But First A Little Glimpse of Spring

And just when the flowers thought it was safe to come out...

 They realised they were wrong.

Happy St George's Day from Cattaraugus County! To bad the ski resort is closed for the season.

Road Trip Here We Go

  Sister-in-law and I have been on another road trip up north, in which we encountered her

him

 them

And a bit too much of this

Details coming soon. Watch this space!

Doggie Conveniences

Spotted outside the Black Gold cafe. How very thoughtful. How very Florida.

Flashback to the Car Show

 Which was back in January and not held at Venice airport this time but at a place called Lakewood Ranch, although I didn't notice any horses. Sadly we got there a bit late and people were already packing up. What is it with car shows? They always pack up sooner than they're supposed to.

Some nice old British numbers here

Needs a bit of work..

But plenty of room in the back

Love those old steering wheels

They just don't make them like they used to

Time to chew the fat, as they say

Hangers on come in all shapes and sizes

As do passengers

This is America - be prepared.

There's definitely something odd about this boat.

Pity they were closing up

Remember those old front seats?

I always like the little touches

Well we are in Florida

More nice little touches

 .

 And some we could have done without

No, they definitely don't make them like that any more.

Florida Flora...and Fauna

Nice to be here in April and see some different flowers...

 And the jacarandas in the park

Coming into their own

And the banyan tree round the corner just keeps on going ..

But the garden looks oddly depleted.... 

I wonder why.

All Quiet on the Beach...

This morning, the transformation continued.

And he seemed happy enough

As do the fishermen.

I suppose the passage of time will smooth the tyre tracks

Though Florida does suddenly seem to have sprouted a lot of hills.

 Not sure what the turtles will think of that.

Golden Beach Gets a Makeover Part 3

You might remember that, back in the autumn, our beach was reduced to a shadow of its former self. You could barely walk along it any more. All rather alarming.

 But modern technology in the shape of an invasion of  infernal machines came to the rescue. Now here is what it looked like yesterday. A big fat pipe running the length of the beach - and down which sand was shooting, the dredger still out on the horizon.

Most people were ignoring the danger signs and climbing over to sunbathe and hunt for sharks' teeth as usual. Someone had conveniently piled up banks of sand in places to facilitate this.  Nice to see Americans thumbing their noses at elf'n'safety for once. And the beach is now indeed a lot wider.

And today there has been frenetic activity - much beeping of reversing bulldozers at either end and the pipe has been dismantled, the sections piled up. All very promising.

Because of course they've realised they are running out of time. It all has to be done by 15th April, which is not only the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic but as my neighbour informed me, Turtle Day. Get out of the way, the turtles have marked their diaries and are coming to lay their eggs and heaven help anything that disturbs them.

 Gerroff my patch!