Although I’ve visited several times, it was still well worth the work out.  The banyan trees cooled me down immediately upon arrival, and bikers always get the best parking spots.

I packed lunch and a blanket to picnic, but the latter was entirely unnecessary thanks to some lovely chairs and umbrellas lined up along the bay next to the Ca d’Zan.  This is where I lunched.Boats passed and mullet jumped as I nibbled on my favorite sandwich – ham, brie and Dijon.  The breeze and umbrella were as effective as an air conditioner…perfect weather outside of the sun.

Mable’s roses take the heat better than most people or plants.  The garden was brimming with blooms.  I entered through a rose and statue-lined corridor, and the scent struck me immediately.  As I got further inside the garden, the numbers struck me – the amount of blooms and the height on some of them.  The Tiffany rose, in particular, was towering above me at eight-feet tall.  With exhibits coming and going there’s always something new to see in the art museum.  My favorite of today’s visit was John Ringling’s collection of Asian and Cypriot art.  Ringling made news with his purchase of 2,300 pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928.  The exhibitions don’t allow photography, but among the resident paintings, this one I never seem to miss – The Blue Madonna by Carlo Dolci.  Now here’s something that I’ve seen and missed every time – this room, meaning the panels, mirrors and sconces, was once in the Astor mansion in New York.  Ringling bought the interiors of two rooms before the mansion was demolished in 1926.And then there’s the courtyard, the big, grand, beautiful courtyard…always a highlight.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you,” and this bike ride was it for me today.  Beforehand my brain was on a loop of I can’t do this, but in the midst of pedaling, the loop changed to I’m doing this!  Great feeling, great day…so glad I was brave!

I can’t wait to try this recipe:

Katie Lee’s Mango Margarita Ice Pops

Combine 2 1/2 cups chopped mango, 1/4 cup silver tequila, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1/4 cup agave nectar or sugar in a blender and puree until smooth.  Pour into 6 ice pop molds and freeze until solid.

One of the adjectives I often use to describe Luke is aloof.  The house could be full of people, and he puts himself to bed.  Strangers offer him treats, and he won’t take them.  He’ll run to fetch a ball, and then randomly drop it to take a pee.  He’s just not your typical dog…until Parmesan dusts the floor.

He smelled it, licked it, felt it under his paws as he walked in endless circles over top of it, and had there been more, he surely would have rolled around in it to make his best snow angel.

It’s a dream job and the anecdote to my recent handwriting discovery.  A couple weeks ago, I came across an article from Real Simple magazine, “What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?”  It was shockingly accurate for both my and John’s handwriting and personalities.  Here’s what it said about my S’s:

Open at the bottom: You might not be following your heart. For example, you always wanted to be an artist a writer, but you have a career in finance insurance.

There are no plans to leave insurance, just plans for some fun on the side to close my S’s.  The editor handled the the terrible real-life news of murder for my first weekend while I stayed in dream land floating from one beautiful place to the next.  It was Five Points Park on Saturday for the Harvey Milk Festival and Selby Gardens on Sunday for Mother’s Day.  I had about ten minutes to waste in between brunch seatings at Selby, so I couldn’t resist wandering with my camera.

Bromeliad

Green Staghorn Fern

I may be wrong, but I think that staghorn fern is a new addition since my last visit, not to Selby because the sign reads 2008 but to that particular spot.  The enormity of it is amazing.  It hangs like a grand chandelier in the archway, and those archways I never miss.  The tree limbs have twisted and turned into these gorgeous open door frames over the walking path.

Under the trees were clusters of bright pink bromeliads dotted with purple buds that had me wishing for a lot more shade in our yard.  Between the shade from the banyans and the breeze off Sarasota Bay, it must be ten degrees cooler at Selby Gardens than in the rest of Sarasota.

Moms, here’s your garden freebie for next year: Selby gardens offers free admission to moms on Mother’s Day – no proof of children required, so don’t feel obligated to bring them along.   Happy Mother’s Day!

It was too creepy to be there alone even in daylight…although I do partially blame the Investigation Discovery channel for my immediately thinking I could be murdered in one of those boxcars.  Tune in; you’ll see what I mean.  But paranoia aside, I wasn’t completely off-base to bug John for two weeks to ride over there with me.

