when the crew come back in and test the walls to see if things have dried out. A plumber is scheduled to come in next week to replace the taps on the washing machine.

Poor Jack...last year we called because of the refrigerator and stove and this year was another big expense for him. He was an absolute Prince though and never questioned the why or how of the issue. As renters we are so careful about being respectful of someone else's property but you never know.......

As if there's not enough humidity, today is rainy and humid but things seem to be drying up very nicely. I don't think we are getting the kind of rain that Ottawa is supposedly facing however. The weather is just plain crazy these days!

We went to a fun event at Susan & Ralph's golf club last night and had a great dinner while we bet on wooden horses that raced with a roll of the dice. Lots of fun and the best roast beef dinner to boot!

That's been our week so far. We'll hopefully have a more quiet week ahead and get down to the business of hanging out at the Botanical Gardens and the beach. Love and hugs to everyone until next time. xx

And we are off...to Naples in 2016

It has been a beautiful, green, mild December and for once, we didn't have to worry about a snow storm interfering with anyone travelling to see us for Christmas. It didn't last long of course--a huge storm hit on 29 December and we set a record for the amount of snow that came down. Naturally we weren't leaving during the 'green' period but by 2 January it was 'all go' and we headed South.

Two years ago we got snowed-in as we tried to cross the bridge to the US and Hwy 81 due to Lake Affect Snow which is some scientific term for snow clouds gathering over the Great Lakes and dumping an inordinate amount of snow. We had looked at the forecast for this year and figured we were safe.

We crossed the bridge, got through customs without any incident and noticed some ominous clouds ahead but didn't think much of it. However, within a short time a huge mobile sign on the side of the highway told us that "Warning, Lake Affect Snow". I hardly had time to finish reading the sign before the first white-out hit (I was driving) and traffic went to a crawl....except for the idiots who wanted to be the first to head for the meridian ditch and potentially take us with them! The closer we got to Syracuse, the better the weather became and by the time we got there the snow had stopped.

We decided that we would stay on Hwy 81 as long as possible and definitely not cross to Hwy 95 before Washington as we had last year. The traffic on 95 was beyond busy and stayed busy until we got to Naples. Traffic wasn't bad at all and we made it to Wilkes-Barre, PA the first night which wasn't bad considering we hadn't left home until 10 am that morning. Because we stopped early, we were in bed, lights out, by 9:30 pm which seemed like a good idea at the time. I was still looking at the clock at midnight and when I did fall asleep Wayne's cold decided to make it's presence known and he coughed the rest of the night. Needless to say, we were both a tad tired and he slept on the morning drive while I dozed on the afternoon drive.

This is the route we used to take on our winter trip to Texas and the familiar sights were as wonderful now as they were then. We haven't seen any snow since Syracuse and the beautiful green rolling hills through Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina were a joy to behold. I don't know what winter crop they have planted in the fields but everything is green and lush. We drove until about 4 o'clock and have stopped at the Hampton Inn near the Hwy 77 intersection. We will go South on 77 tomorrow which will take us to 95 and Florida.

The traffic got busier late in the afternoon and I suspect it's people heading home after the holidays. Everyone goes back to work and/or school tomorrow although there were quite a few RVs on the road, mostly from Quebec.

We will have one more day on the road and one more hotel before we get to Tampa and our visit with Peggy & Mike. The sun is warm and the closer we get to Florida, the happier I am.