Michèle et Denis

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1 to 15 February 2011 16 to 28 February 2011

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A little shopping and I bought myself a shuffleboard stick.
I guess I am really becoming a snowbird.

Relaxing with a good book and the sun...

After supper, we go the a local auction.
No purchase from us but our friends did...

Thursday, February 7, 2011

Another busy day.
In the afternoon, Michèle went to the store to try on some dresses she will be wearing for the fashion show.

I use this time to paint the the TV cabinet and to install the TV..
We chose the color black for inside the cabinet because once the TV is installed, the back of the cabinet will kind of disappear, giving a nice finish around the TV.
Here is the final result.

After all this hard work, pool time...
Temperature at +25 C and the water at +28 C.

Our neighbor, Carol and Morris, invited us for supper, nothing less then steaks...
A very good supper and again we have meet fantastic people.
Thanks Carol and Morris.

A friend sent me an e-mail with the following statement and I think it really fit our lifestyle right now.

"If you can't add days to your life, you can add life to your days that you have left..."

Friday and Saturday, February 18 and 19, 2011

Friday is an easy day.
Shuffleboard after the campground's breakfast.

Some more photos of the shuffleboard game.
Isabelle on the first photo and myself with Keith on the next one.

Michèle ended Friday at the poker table and won (again), a BIG $12.00. WOW!

Saturday evening is dance time. The theme for the dance is "Your Favorite Sports Team".
Here we are with our squadrons hockey jerseys.
Michèle with her 441 Sqn and me with my 10 FTTS.

A very nice evening!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

A busy day, again!
Today is the Daytona 500 race plus an auction sale at the campground after supper.

I got the TV, I ordered from Walmart, it is the same one as inside and I got it for $20 cheaper.
Today being the Daytona 500 race, I invited some friends over to watch the race.
Chrissy, Bill and Isabelle are with us, but Keith is gone back to Ontario for business.
A very nice afternoon with friends watching the race.
Bill and Chrissy brought the food for supper, hot dogs made with deer sausages.
Hummm ! So good.

As I mentioned before, the campground had an auction to raise some money for the camper's association.
All the stuff for sale was donated by campers.
Lots of good stuff and lots of not so good stuff, for us...

The association ended up with a little over $300.00 from the auction.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bill had mentioned he was going to the opening of the spring training camp for the New York Yankees in Tampa.
So we went with them.
The Steinbrenner stadium is about 15 minutes away from the campground.
Baseball does not really interest me but hey, why not go and see what this is all about.
It was interesting to watch and I actually liked it.
The stadium can hold more then 11,000 fans and is very big for a amateur like me.

The three girls, from L to R, Isabelle, Michèle and Chrissy.

The warm ups... A little more the $200,000,000.00 worth of pay on the field I am told.

The next two photos are a little funny...
Yes, Michèle has another man in her life, he has a blue t-shirt.

Corrected version, Bill and Chrissy at the front and Michèle and ME behind!

Funny how the photo turned out...

Some photos of the training session.

Across the street there is an even bigger stadium, the Raymond James Stadium.

Can't believe I am in a baseball stadium!!!
But looking cool...

We spent a few hours watching and visiting the stadium.
Thanks Bill and Chrissy for inviting us, we had fun.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A big day for the ladies of the campground.
Fashion show for and by the ladies.
Michèle is one of the models...
But lets start with the preparations, by the way, men were not invited!

A lot of work went into the preparations.
Very Nice!

Michèle on the runway...

Here is a look at all the models for the fashion show.

Michèle really enjoyed her experience as a model.
Humm a career in the fashion world with lots of money?

And me during that time?
I built a bicycle rack for less then $10.00, all in PVC pipes. I took the idea from a neighbor.

Thur sday,February 24, 2011

Busy day ahead of us today.
We are going to St-Petersburg, also nick named as St-Pete.
St-Pete is a pretty small city with lots of activities.

