I love my father as the stars - he's a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart.  ~Terri Guillemets

I would like to tell you a little about my Dad. My Dad is my hero. To me he is a pillar of a man with the biggest heart you could ever imagine.  He was a fighter pilot in 2 wars, Korea and Vietnam with 100 missions in each campaign.  

 He loves this country and his family…and for that matter, he likes everyone he meets.  He feels no pain no matter what he has to deal with, 2 surgeries, Radiation, Chemotherapy, you name it.  He believes that attitude is everything.  When we started this battle with Cancer, his attitude, when I mentioned him being sick was….”I’m not sick, I just have Cancer!” He is frightened of nothing!!  He taught me how to work on cars, rebuild boat and car engines, fish, camp etc.  He introduces me as the only boy he ever had!! He brags nearly daily about me and my job, and his wonderful granddaughter who is in vet school, and you can see in his face he is so very proud!!

I have been fortunate to go with him for 2 years to his Vietnam fighter squadron reunion in Texas, and meet many of the people I heard about when I was very young. If I could only be half the person my Dad is I would be so very successful.  I have always said he is the real Santa Claus. Since the year I was born he has spent days preparing his yard with a homemade display of characters for all to enjoy at Christmas time, and loves to go out and talk with everyone and add their name to ‘Santa’s List’ that is permanently displayed year after year in his yard for all to see. 

I have become his fishing buddy and try to go nearly every week with him fishing.  It is such a pleasure to watch him battle with a big bass, and bring him in the boat, and I believe he is just as excited when I catch one!

I am fortunate to be with my Dad on Sanibel Island Florida for this Father’s Day and have really enjoyed spending 2 beautiful weeks with him and my family. 

I hope you had the opportunity to hug your Dad today and tell him you love him!  I did!!  

Happy Father's Day Daddy..I Love You!!

:Hugs:


Cheri

Last day of the week

"Remember that you can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." ~Unknown

We realized today that if we were staying as we used to, we would be packing up already!! I truly believe that one has to take 2 weeks to truly relax....one week to unwind, then the next week to really enjoy it!! The pelicans have been around in large groups, I guess the fishing must be pretty good out there...it's fun to watch the seagulls stand on the pelican's back while they swim around catching their evening snacks...I can't seem to capture a picture of it to share with you, but I will continue to try!

I found out the job I want when I retire! I want this guy's job....drive down the beach all day and visit with everyone...all day...everyday!! I think I could handle it!! Although I have seen some of these Sanibel cops have to wrestle a gator on the beach!

As I said before, shelling hasn't been great, especially since the crab pot spot quit producing, Brad went out to try it, but soon moved on down the beach to find another digging place that would soon be called the new 'sweet spot' or 'honey hole'.  He found a tidal pool to the east about half a mile or so, but wasn't sure that was going to be as productive.  Jess went down to join him and picked an alphabet cone out of his spot. So maybe it will turn out to be a good one. 

Jimmy, Daddy and I decided to stay in this time, just for some relaxation.  I decided to go find a geocache that showed to be about half a mile from here and took my Dad along for the walk.  It lead us down a bike path across a small bridge and along a pond to a cemetery of people who had been buried there for many, many years.  It seemed to be a family plot, but there was one buried there who was an unknown that was found at the lighthouse.  We used the gps to get closeby and Daddy found a ziplock bag with a small box in it in a palm tree...it was empty! That seemed strange to me, but I went ahead and put in a new log, and a little prize, but decided to look at the hints on the gps to make sure it was the right one....turns out it wasn't!  I removed the stuff and found the right one nearby.  I'm not sure what that was for, but it was a nice evening walk and a little adventure for me and my Dad.

 For all of those out there that are not as fortunate as I am this week...here is a novice's video to share the sights and sounds of the gulf! Enjoy!

 ::Hugs::

 Cheri

Shelling Pics and a field trip!!

