Flamingo Gardens and starting the cruise

Well, today is my last day on land for 11 days.

The morning started with a drive up to Ft Lauderdale to meet up with

my cousin by marriage, Annemarie.  She and her husband Roger (Ron's cousin) 

were here on vacation.  When I found out they were going to be within an

easy drive of where I needed to be on the 7th, we decided to meet up and spend

some girl time together.  I picked her up and we played tourist and went to

Flamingo Gardens, which happened to be near where they were staying.

This American-white Pelican had attitude.

He came up and started to attack Annemarie. She was videoing it on her phone.

When she posted it on facebook, a lot of her friends were laughing.

The Pelican  started to walk up to Annemarie, when it got near it lashed out with

it's beak, and continued on.  Maybe you had to be there, but we could not stop laughing.

It was a very pretty garden.  This area was for water birds.
A lot of the birds were brought here for rehabilitation.  They had been
injured or ill, but could not be re-released back into the wild.
This environment was perfect for them. There was an area
for reptiles, and raptors.  Naturally, a lot of birds were flying free.

Here is a Woodstork.

Got to love those Flamingo's.

When Flamingo's are in captivity they seem to have a deeper color.
They get shrimp on a regular basis which does enhance their
color. They are beautiful.

Did you know Peacocks fly and roost in trees?

The colors of a Peacock are vibrant and beautiful.

Love the colors.  We could not get any of them to show their fan's.
It is still amazing how long their tail feathers are.

This young White Ibis also wanted to be friends of Annemarie's
Maybe it because he wanted her to feed him!

Did have to check out a quilt shop.
These were their rows, for past years Row by Row.
Very pretty. I have to say the quilt shops in Florida have a lot of
bright beautiful fabrics.  Naturally, I had to see how many different
flamingo fabrics I can find.

No flamingo pincushions, but cute birds and cats.

Here is Annemarie and I at the gardens.
We had a  late lunch and all in all had a great day.
It was fun to catchup and spend the day together.

After I dropped Annemarie, it was time to catch up with Jan at the hotel
we were staying at for the night.  There were quite a few of the quilters staying
there for the night.  In the morning we would all be going to Port Everglades for
boarding our ship, Nieuw Amsterdam for our cruise.
The excitement at the hotel was on a high level.

It is time to start the festivities!
We have had the life boat drill, been to our cabin, unpacked the suitcases and
having our first cocktail before meeting up with the rest of the quilters.
They have a meet and greet in one of the lounges.  We get our name tags,
tote bags, and schedule of classes and activities.

It is time for the sail away.  The next 11 days of adventures begins.
We pass by these apartment buildings as we leave the harbor.
We are ready for the fun and quilt classes that Quilt Seminars at Sea
has arranged for us.

Let the adventure begin!
Mary

Hialeah Florida

 For years I have heard about the Flamingos in Florida, notably the ones at

Hialeah. The racetrack has a casino on the grounds, so I had to check 

it all out.  As you can see there really are flamingos in the center of the track.

I was probably the only one that was acting like a tourist, but I didn't care.
I had one of the caretakers tell me that the flamingos come back on their own each year.
There were a lot, and were on a far corner of the track.
I wish I could have gotten closer.  They really are a pretty bird.
Were you aware that Kona Cotton's color of the year is Flamingo Pink?
I have already purchased some, and have a couple of things in mind to do with it.
But that is another story.

Back to the track.  It does appear they still run horses on it.
The track was grass, don't know all the history, but do know it was quite the place in its
hayday. Now they have a casino in one of the main building.  Several years there was extensive
work done on the grounds and buildings.

How about this mosaic?
Now does this look like it should be a quilt?

Here is the entrance to the grounds.

Okay, I tried to get the picture of me with the entrance and name in the back.
Still haven't gotten this selfie thing down.

I had been trying to stand so you could see me in front the the sign.
Like I said not so good.
I did sign up for the perks of the casino, and walked away with $27.00.
It was a great day wandering around and checking this place out.

One more day in Florida and off on the cruise.
Going to meet my cousin by marriage tomorrow.

I hope you are having a great day.
Mary

Corkscrew Swamp

Black Vulture

The sanctuary has all types of habitat.  These trees are alive, even though
to me they appeared dead.
It is weird to see the trees in Florida shed their leaves.

