Farewell for Another Year

Today we are packing and cleaning. Our time in Florida has come to an end, and we will be leaving early in the morning tomorrow.

We have had an eventful winter here and will miss the sunshine and warmth, but spring will come to northern Maine and we will be there to enjoy it. One of the negative things about Florida is the lack of season change. Things are greener and more trees are in blossom than there were when we came in January, but the changes are not dramatic like the snow melt, the ice out, and mud season.

Gary has made many strides in his art career. Here you can see the gallery that he has been working with, and one of his original paintings on display in the window of  the gallery.  He is leaving two behind with the hope of selling them here. The car is going to be full of paintings, prints, and cards to bring home. He plans to exhibit and sell them there.

The only guest we have had this year in Florida is Louise's cousin, Tobey Lombardo. Here is a picture of the two of them together.

And so we conclude our winter trip to the south. There is much we have come to love about Florida. The sunshine and warmth defy the imagination, and this has been a very warm winter. There is an ease of living here that defies the New England ethic of being busy every minute and working hard to get by. On the other hand, it is very busy, has lots of traffic and crazy people. It isn't home. We look forward to visiting family and friends we have missed over the past three months.

So as we load the car to make the trip, we say farewell to another winter in the sun. See you soon!

Friday at the Wildlife Refuge

Friday was a beautiful, sunny day spent at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We need to get a good variety of photos to fuel the painting over the next few months. We share with you the beauty of this quiet place.

Here we have a blue heron hiding under a bush

Alligator swimming

We only have two weeks left to our trip to Florida, and soon we will be back to Maine enjoying spring and watching the snow melt! It is hard to think of snow in such warm and sunny weather.

Florida at it's best

The Coles have been out and about a bit this week doing some tourism. Monday we went to the Brevard Zoo again and enjoyed it as we have several times before. It is by far the best zoo we have found.

The colorful birds are one of the highlights of the zoo.

Yesterday we ventured down the Treasure Coast to Vero Beach. This is by far the loveliest part of Florida that we have seen. We traveled down Route A1A, following the ocean. As you leave Melbourne Beach the scenery changes. Gone are the endless lines on condos and in their place are beautiful private homes, landscaped perfectly, and large areas of preserve with no development on it. It is a beautiful place. We spotted several places we didn't have time to visit, so we will return to that area. We spent all of the afternoon in the McKee Botanical Garden. Here are just a few photos of what we found there.

Lunch at the garden cafe

Taking a rest

 

 

Another painting?

 

The stump of a giant cypress tree

 

 

We have had a great week enjoying the beautiful weather and visiting some favorite places. This is by far the best part of Florida that we have seen. Oh, yes, there was a yarn store in Vero Beach!

Art Show!

Gary has decided today to share photos of the paintings he has done here in the past two months.

This photo of the Bugbee farm was his first this winter.

This one of the Portland Head Light at dawn is based on a photo taken by Jon Cole, as was the Bugbee Farm photo.

This is the first of several Florida scenes.

Shore Birds

This Carolina Mill was an art class project.

This duck was found in the Brevard Zoo last year.

This abandoned house was an art class project to which Gary added an abandoned piece of farm machinery.

This hibiscus blossomed by our door, and is the most recent creation. Gary has been invited to join a group of professional painters at the art gallery where he has been taking classes.

The relentless summer heat continues here as the temperatures reach the mid and upper 80s. We are learning this year what tropical means!

Louise has completed sweater #3 of her 12 sweaters for the year. This one will be an addition to Bridget's spring wardrobe.

Life is good at the beach.

89 Degrees at Cocoa Beach

That's right - 89 in February. It was 90 a few miles south of us in Melbourne. There was only one thing to do today - go to the beach. The sea breeze made it seem cooler. Here we are:

And the rocket did launch this afternoon, but we missed it as we went out to an early dinner. We felt it and heard it at the restaurant. Tomorrow the temperature drops to the 60s again. Did you say it was snowing in northern Maine??

Life on the Beach - Watching the Sky

We have spent two evenings at dusk watching the skies for a launch of an Atlas rocket. Both of the launches were scrubbed, and the next try will be tomorrow night. Here you see Gary out on the Merritt Island causeway looking towards Cape Canaveral.

Here is a photo of the sunset on the causeway overlooking the Banana River.

Louise received some lovely flowers for Valentine's Day, as you can see in this photo.

We have had beautiful weather and want to share a few photos of life on Cocoa Beach.

Our place is behind the shrubbery. Beside it is the new house that was being built last year when we were here. Gary has come down with a bad cold, but otherwise life is good in Florida.

February is here!

Yesterday the Coles traveled to Mount Dora to visit the Mount Dora Arts Festival. The number of people there defies the imagination! The streets were shut down, and artist's tents lined them. Artists from all over the country were part of the exhibit, which is considered the largest art festival in the state of Florida. Here we have a picture of the crowd, and one of the most interesting houses, home to the Masons. They served lunch and we ate there.

It was 80 degrees and the heat finally got to Louise, so our visit did not cover all of the exhibits. The drive was a good one, except for the tolls every few minutes. We discovered why Florida has such nice roads - tolls every few miles!
In other news we saw an interesting plane this week at Patrick AFB. It says United States of America on it's side, so it appears to be Air Force One. Perhaps there are several in the fleet or it was here for repairs.

And finally Louise completed her sweater #2 for the year last week. Here you see a photo of it.

Life is good here in Florida, and the temperatures are very warm. It is hard to imagine 80 degrees in February!