April 9, 2006 - Lovers Key

Barb took a shell factory tour with the shell club she joined.  The photos on top are just ideas of things you can make with shells.

The behind-the-scenes tour was full of incredible varieties of shells, coral, giant barnacles, etc.  Literally, from around the world.  Fascinating stuff.

The shell factory also had this glass making operation which was fun to watch.  Had some pretty fancy (and expensive) creations on display, for sale of course.

Part of the shell club group watching the glass blower.  The ovens are RED HOT as you can see, and the vase is made step by step with proper amount of heat and skill.  When you watch the process, you can understand why they're so expensive besides being beautiful.

Now, Barb had to take a picture of herself with this lady.  Judy was our tour guide at the factory--wonderful guide too!  Her maiden name is Judith Curtis and she's from Lowell, Massachusetts.  She attended both Ste. Jeanne d'Arc grammar school and St. Joseph's High School, both schools that Barb attended.  Judy graduated from St. Joseph's three years before Barb did.  For those of you reading from Barb's home, she knew Father Lessard and Father Marquis.  Small world! 

We're so blessed!  Remember Becky and Bud from our visit to Wilmington, OH?  If not, see here.  Well, they had come to Florida to visit the Keys (as in Key West, etc.) and were kind enough to track us down way over here on the west coast (of Florida that is).  Son Tom was with them, and a delight to be with.  It's was our first opportunity to see their Holiday Rambler, and we even got a tour of the inside--beautiful!  When they came to our door (taking a chance that we'd be home), I was embarrassed because I couldn't remember their names!  I knew I knew them, but no name came up.  That ever happen to you or am I the only one that feels like a fool so much of the time?  Anyway, we had a nice too-short visit as they had to put some miles on before stopping for the night.  Later I heard that they drove until almost 2 AM before finding a rest area with room in it.  Tough to compete with all the other snowbirds heading back north.  What fun to know people like these folks.  Is this a great lifestyle or what??

Barb's sister Jennie and her husband Don rented a house in The Villages for the month of March.  We drove the Road Abode up to Clermont, FL (Thousand Trails park) for a couple of days so we could spend some time looking at houses there and enjoy Don and Jennie's company before moving to Payne's Prairie State Park for the Florida State Parks annual volunteer appreciation weekend.  Every night, 365 nights a year, there's live music at both village squares there in The Villages.  You don't even have to bring your own chair!

Don and Jennie had been taking line dancing lessons while there, and lots of the music this trio played was good for that; then some traditional stuff as well.  I think we'd like that lifestyle too, but time will tell.

Our little Christmas cactus that we got from Susie Price just blooms whenever it wants.  Doesn't have to be Christmas at all.   It bloomed in January and again in March so far this year.  We sure love the color of its blossoms.

At Payne's Prairie we parked in a pasture usually occupied by wild horses, bison, and cracker cattle.  It has been a while since any of the critters have been here, so we weren't worried about stepping in anything too fresh.

People from all over the state were here.  The caterer was excellent.  Huge breakfast on Saturday, good sack lunch for us to take with us on our tours, and a wonderful steak dinner Saturday night.  Sweet rolls on Sunday morning, and coffee whenever we wanted it.  The covered pole barn was where we ate and where the stage was.  That circle of tables had a big fire ring in the middle, but as you know, we'd already done our "sit by the campfire" for this year.  And a baby cracker cow in a field of fresh cow pies.

Cracker cows got their name from the cowboys who used long whips to drive them.  The whips would make a crack like a gunshot, and the cows would shy away from the noise, and the sound carried a long ways.  The herders thus became known as crackers and the cattle as cracker cattle.

Among the entertaining things to do Friday night was some star-gazing sponsored by a local astronomy club.  We looked through that hi-tech telescope and could see in amazing clarity Saturn with its beautiful encircling rings.  A real thrill for both of us.  The scope was controlled by that laptop computer sitting on the little table.  On the other side of the fence were these horses with fuzzy winter coats; we had ours on too. 

These shots were taken Friday evening, and as you can tell by the lack of shorts and tank tops, it's a bit chilly.  That sign wasn't the only thing making us feel welcome.  The staff that was running the event were excellent at telling us all about the place and the outlying area as well.  The staff was made up of rangers from this park as well as some others.  This was the 8th time Florida has sponsored the Volunteer Appreciation Weekend.

The band entertaining us Friday night was made up of different state park employees and their families.  Pretty good music for a bunch of amateurs.  We liked sitting by one of the many propane heaters the staff brought in.

Saturday morning when we got up it was 36 degrees, and that's cold for us.  Didn't keep us from eating a hearty breakfast and climbing into the bus for the ride to the start of the canoe tour we'd signed up for.  The tour guide has written a book about this part of the park, and one of the volunteers got him to autograph his copy of the book before we left.

Remember I said that Saturday morning when we got up it was 36 degrees?  And then we went wading! We'd not been told we'd have to wade out through the "lettuce" field before the water would be free enough to paddle the canoes/kayaks, and for a few minutes we thought about going on a hike rather than a canoe trip.

The canoe tour was in a swamp that is sometimes a prairie and sometimes a swamp.  Depends on rainfall levels and how fast the Alachua Sink drains the water out.  Some time ago, something plugged the drain, and there was actually commercial shipping across the swamp (maybe it was called a lake then)!   I got my shoes, sox, long underwear, and jeans soaking wet.  Barb hadn't worn her longies, so she just roll up her jeans and put her shoes and sox in the canoe.  She got in as soon as the water was deep enough for me to push it.

It was great fun to watch this bald eagle steal a fish from an osprey that was trying to get to its nest without loosing its breakfast.

Don't let me mislead you.  Getting wet and cold was well worth the fun of seeing this place.  This viewing platform is anything but high and dry today!  The wind was blowing pretty good, and if we quit paddling against it, we'd quickly come to rest against the floating lettuce.  Funny little plants with their air bladders under the leaves.

The shimmering water on these lily pads was blown up there by the wind, and was dancing around sparkling in the sun.  Very pretty.  The wind was turning up the edges of a lot of the lily pads; try as we might, we couldn't get a good picture of it.  We knew we were on the way home when we could see this sign!

Not every day you can knock the dust off your feet with your gloves on!  Getting dry wasn't an option for some of us....like me.

Not sure if those are grimaces or grins, but nobody was grumbling out loud at any rate.  Barb caught the Spanish Moss waving goodbye to us. And on the way back in the bus, we stopped so everybody could see the bison laying down over there.  We'd seen bison before, as you know, so I took pictures of people taking pictures.  One of my favorite subjects!