Mardi Gras Periwinkle Park Style

Every year Periwinkle Park and Campground where we live most of the year has a huge Mardi Gras party. It begins with a parade through the Park and is followed by a picnic lunch which is paid for by the owners. It is lots of fun and everyone looks forward to it.

In past years the parade has formed in the campground and made it's way to our side of the Park. This year it started on our street and ended in the campground.This was the scene just two doors down at 10:00 this morning. And yes, they were already supping on adult beverages.This was the lead car in the parade. I love the license plate.Our parade has a little bit of everything. Notice that both the American and Canadian flags lead the parade. We have lots of part time residents from Ontario and Quebec. We have a Kazoo band led by some rather amazing creatures.

We have Bubble Girls led by none other than Elvis himself.

We have lovely hula girls. It's not too many places where when the hula girls finish dancing some little kid yells, "Hi Grandma".We have our very version of the Briefcase Guys. Ours are the Lovely Lawn Chair Gals.And of course, every Mardi Gras parade has floats. In our case--float.

And what's a parade with out a few politicians trying to get votes.

After the parade ends, everyone heads to the campground where grills, foodlines, and lots of tables and chairs are set up. I have often wondered how many people come in off the street to get the free food. It seems like our population triples on this day!

And so, another Mardi Gras has come and gone and a great time was had by all. Along with everyone else, I was able to add to my collection of Mardi Gras loot.

Ruby Tuesday-Red Berries

I'm always on the lookout for something red now. When we were in San Diego in January, we visited the Marston Mansion. They have some beautiful gardens and even though it was winter, I found a tree with beautiful red berries on it. I don't know what kind of tree/bush it was but it sure was amazing.

OK, I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Ruby Tuesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida which is a Sanctuary Island for wildlife. I volunteer for a wildlife hospital. I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. So if you really want to see red go to Work of the Poet

Camera Critters-Black Skimmer

Awhile back, I found this great meme called Camera Critters. I love the pictures and decided that with my wealth of critter pictures down here in SW Florida, I would join in and I have for several weeks now. I would like to have you hop on over to Camera Critters. There you can either sign up for your own post for Camera Critters or see lots and lots of other great critter pics. So, now that you've done that--here is my critter for the day.

Black Skimmers are very interesting birds. Their red and black beak is knifelike thin. The lower part is much longer than the upper part. The reason being is that they "skim" along the water with the bottom part of the beak in the water hoping to catch small fish. An interesting fact is that when they are born, the upper and lower parts of the beak are equal lengths. By the time they are fledging at 4 weeks, the lower part is already at least 1 cm longer.

I took this picture on the beach on Sanibel. They really are a beautiful bird and very interesting.

Wordless Wednesday-Scenes from Scotland

We have been to Scotland twice. I absolutely love the country. I thought I would share a few of the hundreds of pictures I took.



I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Wordless Wednesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida volunteering for a Wildlife hospital rescuing and rehabbing wildlife. I even dumpster dive for injured Raccoons!! I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. Back to Wordless Wednesday.

Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday.

Ruby Tuesday-Grandkids in Red

Not only do I like the color red but it would appear that so do my five grandkids. So here they are in order of birth in all their red glory!







OK, I know you are all busy checking out everyone's Ruby Tuesday but take the time to bookmark me and drop back to check out my blog. I am a retired Special Ed teacher who now spends most of her time on Sanibel Island, Florida which is a Sanctuary Island for wildlife. I volunteer for a wildlife hospital. I am also the proud grandma of 5 wonderful grandkids and brag about them often!! I also have a blog called Branches and Roots where I talk about genealogy and my ancestors. OK, enough about me. So if you really want to see red go to Work of the Poet

Mailboxes in Paradise

I have always been intrigued by some of the mailboxes down here. The other day when Mr. Snowbird and I headed out for a walk, I stuck my trusty dusty pink pocket camera in my pocket (where else?) thinking I might find something to take pictures of. And sure enough, when we passed our first mailbox, I got my idea for a blog. Nope, none of these are ours. Our mailbox is a regular post office box in a mail room here in the Park. Nothing quite so fancy as these. But, let me share with you what I found.

Some have fancy posts to hold up the plain old mailbox.

Some are painted.

Some are painted---and have fancy posts.

Some have fancy posts and fancier mailboxes.

Some just have a covering on them making them look fancy and painted.

Some are plain but patriotic.

Some have signs with cute little beachy sayings.

Some want to display their owners interest--or sense of humor.

Some are put in by the builder and look like every other box on the block.

Some want to remind you that you really are near the beach.

And finally there are those who just want to completely hide the fact that they are just a mere mailbox.

So, there you have my tour of mailboxes. There are sooooo many more on this island and maybe someday I will get out and take some more pictures--especially of the ones on Rabbit Road who have bunnies on their mailboxes.