Marie's 90th Birthday

Marie celebrated her 90th birthday at the Isles Yacht Club with twenty-six children, grandchildren, spouses and friends.

Highlights included a video slideshow of  historical family photos with music.  Good job, to my brother-in-law, Al!   Marie recounted the changes she has witnessed in her life from the horse-drawn ice wagon to space travel. Granddaughter Annie, a competitive Irish stepdancer demonstrated her quick footwork.   Our friend, Sue, gave Marie a beautiful hand-crafted shell wreath.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays, guests also sailed on Charoltte Harbor, toasted themselves in the sun on Englewood Beach, watched lots of football and, of course,  gobbled up lots of  holiday food.

The Driveway, a short film written & directed by Marie's youngest son, also entertained us.  The film drew on Kevin's growing-up days in Bergenfield, New Jersey.  Good job, Kevin!

See my pictures at   Marie's 90th Birthday Party.

Early November, Early Winter

Harry Potter at the IMAX - Nov  19 - Saw the new Harry Potter film with friends at the IMAX in Fort Myers.

Tunnel of Love - Nov13

The  dinghy squeezed through the narrow Tunnel of Love as we jockeyed around sawed-off mangrove branches using our paddles to paddle, pole or fend off.   Once completely covered, the tunnel is now mostly open to the sky.  It leads one from the East side of Cayo Costa Island to a lagoon near the gulf side. See the Google Earth photos on the right.

The tunnel lies WSW of Cabbage Key about two nm South from Pelican Bay where we anchored Eagle's Wings for the weekend. We pushed through on a rising tide with sometimes only a few inches of water under the dinghy's keel.  An osprey flew overhead clutching a fish dinner while ibises watched us from the mangroves.  As we approached the lagoon still hidden by twists and turns of the shallow stream, the sounds of waves washing ashore filled our ears.  We landed on the lagoon shore and walked across the dunes to the beach to walk with pelicans and shore birds about. 

Tunnel of Love from Google Earth

 




Dorrit and Joanne




Longboat Key Bike Ride - Nov 8

Monday's activities included a pleasant seven mile ride along Longboat Key to Joan Durante Community Park and back with the IYC bike group, small talk at the PGIslander's bimonthly social and listening to Team Punta Gorda's annual State of the City address at the Civic Center.   

Nov 7th - MLLW -  We are still afloat at low tide after North winds blew the water away for the first time since we moved to Lido Drive .  We expect periodic bouts of low water and chilly below 70 F weather till next spring. 

Nov 6th - Venice Art Festival 

We drove 20+ miles up to the Crows Nest Marina Friday to sleep overnight on Rob & Sue's catamaran, Catalyst.  How people with no money can buy fine art, I don't know but we did.  We now have three metal pieces from Garner Metal Art hanging in our foyer.

Paper Castings
John Galbo Impressionistic Photography
Red Bird Photo

AndrewBoromPhotography

Touch of the Islands

Twilight Spoobill Twilight Flamingo

Squirrely Wood

Dimensional Copper