The Holidays

The holidays are such a fun time. I have always enjoyed dressing up in coats, gloves, and hats. Growing up in Florida I would dress up in my winter gear and sit around the air conditioned house.

Now living in the North I can go outside in my cute coat and my warm toasty mittens.

We spent Christmas in Puerto Rico where there was no need for wool. We went to my favorite beach Montones and swam, we played Texas hold em, went to a casino, ate good food, visited with family and friends. And we did it all in three days.(see posts from January 2009 for more PR pictures)

On our flight to PR we flew over snow covered cities which was

a first for both of us.

A few weeks ago our neighborhood parade closed down the streets. It was the perfect day for a parade crisp and clear.

Nothing says Christmas like Santa on the back of a Semi!

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.

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!

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.

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.