Cute runs in the family

The best thing about Largo is family and friends

The above is my first grade picture. 

I made it safe to Largo. It's as if I never left. Tons of traffic, lots of shopping options, warmish weather, and family. I have been here for two full days, jammed pack with visiting. I met my 6 month old niece for the first time. She is all smiles with big blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, and cubby cheeks. She is very cute! I have spent time with my great Aunt, my Pop, my Dad, my sister, one brother, two nephews, and one niece... in two days...Wooh! 

Below are a few pictures of us kids when we were cute. I am the youngest.

Colorful

My faithful follower Cathy requested more pictures of Puerto Rican houses. Cathy these are for you. These structures line our favorite beach Montones.

The top picture is more or less the view from these houses. Lovely!

Villas del Mar Hau - Montones (above)

Last day in Puerto Rico

Tomorrow is my last full day in PR. I am tan and rested. I have rediscovered my love for swimming and having salty beach hair. I look forward to seeing my family and friends in the Tampa area, but if it's just too cold (55 degrees in Tampa tonight) I am reassured knowing that I can fly back to PR for a mere $77 +tax on Jetblue Airlines from Orlando (What a deal, coming from Juneau it's amazing to fly anywhere for under $1,000). I will be posting more PR beach pictures once I develop my waterproof 35mm camera. 

These images are of Shacks at dusk. Same day different directions.

Florida

This is a short post. I just wanted to let you know we have tickets to leave PR and arrive in FL on Tuesday the 27th. 

Now I am going to have my morning coffee and some sunshine.

Mr. President

Sitting in this tropical paradise we watched the waves of people, 2 miles long, standing as one in the bitter cold to welcome our new president. What an amazing day. I hope the next 4 to 8 years provide change and inspire change in each one of us to get up and act in response to President Obama's call to serve.  I don't know where we'll be next week but I look forward to getting involved in whichever community we choose to settle. 

Wild Horses

So much has happened today. The morning started with dark clouds and warm rain. The rain let up so we quickly headed to Shacks beach for a walk. As we parked it started to rain again. Near our parking spot there are mangrove trees that house egrets and this amazing iguana (below). We watched the iguana for several minutes. He was captivating, bobbing his head around and climbing trees. 

Back at the house I napped a bit then we headed to Crashboat beach (picture above), known for brightly colored boats resting on the shore. We ate lunch at a local chain El Meson and headed home for another rest. We went back out to Shacks beach at dusk for that walk we didn't take this morning. It was overcast and cool, perfect! I found more sea glass on this walk than all other walks thus far, and best of all there were wild horses!!! and of course I didn't have my camera. Oh they were fantastic, like two little kids chasing each other back and forth over the dunes. Like frosting on a cake we had thai for dinner, yumm!

I haven't been blogging daily. I am sorry. Each day seems pleasantly the same. I wake up to the sound of the ocean. I drink a few cups of coffee while sitting on the porch, glancing at the ocean while turning a page of Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. When I see a rainbow I grab my camera and take a picture (there were four rainbows yesterday morning). Yesterday, Ken's mom invited me to lunch with her group of yoga friends (They do yoga on the beach twice a week) we had a great time. Then I took a nap listening to the palm leaves frolicking in the breeze. We went to the CG base exchange to buy wine and to the Super Coop for supper supplies. I made a fine veggie soup, biscuits, and chocolate butter cookies. I followed my two blogs and felt I should blog, if for no other reason than the act of blogging itself. It would be easy to fall out of the habit. So there it is my day yesterday.

Weather

One of my daily pastimes, watching the clouds/weather roll by. 

The above picture was taken a few nights ago. The moon was almost full. I love the grain and high contrast and look forward to exploring night photography.
An attempt to capture an afternoon shower out over the water. I could see and smell the rain in the distance but it just passed us by.
Rainbows always make me fell magical.

103 degrees

The past few days poor Ken has had the flu. Last night his temp was up to 103. He feels much better this morning. 

