Box Garden

Since I am not permitted to have a real garden I decided to go with a pot or box garden. Ten large pots with excellent soil was the start of my plan. Lettuce, beans and tomatoes became the crop which would become edible in our short stay this year. I planted this garden three weeks ago come Friday. There was almost an instant response as the lettuce and beans as they popped out three after watering.

The tomatoes were 5 inches high when I planted them and as of now they are covered in blossoms and there are a number of small tomatoes forming. I should have ripe tomatoes by the 10th of April. The Amaryllis grew to a large size during the summer and when I cleaned it up and replanted it the sprouts grew several inches every day. These flowers have eight flower heads on each stem. This is the sixth year for them and I really love the size and colour. All the rest of our garden is having perfect weather for spring growth.

I should be in good shape to grow a real garden when I return to Ontario. It seems there is no winter in the north this year and the south is many degrees above average for this time of year.

Golf

Tuesday is golf day and my friends were there to welcome me back from surgery. I felt good and after a first day with all kinds of trouble I had high expectations for a good game. I am not supposed to use my driver so I used my #4 wood to drive. As I could not bend I dropped my ball and attempted to hit it like a driver. Water won and I had a second chance to drive from the bank of the lake. Another water ball and so on. In 18 holes I lost 20 balls, had one par and three bogie's for 5 points. My average is 17 points  so I had a bad day.

My friends wanted to tee my ball but I said I was better off the turf. I was happy to play but I was a little embarrassed with my performance. Golf is a game but when you play for money it is more than that. Today was the worst game I ever played but I had a good time in spite of the  poor play. Next week I will be better and it is only a game ...I think.

Sea Grapes

This tree will grow nearly anywhere and thrive near moisture. It is able to withstand drought heat and hurricanes. There are some special features  that this tree has which help it to be a favorite in Florida. Sandy, dry areas like beaches usually have these trees grown to hold the soil. They grow quickly and can be pruned any time during the year.

Beautiful colors come as the leaves age. The leaves are very hard and hold their moisture. These trees actually have grapes.Large bunches grow after the flowers pop out and the grapes start out a extremely hard berries and at the time of ripening they become soft and delicious but tart. Birds gravitate to these trees and people pick the grapes and make jelly. Since they have a hard  stone in each grape most people ignore them as a food. I picked some of them and enjoyed.

Theresa and I planted five of them to give us privacy on the road side of our home and now they are home  to birds who find them great for nesting.

Bicycles And Doves

Part of our daily routine is to bike around the area every morning. The only negative factor is the wind. For some reason we have been blessed with strong wind every day. If you get out really early you may miss the worst of it but by 9am you can count on the wind factor.We try to map out our ride by having the wind on our back coming home.Some times we do not plot our course and pay the penalty.

Yesterday our neighbor came along with us to see the eagle families and we were fortunate to see the baby eaglets in one nest with its mother and a small eaglet in the other nest. They are quite an attraction and we have two nests very nearby so we count them as our eagles.

This morning I was awakened by the cooing of doves. This in normal but this am the cooing was very close. As I got out of bed I noticed this pair of doves making a nest right outside my window. They were busy constructing a nest. Doves are the worst nest makers of all the birds. When completed the nest is simply a pile of twigs placed between branches of a tree or even on the bare ground in full view of the world. These doves will be with us for a while and should give us some entertainment. Dove babies are ugly but in short order they become the beautiful birds that they are. Doves may not construct the best houses but they know how to fill them. They are one of the most abundant of our birds here. This in spite of the fact they are regularly killed by the hawks and owls.

Yesterday I had a pleasant visit by phone with a long time friend from Pembroke who is recovering from surgery and learning to walk again. It is these little happenings that make life interesting and worthwhile.

Birds

There are birds a plenty everywhere we look here in Cape Coral. Theresa and I were on a short bike ride when she spotted this red shouldered hawk on the fence . This hawk was not afraid and we were within twenty feet of it for some time. There are many hawks here but this type are the most numerous. Theresa was able to get very close for this picture.

Another bird which is plentiful in our yard are the white bird of paradise. They grow to be up to twenty feet high and are prolific flower bloomers. There can be dozens of these flowers on each plant. Yellow belly sapsuckers love to come and feed on the sugary sap of these plants.

The amaryllis flower grows wild here and this particular one is six years old. Every year we plant it and it blossoms for about a month. We then dig it into the soil and let it go dormant and when we return it quickly responds and blooms again. This one is 10 days old.

Memory Lane 1953: Johnny Miles Day

As a youngster my father told me about one of the greatest long distance runners in the world....Johnny Miles This was a young man who could run for Long distances and never be tired. He was a youngster who had a dream of running the Boston Marathon. His work was delivering milk to the people of Sydney Mines, Cape Breton. He wore rubber boots because of the weather and the conditions but that never slowed this man down.

Johnny Miles won every race he went into and became quite a person in the athletic scene. He decided to enter the Boston Marathon and hitch hiked to Boston for the event. He had no running shoes but bought a pair for less than a dollar before the race.

He entered the race as an unknown but before long he was known all over the world. He not only won the race but broke the record in spite of being lost during the race. He returned home a hero but the world called him to race everywhere there was a classic race and he met the challenge. As a young man I tried to become a little like him as uncle Matt used to make us race long distances for our own good.

I became quite a half miler in my day but long distance always called me to try the long races. I ran the 5,000 and 10,000 races for the Olympic trials in 1960 and loved the competition. I did make the finals that year in the 800 meters but that was a far off challenge to the Marathon.

I tried the marathon several times and always finished but my time was a little off the record. I looked up my best time and found that in 1961 there was a race where the winner had a time of 2 hours 27 minutes 37 seconds. My time was 2 hours,46 minutes and 44 secs. I came 27th. That race was for Johnny Miles. I only raced one more marathon and in that race I was just a finisher. I never ran a long race again but I loved the challenge and the name of Miles was always on my mind.

Miles was a Sydney miner and so am I and I shall always be proud to say his name and talk of his record.

Fly Away On Young Wings

Today Theresa and I had the privilege of once again seeing our young eagles fly away. As large or larger than their mother this young eagle took the final step and flew from its home 70 feet in the air to become commander of the whole sky. Black as the ace of spades and with a wing span of over five feet this bird becomes larger than life. After months in the tree resort with parents who offered protection, food and tough love it was time to leave its place out on a limb and join its kin as master of the skies.

Every year we watch this family and as of now we have seen #17 and #18  leave the nest and become magnificent symbols of America and the whole bird world. I marvel at the strength of these birds and one time one came up behind Theresa and I as we were biking and from ten feet away as they passed overhead they had a wash like a small plane.

When the young eagles leave the nest for their first foray in the heavens they are like all young children and speed, glide, dive, tumble and with sheer power burst on the scene which will be their home for many years. I never  tire of this yearly scene and once again I was in a special place as I watched this wonder of nature.