Cat on Trial

This bronze, entitled Trial Scene (1997), is by Thomas Otterness and sits in front of the Vero Beach Museum of Art. The sculpture, cute as it is, really comes to life when one notices what is protruding from the defendent's mouth.

Open House

In spite of a housing vacancy of about 20% in our county, there are those Floridians who still dream dreams, or perhaps just have a wonderful sense of humor. This is an undeveloped home site in our Bent Pine community. Click on the photo for a better view of the sign.

Piliated woodpecker

This beautiful bird alerted me to its presence by hammering on our cedar shake roof. It wouldn't sit still for a pic on the roof but here it is in our big live oak tree behind the house. What a sight!

More Cool Cars

When Jeff was visiting us in March we toured the antique and classic car show "under the oaks" with our pal Richard Beeman. There were lots of really old cars,

even one that came with its own repair kit. That's a pretty good hint about what driving in the early days was really like!


Some had exterior luggage capacity behing the rumble seat.

Others offered at least some protection from the elements.

Not this one -- an early motor bike.


Remember this one?

Richard is scratching his head about something -- maybe how to get it home? Curiously, only the trunk lid could be opened, so everything stowed there had to be lifted up over the back of the car.

Can you believe how long this car is?

A real Back to the Future DeLorean. There were three of them on display. Unfortunately Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd were not there.



Lunch at Citrus Grill with Nikki and Trish capped off our boys morning out!

Boat Tour with Capt. Christy

While Chris and Gary were visiting us we took a late afternoon narrated tour of the Indian River lagoon with Capt. Christy. Christy has been doing this for years and is a great guide.


We started at the Sebastian Marina and went across the lagoon to Pelican Island, the first National Wildlife Refuge. There were some White Pelicans...

and trees filling with Wood Storks settling in for the night (there are also some Roseate Spoonbills hiding in those trees).

Keeping a sharp eye for new sightings on our way to the Sebastian Inlet which connects the lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean.

Capt. Christy tells us where to look.

White and Brown Pelicans -- note how much bigger the Whites are.

We came across several pods of bottlenose dolphins. Many are so familiar to Capt. Christy that she can identify individuals by the names she has given them.

More White Pelicans and a beautiful Great Blue Heron.

It was a great adventure on the centerpiece of Vero Beach -- the Indian River lagoon!

Val's Gardenia Tree

Our friend and neighbor around the corner, Val, has a gardenia tree in her front yard. It is magnificent to look at and a delight to smell. In fact, its fragrance can be enjoyed at least 20 feet away. Nikki noted that where we come from gardenias are found in pots and usually dying! We think we will add a gardenia tree to our landscaping plan.

Dr. Suess in Vero Beach

The Dr. Suess exhibit has been at the McKee Botanical Gardens for several weeks and Nikki and I went on Friday to check it out. This is the welcoming garden and pond at the entrance.

Here is the Cat in the Hat...

Yertle the Turtle...


And the Grinch himself!

The gardens are beautiful, well maintained, and a great place for a stroll. But we were getting hungry.

Nikki couldn't believe how her BLT was presented

and how far away the rest rooms were!


Good advice from Dr. Suess.

Cool Cars

There were some cool cars in the parking lot next door the other day. The white Corvette and the '57 Chevy were show stoppers; the Benz, the Mini-Cooper convertible, and the T-Bird were pretty neat as well. Car envy?? Or mere appreciation??

Ft. Pierce, FL

While John and Jessie were here we drove down to Ft. Pierce to see manatees, and by golly a few were there. Always a special treat to see them!

A beautiful statue but no marker to tell us why it was there. We guessed it was to honor the sport fishing industry in Ft. Pierce, but why would we need to guess?

A Seminole family diorama in the history museum.

And here is our tour guide and chef for the gourmet picnic we all enjoyed.

Visit from the DePasquales

John and Jessie came for a visit in late January. During the visit John, with the power invested in him (by him)conferred upon me the status of honorary Italian, for which I am extremely proud and grateful. Sadly, the Italian grandmother or aunt who can really cook has not yet showed up here.

What, me worry???

Farmers Market

The Farmers Market at Humiston Park in Vero Beach is a Saturday morning tradition here. As the season progresses there are more vendors, but even now there are plenty of veggies, fruit, fresh citrus juices, meat, fish, flowers, etc. to make the visit interesting.

Here's Nikki in her robin's egg blue ensemble checking out the first vendor.

Lots of fruit and veggies. This is usually the most popular and congested stand.

This is the stand of our favorite citrus market -- Countryside Market. Best orange juice I have ever had, and their tangelo juice is even better!

A little bluegrass music to lift the spirits.

Nana Tootsie's Jelly.......

A late breakfast......

...and the best artisan bread in town!

Smoke From a Distant Fire

Due to a lack of big storms and hurricanes last summer it is dry here in Indian River County, very dry. In spite of more than a half inch of rain last Friday we still have a rainfall deficit of almost 14". Earlier this month there were several brush, swamp, and forest fires just north of us in Brevard County. Due to a north wind we experienced a couple of smoky days, although the sunsets were quite pretty.