PT, Lunch and Gardens

Duf had his last PT today and after he finished we planned to meet Carole and Jerry for a day of adventure! While he was in PT I drove to the bank to get some cash, but the bank was not open and it was already 10:45. There were numerous people standing by the door looking in because the bank was to open at 9 AM. I decided to just use the drive thru and request certain denominations. The automatic teller read that it did not have the bills I requested but did give me the amount I requested in $1.00, $5.00 and $10.00 bills. I requested $250.00 and had quite a pile of cash since it was mostly $1.00 bills.  As I began to leave the drive thru an elderly gentleman, older than me!, stopped me and asked if I got money from the machine. I said I did get money and he was irate because he had just tried and the message was, “out of money’! I left immediately but not before seeing many angry people milling around the door of the bank.

After a delicious lunch at The Deep Lagoon we headed to Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens outside of Punta Gorda. At lunch we learned that Black Grouper is considered the Filet Mignon of the sea and Red Grouper is the bottom feeder. I ordered the Black Grouper and although it was a bit costly, it was divine for my taste buds! 

Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens has been open less than two years and is already quite impressive.  The Gardens were a dream of the Tetrault’s and has been in the works for 13 years. The Tetrault’s 10,000 square foot home contains one bedroom, two bathrooms, two offices, and a huge gallery for their artwork collection will be part of the tour starting next year. 

The first sculpture we came upon was a yellow Andy Warhol that appeared to actually be alive. The detail in this sculpture was astounding!

The sculptures are all on loan and we noticed that Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger were named as contributors.

Birds

What have Carole and I gotten ourselves into now? We were looking at the birds with Joanne and decided we need to contribute to something to make some of our days have more meaning. Joanne wanted NO part of our plan of working with the birds! Now we have homework over the summer, we need to learn all the birds names! When we return Libby will teach us how to handle the birds and we will be able to help her with the bird show. She told us to know the birds names and find a shirt we did not care if it got poop on it. We will see!

Birds, so many birds and so many names!!

Ding and Melissa

We were not here last year and this is the first visit this year to “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge. The restrooms in the main building had been totally remodeled and won an award. 

 The ceiling outside the bathrooms was painted blue and the animals were placed as if we were underwater looking up at them!

After our visit to Ding with Jerry and Carole we decided to take in a happy hour here on the island and selected Sweet Melissa’s Restaurant. Sweet Melissa’s turned out to be an excellent place for happy hour with outstanding $8.00 food and $3.00 beer. The happy hour menu sports grits and shrimp, grilled romaine lettuce, mussels, delicious pork belly sliders, and truffle fries. We ordered everything and shared, but we were disappointed at the small amount of fries we received. Everything was delicious and portions were appropriate but the fries! 

 My grilled Romaine and one fry!

Restrooms seem to represent the cleanliness of a restaurant and this restroom was nothing spectacular but it was clean!

When Duf picked up his glass for the last drink he found his napkin to be very happy!

Starbucks

Starbucks is a scary place when you aren’t experienced with the ordering procedures. As I waited for Duffey to finish his PT I decided to use a Starbucks gift card. Two problems here were that the gift card was on my iPhone in the wallet and I did not know how to order. When I entered the store it was not busy so I figured I could go slow and ask questions, but just as I began my order 8 people walked in and lined up! I ordered the Caramel Macchiato that I saw on the menu board and messed up when she asked, “Tall?” I saw the two cups so I replied, “No small.” She just looked at me and told the girl,” Tall for.” She kept looking at me so I finally got it and squeeked out, “Debbie.” Next it was time to pay and the line was even longer. I held up my phone, I had found the card, and she said, “What is that?” “Well, Verizon gave this to me to use here so I figured you would know how to use it.” The young man behind me jumped in and told her what to do, he was probably tired of waiting, but he was very polite. She did what he told her to do and he told me he had previously used one from Verizon. I waited a bit, got my fancy Caramel Macchiato, and was informed the gift card had $.16 remaining on it! 

Peek at the Unique

Peek at the Unique

Prior to attending the Peek Carole and I rode our bicycles to the Community Housing and Resources open house. These are affordable apartments that are rented to workers on this island. The 2 bedroom apartment we toured had just been remodeled and was very nicely done and in a prime spot on Sanibel. The renter works on the island and her income is so that she will pay $330. Per month for this beautiful space.  This is a great opportunity for workers on the island.

Zonta Sanibel-Captiva sponsors an annual tour of island homes and Carole, Nancy, Dorian and I attended this, the 18th, event. Before boarding the tour coach we were served an abundance of scrumptious Hors d’ oeuvres from various local restaurants. The air conditioned coach buses ferried us to each of the homes where we had approximately 20 minutes to roam. Each home had one bathroom marked for use by Peekers.

Home one was called Serenity after the Seinfeld phrase “Serenity now!” The home was 3,300 square feet and was recently remodeled to bring it up to date. It had a gleaming kitchen, an open and relaxed living area, and amazing bedrooms. The master suite featured a raised king sized sleeping area for a view of the pool area and the Sanibel causeway. The daughters room was updated but the daughter loved the wallpaper so they left the ceiling wallpapered and painted the walls. The home was decorated with unique items like a divers’ helmet, hand-blown Blenko glass, a Mother-of-Pearl kitchen backsplash and much more.

Home two is referred to as Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow because this house qualifies as wholly modern and yet historic. The home is built in a 19th century Florida tradition referred to as a four-square design. There is a stand alone kitchen area reached by a breezeway keeping the threat of fire and kitchen heat from the main house. There are is a 2 bedroom guest pod accessible by a covered deck that overlooks the lap pool. The main living space flows into the dining area and is separate from the master suite. The dining table is a tree from Costa Rica that has been shined to perfection. The home is furnished with new and vintage items the family has collected. Each bed is covered with a quilt handmade by a relative of the family. 

Home three is named Double Eagle for the sculpture of back-to-back eagles beside the paved driveway. This 2,400 square foot, three bedroom home is new and was designed uniquely for a bachelor. This bachelor loves dogs, boats and cars. He collects cars, has an amazing boat and three dogs that have an entire dog spa in the home. He also owns two more homes and one is in WI where he found a burl wood table in Door County and has it on display in his living room. The living room also sports a display of antique wheel covers from cars he has owned.

Home four is called Free Spirits on the Bayou and is owned by a local artist and her artist/musician husband. The home is furnished with their art collections, model trains, glassware, pottery, antique clocks and features a kitchen with purple counter tops. The home is on the Dinkins Bayou and mangrove preserve so they must watch for alligators in their yard. This home is exactly what I thought an artists home would look like. Sissi’s studio is outside on a raised screened porch overlooking the Bayou.

As we disembarked from our bus at the end of our tour we were met with ladies handing out ice cream and cupcakes!

Carole and I rode our bikes home while Nancy and Dorian drove. 

 Yes, purple counter tops!

Crafty Lady

On Wednesdays we gather to craft on the deck and this week our project was string painting. Jo is the organizer and had everything ready for us to paint. These are our finished products!

Just A Day On Sanibel

Just a regular day on Sanibel but with a few missing people!

He was finally able to get out on the beach and relax.