"Sharks are as those football fans who take their shirts off during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent!" ~ Dave Barry

The shelling hasn't improved much around here, I tried walking all the way down to Sundial and had little to no luck even in the small tidal pools that were there.  Jess, Jimmy and I slowly walked back and Jess and I found a small area of shells under the sand, that produced a few small treasures, but after that, nothing else.  As we got to Gulfside park we saw a tidal pool forming that had some beautiful live lightning whelks, Kings crowns, and Jess even found a live Shark's eye...I had only seen one live at Kim's I Love Shelling blog. (click link to go to that post!).  Jess had him on her arm and it was about the size of your fist, very cool!  Of course we put them all safely back into the Gulf so they will grow up and have babies!! :)

We walked on down to the crab pots where Daddy and Brad continued to dig and did pretty well, though it was beginning to slow down a bit! The gloves we got have made a big difference! Though we look kind of like EXTREME shellers with them on...well I guess we really are!!

EXTREME sheller gloves!

Brad and Jess' bounty for the day

Brad's humongo shark's eye...no it's not the live one we found...I PROMISE!

Brad's Alphabet Cones

Daddy's Dig

Jimmy and My finds

  Yesterday Brad, Jess and myself decided we wanted to go check out Manasota Key to see if we could find some shark's teeth on the beach.  I had heard about it many times and read about it on two of my favorite blogs Kaybe at The Essential Beachcomber and Busybee2 at Snug Harbor Bay!  I emailed both of the ladies and they both gave me excellent tips and directions, we drove there just like we knew where we were going!! Kaybe actually lives there and Busybee2 just went there a few weeks ago while down on her trip to Sanibel!!  What a lot of fun it was!! I really didn't know what to expect, and we had planned on only spending a short time, about an hour, there....2 and a half hours later we left!! We had no idea it had been so long, but what fun it was! We followed their directions which led us through the town of Englewood that had this beautiful statue of a tulip shell on a roundabout right on the beach, then onto a thin strip of land (called a key in FL) to a public beach!  It was quite the adventure for us city folk!!  Thank you both so much for all the info...I wish we would of had time to visit with you Kaybe while we were there!!  

How cool is this...looks like my kind of place!

Brad's shark's teeth

Jess' finds!

My Finds

 While we were there, I wanted to cool off a bit, and it makes one think.....do I really want to get into the water right next to the beach, where you find things like this on the shore??  Well I did, but only for a second!  I understand that if you want to get bigger teeth, you can get a charter and go on a dive to get them....Hmmmm....need to think about that one for a while!! :)

We came back and went out shelling back at Sanibel and didn't do well at all, we walked back down to Sundial because the crab pots were still underwater too deep, when they did finally come out, we found nearly nothing!  We need to choose another plan now, Daddy loves to dig so tonight we need to find the next 'Sweet Spot'!  Wish us luck!!

::Hugs::

More from Paradise!

"Success comes in cans, failure in can'ts"~Author unknown


I know you won't believe this after seeing the pictures, but the shelling here has not been very good, even though we are here during the full moon! Hubby and I normally walk along the shoreline, or in about knee deep, and do very well! This time it is not the case, the water is so crystal clear, but we are getting the shells this time only because we are digging around buried crab pots.  We have done it so much, we all have sores on the ends of our fingers, and all of our fingernails are gone so we resorted to buying gloves!! Tell me we aren't dedicated!! A true sheller will find a way to get the job done! :)  The gloves were definitely the way to go, they are thin rubberized garden gloves, and do an excellent job of saving the tender skin on the end of our fingers, while allowing us to 'feel' the shells!

True Tulip

Daddy definitely cleaned-up....he wins all the prizes this time...biggest, most Alphabet Cones, most shells!!

Daddy found this Horse Conch...it is my favorite! Any size but this one is great!!

He also got THREE Alphabet Cones!

Two HUGE Lightning whelks!!

Brad decided he would join the competition and found this beautiful Alphabet himself!!

Jess won the prize for this beautiful King's Crown!

I got these double jewel boxes in one net at the same time!!

I also wanted to share some pictures of paradise for those of you stuck in your cubicles at work! I know how much I enjoy reading about Florida and seeing the beautiful pictures while I am there, so I wanted to extend the opportunity!!  I guess I have sort of turned into a birdwatcher, I love to see them, here and at home!!

Fishing....!!

Snowy Egret posing

Beautiful Pelican

A pelican watching...and one fishing!

Laughing Gull

Ibis

  Have you ever heard of a pelican tree? They have them next to Sundial resort, and now Casa Ybel has them!! It's the funniest thing to see!

