The Old and the Restless

Mark and Margot made Thanksgiving Dinner... ...and Margot has offered to make the Christmas turkey! Hooray! Mark, carving the turkey. Ella with Grandma Hamilton. She is growing tall. Chloe, who has bad cataracts, with Ella.

Having been remiss on some occasions, and getting near the end of 2016, I'll try to fill in with a few photos. Dinner at Megan's in March. Tom clowning with Ella. May 8 - Happy Birthday, Margot. Mark and his father made dinner. Grandpa Hamilton and Joshua Grandma Hamilton with Joshua and Ella June 11- Joshua and Ella ready to perform.

While Mark and Margot are in Jamaica this week, we have been looking after Joshua and Ella in Barrie. Since Saturday involves tap and ballet lessons, Sunday seemed like a good day for Excursions. Joshua was excited to go on the South Simcoe Train ride from Tottenham to Beeton. There is a stick by the window to hold it open "for air conditioning". "For heat, close the window," instructed the conductor. Note that Paul is wearing his pyjama top under his shirt. Apparently he thought the hot weather would last forever and did not bring warm clothes for the week.  Pictured is the "Mighty Beeton Gorge". "Don't  Look  Down", said the conductor. The old diesel engine. After this we drove to our house in Scarborough to have lunch (and get warm clothes for Paul). Then we went to Megan's house for a birthday celebration for Tom.  Waiting to open the presents. Presents! Happy seventh birthday, Tom.

There are 3 gopher tortoise holes behind our Dollar General store. When the weather hits 80 F, they come out to sun. Two of the holes contain 2 tortoises each (which Sandra had never seen before). Carole and Roy visited us for a week. Here they are on the trestle on the Cross Seminole Trail ... ... and out for a beach walk. You put your left foot in ... sanderlings doing the "hokey pokey" on the beach! A snowy egret glides along the shore ...   ...flies overhead ... ... and comes in for a picture perfect landing! The tiny brown face behind the bushes belongs to a screech owl. Sandra heard it for days on her birding walks before she was able to see it low down just feet away.

Viera Wetlands On what seems to be our annual trip with Glen and Norma to photograph birds, the alligator was tempting... even though it was just a little one. The limpkin is an unusual bird that is found from Florida to Argentina. We were quite excited to see a pair of limpkins who ignored us as they searched for snails to eat. This coot was swimming peacefully in the water. Another exciting sight of the day was the anhinga flying back and forth... ...to feed the chick in the nest. This is Glen's photo. he even captured the blue of the chick's eye. After feeding the chick, the anhinga flew to the bush to dry its wings. A female anhinga A Great Blue Heron... ...followed by a white ibis. The little green heron is sometimes hard to spot. Two perching birds? We finished with lunch at JB's Fish Camp.

While visiting Glen and Norma who live near Green Cove Springs, we went for a walk after lunch in the woods as a  digestif. At the back of their house, another Canadian was paying a visit.

Maureen and Ramsay came at the end of January. Although he had been having back problems Ramsay was able to increase his walking distance each day. Luckily we had a few days of warm weather. Sandra barefoot on the beach. (Maureen's photo) Dinner at the German restaurant across the road was fun as usual.

With record high temperatures during the Florida Christmas break in 2015, bicycling on the beach is the order of the day (with helmets on, of course) … … and with adult supervision Just as in the “old days” 30 years ago, the children were banished to their own table for Christmas dinner (delayed 3 days to allow everyone to arrive in New Smyrna Beach) … … while the adults dined on the main table! Despite the warmth and the sunshine, the “snow birds” were slow to arrive in Florida this year. That left the beach free to “dig a hole to China”. Even the passing of speed walkers and joggers on the beach could not disturb the children’s concentration on digging in the sand. A sunny lunch at JB's fish camp With the grandkids, parents, grandparents and bicycles, the condo got crowded. The 8 pound “Christmas ham” lasted longer than the family could stay in Florid...