Beach, Pool & Park

The ladies spent much of the day catching rays on the beach. Robin and Nathan went to the pool instead due to Nathan's aversion to personally encountering sea creatures such as the ones he saw a while back in a sea-world aquarium. Photo of the ladies on the beach ...

These are mere cell phone photos because I chose not to sling my camera around my neck today. But I find it pretty hard, no, impossible to see what's on the screen while on the beach.

Leaving the beach I returned to the condo but had no key to get in so I wandered behind our building where there is a rather pleasant park for the residents. Photos of the park ...

And so flowed by another day in vacationland.

Two for One

No post yesterday because it was just another slow day. We haven't been feeling at our peak so we mostly relaxed in our condo although Carol and I did go shopping for a few hours. Among other things we stopped at a Barnes & Nobles, near a defunct Borders Book Store, so I could check for a good book about the Reformation. Nothing. It was an event, or possibly more precisely a process, that churned up civilization. Nothing. Lots of space turned over to selling the Nook, much floor space for juvenile games and silly nicknacks like Star Wars Bobbleheads. I think we're witnessing the demise of the bricks and mortar bookstore. Amazon.com will be it.

Very warm and sunny today. The gang went to the beach but I stayed back to do some work. I have customers emailing me for prices so I dutifully responded. Got an iPad to pay for. I heard that Apple is coming out with a product that will disable all your electronic devices with one push of a button. It's called iQuit. As Steve Jobs might say, "Isn't that cool?"

So not much to report. If you're looking for mental stimulation, alas you'll have to find it elsewhere. I'd recommend two outstanding sources as follows ...

http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_goldman_doctors_make_mistakes_can_we_talk_about_that.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_macgregor_2600_years_of_history_in_one_object.html

Just to keep to the general theme I'll post another photo of our beach. The extremely fine powder-white sand is something I don't recall ever seeing before. I'll have to bring home some in a little bottle and add it to my modest yet international pebble collection.

 A little after 7:00 p.m. Robin took Nathan to the p[ool here for a pre-bedtime swim. I was the official photographer ...

A Day Indoors

Since we weren't feeling very energetic today, and since Anna's parents and brother were due to visit for a short while on their way passing by, we ended up spending the day in our condo.

Nathan enjoys seeing me lose at angry birds and keeps after me to play the same game episode until I get it which, thankfully, I did today. Not good enough to win a golden egg though. But I taught him a game too. He has a little blanket he's named Coco. I taught him how to play Cocoball.

This afternoon we enjoyed Skyping with Andrew and our granddaughters at home. Nathan joined us to show his cousins how many Golden Eggs he's won. Which means he held up his iPad for our iPad to transmit the image on his iPad. I believe it's just a matter of time before these machines communicate with each other without need of humans. Photo of iPad crowd below ...

From that hi-tech session Nathan returned to the low-tech occupation of crayon coloring, finishing a masterpiece he began earlier in a restaurant. Photo:

Another slow day but, hey, that's the general concept.

Day on the Beach

The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and we went to the beach. The water was great, the sand is incredibly fine and white, and all was well.Below is a photo of Robin, Anna, and Nathan enjoying the waves...

The next photo I should entitle 'The New Apple Man.' His iPad purchase was followed by the acquisition of an iPhone. It took a while but the world of Apple finally got him. Click on photos for the full view.

The beach we are on is a private one for folks who live nearby, and it's called Crescent Beach. Of course it is merely an extension of the public Siesta Key Beach a little further along, the beach that is called the best one in America. Well, Ville LaSalle hasn't anything close to this, that's for sure.

To provide a little more taste of the beach, here is a little video ...

Once we had been grilled enough by the sun we returned to our condo where I found out how much more expert Nathan is than I am at playing Angry Birds on the iPad. But I found out one of his secrets. When he has a difficult time winning he goes to Youtube and watches a video of how that particular game can be won. Live and learn.

Off Day

This morning we left on a mission to find a medical center that would administer a monthly vitamin injection that Carol requires. It is amazing to see the range in prices charged for this. By asking around we found a good clinic that was quite reasonable. Other clinics must have thought we wanted to buy their furniture.

We also came across and visited a place called Used Books Heaven. It was run by a no-nonsense, in-charge elderly lady. I traded in my very disappointing book on the Reformation which I bought a few days ago and got something by John Kenneth Galbraith whose writing and ironic humor I have always enjoyed.

