Barefoot Beach…

The last few days have been some really lazy days of lounging around the house till lunch and then venturing over to the beach about 10 minutes west of here. The weather here has been absolutely fantastic as we have had overnight lows in the sixties and highs in the low eighties… perfect beach weather.

Back where we use to live in Texas they had a hard freeze the last few nights which is pretty unusual there in early December. The weather forecasters here have been forecasting a cold snap starting today as they are calling for a low of 50 and a high of only 72…. Now this is how cold should be properly defined to retired people!!! The closest thing we have seen of fall here in Florida is the colors on the coastal Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera)

The days are filled with me waking to the sounds of pileated woodpeckers in the pine grove on the far side of the park followed by a beautiful sunrise. At the beach we are serenaded by the sound of the infrequent but periodic waves lapping the sandy shore depositing sea shells with each pass. The beach we go to is loaded with shells of every pastel hue known to mankind and these beaches also serve as resting spots for the various birds found near and off the sea shore in southwestern Florida.

The extent of my exercise lately has been the long strolls we take along the surf while examining the shells left behind by the sea. Occasionally a nice find will be discovered, examined, photographed, enjoyed and then left for the next person to discover it do it all over again…

There are some very fancy homes here along the beach some of which are rumored to be owned by movie stars and the like. But when we are on the beach with the sound of the surf it seems as if it is just us, the sand, the shells and the birds here on our beach along with a few others walking the same path as us…

You see there are many of us in Florida whom are enjoying our lives here, on the road of retirement…