 Pileated Woodpecker.

Turtle,

Okay, I don't know the name of this one!

 Great crested Flycatcher

He decided to sit while everyone around took his picture.

It is like in the movie "Sunset Boulevard",  "I am ready for my closeup".

By the time I left, this was the list of birds and animals sited that day.  I left about 2:00 in the afternoon. A lot of them I did see.  It is neat that they have people post what they saw.

My great capture for the day.  Painted Bunting.
He too was posing just for me at this feeder, no one else was around.
The sanctuary had feeders in two different areas.  I did see at least one bird
at each location.  Someone has reported 4 of them being seen.

This "swamp" has a 2.25 mile walk, which I did do.  It is quite

interesting. There is a swamp habitat that the wading type birds can live.

This was an enjoyable place to visit.  As the day moved along there were

more people on the boardwalk.  The whole areas pathway was a boardwalk.

I have added to my life bird list.  

There is an organization "Ebird" where you can list the birds you have seen.

It counts each time a new bird is added.  Even though you may list all the different

birds you see at one time, in one area, it keeps track if you add a new one.

At this location it was the painted bunting.  It is a way for me to keep track of what 

types of birds I see.

Hope you are having a great day.  I certainly am.

Mary

Sanibel Island Day 5

What a day.  I slipped down to the beach one more time before I went to J N "Ding" Darling
National Wildlife Refuge.  I think I got addicted to gathering shells too.
Some of them are gorgeous.  These are on the beach.  I will have to take a picture of
the ones I picked up.
Woke up to another gorgeous day.  No cloud, blue sky.
The J N "Ding" Darling reserve is closed public on Fridays. That is the drive through
part.  The walking part was open, so I had planned on the drive through on Saturday.
Linda was going to do a craft show, so I was free to check out the reserve.
I arrived about 9:00.  What an adventure.  Let's just say I drove the 4 miles in a bit over 3 hours!
There were plenty of places to stop and observe the wildlife, mainly birds on that day.
There were a lot of people doing the same thing.  Some were birders, others just checking out what
this was all about.  Plus you had your bike riders, who were there for the exercise.
It is one of the best refuges I have seen.  It is on the bay, so there are small islands
that are part of the overall refuge. The tide plays a part in where there are good times to
see the birds.  Sandbars show up, so you can see a lot of the shorebirds.  Except for the
pie-billed grebe's I did not see other ducks.  A lot of the big birds, herons, bald eagles,
egrets, were visible.  You could just stop when and where you liked.

One of the birds everyone was looking for was a white pelican that was not American.
I think they said it was from Africa.  It had shown up last year for several days. Would you believe
I showed up February 1 and again was spotted on the 2nd, but to my knowledge, no one saw it on
the 3rd, the day I was there.  There were a lot of American white pelicans.  Now when I was was
there a lot of them were sleeping. I think she could be hidden,

This a picture of the pelican that had been there on the 1st.
As you can, this one does have a bit of a different look.  She is quite a lot bigger then
the ones we see up North.
I had such a great time.  I sighted for me quite a few different birds.  I still have to
report my list on e-bird yet. Need to get busy.

I stopped in to see the craft show Linda was doing. It was going only until 2:00,
and I wanted to see her work.  This is Linda.  She and a friend have this business together.
The each make different things using all natural materials.  There are some accents, such as
beads, and or ribbon that are added.  I am very impressed with there work.
Lin said they had a pretty good day, so she was pleased.
I help in their profits by purchasing a couple of items.

They use gourds and pine needles.  Linda can etch designs and color them on the gourds.
There are different things in the bottom of the baskets.  The one I purchased had a stone, that looks
blue.  They have a way to weave and sew that is gorgeous.
They have an etsy shop as well.Creations from the Ground Up.

The head of a brown pelican.  Working on my photo skills.

Here we are.  This is the selfie I took!  I may be getting better at this.

It was so fun seeing her and Bob.  As I have always said, sometime a  little

time is better then no time. 

I had to travel to Naples from there.  Did make a stop on the way.

