Fall Foliage

Janet & I stopped to take some foliage pictures on the way back from the Warner Fall Foliage Festival on Columbus Day weekend. It was a beautiful day and the colors were still bright although the wind was sometimes a problem.

This first picture is looking towards Newport from Country Kitchen parking lot.

These were taken at Mt Sunapee State Park.
Not bad for just my little camera and only out the car window. I do miss traipsing thru the woods to get "perfect" pictures but these please me just the same.

This was on the way to Bradford. The day before I noticed how bright the colors were in the morning when the sun was lower and the sky more blue but the colors this year are some of the best I've seen in awhile.

Yesterday we went to a local "Run What You Brung" where anyone can drive a vehicle to see how fast it will go on a quarter mile. Dougs first try with the 1977 Dodge Aspen wasn't too successful because he tried to manually shift the automatic and went into neutral. Oops. But I though I got a good video of it, (never tried it on this camera before. ) so I have to show it. The second time was much better and his brother Dave immediately said he knows just what to do to make it faster next year. The winner drove a Corvette at 129mph.
It was a beautiful September day and we enjoyed watching the variety of cars, many are just peoples every day car, even I could have tried it but I don't really care how fast my car will go. LOL

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This was the 2nd run where he turned 94mph. He was much happier this time.

We went for a ride today about an hour north to Sharon VT but the color is actually prettier around home then it was further north. Not to say it's gone by but in fact hasn't started to change. So I got this pic just a few miles from home. The view outside my window is gorgeous right now. We used to own a hunting camp up in the Downer State Forest and drove up to take a look. It's still standing.
We had lots of great memories from there and a lot of fun. It was nice to reminisce and enjoy the great day. Actually hit 86, quite a high for us.
On the way home we stopped at a huge garden center and I got some mums to put in my window boxes.

Bring on the sun!

We've been home almost 2 months now and are still busy with landscaping. That's because I keep buying more flowers to plant. I didn't realize my raised beds would hold so much! I still have a few more things to plant but here's what it looks like now. We need to wait for everything to fill in now but with the all day rain today and predicted sun tomorrow we should be on a roll.

This is a new rose we got. I just love the color and the fragrance is yummy. I keep wanting to sniff the picture. Doug transplanted the rest of my roses along the ramp so I can actually reach them from the ramp or from the lawn with my scooter. I'll take a picture later. Right now they are traumatized from the move and not doing so well. This rain will certainly help though. I'll probably be taking lots of floral pictures along the way. I'm looking out the window right now at a beautiful peony and some blue delphiniums. Across our driveway is my enormous rhododendron that we gave to the neighbors. It's in the middle of their lawn and right in my line of sight.

Happy Easter

Hi everyone, we are finally on our way home, taking our time to get back and hopefully avoiding the muddy road. We are currently at Myrtle Beach at a humongous campground. Will know how we like it better tomorrow.

For some reason I haven't been able send emails, I'm receiving but just can't answer anyone. I'll keep working on it though, otherwise I'll be back home by the weekend.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter. It's been beautiful up and down the east coast. (now that the rain has stopped).

The weather has finally turned around and it's HOT! So we took off for a ride to Marco Island. We tried to visit Sanibal Island last month and it was bumper to bumper traffic so we came back. I was hoping this would be nicer and it was. This island was not as developed, there were even empty lots available. We wanted to try a restaurant on the water (I'm always a sucker for waterfront dining) for lunch. It was only 11:30 when we arrived but there was already a wait.

As usual I had a grouper sandwich with french fries and salad bar. We've decided haddock is better but grouper is quite good too and I can't seem to get enough fish.

On the way down we came across several of these signs. "Panther Traffic". We didn't see any but have heard on the news that 3 have been hit by cars in the past month. Interesting wildlife here.

Doug has been starting tomato plants since January in Sarasota but they kept wilting and dying. He finally has some good plants going and now that it's hotter we should have a good start on them when we get home.

