Florida continued

Now where were we? I remember - Disney and David's marathon. He ran a half marathon the week after with his friend Dane in New Orleans. He managed to complete it despite very sore feet. I am going to take a moment here to have you think of the proudest moment in your children's lives.Was it a graduation, grade, marriage or an athletic achievement like David is accomplishing?
The day after the marathon we visited a botanical garden in Orlando (yes, even David and Gary). It was not the most interesting as there was not much in bloom. The garden was known for its camellias - over 200 and many different varieties. I have a Camellia at home and it flowers in December despite the cold and frost. It is nice to see some colour in the garden at that time of the year.

The gardens had a house attached that you could go round with a guide. It was interesting but what interested me the most was a wedding dress on display. It dated from the 1920s (I think). I thought it was quite similar to mine (1979) with the high neck, long sleeves and ruffles across the bust.

See, fashions always come back in style!! My dress will be in style in another 50 years!!!
On Wednesday, we went to Gatorland. I do not think Gary and David were too keen but I wanted to go. It turned out to be the best visit of the trip. I have never seen so many gators and the birds were wonderful.

It was surprising how close the birds got to the alligators.

                                                    Great Egret

I thought this was interesting the way the stork was sitting down with his feet out front. I guess he couldn't sit down with his feet behind him - silly me.

Gatorland has 4 white alligators. They are not albinos and I forget the name of their reason for being white - sorry! A senior moment!

                                             A limpkin, I think.

Where does our son get his goofiness from, I wonder!! He should have been given an academy award for his acting!!!

This bird was signalling he/she is in the mood for love!!

                                I just liked the colours in this photo.

Another signalling bird - "see how attractive I am"

 Great Egret chasing off Snowy Egret. 

 This black crowned night heron had unfortunately lost his left foot. I wonder if a gator got it.

We went to a gator show and prior to the show you could have your photo taken with an alligator. If I had sat on him he would only have been good for handbags afterwards.

This young man was very entertaining. He wrestled the alligator onto its back where it fell asleep due to "sensory overload". So now we know what to do if an alligator grabs us, roll him onto his back and run like ----!!! 

The alligator woke up when the man tickled its belly and then he ran like ----.

I do not know if this duck has a name. I could not find it in my bird book. What name would you give it? Ducky!!!

Two pally alligators in the photo above the one above. It is not focused very well, unfortunately.

I was fascinated to see a Great White Egret and a Great White Heron riding on the back of the alligators. Perhaps this is what is known as "fast food".

We also rode a zip line (yes, even Gary and myself). I was not nervous at all for some reason and thoroughly enjoyed the "rides".

The highest we dropped from was 85 feet and the longest we rode for was approx 400 feet. It was over so quickly, we never had time to be scared. We flew over tree tops and an alligator pit on five different zip lines - wheeee!!! Prior to the last zip line we had to cross a suspension bridge made of wooden slats and rope. I was not too happy on that as I was afraid Gary would catch up with me and the bridge would swing even more. I hurried to get over it before he stepped foot on it.

I am going to risk that you can tolerate a longer blog because I am going to tell you about our last day in Florida. We went to Universal Studios. I had heard so much about Harry Potter Land from my friends Linda and Pat that I wanted to see it for myself. Gary and David did not mind going so off we went on a cold day for Florida - 56 degrees and windy. Well, Harry Potter was disappointing. There were hundreds of people there and they got in the way of my photos. We rode the inside Harry Potter ride and after 2 secs of the ride starting I had to shut my eyes and pray for the ride to end. The ride was one of the longest I had been on (or it just seemed like it as it spun, dipped and plunged). I gripped the bar in a death like grip and hated every minute of it. When I got off my knees were shaking, my hands hurting from gripping the bar so hard and I vowed not to ride that ride again. Even David said it was a rough ride.

We did not go on this water ride as we did not have spare clothing and it was too cool and windy. Boy, did this boat make a splash. In the hot summer of Florida this must be a super cooling ride.

Here is a photo of David "pinching" a snapdragon/antirrhinum. I do not mean stealing but pinching the side of the flower to make it open its "jaws". Granddad Fuller taught him to do that years ago and he could not resist it. Thank-you, Dad!!!

I did go on this ride with David - Gary opted out. It was not as bad as it looked.

David doing his impersonation of Mohammed Ali!!! with two characters (I do not know who they are - am I showing my age?).

