Rosi and Stella’s Visit & Lunch With RumShopRyan! :)

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  This has been a goooood weekend!

My friend, Rosi Perkins, drove over from Fort Lauderdale with her precious doggie, Stella, on Saturday to visit and spend the night with us!  I’ve been friends with Rosi for about 5 years on the VIOL forum and Facebook, but this was our first in-person meeting!

When Rosi and Stella walked in the door about 2:30 in the afternoon, the cats had no idea what they were in for, even though I’d been warning them that a dog was coming to visit! LOL!  Toby was sleeping in the coral chair by the front door and Jack was “loafed up” on the bedroom floor.  Stella had no idea that Toby was behind her in the chair, but Toby didn’t flinch when Stella turned around and they came nose-to-nose!  A good sniffing ensued, then Stella moved on and Toby made a break for the guestroom & under the bed!  Then Stella found Jack who also didn’t move, they sniffed noses (Stella is very calm and not threatening) and after a few seconds, when Stella moved her foot a little, Jack did his best impression of a Halloween cat, backed up and hissed a little.  Poor Stella was outta’ there, and Jack retreated under the bed!  Eventually Toby moved to under the bed in our room with Jack and that’s pretty much where the boys stayed for the rest of Rosi & Stella’s visit!

Rosi got settled in the guest room and we all visited for a while then we took off for dinner at Bahama Breeze (thanks again Rosi!) about 6:00, while Stella made herself at home & got a nice nap in the guest room!.  Bahama Breeze is one of Rosi’s favorites (and ours too!) and once again, it didn’t disappoint!  After dinner, we went back to the house to drop off Rick and pick up Stella and we headed for Sanibel Island to get some sand between our toes and watch the sunset!  Rick and I have always been intrigued by the road to Bowmans Beach, but had never explored, so that’s where Rosi & I went!  Of course it was gorgeous!

Bowmans Beach estuary

Rosi, Stella & me

Rosi & Stella in the sunset!

As we were leaving the house, we could see some storm clouds approaching (our daily evening thunderstorm!), and we got a few raindrops on the windshield of the car, but we escaped!  However, not for long!  The storm clouds followed us to Sanibel Island and before long we had to get back to the car because of the impending downpour and a lot of lightning!

The lightning was spectacular with those big bolts that go from the ground to the clouds!

We drove through the pouring rain and by the time we got to the bridge back to Fort Myers, the storm had passed and the evening was beautiful!  We headed to Love Boat Ice Cream where we each got an ice cream cone, a sundae “to-go” for Rick and a cup of banana ice cream for Stella!  By now it was 9:00 and the place was still packed, and we had to park in back! There was a group of people standing out front eating ice cream and we could barely get in the door because of everyone inside!  All the tables were taken and there was a line!  But everyone was orderly and friendly, and the people serving up the ice cream were working their butts off!  If you ever have their ice cream, you’ll understand!

(picture taken on an earlier trip)

By the time we got home it was about 9:30, and it had been a LONGGG day for Rosi & Stella, so we all retreated to our rooms and I managed to get a couple of pictures posted to Facebook.

Sunday morning we had plans to meet Ryan & Erin for brunch at Coconut Jack’s in Bonita Springs.  Both Rosi & I know Ryan from Facebook, he also has a blog about rum and living the island life RumShopRyan.com.  Another first in-person meeting!  Isn’t the Internet a wonderful place?!  I’ve been Facebook friends with Ryan for a couple of years now and knew he lived in the area we were moving to, so getting together was something I’ve been looking forward to for a while!

Ryan and Erin are great! We really enjoyed meeting them, and lunch was wonderful too!  We hope to get together again soon!

