Today's Temperatures

It's warming up in Florida, and this was the temp at about noon. I'm am definitely NOT complaining.

Discovery's Last Launch

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

I've always been fascinated by the space program, and I was hoping that the Discovery's last launch would happen without any further delays, and it did. On our way to another event, we were able to park near a beach, get out onto the beach, and watch the launch with a lot of other interested people. It was neat to be able to see the historical launch. This is the only picture I was able to take, but I took some pictures of newspaper articles that show the launch a lot better.

This is what it looked like with people on the beach watching the launch from a distance.

Health Talk

One of the things we do while in Florida is attend health related seminars and talks. This was a talk given at a local health food store named Love Health Foods. I just thought it was a neat name so I took a picture. Charlene is a very informed person when it comes to natural ways to keep yourself healthy and has educated us through her knowledge and through her encouragement to attend these interesting talks.
The owner who was overwhelmed by the couple of hundred people who attended this talk.
The speaker who was on his death bed as a teenager and who found alternative, natural ways that healed him and inspired him to create a career in natural healing using his ideas.

Lunch by the Seaside

Last Sunday we treated ourselves to lunch at a restaurant by the seashore. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was wonderful. We had a relaxing lunch and sat around for a couple of hours enjoying the view. It's great to be in Florida this time of year.

A view of the lifeguard stand on the beach. Not too many people are in the water since it's about 55 degrees. Way too cold for me!!!!

Lounging at its best.

Right Whale Talk and Art Show

Recently we went to a local state park to hear a talk about Right Whales which are whales that frequent the ocean shore in this area in order to bear young. We have been lucky to have actually seen them roaming close to shore while enjoying the beautiful scenery here. It was a very interesting talk given by a local guy who has been studying them for years. That evening he hosted an art show that we attended for a short time.

Here is a poster at the park telling about the volunteer sighting network. You can drive by different areas along the shore and see these people with binoculars. If there are a lot of them you can be sure they have sighted a whale.

Here is the sign for the art show.

He had a guitarist there too along with refreshments. Very nice.

This was the artist he was featuring.

One of my favorites.

This was a book that the host has written about the right whales. He has a publishing company and has written and published a lot of books about turtles and whales.

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, Charlene, Bob, and I attended an event at a local library. It brought back memories of last year's Valentine's Day event at Susie's library. It's such a great idea to have neat events like this at libraries, and for free. The event here was hosted by The Friends Of the Library, a volunteer group. They did a great job. It featured a mother/daughter team. Linda Cole, a great singer in the area, is one of Charlene's favorites so Charlene suggested that we go and it didn't take much to convince us. After a nice Chinese food lunch we drove to the library for the event. Here is the program to give you an idea of the twosome.

Flowers were handed out to everyone as they arrived. Nice touch.

Here we are with our flowers.
Nice refreshments were served including dipped strawberries, a variety of cookies, candy, sparkling juice, tea, and punch. Mmmm good.

The performing area. Nice view out the windows.

People arriving. There was standing room only for the performance. We got there early.

The duo performers. Linda Cole on the left sang beautifully intermittently with her mother, Erma, on the right who recited some of her original poety. They worked very well together, and it was very entertaining.

Washington Oaks State Park Citrus Festival

Saturday we drove up to Washington Oaks State Park for their Citrus Festival. This park was developed after the land had been donated to the state for a park by a woman who lived there. Her home was there, and her gardens, which included many citrus trees, surrounded her home. It all became a state park with lots of hiking trails as well. So occasionally they have a citrus festival and showcase citrus.

Here is a spot for master gardeners. Pat, a friend of mine in Boone, IA, took the course to be a master gardener so she will appreciate this.

Here they cooked several recipes using citrus. After they cooked, the food was given out for samples. We didn't really try them because I'm not really fond of citrus. Too bad.

Here they had citrus plants, etc. on sale. We didn't buy anything since we don't live in a climate suitable for citrus.

Bob is watching the cooking, or is he taking a nap?

One thing we did was go for a hike with a park volunteer who led a tour later. We enjoyed her company and were lucky she offered to take us on our own private tour.

This is a blossoming peach tree. Pretty.

Here are some citrus trees. Some are oranges, some are grapefruit, or even tangerine.

These were grapefruit plants for sale.

This is the official tour of the citrus gardens.

Samples anyone?

Some of the garden areas.

The house.

The view from the house.

The inside of the house. Notice the TV.