Continuing on with my message. . .

Continuing on with my message that things have been busy down here in the sunny southlands:

We had a mini-vacation at Sanibel Island .  Lue was visiting her daughter and son-in-law Gayle and Arthur who bought a house on Sanibel this past year'   They were down for a week's vacation and invited us to come down to visit.  So we went down Sunday morning and stayed until Monday morning.  What a nice time we had!  And it was especially great to see Lue.  They'd all gotten away from the awful weather they've been having up north.  (It's hard to believe all that is going on when we have such sunshine and warmth.)  Lue flew down from Elmira, and Gayle and Art from the Boston area. 

We also went to see Lue's two-year old great grandson, Rob, who was visiting with his parents, Eric and Jennifer.  Jennifer is pregnant with a daughter - due in August, and Jen is allergic to dogs.  So. . .

Bill and Epril offered to take Gracie overnight for us because of Jen's allergy.  We got to Punta Gorda early. . . remember it was the weekend for daylight savings.  Instead of 8 AM it was really 7 AM.  Yuck.   Then from there it was an hour and fifteen minutes.

Eric and Jen  were on their way back to Tampa on Sunday, but we managed to see them for a short time before they had to leave.  Gayle fixed a lovely brunch to welcome us, and say good-by to them.

  Lue had made little Rob a beautiful twin-size quilt made up of crayons.  It was adorable.  Not sure of the correct wording for quilting, but I think I could safely say it was a patch-work quilt made up of a design of crayons.

 Lue had said it was complicated and I could see why!  Beautiful however.  Quite a keep-sake.  It had Lue's initials and then a heart and then Rob's initials on one side edge.  Then his second birthdate on another, some hugs and kisses on another and I don't remember what the last side had.  He's a lucky little guy. 

After they left, we took our car, Art drove, which was nice so Paul could see everything, and went for a ride around the island and to Captiva which is on the end of Sanibel.  What a beautiful spot.  What homes!  Some looked like hotels, but were private homes.

  We thought it was a spot mostly for vacationers.  Lots of young people riding rental bicycles on riding paths that following most of the roads. Lots of walkers too.  There's a lot of traffic because there aren't many roads.  There's  only one way off and on the island, but I guess that doesn't bother a lot of people because there were a lot of people there!  It was a beautiful spot and I'm glad Paul and I had the opportunity to go. 

On our jaunt around the island we stopped at a restaurant that overlooked the water and had a drink and some hor doerves.  It was so pretty.  We also stopped at a park overlooking mangroves before that.  Truly beautiful. 

Their home is three stories.  (Paul says it's two story because the bottom is the garage and the swimming pool.  Everyone on the island has their homes built that way for hurricane protection.)

  They did have an elevator so that we could use it if we wanted.  I don't do stairs very well, so I did use it most of the time, although I did do the stairs more than once.  Lue has the opposite problem.  She has trouble walking, but can do stairs very well!  We should combine bodies and then we'd have a perfect person.  

The first (second) floor was the living area, an open area with kitchen, dining area, and living room and - which had three lanais - one in the front, one on the side, and one off Lue's bedroom which was opposite ours, with a bathroom in the middle.   The second (third) floor included just Art and Gayle's bedroom and bathroom.  You could see down into the living area from the third floor hallway. 

They bought the house completely furnished from dishes to garden tools to bikes to exercise equipment.  Amazing.  We marveled at how lucky they were. 

Sunday morning we took a ride after breakfast at the most popular place in town.  We had to wait a while for breakfast, but it was worth it!   Art drove again.  We went to (get this name - I love it)  Dink Darling Nature Preserve.  There were miles of roads on this area.

  Paul and Lue's families are birders.  And I've grown to have a respectful awe of their knowledge.  This place was a birders' paradise.  Thousands of large herons, sandpipers, white pelicans, ibises.  We only wish we had brought our binocs.  Oh, well.  My good deed for the day will be to put a pair in the car for future use. 

We got back to Punta Gorda  mid-afternoon.   When we parked the car outside their apartment, we saw Gracie peering over the windowsill in their living room ground floor apartment.  I guess she had a very good time because Bill said he allowed her to lick all she wanted.  She has trouble controlling her licker.  Bill was busy at work so we didn't stay long, but had a glass of water with him.

Also - when we got home, and I checked on Facebook, there was a picture of Gracie in a large pot on the stove with the caption "We're pet-sitting Gracie.  We're having her for dinner."  I found it quite amusing and told him so.  Then he added - she was a little alarmed when he first tried to put her in the pot - he thinks she thought she was having a bath.  Her little heart was going thump thump thump.  But when she saw there wasn't any water in the pot, she relaxed.  I thought you could almost see her smile.

We talked to Lue last night and she got home fine on Tuesday afternoon.  As did Arthur and Gayle on Wednesday.  Gayle went swimming Tuesday afternoon in the Gulf and there was a school of manta rays right by her.  So everyone's home safe.  Good!