12 Oakdale

We had cabin reservations for 2 nights at Jonathan Dickenson State Park. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just take coffee. We would eat out, not cook. I had GPT-Chat find restaurants and things to do. I have used free AI for trip planning, so I knew to check that sites were actually open and reservations were needed. We started with the Rembrandt and Friends show at the Norton Art Gallery, catching it on the last day of the run, with timed tickets from 11:00-1:00. Which I thought was entry time, but was actually our allowed viewing slot. We got there about 1:00, and I was surprised when the guard gave us a 10-minute times-up warning. Truth be told, we’d about exhausted ourselves peering at the 75+ paintings, including Young Woman Seated at a Virginal , the only Vermeer in a private collection. Time to check into our cabin, then an early dinner. (My Chat pal had recommended lunch at a nearby shop which was closed on Sundays. We ate homemade sandwiches before going to the muse...

We were supposed to be meeting Mary and family in Raleigh this week. Ryan would take his anesthesiology board exam, we would celebrate Mary’s birthday, we would visit Trish. Three birds; 1 stone. Until our dear leader started his war. Ryan was tapped, as they say, February 24th to fly out with other Navy medical personal to set up a field hospital god knows where. Back in a month, or 7, or whenever. To add excitement, before he left, they called us: Mary is due mid-October. That explains the extra level of emotion. I have spent much of the last month on video calls with Mary and pouring over the war news. If there will be no boots on the ground, why, and where, are we setting up field hospitals? Plus I’ve wasted my time emailing my senators. I am so far behind on what I am supposed to be doing. Bottom line, I opted to stay home this week, sending Grant on a solo trip to see his sister. Just his getting on the plane was worrisome, because our TSA agents are not being paid because our in...

It is 25° at our house. I fear for our bananas, but have done all I can do with watering. Now time will tell if they survived. No trimming for a month to see any green shoots. I am in California, visiting Mary for a week. Grant is home, managing plants. He moved the potted ones deemed cold-intolerant into the garage and put sheets over my bat plant. The vegetable beds are on their own. All of the native plants should be fine.  This our third round of cold weather, but the previous 2 only got down to the mid-30’s. This is the coldest winter we have had since we’ve moved to Windermere. I wore the sweater I made years ago from yarn  Betsy brought me back from their scouting trip to Australia in 1985. Grant is also caring for the turtles. Yes, plural. A couple of weeks ago, we got Robert, a 21yo box turtle from Matt, whose wife died 5 years ago. Matt decided time to re-home Robert and put a Free notice in our Nextdoor app. I fell for it. Robert is more red than William, so I don’t...

  Happy autumnal equinox and the first day of fall (I had to look up if seasons are capitalized, although I suspect by now most of our English grammar and punctuation rules have gone by the wayside.)  For the past week, night temperatures have been below 75°. Back up to burning blazes during the day, but I can actually feel the weather changing. So different from South Florida. Time to plant tomatoes and trim the tropical sage. Saturday, we went birding with Brady, the last of my purchases from Orange Audubon’s auction. Getting up at 4:45, we met Brady at the St Cloud Publix, transferred his gear to our truck, and headed for our first visit to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. On the way in, a family of caracara: mom and dad sitting atop a telephone pole with 2 juveniles foraging in the fields. The rest of the day we drove higher and yon, looking for red cockaded and red headed woodpeckers, success with both.  27°55'50.0"N 81°07'33.8"W for RCWO; 27°54’55”.3N, 81°...

Thursday, March 6:  Another boat ride on the Rio Frio, this time heading upstream. We left before breakfast was served, only coffee ready, so they bagged up bananas and ham sandwiches made with really good bread. Even more caimen this morning including a couple of dead bodies which Jorge said were probably killed in fighting for territory. This trip we saw egrets, several green ibis, (which I’d never heard of), black-necked stilts, whistling ducks, and kingfishers (Amazon, American Pigmy, Green, Ringed, and Green-and-rufous). A black-collared hawk flew over. The goal was sungrebes. We found a female and a male carrying a baby. I didn’t even notice the caiman on shore as I watched the little sungrebe swim against the swift river current. Heading back back to the dock, one more female sungrebe. A bumpy ride back out to the highway, looking for jabiru with no luck. Eventually, we reached the better paved road, and began wending our way out. Lunch, casado,...

Our flight from Orlando on Saturday, March 1 , was delayed over an hour, 10 minutes at a time. I was crossing my fingers that there any FAA employees left after the DoGE bros continue in their misguided run through the federal government. Perhaps the airlines laid off too many pilots. TSA was easy-ish because a nice young woman took us around to the front of the line, we assume because we looked/are old. Then we tried to follow the instructions of a masked agent who continued to speak very quietly, even after I twice said we were hard of hearing. I guess better than the ones that bark orders. On the bright side, we had plenty of time to enjoy lunch at the Sunshine Dinner in Terminal C. Easy flight, and when we got to immigration in San Jose, another nice young lady took us to another head-of-the-line. We must be looking pretty bad. Met up with Kathy and Lee, and after a slow drive to the city, delayed by accidents and a stop at a Fresh Market for tourist-level spending on beer and mixe...