Everyone keeps asking about cruise pictures, most of them are just scenery that only means something to me but here's one of me snorkeling! This was the number one thing I wanted to do and thanks to Royal Caribbean, Doug and my brother in law Steve, I finally made it. Also thanks to Mount Ascutney Therapy Pool who lent me the waist belt so I could float. Unfortunately I didn't see any fish because the bottom was very rough and Doug was nervous about walking out deeper with me. The only time I thought I saw something move, I realized it was his foot. But it was very relaxing and I also got to swim on my back for awhile, until my legs started to burn. I almost wish we had more days right here. This was on Labadee, Haiti. Hard to believe the devastation that was on the other side of the island from the January earthquake compared to the beautiful beaches we enjoyed over here. It wasn't as crowded as it looks and we had a nice cabana too which I stayed under most of the day.

Doug reminds me that I haven't written anything for another week. So I'll start with today and backtrack a little. We've been gator hunting since we got here. We saw one the first week but didn't have a camera. I think because it's been cool and cloudy they didn't come out so today we took a walk on the bike trail and just before we got back we saw one! Apparently they aren't too dangerous when smaller because no one seems worried that they are so close. We were probably 20 feet away. The first time we saw it, it was just the tail but Doug went back later and got this picture. It's probably 3-4 feet long.

This is the bike/walking trail where we saw the gator. It's right in front of the resort and goes for quite a ways down the road.

!!HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

We have decided that we don't need a thermometer because all we have to do is watch Olive. If it gets below 50 at night we will find her in bed with us in the morning. If not, we are ignored. On sunny days she will be sunning herself on the seat, just soaking up the heat. One day we came home and couldn't find her. Here's where she was. Flattening out my new sun hat. We are very happy that she has no desire to go outside, makes it a lot easier for us not to have to shut her in the bedroom every time I go in and out.

Well, time is just passing by. It's been a nice week although 15 degrees cooler then average it's about 30 degrees above what we would have had at home.

Monday was nice and we went for a walk to find the second clubhouse. After a couple wrong turns we saw it and as I peered into the windows to see what was going on someone invited me in to play Mah Jongg. I said I didn't know how but they said it was beginner and not to worry, just try it. So Doug left me behind and I had a great time learning a new game. I even won one! So I'll be going back this week to play again.

Tues I had to get some blood work done and afterwards we headed to the shore. The actual beaches here seem to be mostly little islands. we went to Delnor Wiggins State Beach. They had boardwalks to the sand but it was soft sand so we couldn't go any further. Which was fine because it was like a sandstorm. Doug said it felt like his legs were getting sandblasted! But the sun felt great. We didn't stay long because I forgot my hat and sunscreen.

This is the entrance to the park. I was so excited to see so many flowers when we first got here.

Weds I attended a breakfast by the womans bible study. they had a singer - Lindsey Graham. She had a wonderful voice and it was very nice. We figured there were about 250 women there. I continue to meet so many wonderful people.

In the afternoon we did some errands and headed home for me to rest.

Thursday we exercised in the fitness room then went to the library to print something I needed. I've never used such a hugh library but at least we got it done, Wish I'd brought my own printer afterall. At Sun n Fun they had a computer room where you could print anything you wanted.

In the afternoon we were able to watch the Daytona races. Nice to be home in the afternoon!

Doug has been fishing up a storm. He keeps catching these blue gill. They say its a good eating fish but he's going to have to get quite a few to make a meal. He loves that he can throw out the line right behind the motorhome, come back in and then check it again later. Of course this method results in a lot of lost bobs but he has gotten several, including a few small bass that he throws back in.

At last he got lucky!!! He was holding out for the big one! LOL Actually this was at the Shell Factory in Fort Meyers. I went there 30 years ago and it was nothing like I remembered (nothing is), much more touristy stuff. We did have lunch there though, Doug had a Grouper Ruben. Quite good. I almost always order fish when we go out so this time I just had a salad.

Time for me to quit because I keep deleting my pictures by accident and it's getting tedious. We were trying to watch the race and would you believe that all the network channels are experiencing technical difficulty!!!!