Look Close!!

Closer

Voila!

 They are actually Australian Pine trees, but for some reason the pelicans just love to stand on the skinny little branches and look over everyone! I guess they need a break from work too sometimes!! :)

More later!!


::Hugs::

A Birthday Party in Paradise!!

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”~ Lucille ball

Sorry for the delays on posting, been very busy.....but in a good way!! We are back down to Sanibel Island Florida!! We have made it a tradition to have a family trip down here every year...This time it will be for 2 whole weeks!  This year we moved the trip up a month because our daughter Jess is going to India for 7 weeks on a scholarship from Virginia Tech Vet School, and she leaves the end of June, so we wanted to make sure she had a couple of weeks to enjoy the summer...it just so happened that we get to spend her birthday and Father's Day down here in paradise!!

We (Dad, Mom, Hubby and Myself) drove down here, (I am always SO happy to find me a palm tree!!)

Palm tree hugger!

and Jess and Brad flew down.  Let me introduce you to all the stars of this show...First are my Mom and Dad, who we call 'Mama and Papa'.

Mama and Papa

 Next is my hubby and myself.

Me and Junonia Jim

 ...and last, but certainly not least is our daughter Jess and her hubby Brad! They have been newlyweds for almost 3 years now! They have only been able to spend their July anniversary together only one year, the first one...Brad went to China last July on a Fulbright Scholarship to China!!  He is a history teacher and Debate Coach at Blacksburg High School in VA!

Brad and Jess

 We all got together about 6:30 on Saturday when we picked them up at the airport down here, and we did our grocery shopping back in Ft. Myers before we traveled back to the island, then we have our traditional first night's dinner at Hungry Heron with our favorite waitress Lori!  We are always greeted with big smiles and big hugs....and she always remembers Hubby and my drink orders!!

We all woke up Sunday to a beautiful day, and began adjusting our eating schedule to the low tide....we have to allow an hour before the low to make sure we have all opportunities!! :)  So this year it will be early dinners as low tide is early evenings.  The beaches seem to be pretty clean of shells this time, can't tell high tide lines, and low tide did not prove to be very fruitful!! But that's okay, we're in paradise!! 

Jess, Brad and I walked next door to Gulfside City Park and found our first Geocache, hopefully we will have a chance to find the many more around the island....I've been thinking that I might put out my first Geocache while here....kinda like a family cache!! I think it would be great fun....it will be an excuse to come here more often for maintenance to keep it in good shape!! ;)

Daddy and Brad like to dig for their shells, so they looked around to find something to dig around, and we eventually found some crab pots that were buried right in front of the condo, and we have been working them for the last couple of days....we all have sore fingers, and Brad even attempted to shorten his finger some on a pen shell, but it's all in the fun of the hunt!!  Hubby has been walking down toward the east and has found lots of live shells, but he hasn't had great luck with the numbers either!  Jess and I have each found a pretty alphabet cone while digging with Daddy and Brad!!

Not too bad!

Jess' Alphabet Cone....beautiful colors!

Brad's Double Jewel box

My Alphabet Cone!

 Jess' birthday was yesterday, she turned 25 years old!! I always thought it was funny that my birthdays seemed to make my parents feel older than there's did, I completely understand that feeling now!! :\ We had a little birthday cake for her, couldn't find cake pans, so we made do with what we had!! She seemed to enjoy it!!

 ..and of course it had to have animal print candles for the vet student!!

 She and Brad played some basketball and we mostly just hung out around the condo for most of the day....

 Jess asked for 2 things for her birthday....one was some Gramma Dot's Key Lime pie....which is to die for!!....that was easy.....the other was to find a Junonia!!  Of course you probably already know that didn't happen, but we have only been here a couple of days....so we'll see!!

Birthday dinner at Gramma Dot's!!

Jess wanted to take Brad to Cayo Costa since he has never been so we scheduled a trip with Captain Brian, see his blog here.  We have never been with Capt. Brian, but he comes highly recommended from my blogging buddies, and I have been enjoying his blog too! We go out with him on Saturday so I hopefully will have some great stories to share after that trip!!

More later!!

::Hugs::