It's Easter Sunday. I haven't posted in 2 months, and I don't know why. I've had nothing but time on my hands. I think I've got a bad case of inertia. Oh, right, and we haven't been able to go anywhere to do anything to write about. So I'm catching up on some "before" COVID-19 activities as well as some about what we're doing during the PAUSE.
BEFORE:
On February 19th we met Patti at the beach after she got out of work and enjoyed a late afternoon and evening sunset dinner on Bonita Beach. Also pictured, the RV park when we got home that night, before it all changed.
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| Bonita Beach |
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| Tamiami RV Park |
On February 21st and 22nd we visited the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, FL. The admission price was for 2 consecutive days, so we decided to get our money's worth. It was a wonderful opportunity to see amazing flora and fauna. Some things were hard to photograph. I was thrilled to see Painted Buntings for the first time. (Think rainbow colored cardinal.) And while I watched them with total fascination and joy, without a high powered zoom lens, they didn't photograph well. We also saw an owl, a mother alligator with at least 8 babies and several juvenile alligators.
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| Carol and Kelly |
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| Boardwalk through the Corkscrew Swamp |
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| Me studying the painted buntings, looking kind of like a painted bunting myself 😆 |
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| I took this photo by holding the binoculars up to my phone to get a close up shot of the alligator. |
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| Quill-leaf air plant |
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| Anhinga |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| White phase of a great blue heron (I think. Identifying white shore birds is complicated) |
A couple days after we went to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, I flew back to New York for two weeks to help take care of my dad. He had a fall and was in the hospital for a couple days. He recovered quickly and it was a great chance to spend some quality time together.
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| My dad, Ed Wight |
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Added bonus, getting to see Gregory and Alana!
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| and Maria! |
DURING:
When I flew back to Florida on March 8th I had a heightened awareness of the virus, but my only concern was that in an airport and on a plane I'd have the potential to be in contact with people who had traveled abroad, so I used hand sanitizer. - a lot. I thought about wearing gloves, but worried I'd look like a serial killer. Little did I know how normal wearing gloves in public would become.
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| March 12th, Trivia at Palm City Brewing with Patti's son Emmet, Carol, Kelly and Freddie (Patti took the picture) |
One of my favorite things to do is to go play Trivia at Palm City Brewing on Thursday night with Carol and Patti and Freddie. For a variety of reasons we only got to go once this year, before it all shut down... So on March 19th, I started hosting FaceBook Live Thursday Night Trivia, Social Distancing Style. It's been so much fun for me and it keeps me busy researching questions. The first week there were about 15-20 players and this week (week 4) there were 30-35 players. I've committed to continuing until we can all go out and play again.
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| Week 1, hosting virtual Thursday Night Trivia |
On March 14th the pool was full and a week later all events of 10 or more people were cancelled. We were reminded to keep 6 feet apart in the pool. On March 28th the pool was closed.
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| March 14th |
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| March 18th |
Our last trip to the beach was March 16th. We went to Lover's Key State Park with Patti. There is normally a tram shuttle from the parking lot to the beach, and that was closed due to social distancing. By March 19th all Lee County Southwest Florida Beaches were closed.
On April 1st, we decided to venture out for a nature walk. The Lee County parks were open and the boardwalk was marked one way to promote social distancing. We went to the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. What is a Slough? (pronounced "slew") A Slough is a long, narrow wetland with slowly flowing freshwater. We really enjoyed the walk and saw a wide variety of wetland life. On April 2nd, all Lee County parks were closed.
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| Map of the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve |
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| Gator Lake |
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| Needle Nose Gar (I think) |
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| Turtle |
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| Alligator |
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| Iris |
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| Fungus |
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| Fungurls |
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| Cool hollow tree leaning against the boardwalk |
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| I don't know what these are, but I was taken by how much they look like a coronavirus cell |
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| Cypress knees |
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| Two Fish 😁 |
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| Majestic trees |
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| Male cardinal |
It's very quiet at Tamiami RV Park now. Many of the other snowbirds have gone back home. We ride our bikes around the park several times a day. We spend most of the day sitting under the awning of our camper, reading, playing games, doing crossword puzzles, scrolling FaceBook, reading the news, staying connected virtually. Today it was so hot (NOT complaining, just explaining) that we spent much of the day inside in the AC. It's pretty much the first time we've done that. We still went out for our periodic bike rides to keep the blood flowing.
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| View from our front door now. |
We are so grateful for Zoom. We've had virtual family gatherings, virtual happy hours, a virtual anniversary toast and virtual book club. We leave to head north next week. It will undoubtably be a surreal experience to travel. Like a turtle, we carry our home with us, which is a huge relief. We will wear our masks, we will be very, very careful. Please do the same. We miss you!
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| Family Zoom: Alana, Maria, Carol, Kelly, Ryan, Alida, Jack, David, Peter |
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| Stay safe everyone! |
