Seashells, rain, full moon, and hope for balmy weather

While everyone else was dealing with the blizzard, we've had monsoon rain patterns and ongoing tornado threats which then followed me to Miami. Do not be fooled by the above photo! What crazy weather patterns...

Wonderful full moon from Saturday although this was a next day early morning shot. Loving my new camera which I think I'd forgotten to mention. A lovely Christmas present from Mark. Alas the third generation of my Panasonic compact was a poorly designed one and I was most unhappy. The new one is a Sony HX90v with a 30x zoom. Very happy with the image quality so far.

Is this not the cutest thing -and exactly how I feel about these trees: Banyan -considered sacred by many...

And the Miami scene once again. I drove over from Naples yesterday with rain, wind and tornado warnings following me along the way. This was this morning before the crazy rain and tornado warnings started again. Love this walk - I walk the island and cross the bridge into downtown to go past Miami Circle (their little Stonehenge) and round the corner to giant high rise buildings and blaring horns. For a few moments its fun to be in a massive downtown scene.

We head to the Keys tomorrow to visit longtime friends Pam and Wade. Should be a lot of fun. And the weather is predicted to be clear - yippee.

Painting challenge, cast netting, and weather

Been quite chilly here, and now rainy again, but not in any way complaining. As I sit here the east coast is bracing for a monster snowstorm which also includes the DC area where Heather and Tiffany (and families) are. Well Tiffany is actually in Salt Lake City at a blog conference but that's another story...

Further, gave me a little jolt to be cc'd on an email yesterday from Star Mt. with a neighbor snowed in requesting help to have the road plowed out. And wow... We'll be visiting in Feb for a couple of weeks. I'll have to get my mind back to what that white stuff is all about.

Lovely visit to the beach even though it was a bit chilly. I go in the morning when there are hardly any people. Feeds my soul this place. I think its primal for so many people.

Cast netting class happened next to me which was fun. This beach is a state park and offers tons of activities but I didn't know about this one. To catch smaller fish to use as bait for bigger? I think.

My 5 day painting a day challenge is done. I feel like I accomplished a lot especially since I interpreted the rules to be actually paint a painting a day, not just post one. It was wild I tell you - but stepped up my game. So here they are in order:

Here's to a great weekend for everyone and a safe one for those in nature's path!

Naples in the winter

Whoops time got away from me.again. Good day to catch up as we have waves and waves of rain, wind and tornado warnings happening in Naples today. There was actually a tornado touchdown two days ago in Cape Coral, an area a short distance away. Highly unusual here at this time of year. Well gosh, what area hasn't been having "unusual" weather, high or low records blown away like the wind.

Want to pass along a new find - Maria Batali pasta. Grabbed it on impulse and boy, what a good one. It is a far superior pasta than the other box brands. Really. It does cost a bit more but his "bronze extruded" process changes the game. This is a traditional artisanal method that uses bronze dies instead of industrial teflon and slow drying at low temperatures. And we are all about pasta. Yum.

This darling pair is back. They make landfall along our canal at exactly the same spot behind a house across the water. Can't imagine what is there to make this backyard so special. They swam by our lanai but disdained to get out of the water. Otter bait, that's what I need.

It's been a quieter week for me with art class, yoga, and the final touches put on the shower remodel. We're done! Mark is back as of late yesterday after massive traveling once again. Bentonville this time - that's WalMart country for those who don't know... So he is tiiiired. A recoop weekend for sure...

in the foyer

20 x 40

Had to tell you about this great site that Heather uses and shared with me.  Fabness.com  Canvas prints of your photos. Truly special and they run 70 and 80% off sales all the time. Sign up! This was just delivered by my favorite UPS driver. I have one of Colorado wildlife at Star Mt. and decided Naples needed an addition. The photo above was one I just took at the beach not that long ago.

I may have gotten myself in trouble here. I accepted a challenge to do a painting a day for five days and they will be posted on Facebook. Sounds easy but its not, and am already behind. Good practice though.

The New Year

Now New Year's has come and gone. Speed of light - is this an indication of how fast 2016 is going to go?

Those tiny blobs are masses of people in front of the pool

We had the New Year's fireworks right outside our high rise on the Miami River. Nobody could possibly sleep through that. Crazy. Who knew we'd have a premium spot! Mobs of people came over our bridge to watch, and our walk the next morning clearly showed fun was had. Empty champagne bottles, glasses, confetti, cigar stubs, you name it were everywhere.

We went to the Orange Bowl with friends, first game I've been to in a long time. Lots of fun but um, who was I rooting for?

Sandpiper

tiny snowy plover

Back to Naples. My first visit in a month to a nearly deserted beach, courtesy of a minor cold front.  Not representative of the roads, restaurants,stores, etc. Everybody's here - from many places and many countries.

Venturing out before Mark left for CES. Went to a Bavarian restaurant that's been around for ten years and five minutes from us. Quite authentic, German chef/owner, all homemade and great food: Old Europe Bistro. Thumbs up on this one. Saw Star Wars - really good, fun to have some of the original cast back. Our renovation is almost complete, missing a shower door, but the noise, dust, and crews jumping in and out have gone. And as predicted I have had amnesia on the trouble these projects are and am just happy with the results.