It is official: 2012 is here, have a Happy New Year!
Life is a beach…winter season in SW Florida
Lifeguards on duty
It dawned on me today, after talking about the weather up north and in other far away (from me, anyway) cold places–Ireland, London, Seattle to name a few, that either I have it pretty good or we always seem to think the grass really is greener on the other side. Truthfully, we all have exactly what we need, when we need it.
I lived in New York for over twenty years and never complained about the weather there as much as I do here in Florida; but that is mostly because NY provided relief from heat when Fall, Winter and Spring arrived. There was the change of seasons to look forward to, the anticipation of shedding one type of clothing for another.
During winter, of course, you bulked up with coats, layers of clothes, donned boots, and gloves, and hats and whatever else you needed in order to stay warm–leg warmers? I have not seen or heard of those things in years! And even though I did not like the winter months, especially when it snowed, I still looked forward to some of the things that came with it–ice skating (the children, not me), concerts, plays, etc.
Our side of Florida offers no such season changes, but it does allow for the occasional sweater or light wind breaker now and then, and a common outfit for this time of the year might be shorts, sweatshirts and sandals–a compromise I guess.
Most people assume it is hot down here all the time, not so. In the years we have lived on Florida’s West Coast, we have experienced temperatures as low as 30s and as high as the 100s; good thing the average stays in the 80s and the extremes only last for a couple of days. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes not. When it is cold up north during the winter months, our days are pretty good, cold fronts from the north produce really nice weather; mornings and evenings are nice and cool, sometimes even cold (for us) but daytime temps stay comfortable enough to sometimes warrant a trip to the beach.
That was the case this week, it started out with a couple of cold days and by Thursday it felt like Summer. So I took myself and camera to the beach, to verify what I already suspected. Our “snowbirds” (tourists) where there, not an empty parking spot could be found at the first three beaches I stopped at–Stump Pass, Englewood, Blind Pass and finally when I arrived at Manasota Key–I found a parking space, and all I wanted to do was to take some pictures.
Aah, yes, I still remember those days when I thought nothing of diving into 65-70 degree waters, brrr… thank goodness that was a long time ago. But still…what was I thinking?
And now… we dive into a New Year, 2012. Does anyone still remember how we were freaking out as the New millennium, Y2K, approached? It came and went along with 11 more years, yikes!!! Time sure flies…
Lea Michelle sings Auld Lang Syne Happy New Year to one and all, let’s keep on reading and writing, and let us enjoy life!
More photos from Fishermen’s Village, FL
My day trip through Fishermen’s Village continues, I had a willing Northerner (New Hampshire) volunteer for this picture, I think it was because he noticed me trying to take his picture–on the sly. LOL
Good thing he was gracious and willing; we spent a few minutes congratulating ourselves for choosing to live in Southwest Florida.
A visit to Fishermen’s Village, Punta Gorda, FL
I have been snapping lots of pictures this year in an effort to get familiar with my Canon, and to ensure I have original pictures to include in my posts. Consequently, I am beginning to overload Picasa’s files (not really); but just had this great idea–I will add some of my latest photos to my posts as the year comes to an end and let them do the talking for me. A picture is worth a thousand words. Here we go, enjoy!
Two Grandmas, a baby and…a toddler
First, a bit of background information. It all started about two months ago when Natalie (our daughter) and her husband Michael had this wonderful idea—they were planning a get-away for a couple of days—and would I mind coming up to the ATL to babysit the girls? You already know my position when it comes to the grandkids, of course I will do it. When, was my response?
As luck will have it, Airtran (my preferred airline) sent a promotional email announcing they were running a special–$35 each way from Sarasota to Atlanta and points in between; you know we jumped on that one. Then, as we were getting ready to buy tickets, it hit me. Wait a grandmamma minute I will be alone with the baby (4 months, breastfed only up to this point) and Little Miss Lauryn, (3 years old) who I will need to take to and pick-up from school—for two days? Am I crazy? What was I thinking!
Second great idea, someone else will need to co-manage this situation with me—enter Tati Lydia (my sister) who lives in Miami, and lucky for her Delta (her preferred airline) was offering the same deal as Airtran. It was a hilarious situation, trust me; coordinating ticket buying, on two airlines and we had to buy them before midnight that day, it was already 9:30 p.m. After enough drama going back and forth, at 11:45 p.m., it was all set; we will be flying to Atlanta on December 8. Mission accomplished.
I had already spent time babysitting my grandchildren before, so that was not the problem. My concern this time was the baby, Sydney; who was breastfed exclusively, no formula/bottles had crossed her tiny lips to this point. It became a running joke between Natalie and me during our pre-trip phone conversations. I kept telling her I was not worried about Lauryn—she talks, is potty trained and will certainly let me know when she needs something. No problem there at all—Sydney on the other hand, I envisioned going on a “hunger strike”, no mommy–no food. So please practice giving her formula from a bottle. Two days before we arrived in Atlanta, she finally did; we were very pleased with this development. No hunger strike during our watch, yeah!
So here we were, Tati Lydia and Grandma Marcia, enjoying the girls; relaxing from our usual chores, reveling in the fact we could finally spend some sister time together, catch up on our lives, in person this time (we talk on the phone daily); and Natalie and Michael were on their planned escape to Savannah, well deserved, I might add.
The trip to school and back, no problem. Lydia stayed home with the baby while I picked-up Lauryn. The funny stuff came later. Before the parents left on Friday, we received detailed instructions, complete with demonstrations on how to do this and how to do that—how the car seat works, prepare the formulas, how many ounces, give her vitamins, tuck the girls at night, how to fill the humidifier with water, read a story…yeah, yeah, yeah… been there done that, we raised you all, did we not? You turned out ok, did you not?
On Saturday, Lydia and I decided to take the girls out to Kanga Zoom (a playground) and then to the Chickin’ store as Lauryn calls it (Chick-fil-A). All was well until it was time to get the baby in the carrier that process took more than five minutes with both of us trying, and then voila she was in—now we just had to figure out how to set her in the car seat and we’d be good to go. Let me tell you, right here and now—those things are a menace to grandparents! We got her in, but when we arrived at Kanga Zoom? Grandma could not remember what buttons to press to release the da** carrier, and Tati Lydia stood outside the car cracking up, with Lauryn as her accomplice, telling me stuff like “maybe Lauryn knows what to do”, oh… shut up, I said; you try it then. She did and it worked, WTH…! By the time we got to the Chickin’ store about two hours later, we were delirious with laughter. Michael told us what to do—we just thought we knew better. LOL
Back in the days when we were raising our girls, we made do with those “umbrella type” strollers that were light as heck, did not require any complicated instructions and were easy enough to carry with one hand. You know what, after all this excitement; we did not attempt whatsoever to take Sydney’s stroller out of the car trunk. Thank goodness, Lauryn can walk! That is it for this Grandma tale, I am sure there will be more to come. LOL
Stroller and plane images courtesy of Google images.
Chica on the Move 