The signs were there, but we didn’t see anyone…just an old train covered in rust and graffiti.

The train has been stored in this spot for over a year now, and even though the Seminole Gulf Railway has assured residents they have security patrolling the area, the surrounding neighbors don’t seem as inspired or pleased by the old boxcars as I’ve been these past few weeks.

Thoughts of the old train combined with HBO playing Water for Elephants over the weekend led to a letterbox.  Looking for a play on the movie’s title, I googled Sarasota elephant and came up with an image of a water skiing elephant from the movie, Honky Tonk Freeway.  Parts of the film were shot in Sarasota in 1980, but it wasn’t anything this town hadn’t seen before.

Sunny, a 1,300-pound Ringling Brothers elephant, was the first elephant to water ski in 1956.  The 200-pound skis were made in Sarasota, and the shows were also performed here at a long-closed tourist attraction, Sunshine Springs and Gardens.       I found Quick Point Preserve through letterboxing, and that’s exactly why I love it so much: it takes you places you may not have gone or even known about otherwise.  And carving stamps is fun too; it’s a very easy craft project – no artistic talent necessary.

For this stamp, I traced a smaller version of the photo off my laptop.  The laptop acted like a light box under the paper making it easy to trace.  I made a few small adjustments to simplify the carving like changing the shape of the boat, and when the pencil tracing was finished, I transferred it onto the rubber by placing it face-down and rubbing the back of the paper with a penny.  Once the drawing was transferred to the rubber, I carved in and around the pencil lines to create the stamp.

Now, clearly this letterbox comes with a disclaimer – be aware of your surroundings; don’t visit at night; and use the buddy system when searching – but it’s a fun hunt; I haven’t planted the letterbox far from Shade Avenue; and Payne Park is right around the corner if you want to extend your outing.  So go for it; here is your final clue:

And there’s a hitchhiker waiting for the first visitor.  Happy letterboxing!

I got the idea from this wall at Maclay Gardens.  Instead of cutting around a diamond, they cut out a diamond.

I worried the random cuts would kill the fig everywhere around the diamond, but so far so good and it’s been a few days.  There are a few shriveled strands, but they’re barely noticeable behind all the healthy vines that just got trimmed back.

Experiment gone well with one small exception; another suitable name for this plant would be sticky fig.  As I pulled it up, little flecks of red paint came with it.  Still, I like the new look, and since we don’t actually use the garage for our cars, it may last past the bird’s nest.

Drive Bahia Vista Street between Tuttle Avenue and McIntosh Road.  You’ll pass by two Amish restaurants, three markets, an ice cream shop, and Everence Federal Credit Union, formerly named Mennonite Financial.  There’s even a teeny-tiny Amish-run post office.  And I’m not sure what goes on at the corner of Bahia Vista and Tuttle, but there are two dozen plus tricycles gathered there at times.  Although a few are equipped with small motors, wheels don’t exceed three in this neighborhood.

So I fit in really well…well, not really and that’s what’s missing from this photo.  I was riding home from the doctor’s office this morning and pulled up to the corner of Bahia Vista and Beneva next to three young Amish girls wearing matching blue maxi dresses and white lace caps.  I smiled; they smiled back.  As we waited, three more girls dressed in similar clothing pulled up–two on tricycles, one on a bicycle.  The girls greeted each other, and for the first time in my Florida life thus far, I felt out of place wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

As my bright yellow bike rolled over the crosswalk in between the two sets of girls–behind the riders and in front of the walkers–I wished that the car sitting at the light would snap that picture.  It would have been a good one.  Instead I grabbed my cell phone and took a photo from my place in the line.

It’s one of our garage doors.  Good thing our garage is filled with crap instead of cars.  Otherwise, we’d have a real problem.  But right now my biggest problem is that it should be called Casa Fig.  First I found this enormous black beetle…

Then a spider plus its victim and possibly children???

And finally, a bird’s nest…

It’s definitely a mockingbird’s nest because one flew out over John’s head.  We decided to stop clipping and leave the nest alone, so for now it’s lopsided fig…anything but creeping!

…and fresh grapefruit in my sangria.