New Neighbor

New neighbors have taken up residence in the up to now unoccupied lot across the street. Take a look!

This December we watched Joanne's niece compete in the Southern Regional Irish Step Dancing in Orlando. This step dancing is a whole subculture many of us I suspect don't know exists but I hazard to say there may be more Irish Step Dancers around, espically young girls, than there are leprecons in Ireland. The next weekend we flew back to Houston to pick up Joanne's car and drive over to Austin to meet Michele's new boyfriend before driving fully loaded back to Florida. We now have one sailboat, one dinghy, one kyak, two cars , numerous beach chairs, three computers and a bunch or others stuff over here. We are going to need a storage locker, condo or house come this spring.!

When we haven't been traveling, we have been getting ready for Christmas with lights, tree, decorations, food and plans for relatives and friends who will be arriving this week, so we haven't been sailing much. Yesterday, we did take the kyak through the mangroves for a short paddle. We also viewed the forty-two strong Rim Canal BoatParade, one of two boat parades in Punta Gorda. We missed the Peace River Parade as we were retrieving Joanne's car at the time of the parade.

The famous, much photographed Punta Gorda eagles are rebuilding their nest. Last year, my cousin had me up before dawn waitng for the eagle's sunrise return to their nest. The three year old nest located along West Olympia blew down in a storm last month. Would they opt to retain their Punta Gorda citzenship or relocate far away? Nobody knew. The eagles did move but not far. The new nest in the making is located on land that was to become the new home of the Hounds on Henry Street dog park. The dog park was slated to move to make way for development but the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act will require the developers to redevelop their plans. Stay tuned for further developments.

By the way the dog park is not a race track; it is a park for dogs!