And that's about it. No photos, no anecdotes. Hope to have something interesting to write in this space soon, but today ain't it.

Pool Day

Late breakfast on the balcony today.

Slow morning followed by leisure and reading at the pool.

A few customers kept me at the computer just a little, and that was the day. Maybe there will be more to report tomorrow.

Quiet Tuesday

Shortly after yesterday's posting our condo was filled with the shrill wail of sirens, loud blowing of horns and the occasional weee-o weee-o weee-o noise that speeding fire engines like to make to add variety to their standard siren. We went onto the balcony to watch about five fire trucks dash by. A minute later the cacaphony started again and a few more howling fire trucks sped by.

We figured it must take a disaster to summon that many trucks. But it wasn't over. Soon four or five more trucks bawled by and, just when we thought that was it, even more came screaming onto the road. Not sure where they went or what they had to confront because we haven't found anything in the local news yet. One could have been excused for exclaiming, "Armageddon at last!" But, although there were around twenty trucks besides other emergency vehicles, it wasn't.

We ate at a neighboring restaurant last night and Nathan didn't need restaurant crayons and a picture place mat to amuse himself. He played Angry Birds on his Dad's iPhone.

We spent some hours on the beach today but I took no photos of it. It's white sand and blue sea. You are likely familiar with the concept. But I did take a photo of Nathan near one of the many picturesque trees on the property here.

That's about it for today.

A Taste of the Beach

Robin and I went down to the parking lot this morning to take care of car business and explored the pleasantly landscaped property. Down by the river we found benches and a view of the bridge we crossed yesterday. Pictures of yesterday's views follow ...

The large building down the road and behind Robin is our condo's complex.

We were just past the center of the bridge when the alarm signaled it was going to open.

Today we paused to view the scene from a different angle. Below is Robin taking photos with his new iPhone. It seems any little boat with a high mast spurs the bridge keepers to action, opening the bridge for the vessel and tying up automobile traffic ...

They have many big twisted trees here very attractive to the eye ...

Our trip to the beach today lasted a couple of hours only which I believe is reasonable for day one. We saw some people on our cruise get themselves seriously toasted. Don't want to do that. I forgot my camera today so no pictures of the beach yet. The above are all cell phone photos.

Siesta Key Day

 Although Carol and I had our photo taken upon boarding the ship, we never got one taken of the two of us after that. So I exploited the reflective properties of a ship's window to obtain the photo below ...

Just a further note about yesterday ...
When we stopped for the trade show at the Orlando Convention Center we were unable to quickly park the car and nip in as usual. We had to park then ride in a bus shuttle to the site because this sprawling facility was utterly inundated with attendees to a MegaCon convention also being held there. These attendees came dressed for the occasion meaning Carol and I shared a bus with people dressed like Superman, Darth Vader, Pokémon characters, cowboys, pirates, and robots. A fellow near me wore a horse's head. Photos below were taken with my cell phone ...

So the dispatch with which we hoped to visit the trade show was definitely slowed down by this flood of fantasy fans. Did I say "slowed down?" It was retarded!

Last evening, under a starry sky, we all crossed the street and took our first look at the beach. It looks absolutely beautiful. We did not go there today because it was overcast and we preferred to simply relax here. This is a view of our beach ...

One thing Robin and I did do was walk a mile to the Books-A-Million store where I finally obtained a book about the Reformation. I've been wanting to read at least a concise history of that for a long time and I may have found the right book. I hope so.

Port Canaveral to Siesta Key

The cruise ended this morning, we returned to our Corolla, and drove over to our very fine new accommodations for the next two weeks.

Impressions of the cruise:

I discovered that while leaning on the rail of a ship a swift gust of wind can lift your sunglasses out of your shirt where they were hanging and quite suddenly present you with the sight of them ten feet away over the sea and descending at about a forty degree angle toward the waves. I immediately reached for the emergency cord to stop the ship and get the sunglasses retrieved by one of their professionals but - can you believe this - there was no such provision. Really inexcusable in this day and age.

We enjoyed visiting Nassau and St. Thomas but the surprise was Puerto Rico. For whatever reason I had not acquired a particularly positive view of this place but we took a guided bus tour while there and I must say we both enjoyed it very much.

The government is providing parks and groomed beaches conducive to reading because they want people to dispel stress and read books.

As the above photo shows the benches, although made of stone, do provide an agreeable level of comfort.

