Snow Owl Russ & Snow Bird Judy: A Week of Activities

I was just reminded that I have been remiss on posting. To be honest, I spent much of this week sitting on three pillows at the dining room glass table quilting my block robin quilt. It had to be finished by early yesterday afternoon in order for me to get it to the local UPS store to get it to Massachusetts in time for next weekend's quilt show.

Here are photos of our latest adventures...

On Monday Paul, Hannah, Russ, and I went to Marco Island. Let me tell you, I was NOT impressed. The southern end of the island (where the beaches are) are now wall-to-wall mega-hotels. Driving by it's impossible to see the water. The whole island is mostly residential with lots of backyards right up to canals. If you own a boat, it probably is a good place to live.

a hotel in the section called "Old Marco Island" (the southern hotels are much bigger and newer)

I was surprised by the number of empty lots

the harbor

Tuesday, it was back to the beach at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park!

Mr. Park Ranger giving a talk (Hannah and I walked by just as he finished his talk)

still can't believe how many shells are here

LOVE the pattern on his tail

Another dolphin!

Two of my favorite men in this world!

On Wednesday, Hannah and I went to the Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida located in Naples. Twelve years ago, a seventh-grade teacher at one of the local schools put together a big Holocaust unit for his students. That got the ball rolling...and the museum was born! We had a one-hour tour which was VERY worthwhile. I wish I lived down here because they have a terrific lending library for members. We were not allowed to take photos since most of the displays were protected by copyright by people who loaned the photos/documents/items to the museum. While we were at the museum, Russ played golf with the condo association's men's league. Paul was at the beach. It was very windy!

sneaking up on Paul when we went to the beach to pick him up to take him home

VERY windy today

On Thursday, we drove up to North Port. Someone we know there says that Paul and Russ definitely look like brothers. What do you think?!:

Friday, I spent most of the day quilting. I finished Saturday (yesterday) morning. Here it is with a close-up of two of the sections:

After getting the quilt sent out to Massachusetts, I went to a local quilt show. It was great fun. Here are two of my favorite quilts from the show:

Last night, we all went to a jazz band performance. We ended the evening at the local ice cream shop!

This morning, it was off to the beach again. As soon as we got there this morning, something was definitely amiss. People were pointing and taking photos. For the next half hour, I walked (and ran) up and down the beach to get photos of what was the entertainment: stingrays!!!

sheller pointing out a stingray swimming by him

After being assured by two park rangers that stingrays are only dangerous if you step on them or attack them, I went into the water. I swam for less than a minute; then returned to my beach chair. I was desperate to cool down, hence my bravery!

The reason why these stingrays showed up was because the gulf was VERY calm. It was also quite clear. We got the best view today of Fort Myers and Sanibel Island.