After lunch we drove back home and Rosi and I went souvenir shopping!  (I love souvenir shops, a guilty pleasure!)  After we got our fill of Florida kitsch, we headed back to the house for some pool time (sorry, no pictures!).  Rick was napping and Rosi & I floated in the pool till we got “pruney.”  Rosi was surprised the pool wasn’t warmer, but it’s what you might call “refreshing” and once you’re in, you don’t get cold at all.  We floated and talked for a long time and then I decided it was time to get dinner started because Rosi & Stella had to leave to go back to Fort Lauderdale around 6:00 pm.

Well, dinner was a complete failure! Ouch!  I had gotten stuffed chicken breasts at the Publix butcher counter that sounded and looked great, but when I took them out of the oven, they were hard and almost impossible to cut, even with a steak knife!  I had also baked some smallish potatoes, but had forgotten to buy sour cream for them! (thank God we had real butter!)  At least the green beans turned out good, but it was by far one of the worst meals I’ve ever made and served to anyone!  So sorry Rosi, next time I’ll make some enchiladas or Reggae Pork!  I owe you a good meal!

When Rosi got the car packed up, Stella had made up her mind to stay with us!  LOL!  She was standing in the driveway and when Rosi called her to get in the car, she ran back to the house!  Too funny!  We love you Stella, you are a good, well-mannered dog and are always welcome at our house!  Next time maybe the cats will be more friendly and I promise have some doggie treats for you!

It was a fun time and Rosi and Stella say they want to come back again, so I guess dinner didn’t scare them off!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Cabinet Shelf Update :)

I finished the cabinet shelf this morning and here’s the finished project!

I added a piece of grasscloth matboard to the back to cover the holes that were originally for the TV & DVR cords, etc.  The matboard wasn’t quite big enough, so I need to see about getting another small piece to finish the top.. but you probably won’t notice anyway once all the stuff is in.  I’m just sort of a perfectionist that way and I have to have it completely finished.   But at least now I can go ahead and load it up!

Over n’ out!

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood!

Yesterday we met Denny & Don for lunch at a Mexican restaurant they discovered called La Fogata, it boasts Southern Mexican food.  It was great, but other than the refried beans being black beans, instead of pinto beans, I’m not so sure if Southern Mexican is any different from “regular” Mexican food. The food was super good and priced very well, and they serve Carta Blanca beer!  Winning!   Their chicken enchiladas were great and they make their own corn tortillas… I hope they sell them separately, they’re soooo good!  We will definitely be going back!  Denny & Don left today to head back up to Virginia, where they are in the process of getting their house ready to put on the market.  We’ll see you again in a few weeks!

Royal Poinciana trees (aka Flamboyant trees) are blooming all over town!  They remind me of So. California when all the Jacarandas are in bloom!  Only these are bright red-orange!  Rick took some pictures of a particularly beautiful tree we see whenever we drive down McGregor Blvd.

While he was out and about with his camera, he also took some other random photos around our neighborhood.  This is a street on the other side of McGregor from where we live that has a Banyan Tree in the middle … so cool!

This is the actual Whiskey Creek (looking west) and some of the homes that have Gulf access for their boats …

This is the other side of the bridge, looking east at the golf course.  Our house is a little to the left, although we can’t see the water.

… and some more fabulous Florida clouds!

Yesterday afternoon I put shelf supports in the big whitewashed cabinet we bought, and this morning I went over to Home Depot and had a piece of plywood and a piece of edge moulding cut, brought them home and glued them together!  Tomorrow morning I’ll whitewash it and ta-daaaaaa…shelf, … and I can finally get the rest of my stuff put away!

We spent the afternoon floating in the pool and just enjoying the vacation that is our backyard!  I took a couple of pictures too…

I love the way this Hibiscus is the same color as my plastic flamingo!  (Well, in the right light, they match exactly!  LOL!)

The Gardenia bush is going full blast and it makes the whole patio smell good!

There’s a planter off to the left of the picket fence out back, and it’s looking really pretty with so many flowers in-bloom!

I planted some Vinca seeds and some Fountain Blue Lobelia seeds, and my plan is to turn the beat up bench in the front yard into a trellis!  I’m going to also plant some Morning Glories!  Flowers soon come!