 David on the roller coaster by himself. He is at the back, on the right wearing a turquoise jacket (mine, because he was cold). I would NEVER EVER go on a roller coaster like this and I would NEVER take my hands off the grab bar let alone wave. David said it was one of the best he had been on.
I think that is more than enough for today. I hope you have enjoyed our visit with David in Florida. I know we did and we miss him already. We love you, David!!  

Kingston Rover Loop Map


 

Back in Mississippi

We are back on the boat after a very nice trip to Florida with a diversion to Georgia to see our friends Jim and Trudy. Prior to leaving, we had very cold weather and the water around the boat got a coating of ice on it.

 Even the water in the woods had a thin slither of ice on it.

 We had a lovely two day stay with our friends and enjoyed a walk around their property. We saw what was left of a cotton crop.

This is a photo of the seed contained within the cotton boll. I would love to have seen the cotton gin that separates the seed from the cotton, maybe on our next visit to Jim and Trudy. Trudy is a self taught oil painter and will paint pictures from photos for you. If you would like to see some of her work, here is her web site:
 https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=415876544AF661FA&id=415876544AF661FA%21478&v=3I also took a photo of a reflection we saw on our walkabout:

We had a good drive from Georgia to Florida where we met David who was going to run his first marathon. We had rented a very nice house so we had a comfortable home to return home to after a busy day.
There were 23,000 people running the marathon - old, young adults (not children), fat people, thin people, people dressed in costumes. David completed the race with very sore feet and knees. He ran through 4 Disney Parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (the old MGM). At each park there were Disney characters ready to have their photos taken with the runners. I think David must have had his photo taken with all of them. The next photo is of the entrance to Disney World. Please note the time on the clock - 6:30AM - and I had eaten a cooked breakfast.

David waving goodbye when leaving us to go to the starting point of the race.
David on the teletron entering the ESPN Wide World of Sports stadium.

 

David after completing the marathon with his medal and knees iced.

The following photos are of runners dressed in costume:

 There were several men dressed as Tinkerbell - hmmmm!! I guess only real men can dress as a fairy!!

This man was awesome - sorry I mean Incredible!!

There must be a clause against wearing this costume!!

 

This man dribbled the two balls for the full 26.2 miles - he must be a basket case!!!
There was something fishy about this next photo!!

Guess who is the "Beauty" and the "Beast" in this photo.
Gary and I were SO proud of David. Neither of us are runners or have ever been a runner. I was always a big disappointment to my PE teachers in High School as I would not run for anything. I did play field hockey but was a full back and relied on my arm strength to hit the ball (my nickname was Hercules!!).

David wearing his Marathon Shirt with Disney Characters.
Well, if you have 23,000 runners and each runner has at least 2 supporters, a lot of loos are needed -

and a lot of loos there were. This was just one area, there were many others.
Well, I will stop here as I have a lot more to tell you about our Florida Trip. So as Arnold says "I'll be baaacck".

Brrrrr!!!!

We are now in warm, sunny Columbus, Mississippi!!! Not!!! Last night was 10 degrees F and the water pipes on the boat froze so we had to unfreeze them with my hair dryer.  Yesterday morning I went to the Marina laundry room and ran two machine loads of wash whilst I took a shower. When I left the shower to return to the laundry room I saw water pouring out from under the laundry room door. When I opened the door, water poured out. The pipes were exposed under the laundry room floor and had frozen. What a mess. I had to go and tell the manager of the marina, who was most understanding and not at all angry with me. I offered to help clean up the floor but he said he would do it.
Our trip down to Columbus was uneventful but very cold.

This is me all wrapped up for going through the locks. My neighbour, Michele gave me the hat for Christmas and boy, was that well used that day.
We passed through 5 locks in one day which was a record for us. Frequently on the river (The TennTomBigbee Waterway) we saw these strange looking side walls to the river.

 

They are called baffles and were built to contain the flow of the water into the river. This was the first river on which we had seen such a construction.
We passed a couple of osprey nests - one on the lights at the lock and the other on top of a very thin tree. I wonder how difficult it was to place the first stick/twig on the top of the tree without it falling off.

As I mentioned earlier we are in Columbus, Mississippi at the moment. It is an old town with many old antebellum homes. We drove around them yesterday in the frigid weather with the heater in the car turned up high.

This one dating back to 1833 had an interesting entrance way. It had steps either side of the front door making an arch covered in some type of vine and revealing another entrance down below. Gary thought this was quite unique.