The first place we stop is at "The Pier". The Pier was first built in 1889 and was rebuilt many times over the years.
The reversed pyramid opened its doors in 1973.

So here we are at the entrance of the pier. Right next to the pier is this lovely, white sanded, beach right in the city.

We hate to walk 1500 feet to get to the end of the pier and the reversed pyramid.
The road on the pier is very well laid out for the cars and the pedestrians.

Birds, you want birds? You got birds at the pier.
From the pelican (not so pretty) to the Great Blue Heron (real pretty).
One of the fisherman gave a fish to the bird so we could take photos of the bird. Thanks!

At the end of the pier watching boat go by and taking photos.

We are told that they have been feeding the pelicans at this spot since 1926, But they do clean the area every night...

Lots of stuff to see in the pyramid.
Many stores, an aquarium restaurants and more...

On the top floor you have an observation deck.
A great view of St-Pete and ... us!

We use the elevator to go back down because we do not want to miss the trolley.

Here is our trolley coming in. For $0.25 you get a 20 minutes guided tour of the downtown area of St-Pete.
WOW, can't beat that!

The Renaissance Venoy Resort.
For over 85 years, with many ups and downs, the Venoy Resort is now a very beautiful hotel with over 350 rooms.
You can visit the lobby and the garden.

The trees fascinate us here in Florida. Some are very big.
Here is a banyan, it is not from north America, but from India.
What you see coming down the branches are aerial roots, once they touch the ground they will become something like trunks that support the branches.

This building is an exact replica of St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church .
In the 1920s, the contractor wanted to practice building with this type of architecture before he started to build the real church.
So here is the "practice" building. It was given to the city and the city turned it into a public washroom.
Now some people call it the "St. John" church, get it?
It is actually a very pretty building.

This little boy relates the history of the St.Petersburg newspaper, The Evening Independent. On Sept. 1, 1910, Lew B. Brown, then owner and editor of the Evening Independent, proclaimed St. Petersburg as the "Sunshine City" and made the famous "Sunshine Offer": On any day the sun didn't shine, the newspaper would be given away.

By the early 1980s, afternoon newspapers were struggling everywhere, and on Nov. 7, 1986, the Evening Independent published its final edition and the paper's 53 employees transferred to the Times.
In the 76 years of the "Sunshine Offer," the newspaper was given away 296 times.

On our way back to the car, we see the mascot of each parking lot.
This one is the ...pelican.

And we are at the dolphin parking lot.

We decide to go by St-John Pass on the way back home.
Somme of the "nice" houses along the way$$$

St-John's Pass is a little shopping district close to the beach.
We saw this little bar called "It's 5 o'clock somewhere," why not have a beer here!

Some photos of St-Johns pass.

Pretty faces on coconuts.

Hard to tell be this dolphin is a baby and it measures about 3 feet.

Another very nice day .

Friday,February 25, 2011

Easy day today.
After the breakfast at the club house, shuffleboard, our last at this campground.
For this occasion we bought those t-shirts.

Isabelle has invited us, Chrissy and Bill for supper.
Thanks Isabelle for a simple but very good supper.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

A very busy day today.
The Newfoundlanders have invited pretty well everybody from the campground for a cocktail between 1 and 5 pm.
We are welcome as royalty!
A general view of all the people present.

So much snacks !!!

ME!

Our hosts...
Howard and Judy.

Joan and Jerry.

Doug and Euniece

Al and Joan

Our hosts for the official photo.

We really liked his T-shirt...

This evening we have a talent show...
The crowd can't wait for the next act...

Michèle waiting for the start of the show so she can take some photos

The first group to go is actually a Hawaiian dancer group from outside the campground
Here they are with Buck, one of our camper.

During that time, we are preparing ourselves for the fashion show the men, dressed as women, are doing.
Carol giving the final instructions. She is the one who organized the whole show (with some help of course).
Thanks Carol!