Also in Puerto Rico we came across 'The Bounty' - the ship used to make the movie years ago. Robin, Andrew, and I saw this ship about twenty years ago during a bicycle ride when we stopped at the Ste-Catherine locks and watched it pass through. Now our paths crossed again.

Our last day was spent on a private island in the Bahamas, one owned by the cruise ship company. We spent the day on a beautiful beach while the ship waited patiently at anchor off shore.

One learns patience on a ship. If one is not caught behind some elderly folks inching along then it will be a three-hundred pounder oozing forward with arms swinging at thirty degree angles or lost souls choosing to consult diagrams, maps, and schedules in the passageways.

It was all interesting. We ate well. We slept extraordinarily well. Now it's ... uh ... Siesta time, so to speak.

St. Thomas

No photos today. We're sitting in a cafe enjoying Smoothies and checking email in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Our ship is visible out the window. We'll do a little more poking around in this very pleasant place then get back on board. Hope all is good where you are.

Port Canaveral

Greetings from Port Canaveral, although the above photo was taken on Coco Beach, just down the road.  As you can see the day became overcast and we passed through some rain on the way here.

 From Coco Beach one can see cruise ships coming and going as the above photo confirms.

 We are 5 miles from the Kennedy Space Center so allusions to it of course are seen here and there. Too bad they are not launching a rocket until two days before we return.

The above gives you an idea of the very pleasant suite we are enjoying at this hotel. Tomorrow the plan calls for us to board a cruise ship and spend a week visiting a few Caribbean destinations. It will likely be difficult if not impossible to update this blog on a daily basis but there will definitely be a summary with photos after we return.

Palm Coast

Greetings from Palm Coast, Florida, about halfway between St. Augustine and Daytona, land of sunshine, oranges, palm trees, beaches, and ambulance-chasing lawyers. We're in comfortable accommodations at the local Best Western and have just had a fine supper at the Cracker Barrel across the parking lot. Back in the Georgia Welcome Center we noticed some happy signs of Spring - see photo of blossoming tree.


Of course we also stopped at the Florida Welcome Center to pick up a complementary state map and paper cup of Orange Juice.

The trip through the center of Jacksonville was a sweet ride this time. Last year we had to snake our way through a confusing maze of expressway construction which has now been completed. So today we breezed along new overpasses and had only to think about keeping left all the way ... a huge improvement.

Life in a Very Small town

Well, here we are in Manning, South Carolina, at a Super 8 motel. It was only a 650 km day because we quit the road a couple of times to poke around. Manning is a very small town, maybe village is a better word, or maybe hamlet, or maybe whistle-stop- anyway it's got a Super 8 motel by the highway exit and we were tired.

While going out to retrieve our overnight bag from the car I saw a lady coming toward the Motel door and, gentleman that I am, I held it open for her. She said, "Your name is Sheppard, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And you're from Montreal, right?"

"Uh, yes. How do you know that?"

"I'm Sister Ruff. I've seen you at assemblies."

Her husband, Wayne Ruff, with whom I once worked in the Attendant Dept. at District Conventions, came out of his car to shake my hand. They were on their way home from their vacation. Is there anybody out there who is good enough at math to calculate the chances of a meeting like that?

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I just interrupted this blog to go to my car and fetch a book. While out there the Ruff's pulled up again after having had supper at a Wendy's down the road, as we did earlier. So we chatted some more. They spent their vacation at Bradenton where we were two years ago and are hurrying to get home in time for the birth of twin grandchildren.

Manning - you never know who you might meet in a tiny town.

February 7, 2012.

Greetings from Fredericksburg, Virginia, which according to their slogan 'is for lovers.' Well, they seem to be changing that. The more prominent slogan now is 'LOVE' and the explanation is that it's because Virginia is - you get the picture. The Virginia Welcome Center is shown above with Carol and her halo.

We left at 3:35 a.m. and the bit of snow in Andrew's driveway has been the *only* snow our car's wheels have touched since. 11 degrees F while passing New York City, 14 degrees going around Washington, and 16 degrees here.

So the urban-intensive leg of our journey has been accomplished. All went smoothly. We just got back from a supper at Tito's Diner, preceded by a much needed car wash. It was so slushy in Montreal yesterday we drove this far in what looked like a Quebec mud ball. We got it washed before radishes sprouted on the hood.

Over 1000 kilometers clocked today. A demain.

Getting Ready

This entry is just to set up the blog.