Today is Easter, which the Oxford English Dictionary Online Word of the Day service recognized by sending a remarkably illuminating entry for "Easter egg" (though I believe it accidentally left out an important mention of Canada in the entry). We recognize Easter by posting a photograph I took yesterday of a small reproduction of the crosses at Calvary--not exactly the right image for Easter, which is about the resurrection rather than the death--and by showing the tiny Easter baskets Nancy prepared for the kids this morning.
The family split up a little bit today. I went to Port Charlotte to see my friend Bob Grumman, and I spent a good deal of the afternoon there. Everyone else stayed here entertaining themselves. Despite the excitement of Bob's house, I'll leave readers with nothing more than a picture of one of the flowers of one of the weeds Bob planted in his yard (thus nullifying its status as a weed). The flowers bunch together into a bouquet, sort like Queen Anne's lace, but in a more beautiful way. Just another example of how different plants are here than in our part of the world.
What my family ended up doing in my absence was riding around the circles of Polynesian Village. The world of Florida is flat, which makes for great bike riding. And PV has the extra advantage of being almost totally free of cars, so we can ride in circles here forever. I assume we would be the thinnest of people if we lived in such a bike friendly place. (Though I've gained one pound a day every day I've been here so far, and we haven't gone out to eat once!)
On their ride through the park, they found an egret standing atop a car as if it were merely standing in a stream. Another view uncommon at home, but we never come down here without seeing egrets pause in carports.
As the three of them rode through the park, Tim and Erin photographed each other, just for fun. Part of the safety program we've put them through. This isn't really possible in places with many cars and speed limits above 15 mph.
Tim appears to be turning into Erin (who takes self-portraits all the time). The great thing about this shot is that the wind has moved Tim's hair off his face.
And here is a good view of what bike riding is like around here. Nancy, obviously, isn't so sure that it's a good idea to ride a bike and shoot video simultaneously.
I made it back from Bob's forty-five minutes before the 4 pm start for Easter dinner. This is a view of the entire family (sans Tim, the photographer) walking to dinner. My in-laws, Bud and Marge Frye and Marge's sister Joan Grant are walking with the three of us. We waited until 4 pm to start our half-block walk to dinner, but by the time we arrived the "parking lot" (a small grassy area) was full of cars. I'm not sure what surprised me more: that people in such a small space actually drove to dinner or that all the spaces were gone by 4:03 pm.
As soon as we arrived, Tim (who takes after Mr Mike, AKA Bud Frye, in terms of friendliness towards strangers) learned from someone that the local gator was sunning itself at the edge of the pond. Once he told us, we hopped up and moved outside to take a look. At first, no-one believed that tiny alligator was real (that beast being such a shellacked entity), but once it moved, opening its mouth to try to scare us, we knew it was.
We've been here once before for Easter, so we should have remembered that the dinner included an Easter bonnet parade, complete with prizes for the prettiest, funniest, and most original. Nancy, Erin, and Tim were chosen as judges, since they were deemed unbiased (and since none of their relatives were in the running). Today there were about fifteen people (all women and girls this time) displaying their sometimes homemade bonnets.
The bonneteers paraded through the recreation hall twice, giving the judges enough time to make their decisions. Later on, the trio turned in their decisions, but the woman who'd chosen them came back to tell them that there were prizes already for the children, so the one child winner would be changed. (The guys, however, were a bit surprised that only one of their choices actually one--bringing the need for an unbiased appraisal into question a bit!)
We were joined for dinner with Dick and Mary, great folk, and we had a good time. This was lucky, since dinner, with all its additions (benediction, Easter bonnet parade, plastic Easter egg hunt, and raffle) lasted for about two and a half hours. As before, we had a seat in front of the large television, which was on and showing a golf tournament, so much of the crowd was staring our way throughout our meal.
Tables were called to dinner at random, and our table (#9) was called up "to get their ham on" [our plates] in the first half. There was plenty of food, way too much, and here's a sample from Tim's plate.
After dinner, the four of us rode through the park a few times, having lots of fun. I learned that I barely need my hands to ride a bike--something I hadn't remembered. I could ride fast or slow without hands, I could make even sharp turns without hands, I could lean into a turn without hands, and I could drive over bumpy grassy areas without hands. I rode my bike this way all the way around the largest circle in the park without trouble. Great fun, so I wish I could ride a bike in such an area. I hate, however, riding anywhere where there are cars or crowds.
volveremos a las tortugas
No comments:
Post a Comment