Ortiz Street Flea Market

We visited the Flea Markets today. Went to both Ortiz Street and Flea Masters in Fort Myers. Flea Masters is huge but not nearly as colorful as Ortiz Street.

What a nice selection of produce. John & Edwige chose lots of vegetables to make a salad and corn to roast on the grill.

We added hamburgers and had a feast!

John showed us how to grill the corn in the husk -- it was delicious.

Edwige made a salad (with no lettuce) that was so good.

Everglades

Our nephew arrived Wednesday afternoon. (2-24: CLARIFICATION. This is not our nephew pictured in the first photo. Although, this fellow would do well at the family dinners.)

We went shelling at Barefoot Beach yesterday.

Today we went to the Everglades. It was warm. The thermometer at the Air Boat dock was 90 degrees.

We had a great time. Saw lots of gators, birds and vegetation.

We drove through Everglades City and Chokoloskee. Lots has changed in the last two years. In 2006 there was lots of damage from Hurricane Wilma. Now much clean-up has been done and there are many new homes & buildings.

We ate a late lunch at the Seafood Depot in Everglades City. Yum!

Real Women

Wednesday is Women's Horseshoes in the park. This week started out with a bang (actually a sonic boom as the space shuttle landed). We heard the boom very clearly about 9 am.

After we each play two games, the group gets together for cocktails. There were 27 players this week.

When everyone arrives, we do our 'Real Women Toast', then have a good time visiting.

This was my week to help with the refreshments. Maggie found a good recipe for Witches Cauldron (Midori, vodka, orange juice & club soda). It made a pretty punch and was very tasty! We also served little sandwiches and fresh veggies.

In the evening, many of us gathered along the street to view the total eclipse of the moon. It was fascinating and we had a good view. It was a little hard to get good photos.

Sunday Afternoon

Well the laundry is on the line and the TV is tuned to the Daytona 500. Oh, and the air conditioner is humming. It has been in the 80's the last few days.

We are looking forward to many activities this next week -- horseshoes, a visit from friends and a visit from our nephew. And as usual, there can be an impromptu party on any street in the park.

The 10-day forecast is for warm weather, fun & fellowship.

Pizza on the Grill

We finally got to make pizza on the Big Green Egg. It was delicious.

We learned first thing that the most important ingredient is cornmeal. Lots of it on the peel and lots of it on the pizza stone.

Walt topped the pizza so it must have weighed about 5 pounds!

This was the hamburger pizza. We also cooked a chicken pizza. Walt had grilled chicken breast then we chopped it and topped the pizza with the chicken and fresh mozarella cheese.

It took about 10 minutes in a closed grill at 450-500 degrees. The crust was crispy and good-- I just hadn't been able to roll it as thin as I wanted.

There were 8 of us eating and we had one piece left. The next door neighbors were happy to have that piece.

We will definately grill pizzas again.

Enjoying Friends

This weekend we headed north to Winter Haven (about 3 hours).

We enjoyed meeting up with two couples that were part of our Atlantic Canada caravan in August of 2005.

We met at Leon & Janet's home. We had plenty of time to talk. We went to Harborside Restaurant for Grouper Sandwiches, the view and more conversation.

Then back to their house for more conversation.

Notice the beautiful sunset over the orange grove in the photos.

It was a great time together.

It's an A/C Day

Had to turn on the air conditioner for the first time this winter. When it reached 77 degrees and 74% humidity INSIDE, it was time to shut the windows and cool down. It is 81 outside now and is forecast to reach 85 today.