This house was where Tennessee Williams was born. I wonder if it was this colour when he was born.
Well, that sums up today's blog. Tomorrow, we are off to Orlando, Florida to cheer David on in his marathon. I looked up the temps in Florida and saw that Orlando was 46 degrees today. However, for the day of David's race (Sunday) the temperature is supposed to be near 80. It seems like I shall have to pack both shorts and jeans for the trip. We have rented a very nice home in a golfing community. It has its own pool and will sleep 8. David found it for us and wanted a place with a hot tub for soaking his aching muscles after the race. It does not have a hot tub but it does have a jacuzzi. It looks very nice and includes linens and cooking utensils.
So, keep warm everybody. If you have elderly neighbours, check on them to make sure they are keeping warm enough. Keep pets inside until the big chill is over.
 

Happy New Year

If you are reading this blog due to interest, mistake or curiosity, I wish you the happiest of New Years and hope that it is a peaceful one for everyone no matter the colour of your skin or religion.
As you can see, we are back on the boat after spending a quick visit back home. We spent Christmas with our son who we wish the very best for 2014. He so deserves it.

                  I think David looks like a young Chuck Norris in this photo.
David has two parrots, Natty and Bo (named after beers!!!!). Imagine explaining their names to David's future children!!! Natty, the sun conure took a bath and ended up with a bad hair day or should I say bad feather day!!

She is a lovely bird but does not get on with Bo who is smaller but more protective of David as he has had him to himself for 4 years before Natty arrived on the scene.

                               Sorry, this photo is not phocused well!!
 Whilst at David's we went to a real nice light display in Vienna, Virginia. I tried out my new (cheap used) camera I bought on e-bay and it did a very good job of taking photos of the lights.

We also visited a golf driving range with a difference. Instead of aiming your golf ball for a post you aimed for big divided pit which gave you points if your ball landed in it. The nearer to the flag in the centre, the higher the score. The pit was about the size of a green.

 Each individual's balls had a RFID (radio frequency ID) so that the computer could keep track of who was up hitting. The computer also kept track of how close the ball came to the centre of the pit and the yardage. We had three games (20 balls each game) and I lost the first two badly until someone told me lowest score did not win!!!!. However, I came back on the 3rd game and came a close second to Gary. David started off with a bang and then fizzled. This certainly made practice more interesting than driving towards a distant flag.    
We had a great drive back to Alabama despite torrential rain. We met up with Gary's cousin and her family again. We got to meet both girls (Elaine and Rachel) and spent New Year's Eve with them and their friends. We had a smashing time.

                  Boats at the marina decorated for Christmas and New Year.
 When we got back to the boat, it seemed to be OK despite some cold temperatures whilst we were away. However, I noticed that we had had visitors in our absence - they left their calling card, if you get my meaning. We had been visited by rats. They ate half my citronella candle (must have been looking for a light meal - candle/light - get it!!!), the lid of my empty cashew container I was saving for future use, an empty bottle of water and my ant bait traps. Thank goodness they never got into the main living area of the boat. They would have had food to keep them going for weeks. We guess they got onto the boat by running up the boat lines as the boat was not near the dock. I was afraid that we would find a dead rat somewhere but so far we have not.
We are heading south for warmer weather. Today is in the 30s and tonight is to be in the teens - brrrrr. So goodbye old man winter-

Hello warm Florida sunshine!!!

December

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We were in Independence, Missouri visiting with Gary's parents. We arrived on their 65th Wedding Anniversary and helped them eat this lovely fruit arrangement containing lots of chocolate covered strawberries sent by Gary's brother, Galen and his wife, Cheryl. Mmmmm. Thank-you, Galen.

We spent Thanksgiving with Gary's cousin's family and had a lovely meal and visit with them. We had David with us as he flew in very early on Thanksgiving morning so that added to the excitement .

Unfortunately, our trip has come to a sudden stop due to Gary's mother falling on the ice and making the arthritis in her left knee worse. She has now decided to get the knee replacement her Dr recommended two years ago. Therefore, Gary and I will leave here tomorrow and return to the boat in Alabama. We should arrive late Saturday and then Gary will leave Tuesday to return to Independence with his cousin, Jackie who lives in Huntsville. I will then return to Maryland and make plans for Christmas. Gary will join me in Maryland on 18th December and we will spend Christmas with David.  David is running his first marathon at Disney World on 11th January and we hope to be able to cheer him on. We are not sure yet if Gary will return to help his mother after her knee replacement on 29th January or if his brother and his wife will fly out and assist her with her second knee replacement.
There is not much to tell about our journey to Missouri. We did pass a true trailer home-

I do not think I would like to live in this type of home. I wonder if they got their furniture from "Crate and Barrel"!!
We went through two very large locks, not as large as Carillon in Canada but still quite a hike up.