Christmas in Sanibel

While the rest of the country experiences record cold temperatures, snow and ice, here in Ft. Myers, Florida, we continue to bask in the sun.  It's actually been above normal temperatures here and its been in the 80s all week.  The "seniors at play" are rolling in daily!

I am really excited to be so close to Sanibel Island and to experience Christmas "Island Style".  We went to the Luminary Festival on Sanibel, an evening where the main road across the island is lit with candle luminaries, and the businesses are decked out in Christmas lights, free food, activities, live music and the shops stay open late.  It was really beautiful, but really crowded.  We opted to use the free shuttles to go from place to place, but so did the other thousands of people, which means we spent hours standing in line.  I was glad to experience it, once, but wouldn't do it again.  I had hoped to go to the golf cart parade and the lighted boat parade, but decided it wasn't worth the pain that results from all that standing, so we just watched snippets of it on the local news.

 

 

 

One afternoon I went to lighthouse beach for a few hours of "nature's heating pad" ... sandwiched between the warm sand and the warm sun.  I picked along the low tide line to find a few mini shells, and ran into my friend Pam from www.ILoveShelling.com.  I showed her my handful of shells, and she included me in her blog, complete with a "cyber shelling" photo you can click on to really see close up all the minis I found.  It was a beautiful day...

 

 

 

And as always, the sunsets over the water every evening (this is NOT our view from the campground, but only a few miles away) are always beautiful.

 

 

On Tuesday evenings, we play Bingo here at the Groves RV Resort.

 

 

 

I saw this adorable book about a baby crocodile at a store.  In it the baby crocodile wants to eat a child, and is offered all these other things to eat.  Finally, he comes upon a child, who, to summarize,  says "oh look at the baby crocodile".  Then picks him up and throws him back in the water!  Hahahaha!  The story and illustration is so cute!!

 

Since Santa's reindeer are tired from all the cold and snow, Santa in Sanibel uses Flamingos!  Hope you are having a Merry Christmas!

 

 













Shell-Abration!

I spent two days this week on the beaches of Sanibel, on of the top ten shelling beaches in the world.  I wasn't disappointed!  On Tuesday Noel and I plopped down in the middle of a huge pile of shells and starting picking out all sorts of beauties.  Just look at that pile of shells - its huge, and deep!  The top layers were pretty picked over, but if you dug a bit, there were all kinds of pretty shells underneath!

 



Shelling was so good, the next day Elaine and I went back and spent hours digging through the piles of shells, finding olives, tulips, conchs, cones and more!

Here's what I found, all cleaned up in some bleach-y water and laid out on our picnic table.  Yes, I know, I'm obsessed....

 

These are augers and cerith shells:

 



 And so many pretty colors of calico scallops.  Some of these will become pendants.

I love it when I find shells that have been drilled (the result some other mollusk trying to get in there to eat the critter) to look like a letter of the alphabet.  Here is "J" for Jason!

These are miniatures, including my favorite wentletrap shells - these are smaller than a 1/2 inch!

Various murex shells on the left, clams on the right:

Oh so many olive shells....

And various interesting pieces and other things found on the beach, including crab shells and a vertebrae from something....

The lightning whelks are so pretty!

 

Tip-toeing through the banded tulips

 

 

 

Now what to do with all these shells, you ask?  Well I plan to keep a handful of my very favorites, then I will send some to Alayna, (my 4 year old "granddaughter"), who keeps the shells I gave her by her bed and likes to look through them as much as I do. Some to my nieces, and others I may photograph and then just give away to all the admirers that have stopped to talk to me about shells at the campground.  I'll need to clear off the picnic table in case a good storm blows in a new batch of shells!!

 

Thanksgiving Week

Internet connections have been sketchy here at the Groves RV Resort, and it's starting to get on my nerves!  And the pool heater had to be replaced, so we've been without a pool for a week now, and that's not making me too happy either.  But we've managed to stay busy and are getting to know some of our neighbors here, so all is well.

One afternoon we went into downtown Ft Myers for a free Calusa Indian art exhibit.  It showed art works depicting various scenes of Florida's history.  We enjoyed it, and had a nice lunch afterward and walked the shops of downtown.

 

 

 

We found a BEAD shop!

 

And a cute art co-op market!

 

 

The campground had a Thanksgiving dinner where they provided the turkey, and the residents provided various side dishes. The food was great, and we really enjoyed it.  We sat with out neighbors and we laughed and laughed and talked well into the late afternoon.  I had volunteered to help decorate the hall, so I got to meet a few of the ladies, and then Noel and I both helped to clean up.  Today there was a "Buck a Dog" lunch with $1 hot dogs.  Someone asked Noel if his daughter wanted ice cream!  HAHAHAHAHAHA - I told you, I'm the youngest in the place!

 

 

 







One day my new friend Eileen and I went over to Sanibel.  I was excited to see a whole flock of Frigate birds riding the breeze, and after shelling, we took a drive through Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge and saw more birds, and a great big alligator.

Itchy pelican....

When this mangrove crab fell out of the tree and scampered across my foot, I squealed like a girl!
It startled me!  They move fast!

The Sanibel lighthouse is all decked out for Christmas!

 

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Miami to see Jason.  He took us down to South Beach to show us where he works at his new job at The James Royal Palm.  It's a beautiful, fancy hotel right on the beach.  He seems to like his job, although for the amount of responsibility he has, and for the price of those rooms (cha-ching!), he gets paid peanuts!  He's frustrated, but I know he is destined for greatness!

 

One of the restaurants, called The Florida Cookery, inside the James Royal Palm

 

 

 One of the bedrooms of a two bedroom suite:

 

 That is one fancy mini-bar!

The James Royal Palm Hotel:

 





Afterward he fixed us an amazing dinner - I sure wish he could cook like that back in high school!

 

 

Over the weekend I was having a really hard time with pain, but I was determined to make it to the National Sand Sculpting Competition before it was over, so I drugged up and we went out to Ft Myers Beach to see the amazing sculptures.  I came home, threw my guts up, and fell asleep in the chair.  Our very uncomfortable chair I might add.  We are going to check some of the many thrift stores down here for a better chair!

 

My favorite! There was as work in progress of the Island of Mis-Fit Toys!

 

A party bus took us from the parking lot to the beach!

 

 

I never knew how much of my dad's frowny-face I have when I sleep!

 



 

Today we are just hanging around the campground, cleaning house, decorating for Christmas, doing laundry, etc.  Hopefully my pain level comes back down to its usual 5, because there are a lot of upcoming Christmas activities I want to participate in!

 

I managed to decorate the RV for Christmas for less than $10! (although the lights and tree we brought with us).  The garland and ornaments are from a garage sale, and the ribbon from Target!  'Tis the Season!



 

 

 

Stay in touch everyone!!