Day 38 on Captiva

Sunrise from the Dock on the Bay

Tuesday began with going out for sunrise on the bay side of the island.  We took a walk over to the beach on the gulf side to check out the tide and to see if there were any shells. We then returned to the porch for coffee and scones. Then we took a drive through Ding Darling. We finally saw some roseate spoonbills which we have missed seeing on our drives.

Roseate Spoonbills

Great Blue Heron

Mottled Ducks

One Happy Duck!

Anhinga

After a lunch of tuna salad, we headed back to the beach for a couple hours.  We were excited to see a pod of dolphins  - 5 to  6- swim by in the gulf. The flock of ibis were there again but had gained in number. 

We attended the Sanctuary Members Art Show to see the oil paintings that Helene was exhibiting.  She had  paintings ...a still life of an apple, snow scene, autumn scene and a beach scene. We enjoyed seeing the art that she did this past year.  We then had dinner with Mike and Helene and a couple of their friends in the clubhouse.   It was a fun evening and great food.



Day 37 on Captiva

We went out early this morning to see the sunrise over the bay.  The morning was filled with sounds of birds waking and sights of the early fishermen on the bridge and in the bay. This is a wonderful way to start the day.

The pictures of the sunrise say it all.....no commentary needed here. Our day was rather quiet spending time on the porch and at the pool.
We met Mike and Helene for dinner at the nearby Sunset Grill, a favorite of all of us.  I had seabass encrusted in a lattice crust with risotto and Al ordered the lobster tail also served with risotto.    Mike had grilled swordfish with mashed potatoes and Helene ordered the seafood pasta. The wine was ZD Pinot Noir which was new to us.

Day 36 on Captiva

We lost an hour today with the Time Change....instead of the sun rising about 6:30,  it now rises at 7:30. I always have trouble adjusting to this change. After coffee and bagels we drove to the Farmer's Market early in order to buy mussels before they sold out but the stand did not have any to sell. Well so much for that plan! I am sharing some pictures of the flower vendor where we have bought flowers every weekend. This week I bought a bouquet of pink tulips....thinking about spring and blooms tocome.  Have you ever seen blue orchids?....never have I.



Blue orchids???

We then went to the Bailey Tract for a walk. We saw a glorious sight of a large  migrating flock of Tree Swallows feeding on berries from a bayberry bush. I tried to capture their movement in this video:

Other pictures from our walk:


Tree Swallow Flock



Tree Swallows Feeding on Bayberry Bush



Pied-billed Grebe

Baby Alligator

For lunch we grilled ham and cheese with Tomato with Basil Soup.
For dinner, I prepared one of Al's faves - Shrimp Puttanesca that I have described in previous posts.

Day 35 Continued

After my walk on the beach and coffee, we went for a drive at Ding Darling.  Not many birds other than a few white pelicans, many ibis, yellow-crowned night herons, a hawk, shorebirds, blue herons, tri-colored herons, reddish egrets, great egrets,  ospreys on their nests, and the other regulars. Still looking for black -crowned herons.  I wonder where are the roseate spoonbills ...none in sight. These were the best shots of the day.

 Then back to the house for a lunch of ham sandwiches,  We then spent a restful afternoon on the beach.  Saw a group of short-billed dowitchers,  ibis, willets, sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, plovers, and just a few gulls. Not any brown pelicans.  No signs of great blue herons or the eagle from this morning.

Short-billed Dowitchers

Ibis Feeding

For dinner, I made chicken piccata served with garlicky angel hair pasta, tossed salad, and  garlic rolls. We ate on the porch and then Al watched the horse races at Northfield Park on the internet. I did some posting on this blog.

Day 35 on the Beach on Captiva

What a glorious morning on Captiva today.   I walked out to the beach about 45 minutes after sunrise....a bit later than on the last few mornings that I walked on the beach but I was greeted by a beautiful sky with the moon appearing above the gulf.  Another beautiful day created by God for all to enjoy. I am so blessed to be here in paradise.

The pelicans were flying in formation to report to the beach for their day of feeding and riding on the waves and to entertain all the beachcombers.

I enjoyed seeing the moon still in the sky as the sunshine filled the world with light.

Two Great Blue Herons were stalking their territories on the beach but would they be able to share the beach with each other?  These birds are very territorial and I did not know which bird had the beach rights to this area.   The one standing up tall and stretched to  his great height or the other one that hunkered down ready to show his full size........

But then another bird appeared on the scene.....one that I had never seen on this beach at Captiva Island.........

....an Eagle had landed on the shore ready to claim a fish from the gulf for his breakfast. This was quite a sight because in all my years on the island, I had never observed an eagle land on the beach.

The Eagle had caught a fish and was eating as the Great Blues watched and came in closer to
see who was invading their territory.

The Great Blues then resumed their territroial flight and began to chase each other off the beach.

The eagle then gave flight......

.... and landed in a nearby Autralian pine tree .....

What a great time I had watching these events unfold on the beach on this wonderful morning!

Day 33 on Captiva

No exciting adventures or pictures to report for this post.
Today was massage day for Al.  (Update on his shoulder:  He may have dislocated his shoulder causing the pain but it seemed to pop back in place a few days ago  when he reached for something. His pain is not as bad as it was.)  We drove in to Sanibel for his 9:00 AM appointment.

Afterwards we decided to try another place for breakfast and went to Jerry's which is a food store with a restaurant. We had a great breakfast...no wait....good service....good value.  Al ordered 2 eggs over easy, 2 pancakes, and sausage patties.  I had 2 scrambled eggs, ham, grits, and toast. We will be returning here for more meals.

We then shopped for provisions for meals to cook in.  The early afternoon was too cloudy for the beach but the sky cleared about 3:00 so we did get some time on the beach....was very hot today.  The clouds returned before sunset and it started to rain  around 7 PM.

Felt like comfort food tonight so I made meatloaf using cocktail sauce instead of my regular ingredients since I had a jar of the sauce. It turned out to be delicious but I still like my regular recipe.
Served with corn and tossed salad and garlic rolls.

I watched the DVD "The Help" as Al read and watched some TV.....was not his kind of movie.   I liked the book much better than the movie.....and wonder if I'd even like the movie unless I had read the book?

 

Day 32 on Captiva

Today I finally caught up with daily postings on this diary blog recapping all our days up to yesterday on Captiva Island. Some of my writing may be mundane but I like keeping a record of our time here.  Someday I may enjoy reliving some of our days here when we are too old and feeble to return for the winter weeks.  I just finished reading another book by Christine Lemmon "Sand in My Eyes" - "about an older woman growing flowers, a younger woman caught up in the weeds, and the seasons of life."  It did make me think of the different seasons of my life and about becoming old and older.

Al spent the morning mostly reading and waiting for me to get off the puter. He had some juice and cereal  to hold him over until I made lunch of BLT's.   The afternoon was leisurely spent with time on the beach. Today was the warmest day yet and the beach was a bit more busy.  We saw another dolphin swim by ...have not seen as many this year but it could be just not being in the right place at the right time.  On Monday this week, Al spotted a school of about 4-5 dolphins while I was making pictures of the black skimmers.

I fixed an easy meal tonight making a frozen dinner, P.F.Chang's  Shanghai Style Beef with a sweet and savory sauce, onions, string beans and red bell peppers that I served over some spaghetti. Just for fun, I included a picture of the bag from the web.  I also made a citrus salad - grapefruit ,oranges, and red onion with a honey dressing.  So easy and we enjoyed having some oriental food.