Company

We have had company for the past couple of days. I met Kathy in 1956 in college. We have remained close friends ever since even when we don't see each other for a couple of years at a time. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding when she married Guy. Our kids played together. I am God Mom to two of her kids. She is the one who got me hooked on theatre. And yes, we share a lot of history. One of her daughters (our goddaughter) lives north of Tampa now which is only about 4 hours from us. So, after their visit to Jenny's for Thanksgiving, they came on down here for a couple of days.

They got here Sunday afternoon. Of course, we had to spend a couple of hours talking and catching up before we headed to Blind Pass for the sunset and Captiva Cantina for dinner.On Monday, we kind of loafed around for a bit in the morning and then decided we would head out to the new CROW Visitor Education Center. Just as we were getting ready to leave, CROW called and asked if I would go on a rescue for a raccoon. I have my pre-rabies vaccination so I am often called for such rescues. So we all piled in the car with cages, towels, gloves and nets and went off to make a successful rescue and then take the little guy out to CROW. As we drove past the VEC, it dawned on me that they were closed on Mondays so we opted to drive through Ding Darling instead. It was high tide so we didn't get to see many birds but we did see a few White Pelicans.

And I got a picture of Chuck, Kathy and Guy.

We then headed back home where we all chilled out again for awhile. And our deck is the perfect place to do that. As Kathy and I sat out there (unfortunately without a camera) we saw a little green iguana who's tail was twice as long as he was perched on a limb of a tree across the creek. He made a jump for the bank but ended up landing in the creek. A while later, I happened to look up and there he was sitting down at the end of my deck. He wasn't the least bit afraid of us and started walking towards us with a look in his eye which can only be described as "I own this deck and I'm taking charge." Of course his size (about 2 feet long most of which was tail) kind of made this a bit comical. He got within about a foot of us and I happened to make a sudden move which scared the living daylights out of him and he took off like a bullet. Haven't seen him since. I soooo wish I had had my camera though! That evening we went to Jerry's for dinner.

Early yesterday morning we headed up to Captiva to board the Lady Chadwick for a trip to Cabbage Key for a Cheeseburger in Paradise. It is said that after Jimmy Buffet visited Cabbage Key and had one of their delicious cheeseburgers, he went home and wrote Cheeseburger in Paradise. But of course, there are quite a few other restaurants who make the same claim to fame. Of course, we all had a Cheeseburger. I had totally planned to take a picture of one--and forgot. But, following the tradition of the Cabbage Key Inn, we signed a dollar bill and taped it up on the wall with thousands of other dollar bills. Each bill that falls off the wall is donated to a local children's charity. They donate about $10,000 a year! One neat thing about a Captiva Cruise is that you get to see dolphins--sometimes one or two and sometimes, a whole pod like we saw yesterday. Once the captain spots a dolphin, he speeds up and people of the boat start yelling and pounding the side of the boat. The more noise, the more the dolphins perform. Well, we hit the jackpot yesterday. Even the crew said that they had never seen so many dolphins at once and perform for as long as they did. There were about 10 or 11 females (maybe a juvenile male or two) and at least 3 babies who weren't much more than 6 weeks old. They swam along side the boat, jumping, flipping, and being totally entertaining for about 10 minutes. It was amazing.Last night, since we had had a huge meal on Cabbage Key, we ate leftovers then headed to Pinocchio's for ice cream. All that food and fresh air made for an early bed time!

Guy and Kathy left about 7:30 this morning to drive back to Jenny's and then on home to Michigan. It was so great to see them and we can't wait until they come back again.