What a beautiful hotel.  Supper was on the beach.  I didn't get there until it

was dark out, but it was still nice to be sitting by the ocean enjoying my meal.

All good.  What an elegant place.

Have great day.  Mine have been beautiful.

Mary

Day 4, Sanibel Island

Arrived on Sanibil Island, Florida
Blue Skies, Sun, no clouds.  Who could ask for anything more.
Add warm to that.  It was gorgeous

The Welcome Center.
Love the Colors.

Yes, I did see an Alligator already. 

New bird.  Roseate Spoonbill.
Got to love the color. They really are beautiful.

You do have to watch for Alligators.

My girlfriend Linda.  Took me to the beach to collect shells.
She knows her shells.  She can tell me most all of their names!!

We ended the day with a gorgeous sunset,
Linda and I have been friends since 5th grade.
We had such a great time catching up.  He husband Bob was teasing me
that we shouldn't put 20 years between visits.
Actually, it wasn't that many years ago. But Linda and I keep in touch.
It was so nice to see her. I got to stay over night and see pictures of all of her
family as well.  It was so much fun.
Tomorrow I will let you know about my great adventure.

Have a good one.

Mary

My third day on the road

At the Florida Welcome Center

Can you tell I don't do the selfie thing very well!

My first two Sandhill Cranes

Small pond behind the quilt shop I stopped at.

Well, it took me about 6 hours or so, to make it to my stop for the night.
Am in Brooksville, Florida.  Checked in to my hotel, and remembered there
was a quilt shop not far from here.  Hopped back into the car and I was off.
Made it by 10 minutes to 5.  There is a month long shop hop going on and this is one
of the shops.  Got my passport stamped! Got to make sure the priorities are in order.
As I was going to pull out onto the road, realized there was a back way, and birds.
This is where I found the cranes.  They look like they are young.
On this other picture is where I found the pond in the back.  Two more sandhill cranes
are on the left side of the picture, as well as some white ibis that just happened to fly
in while I was watching.  Nice start to my bird watching.

Heard from my girlfriend that I will meet up with tomorrow.  We haven't seen
each other for several years.  It will be good to catch up.

Today's travel adventure was pretty good.  The lower part of Georgia did not
have the roadkill problems, but there was still garbage.  Florida is cleaned up.  The only
thing on the roadside is blown tires. Oh and the police were out in force.
Have to say you can see everything advertised in road signs, from adult superstores,
to Zaxby's for chicken.  You can buy any kind of house, sell your cell phones, buy your golf
shoes or karts.  There are even signs for a couple of quilt shops, right next to fireworks.
Saw cotton fields in Georgia. I swear as soon as you cross the state line, the palm trees
and Spanish moss show up.  Today was sunny, blue skies, and white clouds.  Had to put
the air conditioning on.  Love it.

Found a television station that is showing former Oscar Award winning movies.
This is a Fred Astaire song and dance, The Band Wagon with Nanette Fabray.
 Pretty good.  Love to watch this type of movie.
Ron and I did go to see La La Land.  We both liked it.

Enough for tonight, time to wrap it up and get to bed.
Have a good one.

Mary

Trying something new for me.

Pepper is just waiting for the shower stall to be clear.

Went to a banquet for Pride of the Prairie Quilt Guild.
Love these button trees we all got to take home.

Hancock's of Paducah.

Another state down.

Now how is that for the true Chocolate lover?


I am on my way to another quilt cruise.
  But first let me catch you up on a couple of things.

The kitties are now 6 months old, and absolutely adorable.
As I said before, we have never had kitten, so watching their antics is so
much fun.  We have the two "Spice Girls"  Pepper and Cinnamon.
They are water babies.  They sit outside our walk in shower in the evening,
while I take my shower.  As soon as I am out, they run in. They come to bed with wet paws
and fur, as they have been playing and drinking the shower water. Silly girls.


In January Pride of the Prairie had their Christmas party.
What a lovely time we had.  The food was delicious, and the games fun, and
I think everyone came away with a little gift bag of goodies, a door prize, and
one of the cutest button trees ever.  A great time was had by all.

I did manage to get 3 quilt backs ready for three quilt, Dah! that I sent
to be quilted!!  Yea for me.  Also got the blocks done for another quilt that
I can put together in March when I get home.
 
