Time to say goodbye

As we all prepare to head North in April, we got together for one last supper together at Pumpernickel's ( a great German restaurant here in Titusville).
Have a safe trip everyone-and hope to see y'all next year!

Throw out those electric blankets

Sadly, a family on our street had there vacation cut short by this tragic fire caused by an electric blanket in their RV. Thankfully the couple got out with only minor injuries but their dog was not as lucky.

It's been a while

Yes, I know - it's been a while since I last blogged- no excuses.

I'm still on vacation - however Olivier's holiday must seem nearly over- he has been at Del's painting and putting finishing touches on Del's renovations. We will try to do some laundry at his place before he figures out how to put a coin machine on his new appliances (which he has been threatening to do!)

I can see clearly now

It will be a long and tiring ride home for Sylvain but his windows will be sparkling clean thanks to Olivier, a bottle of RainX and some elbow grease.

Look way way up

Bad enough we have to look down when we walk to watch out for gators - now we have to look way up as well. The Warbird Airshow is in town for the weekend. It hasn't even started yet and there is plenty of traffic in the sky.

A walk on the wild side!

Sylvain didn't believe that there are aligators everywhere around here, but after seeing this little guy on the way from our house to his house he is now a believer!



As most of you would know this is a male wild turkey strutting his stuff - but don't tell Chantal - she thinks it's a peacock!!

It was 5 o'clock - somewhere

Titusville has many great Mexican restaurants and last night we went over to our favorite- Rodeo. Great fajitas and even better margueritas (or as they like to call it - "Mexican water").
Then it was over to Sylvain's place where PhilippeO treated us to some homemade cheesecake.
Delicious!

Up, up and away (again)

Last night we set our alarm clocks for midnight and with folding chairs, cameras, binoculars and coffee in hand the 9 of us traipsed off to the shore to see the launch of Endeavour at 2:38 am.
The night sky lit up like it was daytime (these pictures do not do it justice) and the sound was unbelievable.
After waiting 2 hours, the liftoff lasting about 15 seconds. Was it worth it? You bet it was!!

...and then there were 9!

Seriously, we are going to have to stop giving out our address here! Not that I can blame anyone for wanting to get away from the snow.
Thank goodness for the wine Chantal brought over - the name says it all!

Our hawk in flight

The hawk that calls our neighour's roof home came back to visit - but he didn't stay long.

Making friends with the sand cranes

The Florida sand cranes are interesting birds and can be very friendly. This one followed us in our golf cart for quite some time.

Back to the Dixie Crossroads

Our annual trip to the Dixie Crossroads last night was great.

Guy went for the all you can eat rock shrimp deal. We were all proud of his ability to down 8 dozen of the little creatures until we found out that the record was 32 dozen. Next time, skip the clam chowder and crab bite appetizers Guy!

Today's wildlife sightings

Everyone back home seems to enjoy seeing the animals here in the Great Outdoors.
Let me share today's sightings with you.

Feeding a crowd

Joanne and Guy arrived on Friday and with Danny and Diane still here for a couple of days we needed a feast for 7.

Stew on the BBQ seemed to fit the bill.

And for dessert - what else- strawberries.

Spring training

We spent the day doing what could easily become an annual event for us - we went to the season opener of the Washington Nationals.

We weren't able to add to our Nationals wardrobe this year - the freebie this time was a limited edition commemorative coin.

The Nationals lost, the peanuts were stale but it was a beautiful hot sunny day - not bad at all.

Deer must like fish!

Olivier cooked up some great tilapia on the BBQ tonight with 3 pairs of eyes watching his every move.

We had a hen party!

Cornish hens are a great BBQ supper around here and we certainly enjoyed our feast!


Sorry folks - there were no leftovers!

Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

Our loyal Blog readers will remember that one of our favorite places last year was the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Today we saw huge aligators, pink flamingos, bald eagles and a spoonbilled pelican (I think that's what it's called!).

Friendly gator

I think this gator remembers us from last year - he was smiling when we took his picture! Now that it is mating season they are everywhere around here. Time to switch from my sandals to my workboots!

Oops!

So maybe giving Olivier and Peter a beer before the job was done was not such a good idea!