Fort Myers

 I forgot to tell you about the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Home museum.  Along with Edison's workshop, which is preserved as he left it, are thousands of interesting plants.  One of his missions was to find a domestic source of latex to make rubber for tire production during the war. He planted banyan trees, which do produce latex, but not enough, and now has the largest banyan on the Continental US, second only to Hawaii, It covers more than an acre!  It's amazing how the root-like things hang down and eventually become another trunk in 3 to 5 years.  This is a statue of Tom in the middle of the giant.

This is some other tree I don't know the name of, but the root system is mostly above the ground.  Doesn't it look like something in a Disney cartoon?  Which charachter is posing in front of it?

March 20, 2012

 We're finally out of Florida!  We did have some fun there, but it was hot and humid most of the time, so I'm glad to be in Georgia, which will be getting hot any minute now.  Call Al Gore. We visited Key West with Gary and Helen Vanelli and stood on the Southernmost point of the Continental United States.  We got caught in the beginning of Spring Break, but managed to get out before it got really rowdy.
 
In Sarasota we visited the Ringling Museum, learned all about the circus and the nice life that Wisconsin people (the Ringlings were from Baraboo) made for themselves.  Here is the private car that John and Mabel used on the circus train. It's one of the best museums of all time.  Go!  But you can skip the dog races.  It's a good thing to do once, but that's enough.


In Tampa we saw the river dyed green for St. Pat's day, but managed to avoid green beer. Their big parade was very Mardi Gras like. A bunch of krewe floats with people flinging beads like crazy.  Apparently the person who catches the most wins.  I'm not sure just what the prize is, but they sure do get excited about it. Not a high school marching band or high-steppin' horse in sight. No tiaraed princesses flirting joyfully with the crowds, no proud flag-waving Veterans in uniform.  Not my idea of a parade, but the Floridians seemed to be all keyed up about it.

Florida

Did you think we'd fallen off the face of the Earth?  No, just spent a year in San Francisco, helping Marco learn more about the restaurant business and Giano healing.  He's doing amazingly well - no more walker or cane!  His brain is recovering nicely and we hope that before long he'll be back to 100%.

We didn't get very far on the 10/10/10 plan so started again on 11/11/11, (Herman Cain has dibs on 9/9/9) with the first stop in Escondido to see Jackie and Rob.  On through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to Lake Charles, LA, where we picked up Homer the RV from storage and spent time with Julie and Robert.  Chrissy, Nicholas and Matthew had the pleasure of our company in Atlanta for a few weeks, then Christmas in Savannah with Pat and Rhett Hart, and New Year's in Charleston with Sandy Johnson.  Now we're in Fort Lauderdale with a few million other Old Farts.  It's not my favorite spot - too hot and humid for my taste, but maybe I'll lose a pound or two.  Maybe not.

ps   Escrow closed on the SF condo on Feb 29, so there is no going back. Did you know that Leap Year can also be referred to as a bisextile year or an intercalary year?  Neither did I.

pps   Happy Birthday, Cousin Linda