The Wrap is Finished

Louise started knitting a wrap for herself on Christmas day. Today she finished it. Here are two preliminary pictures, before it was blocked and stretched. Some of the chilly nights will make this a welcome garment!

Manatees in warmer water

A cold snap last night has forced the manatees into the canal again to seek warm water. The Coles visited the canal in Satellite Beach and captured several pictures of these mammals.

 

We counted over forty of them in this one spot. Tonight will be cold again so they have taken up this spot where  the power company puts warm water into the canal to keep them alive.

It is another lovely day in Florida. Here you see the herb garden Gary has started on the sun porch. We went to the Farmer's Market again this morning where he bought another one. Gardening does seem to be part of the lifestyle!

Here we have a picture of Gary's studio in the sun light. It has been a pleasant day as we went to the pool and stopped to watch the wind surfers on the way home.

Lunch with Friends

Today the Coles spent the afternoon with two dear friends, Anna Bragg and Sam Canders. They traveled down to Cocoa Beach and we ventured out into the rain and tornado warnings to go to lunch at a Greek diner. A fine time was had by all, and it was wonderful to spend time with them.

 Anna and Sam

A rare picture of Gary and Louise together.

Sunday in Florida

Today we visited the Banana River and took a few pictures. You can see Cocoa Beach and the condos in the background. It was a lovely day, a little warmer than the past few days have been.
Here we have a wharf with some interesting light.

Louise is sitting on the wharf,  enjoying the outing.

Finally, by popular request, we are going to reveal the artwork that has been painted here in the past two weeks.

This is Mt. Katahdin from the scenic look out on Interstate 95.

This is a sailboat on Portage Lake from last summer.

We hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse of what we are doing. How about a few comments??

Life at the Beach

Today we have a few views of our life at the beach. We have been pretty quiet because Louise has been sick with a nasty cold and unable to go anywhere or do much. However, this morning she found a Weight Watcher's meeting to attend  in Satellite Beach. Gary is working on his second painting since he has been here. This one is of Portage Lake. It is another beautiful, sunny day in Florida, as the view of the beach shows. Notice the fisherman right in the water!

This is our living room.

This flower is just off the deck. There are lots of them out there.

This was Louise knitting on the deck yesterday. It was cooler and windy yesterday.

 Gary selected these roses a couple of days ago to cheer Louise up.

 And here is Gary in the studio he has established on the sun porch, facing the ocean.

Paradise!

The Coles have arrived in Florida. It was in the high 70s today, lots of sun, a nice breeze. We moved into our residence, washed our dirty clothes, and began to relax. It makes us feel a little guilty to tell you how great it is as you face the cold of New England. We could not have wished for better weather or  a better place to stay. It is as close to paradise as you could find. Here are some pictures taken today in Cocoa Beach.

This is our home at the beach.

A comfortable place to end the day.

The beach outside our door.

Gary waiting for dinner, already in his shorts and sandals.
We wish we could share the warmth with all of you.

The Coles Travel South

The trip to Florida seemed ill fated when we started. First the blizzard delayed us a day, and the snow blower broke down trying to make a path through the drifts to leave. We finally got out, traveled down icy roads and slow traffic to spend the night with Jon and Erin. A misplaced debit card caused us to drive back to Bangor the next day, then on to Bob's. Meanwhile Gary had come down with a nasty cold. We exchanged gifts, visited a bit with Bridget, and set out Thursday morning for the trip south.

We have pictures here of today's journey - a view of the scene on I-81, trucks and more trucks. Also a glimpse of the mountains in the Shenandoah Valley in the morning haze. Finally there was snow in Virginia and North Carolina, lots of it. However, it got warmer. Louise unzipped and removed the fleece lining of her coat in Virginia, and took the coat off in North Carolina. It reached a balmy 68 in South Carolina, and we came to rest for the night in Florence.

Here you can see pictures of the change in climate here. So it is a happy new year's eve, with dinner out planned with friends who happen to the traveling the same way tonight.