I went to the Coast Guard Exchange with Ken's mom yesterday and was startled by a mannequin dressed in uniform. They had a great wine selection. It was fun just wandering around the air-conditioned store.

A breezy day at the beach

Today was a quiet day.  A lazy morning followed by sun and swimming at our favorite beach, Montones. We are actually looking tan! No sun burns here. It's windy, sort of chilly. I had to put on a sweater! However, I didn't need my Extra Tuffs (winter boots). 

A wild morning

This morning everyone had something to do. Ken's mom had yoga on the beach, Ken and his dad went to find horse manure for their garden, I was left to my own accord. I decided to sit on the porch and catch up on phone calls, e-mails, and blogging. I glanced up to admire the view as I was talking to my dad about the Gators Championship win last night (Go Gators!)and saw something in the grass that seemed out of place. The iguana moved from the grass to the tiled patio, I was lucky enough to have my camera handy and snapped the above picture. I startled it taking its picture so it didn't hang out as long as I might have hoped.
I forgot how much I love clouds. The kind that don't constantly drip but contain soft brilliant colors. I can't wait for our first thunder storm.
Ken & his dad manuring the beginnings of their garden.

A day in Rincon

Today, we explored a beach known for its sea glass. Rincon is about a 45 minute drive from the house and considered a tourist destination among locals. It was beautiful! I will post pictures at a later date (I purchased a 35mm waterproof camera that will need to be developed). We left with a handful of sea glass, full of great moments, coated with warm sun. 

We also had an amazing lunch at La Casa Isleña a spectacular small hotel right on the beach in Rincon. I had a hamburger but this wasn't an ordinary burger it tasted like cayenne pepper and cinnamon were ground into the beef. It was interesting and tasty. It came with tostones (twice fried plantains) and a little Sangria to quench my thirst. 

A lazy day

We're having a good time just hanging around the house. I purchased flip flops. My feet have grown. I wore a sun dress for the first time in over two years. Tomorrow we are going to a beach known for finding sea glass.

This picture is of random graffiti I saw while we were driving around. There is another graffiti painting I hope to get a picture to share in the future. 

An overcast day in Puerto Rico

We arrived safe last night and went straight to bed. It was a peaceful sleep. The windows all open, a fan overhead swirling around the sound of ocean waves at a distance outside our window. We woke with birds chirping and a salty breeze gently calling us out of bed.

The view outside our window
We had lunch at Happy Belly's - view from the street.
Happy Belly's - view from our table.
We took a nice walk on the beach - Shacks. These four pictures were taken on our walk at Shacks and the way back to the car on what is considered an overcast day.

Goodbye Canandaigua, NY

Today is our last day in New York. We've had a great time visiting family and enjoying the weather and wine Canandaigua has to offer. If you're ever in upstate NY I recommend checking out this area. The houses are amazing, it has a quaint little Main Street, a lake, farmland, and wineries galore. 

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 6:30a.m. we will arrive in Puerto Rico around 1:30p.m. then we will drive four hours to Aguadilla. Our wardrobe will change dramatically from bulky snow parkas to a new slim pair of flip flops. 

First day of the year, day of firsts

Today, we had lunch at the lake, in the car at the lake. A swan sat just beyond the shore. As Lunch continued we realized the swan wasn't moving other than his neck. The swan was frozen in the lake. Every few minutes he would struggle with no success. We wanted to help but there was nothing that could be done. 1st swan frozen in place.

We went for a walk to enjoy the snow before flying to Puerto Rico on Saturday. On our walk we saw a sunbow. What is a Sunbow? It is a rainbow without the rain. It was faint yet beautiful red, orange, blue, and green circling the sun shining through an overcast sky. It kind of looked like the "rainbow" in the swan picture just not as vivid. 1st Sunbow. 
I have wanted to knit with fabric for a while. I started a few days ago, with no plan for the end product. The knit fabric has a nice texture but wouldn't make for a cozy scarf. I decided to turn it into a crafting apron. knitting aside, the apron was complete in a few hours. I can't wait to craft in my new crafting apron. 1st apron.