As you can see, I’ve already attached a flower pot holder to the back of the bench (I used zip ties) for the Lobelia and I’ll put a flower box full of Vinca on the seat!  Another pot of flowers will be on the little rusted table-thingie, and I hope to have the Morning Glories in a pot growing up the back of the bench.  Stay tuned and we’ll see how this all works out!

Life’s A Bitch…

… and then you retire to Florida!

This morning I spent a little time transplanting some of the plants I brought from California into bigger pots, they’ve grown so much in this tropical climate!  While I was doing that, Jerry and Rick experimented with flying a little inexpensive radio controlled airplane that Jerry bought.  They learned a lot, and had a ton of fun, but now I think they’re ready to move on to a bigger, better plane.

When I was finished transplanting, I floated in the pool for about an hour just staring up at the clouds and sipping on what I shall call a “Florida Chill Pill” …

It’s kind of like a lazy man’s Painkiller.  1 part Coconut Rum, 2 parts Orange Juice & 1 part Pineapple Juice.

About 2:00 Rick said, “Let’s go get some lunch at La Casita!”  Ok!  You don’t have to ask me twice!   I hopped into the shower, washed off the chlorine and off we went!  I took some pictures this time, please excuse the quality, they’re from my cell phone.

Yes, it’s purple!  And as you can see, it’s not at all fancy, but the food was great again… and this time I remembered my coupon!

After lunch we headed over to Sun Harvest Citrus (the orange juice store) to pick up a new bottle of Cranberry Orange juice (way yummy with vodka or rum, or even by itself!)

And I finally broke down and bought one of their $15.00 Key Lime Pies, after drooling over them on previous visits.  The juice is SO good, the pie has to be, right?

NOT!! The box is way better than the pie!  The $6.00 Key Lime Pie from Publix has this one beat by a mile!  The texture is super good, but you can hardly taste any lime!  I think when I have another piece, I’ll squeeze some lime juice over it.  Oh well, lesson learned, and I continue my lifelong quest for the perfect Key Lime Pie.  So far Island Blues on St. John holds the record for the best…or there may have been another one somewhere, but that’s the best one I can remember.  I guess now I’m going to have to learn how to make Key Lime Pie to get what I want, like the refried beans!  LOL!

It was a beautiful day and the clouds were magnificent!

I hope  your Sunday was as great as mine!  Have a good week!

Eureka! I Have Found It!

Yes, I know that’s the state motto of California, but it applies in Fort Myers too, when you finally find an awesome Mexican Restaurant!  We’ve passed La Casita a number of times on our way to and from Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and anyplace else we have to travel down McGregor Blvd. for!   I had cut out coupons for it, but when Rick said, “Let’s go try that place,” I totally forgot to put the coupons in my purse!  But off we went and it was great!!  They play Mexican music and the chairs are all wooden and all painted different colors, and there are papiel picado banners hanging from the ceiling!  Sweeeet!  I checked the reviews on Trip Advisor, and it seems like a lot of people didn’t have a pleasant experience there, but we thought it was very authentic in decor and menu.  Maybe some people expect a fancier place with a full bar?  It’s definitely not fancy!

Papiel picado (I didn’t take this picture, it’s just something I grabbed off the Internet to illustrate)

They make their own pico de gallo fresh twice daily, they make their own chips and they serve Carta Blanca beer!  Do you know how hard it is to find Carta Blanca??  I ordered a crispy chicken taco and a chicken enchilada verde with refried beans, Rick got two chicken enchiladas verde with rice & beans.  EXCELLENT on everything!  Nothing was over-salted, they use real cotija cheese, and I don’t think I’ve ever had an enchilada stuffed with more chicken!  The food at La Casita blows a lot of California restaurants out of the water!  The only place I can compare it to is Olamendi’s in Dana Point.  Ricardo’s in San Juan Capistrano has them beat on tacos, but can’t hold a candle to their beans!  We will be regulars at La Casita!

