24 Feb. 2012: LAST FRI. IN FEB.

No big event since the Pirate Parade last weekend, although there was some nostalgia around homemade pancakes on Fat Tuesday! We see on the news that there's heavy rain in the northwest, heavy snow back home in Ontario. Here on the Gulf we have seafog in the mornings but hot sun by the afternoon. Some days the wind kicks up enough waves for surfers and scavenging shore birds. Good friends from Cobourg visited and we walked colourful and lively John's Pass, where we lived last February.

The local Heritage Village is great to immerse yourself in area history. I've always wondered how long ago all this beautiful land was grabbed and homesteaded. Turns out, about 1870 when some guys bought up to four million acres for a couple of hundred dollars. There was cotton and cattle, some veggie crops, and ultimately citrus and tourists. This area for a time was the world's biggest producer of sponges, and all the diving paraphernalia is on display. Kids get to plow a furrow, watch a blacksmith, and even take a lesson in an 1890 schoolroom. There's the original train station, general store, and grand homes.

But just over a footbridge is the Florida Botanical Gardens, like a candy store for the Garden Girl. It's spring here and the blossoms include this bromeliad and cotton balls. Back at the shore, the dolphins are in mating dances and the sunsets are nightly fireballs. Considering your weather, wish you were here??