I also have been cleaning and clearing my sewing space.
It was time.  I have organized a lot of projects, and put them in their own
boxes. I made of list of UFO's I want to get finished.  Way too many in
progress.  Each time I go on a quilt retreat this year, a project is going with me that
needs to be worked on, with the hope that it will get done, or at least a lot of progress
is made.  Also, made up a basket of things that I can pick up and take with me
when I am on the road.  All handwork.  As I finish up some things, I will have others to add to
the basket.  It feels good to have gone through so many books, patterns, and stuff.
I am donating a lot of things to other quilters.
I can't possibly finish up everything that is in progress.  At least  now I can put
priorities on them.

On Tuesday I started my drive to Florida.  I had decided rather then fly to Ft.
Lauderdale to take the cruise, I would drive by myself and stop when I wanted, and visit
a couple of friends, and bird along the way.

Naturally my first stop, and stay the night was Paducah, Kentucky.
Had to visit Hancock's.  I had a list of things I wanted to pick up.
Needed thread, and new rotary cutter blades, and of course fabric.
Kona's color of the year is "Flamingo".  Now for someone that likes Flamingos as
much as I do, I needed to have some of that!  I found a beautiful, large gingham
that is the same shade as the Flamingo fabric, with white.  A new blouse just
may be in the works for me.  One of the classes I am taking on the cruise is
"Quilt of the Century" by Gyleen Fitzgerald.  I had what I believe is a Moda
layer cake from a long time ago. It was part of a kit that I took apart, but is in colors
that I don't usually work with. So, while at Hancock's I picked up a couple more fabrics,
that I think will work with it.  Little hard to get 2 squares 6 1/2 inch out of that layer cake.
Anyway, I found a couple I think will work.   Then didn't I find a couple cool
Flamingo fabrics that I just had to have.
I had a great room and a good nights sleep, ready for my second day.

I did stop in Manchester, Tennessee to check out the Russell Stover store,
How about those boxes of Chocolates.  Told my husband we will have to stop
on the way home, as they have sea salt carmels for Valentine's Day.
Hopefully there will still be some on sale after the big day!!
Next stop was Atlanta, Georgia.  Traffic and trucks was a bit busier going through
Tennessee.  I have my trusty Garmin, navigator, and she got me through
Nashville quite well.  I have to say, no snow or ice or even a hint of it.
But you could tell how bad winter had been so far.  There had been
several semi's still being worked on to get upright and off the interstate.
There was a lot of roadkill.  So sad to see all the different animals along the road.
Got to see a lot of Vulture's as well.  Saw several large flocks of Geese heading
north,and a flock of White Pelicans on a lake as I passed by.
What is really sad to see is all the garbage along the road way.  It is like how
did some of the strange things you see, get there.  I mean a loveseat, and a little farther
away a cushion.  Children's toys, pop bottles, and the usual suspects.  People must
think it is okay to throw trash out the window during the winter.  Someone else
will pick it up.  Sad.....

I did make it to Morrow, Georgia right on time.  Getting through Atlanta is always fun.
Ironically, I got through downtown in about 20 minutes.  What helps is that all the trucks are
diverted to a bypass.  No one was being unpolite.  I have to say there were a few crazies
that flew from one lane across several to get to an off ramp.  How can you not be aware of
where you are.  Entitlement.

Already had dinner, talked to my husband and wrote up this post, and getting ready for
bed.  Time to settle in for the night.  Tomorrow Florida.  I am going to check out a
couple bird sanctuaries and end up down by Sanibel Island.  I have a friend that
winter's there, and she is doing a craft show on Saturday.  Have not seen her
in a long time.  We will have some time to catch up.  Maybe I will get to
stick my toes in the water!  Who knows, I may come up with a couple new for me
life birds.   The cruise does not start until the 8th.  I will meet up with my friend Jan
on the 7th in Ft. Lauderdale.

Ron will be flying down after I get back from the cruise.  He would like to visit
with his Dad, then we will start the drive back to home.  I just may do the drive back too.
We will visit his brother and our friends that provided the kitties.  It will be nice to know then
that we will not have long before Spring does come.

Hope you are going to have a great February.

Mary