Today we met some new friends for lunch at Bahama Breeze!  Denny & Don are VIOL (Virgin-Islands-On-Line) friends and regular blog readers (Hi Denny & Don!).

You VIOL people reading this may remember meeting them at a Forum get-together at Rick & Christine’s Mad Fox Brewing Company.  They are moving from Virginia to Cape Coral and are down here this week furnishing their new condo.  After lunch we went consignment shopping…fuuuun!!  I took them to Sondra’s and to St. Columbkille.  I think they may have found something at Sondra’s but needed to go back to the condo to measure before purchasing it.  Rick & I went home after going to St. Columbkille, because they had some other errands they needed to run, but I told them about Lindsey’s Attic in Cape Coral.  I couldn’t remember the name of the place to save my soul, but they found it just by my description of where it is.  They got a few things there, too.  It was a SUPER FUN day and we’re going to get together again before they go back to Virginia next week.  (Maybe we’ll go to La Casita! LOL!)   They didn’t have time today, but maybe next time they can come back to our house for some Painkillers and a swim after lunch!

It’s nice to have some new friends!  Maybe we’ll even know enough people to have a party one day!  LOL!

Staycation – Another Day in Paradise!

Yesterday we had Jerry & Suzy over for a late afternoon lunch – I made white chicken enchiladas and refried beans, with a fresh fruit salad.  Lunch was outstanding, if I do say so myself!   My friend, Sharon, in California gave me her enchilada recipe back in 1988 and it’s been a winner ever since!  After lunch we headed out for the 5:00 showing of “Dark Shadows” and really enjoyed it!  What a fun movie!  About 5:30 there was a muffled roar in the theatre and both Rick & I thought they had a noisy air conditioning system, but as it turned out, it was RAIN on the roof!  The noise of the rain didn’t last long, but it was still raining when we came out of the theatre.  We all went back to our house for coffee & dessert, and it continued to rain until about 9:00 p.m.  We watched another movie on DVD (a Carl Reiner film called “Fatal Instinct” – it’s a hilarious spoof on several different thriller movies!) and at times the rain was so loud on the skylight that we had the volume almost all the way up in order to hear it!  This morning I checked the rain gauge…  and believe me when I tell you that it was empty to begin with!  (those are inches, folks!)

Now that’s some rain!  It’s summerrrrr!

Today, it was beautiful again (but I think it’s beautiful when it rains, too!) and we met Brittany (from Sondra’s) at The Lani Kai in Fort Myers Beach for afternoon drinks.  She and I had both printed out “40% off on a Rum Runner” coupons from Facebook so of course we had to use them!  There are several bars at The Lani Kai, and we started out at the beach bar, but it’s a little ratty and the live music was too loud to hear the person next to you talk, so we went up to the rooftop bar.  We could still hear the music, but it didn’t invade our conversation, and the view was incredible!

Brittany & me!

The Lani Kai has a webcam that I used to watch when we were still in California, and now I’m THERE!  You can make your dreams come true, all you have to do is believe in them and yourself and work hard to make them a reality!

You can find more Fort Myers Beach webcams here.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring – Video!

Not much going on, but I thought I’d take a little video for you folks that aren’t familiar with Florida rain!   In the video I say that these downpours only usually last about 10 minutes, but it’s been about 2 hrs. now and we’re still getting little showers.  Plus we had a fair amount of thunder & lightning!  Toby’s under the bed.  We never knew he was afraid of rain before, but then again, in California we had a 2-story house and California rain isn’t as hard.  Here in our 1-story house you can hear the rain really good on the roof, and particularly on the plastic skylight!  Add that to thunder and Toby’s outta here!  Jack doesn’t seem fazed at all by it, in fact he goes out on the covered patio and hangs out to watch it.

Here’s hoping you have a GREAT weekend!

Over n’ out!