How was your Christmas?

I sure hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas.  Our day was quiet and we had a lovely dinner out.  

Jim was very generous!  He bought me a Pandora bracelet with two heart clips and a Fleur de Lis bead.  It's quite Lovely!

He checked my Amazon wish list and also bought me a set of mixing bowls,  two CD's, Andrea Bocelli's Sacred Arias and Kenny Chesney's Greatest Hits which will sound real good on my new iPod!  Jim is currently uploading our CD's to his computer so he can load them on the new iPod.  

I gave Jim a mustache trimmer so he had a gift to open.  You may recall that he got a new iPad Air not to long ago and that was his Christmas present.

Chris was the duty Warden and spent the day driving to all of his facilities spreading cheer and making sure all was well.  Sonsearae spent a good part of her day cleaning and doing laundry. She also baked some Snickerdoodle cookies at my request.  Jim had been wanting some and I thought this would be a nice present.

Before we went to dinner our two families exchanged gifts.  Our gift to them was food!  A pizza making kit that included the flour and dried spices for pizza.  The other was a kit for soups and bread.  Jim was gifted a knife from his Amazon wish list and I was gifted a Flamingo Charm for my new bracelet.

We went to Spoto's for dinner.  They put on a buffet  that was chock full of delicious goodies.  I believe we all enjoyed our meal!  Since the restaurant is located on the St Lucie River we were able to watch the full moon rise into the night sky.  Clouds kept it covered, off and on, but it was still lovely to see.  

After dinner we walked out onto the pier and I used my phone to take pictures of the moon but alas I didn't think they were good enough to share.  We almost made it back to the car before the rain started.  Drove home through a light, misty rain.  No matter, it didn't spoil our Christmas

On one of our walks along the river we were entertained by this Blue Heron.  He had caught a fish but was struggling with him.  While he waited for it to die he dashed it to the shore and when it moved he whacked it with his beak, then without pausing he snatched it up, head first and swallowed it.

This crab barely held still long enough for me to take a picture!  We see them all along the rocks but when you get close they scuttle into a crevice

This furry little guy needs a haircut!

There has been some scary weather the past few days and I hope you're not in it.  If you are, stay safe!

All is right in our world

Fun Afternoon

Yesterday started out sunny and bright.  We had a leisurely morning that included chores and breakfast.  Around 1100 we departed for the Honda service department.  Sonsearae needed to drop her car off for some diagnostic and repairs.

Our next stop was lunch at Spoto's Oyster Bar in Stuart.  Do you sign up for loyalty cards at restaurants?  I do, mostly for the freebies!  Since my birthday is just a few days off the offers have been rolling in, most give you an appetizer or dessert.  Spoto's gave me a free lunch or dinner option.  This restaurant overlooks the St Lucie River so it's ideal for lunch.  Sonsearae ordered fish and chips, I had shrimp scampi and Jim ordered a hamburger.  I had a delicious bloody Mary while Jim had a beer and Sonsearae drank water.  My scampi was delicious and I brought home some of the pasta.

Three of the employees brought out my slice of birthday cake and sang for me.  Then the waitress took our picture!  My first thought was they have a board somewhere where they'll post it but before we left they presented me with said picture to remember the moment.

It had been our intention to walk the boardwalk but when we went outside it was spitting rain.  So once again we didn't get to walk and we all could have used the exercise to help work off lunch.  Next we dropped Sonsearae off for her hair appointment.  While she was being dolled up Jim and I went to Barnes and Nobles.  He found some magazines to read and I strolled around trying my best to find something to buy.  Happy to say nothing appealed to me.  While inside it rained.  I was reading my book when Sonsearae let me know she was ready to be picked up.

Our next stop was the Humane Society Thrift Store.  We dropped off a large box of goodies then went inside so our pretty red head could play with the kittens.  Again I strolled around this store but didn't find anything I couldn't live without.

After this we headed to Publix to take advantage of a sale and while driving there we encountered our first rain storm.  It was pretty much over when we got to the store.  Jim dropped us off at the door (I think so he could get more steps than us!).  

Shopping done here and the cooler loaded up with the frozen food we headed over to Target.  We wanted to see if they had the vegan ice cream from Amy's.  They did not.  Sonsearae found a couple items and while she was checking out Jim and I stopped in Starbucks and got some beverages to take on our drive home.

On the drive home more rain!  We had to take our purchases in through some sprinkles but none of us melted so all was OK.

Boo was glad to see us, it was past his dinner time and almost dark.  Only a bit after 1700 but with the cloud cover it seemed later.

I finished off my pasta for dinner and Jim had some apple pie.  Spent the evening watching TV

All is right in our world

Bucket List and Boat Show

What's the 5th thing on your bucket list?  Do you even have a bucket list?  

I've never made one and at my age I wonder if I should.  It's like making resolutions for the new year....why bother if you know you'll never accomplish them?

Last Friday we went to the Boat Show in Stuart Florida. Considering how close we are to the east coast I'm willing to bet they have several boat shows a year in the area!  I have to admit there were a lot of boats.  Mostly fishing boats which don't interest us but they sure can be pretty.  We saw some red ones, aqua hulls on some, lime green, light blue on others but mostly boring white especially topside.  Of course boring white makes them easier to spot on the water.  There were quite a few ski boats too along with pontoon boats.  We looked at the pontoon boats then we graduated to live aboard boats.

this was a pretty wooden pleasure craft.

I cannot begin to describe the gorgeous boats we saw!  Huge, plush ocean going crafts designed for easy living with guest and crew quarters.  It would be easy to trade in our rig for one if we could afford it!

We toured several of these from the big, to the more like we could live on one.  

I was to busy looking and didn't take many pictures.  Besides on land and in the water they were packed like sardines and getting just one boat in the frame was difficult

This boat was across from the wooden boat above and as we came along side of it I snapped this picture of the portholes.  As you can see, this boat isn't white and it was lovely from the outside.

After the show we stopped in at a local place for a bite to eat and drink.  Fish tacos and beer hit the spot!  The weather was perfect with lots of sun and breezes...good thing, because we both wore jeans and had we stayed much longer we would have gotten overheated.

Saturday we were going to check out the Greek Festival in Port Saint Lucie but put if off until Sunday.  Just hung around the house reading and in my case doing chores.

Sunday we headed for the festival around 1030 and I guess we should have waited to leave until after lunch.  When we arrived they were just setting up and although it smelled good the food wasn't quite ready.  We checked a couple booths and inside the hall.  Saw some really interesting Russian and Greek crafts.  The music hadn't started yet so we decided to leave.

We headed to Stuart so we could get some lunch and go to the farmer's market.  Our lunch at Spoto's Oyster Bar on the river was tasty.  I had a taco salad with a beer and Jim had fish and chips with a bloody Mary.  For entertainment we watched the water, some osprey's fishing for their dinner and some boats passing by.  The view was great and we decided to have coffee and dessert, the key lime pie was huge and oh, so yummy!

Never did make it to the market!  Oh well, there's always next week.

Monday we took Boo to the vet.  He needed some flea medicine and had to be checked first.  He's doing well except for his teeth which he'll get cleaned on Friday.  Hopefully they won't have to pull any.

Back home it was laundry time!  I stripped the bed and got the washer and dryer going.  Then Sonsearae asked me to go shopping with her...I said yes.  Then thunderstorms moved in and the power went out.  It was still out when I left and Jim said he'd take care of the machines while I was gone.  

The power was off a few hours and Jim napped and boy did I have some catching up to do when I got home!  Made a simple soup for dinner because I bought some yummy bread.  

Had more rain throughout the evening and apparently the night.  Lost power again but I slept through it all.