Wow, the last day in January!

Hard to believe how quickly time is going!  

The weather down here has been cooler than expected. The mornings have been in the 30's this week, however it did warm up to the 70's today.  Nice & sunny all day long. 

Please see the beautiful sunset that we had tonight.  Take care. 

This is a tree that is outside our motorhome & i thought that this picture look like a heart with the shape of the tree.  Take care! 

Florida Exotic Bird Sanctuary

Today we went to the Florida Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Wesley Chapel. 

The sanctuary is dedicated to the care and well being of parrots & other exotic birds.  They do not breed, sell, trade, or offer for adoption the birds in their care.  

Instead they endeavor to provide them with a permanent home that allows them to mingle with other compatible birds in  outdoor open-flight aviaries.

They also strive to provide permanant, caring homes for birds with special needs, including those with physical challenges or behavioral issues. 

Please see how beautiful these birds in the pictures below.

Some of them were actually talking. They said Hello, Hi There, Pretty Boy & one of then actually did a cat whistle at me. 

This bird & his friends would start making lots of noise when we moved away from his cage because he wanted the attention from us. He had bright yellow cap feathers on his head & also his lower body. Magnificent! 

Beautiful birds!  The man at the sanctuary asked if we wanted to go into the huge cage that they had, but neither of us wanted to chance getting pooped on. 😀

A lot of the birds came from people who had bought them as a pet & found out that they were too much work to care for them. 

Enjoy! 😳

Wesley Chapel, FL

We are staying in Wesley Chapel FL until February 8th when we will be heading back to Lazydays in Seffner. 

It has been considerably cold here - yesterday it was 37 degrees in the morning & warmed up once the sun came out.  Today was warmer at 46 at 8:00 am & somewhat windy all day long. We have had to put the heat on several times. 

Not much going on, but we have been getting in some relax time. 

The attached picture is of an Ibis that out in front of the RV this morning. 

More later. Be safe through the blizzard. 

Clearwater, FL

We were in Lutz from 1/14 until 1/17.

Took a ride from Lutz, Fl to Clearwater FL on 1/17 & spent the day with Pete, Ava & Luke & went out to dinner in the evening with family. 

The beach was magnificent even though

 was windy & COLD.

Clearwater Beach - beautiful white sand!

Sunset over pier at Clearwater Beach 

These herons were outside our RV while we were in Lutz. They are not bothered be humans & don't even move when you are close to them. 

On 1/18 we left Lutz & headed to Wesley Chapel which is further North. Very cold this morning, it was only 37 degrees but the day was beautiful sunny day with temperature @ 70 drgrees. 

We will be at this location until 2/8. 

Enjoy! 

Hard Rock Casino

Sunday we checked out the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa & played the slots for half an hour. No, we did not win! Darn!  Not our lucky day. 

Hard Rock Casino

Monday we went to an Italian Market named Mazzaro's. This is a go to market for anything Italian. Upon entering you see all kinds of fresh meat products on one side & cheese, cheese & more cheese on the other side. You pass a section with wine & more cheese there too. 

In the next room there are groceries of all sorts & a pastry section with yummy pastries to choose from.

It was the busiest place in town. 

Across the parking lot there is the Casa di Mazzaro with all sorts of household items, quality tea & gifts. Very reasonable prices. 

Casa di Mazzaro

This was a mural on the wall of market.

Carp & I had fun posing for this one. Varoom! 

Funky car outside the market. 

Today, Wednesday, we went to the RV show in Tampa. It was huge. So many people in one place. Difficult to walk around, interesting. We enjoyed it though. 

There was a young lady at the show who makes specialty signs so we had her make one for us. 

They also had a short parade at the RV show as well & some bagpipers. 

Clown with a bike. 

Guys on unicycles. 

This Girl (Gertrude was her name) pulling a rickshak with folks in it around the fairgrounds where the RV show was. Actually she gave Carp & I a ride in the rickshaw. She was so funny pulling the rickshaw & blowing a harmonica to get people out of her way. She was extremely funny making comments throughout the whole ride. Great time!  😃

Lassoing & riding a fake horse. He was in  the parade as well. 

We ended the day with a ice cream. 

Busy the past several days to make up for some down time that we had recently. 

Enjoy! 😃

Circus Xtreme - Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey

The Circus is in town!  Circus Xtreme was in Tampa this weekend so we decided to let the child in us enjoy it. 

This was Carp's first & only circus!  

  

Let the circus begin!

Master of Cerrmonies. 

Clown cars & all! 

Let the elephants roll!  

Awesome show. Very well trained elephants!  

Clowns & Dancers

Flying mermaids. 

Trainer & his family of tigers. 

Awesome group of young folks who were jumping on a trampoline & flying in the air. 

Bike riders speeding by each other & flying through the air & riding up & down 1/2 pipes.  Really impressive. 

We had a wonderful time taking in all the action & living in the moment. 

Enjoy! 

New Year's Eve 2014

We took a ride to Sarasota to see Lido Beach today.  It was cold & windy yet so beautiful.  The beach has beautiful soft white sand with more sea shells than we found on Sanibel Island. We found these three shells that we still in tact & they look like butterflies. 

We saw two dolphins who were swimming in unison with each other & popping out of the water.  There were also jumping fish coming up out of the water. Unfortunately I was not able to catch them in the act, but I tried. 

Carpie was brave & tested the waters;  I on the other hand, was chicken!  

Someone wrote "2015" in the sand.  It is a reminder to us all that another year has ended & a new year is beginning with much hope for a happy & successful year. 

As it says on this church sign below: 

Sorrow looks back; 

Worry looks around; 

Faith looks up.

Down the road from Lido Beach is St.  Armand's Circle.  Circus magnate John Ringling purchased the property that is St.0 Armand's Key in 1917.  His vision for this unique planned development included a shopping area laid out in a circle.  European-style, in addition to residential homes.  Ringling Circus elephants were used to haul in the timbers to build the bridge that would connect the area to the mainland. 

We walked around St. Armand's Circle & enjoyed the shops & stopped to have some lunch in an outdoor cafe & sit & watch the excitement of all the other folks  who were doing the same. 

There was a little clowning around in the Circle as well.  This clown was great with getting the children involved in his act.

While on our way to head home, we came across this magnificent statue of the "Unconditional Surrender".

Just as a point of comparison & to show how large this statue is, that is me standing at the bottom of the nurse's leg.

The sculpturer actually put seams in her stockings.  Awesome.  

 

We had to park a little distance away & walk back to capture pictures of this wonderful statue then when we were heading back to the car we heard load music & lots of lights.  So we went to investigate & found a block party going in for New Years Eve. They had carnival equipment set up & food vendors. They had a stage set up with a tv broadcaster playing music & getting the crowd all excited. Up above the stage there was a crane with a lighted pineapple attached, much like the lighted ball in Times Square. This pineapple was going to be lowered for the new year. 

Rock claiming tower!  No, we were not brave enough to give it a try. 

Pineapple ball hanging from the crane! 

Last but not least, Carp bought a T shirt that has texting for seniors. Funny!

We had a very full day & enjoyed every bit of it. Sadly, we were too tired to stay for the pineapple drop. 

Happy New Year!  🎉🎊