Goodbye 2018

December 31, 2018, 2PM (Florida time): I'm sitting in bed in my underwear with the ceiling fan spinning at top speed. A little headachy from the noisy airboat ride yesterday. I'm such a lightweight. 

Our little family has shrunk so much over the last few years. My sisters and I tend to cling to each other like survivors of a shipwreck. So it is unspoken and understood that we will spend the Christmas holidays together. My married sister and her husband have been spending 3 months of the winter here in Florida for the past few years.  Last Christmas I flew to Canada from Turkey, had an operation, froze, argued with my sister over who got to drive her car, raced back and forth to malls and appointments and squeezed in cups of tea with both sisters. 

 So this year we decided to shake things up. Dar & her husband came to Florida two weeks early, Cathy & I rented the house behind theirs, Cathy flew down from Toronto, and I flew Istanbul/Dubai/Orlando (15 hours on the Dubai-Orlando flight; after 4 hours I wanted to jump out the window). The first crisis was finding Cathy in the Orlando airport. Our plan to meet 'at the luggage belt' didn't pan out. I sent her emails with updates on my whereabouts (at the Starbucks, at ground transportation A, at ground transportation B), but she hadn't turned on her phone (it costs her $8/day in the U.S.). I finally paged her. She had lost her voice (thank you Canadian winter), and my ears were firmly plugged (thank you miracle of flight). So she whispered questions, and I bellowed at the poor man who was charged with making sure we made it to Ormond-by-the-Sea (or Ormond Beach which is what I thought it was called.)

After I slept off my jet lag, Dar dragged me down to the beach to see the moon rise over Ormond Beach. 

Our first morning in Florida, I wandered over to Dar's house to see what the plan for the day was. She said, 'Rocket launch in 20 minutes!' I thought she meant we were setting off for our beach walk in 20 minutes. I wasn't sure what the urgency was. She literally meant that a rocket was launching from Cape Canaveral in 20 minutes, and we had to hustle to make it to the beach to see it. I ran home, grabbed my camera, and joined the rocket watchers on the beach. Fun fact: rockets go straight up into the air, but the curvature of the earth makes it seem as if they are travelling horizontally through the sky. 

Nature's artwork

This is actually a little sad. Some people feed these egrets, turning them into beggars. 

A royal tern, one of my favourites. 

If I could save these creatures I would. 

Beach disco

Taking her turn on the catwalk

We mixed beachwalks with boardwalks

the obligatory foot shot

We wandered off the boardwalk and rushed back on when we remembered that alligators live here. 

Anhinga

As soon as she sees the lens, she strikes a pose.

We set out one day for St.Augustine. Very very very touristy. We stopped to have our palms read. I went first (actually, at first I was the only one who was goin to do it, but both Dar & Cathy decided to take the plunge). Apparently my palm screams out that I'm brilliant and need to write. And travel. Cathy & Dar are both creative and need to share their talent with the world as well. 

Sunrise

We met this lovely couple on one of our beachwalks. They are Baptist missionaries who have travelled the world for 65 years. 

Ormond has a lovely park devoted to war veterans, called 'The Gardens.' It is a beautiful, peaceful spot, obviously tended with devotion. 

And then back to the Halifax River for another amazing sunset...

December 30 was Cathy's 60th birthday. We welcomed the day with a sunrise watch, then made our way to Seminole county to go on an airboat ride. We stopped at Publix on the way to have sandwiches made. I discovered something astonishing: Americans don't put butter on their sandwiches! Imagine!!!!!!

Roseate Spoonbills

We're still trying to figure out what this guy is. Possibly a boat tailed grackle.

Black skimmers