Another Wonderful Day in Paradise

It was a balmy 84 degrees today with unrelenting sunshine. After a full day of chores, we were the guests of Kathy and Barney at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille on Sanibel Island. The entire place was buzzing with people enjoying each other and the wonderful food. In honor of my birthday, I had the dry rubbed rib eye---yummy! It was perfectly grilled medium-well and served with roasted garlic and Parmesan smashed potatoes, carmaelized mushrooms, asparagus and roasted blue cheese tomato, surrounded by a shallot cabernet sauce. Add a couple of cool drinks and a crisp green salad and voila', the perfect meal. We were way too full for dessert, but the key lime pie called to us. It has been reported to be the best in the area. We opted to order the pie and took it home for a bed-night snack.

Thank you so much, Kathy and Barney, for the wonderful birthday dinner!!

You Sure Couldn't Do This in Michigan

Dorrie and Rich added an outdoor kitchen to their lanai. Rich is a wonderful chef and will certainly put this to great use. The bulk of the work is done and they are anxious to be able to use it. I can't wait for my next dose of succulent ribs!

Lovely Lavender

Dorrie re-created one of her spare bedrooms to be lovely lavender. This is the quilt I made her for Christmas.

Doc Ford's

Randy Wayne White is one of my favorite authors. Doc Ford, the main character in his books, lives in a stilt house in Dinkins Bay off Sanibel. The books include a lot of history and geography of south Florida's Gulf Coast. His newest book, Dead Silence, has had great reviews. My copy will arrive from Barnes and Noble on April 27th!

On Sanibel, one of my favorite places, RWW and others opened a restaurant called Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille. Of course we had to stop for lunch. The restaurant was set up to simulate the stilt house described in the book.

On this trip to Fort Myers, we were able to participate in the grand opening of another restaurant, Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille at Fort Myers Beach. This restaurant resembles my eye's image of the stilt house wonderfully. We had a great afternoon enjoying the food, the great wait staff and the most wonderful view. For lunch I had the tropical salad with added grouper ($21.95). It was a wonderful salad with fresh baby greens, grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, mandarin oranges, sun-dried cherries, spiced pecans, homemade crispy onions tossed in their own secret balsamic vinaigrette dressing! The salad was the perfect companion to my Blue Moon! We watched the pleasure boats in the harbor, the shrimp boats docked in the pass, and the people!

Another perfect day in paradise.

Spring in Michigan Friday, April24, 2009

It was 80 degrees and the forsythia were in grand bloom on Friday. I almost felt silly leaving for Florida for some sun. I got of of town just in time!

Spring Vehicle Maintenance

Now that the snow and ice are gone, drivers of all ages are tuning up their vehicles for those lovely sunny, Sunday drives.

April Fools!

34 degrees, 5" of snow overnight...this is Mother Nature's April Fools surprise!

Note to self: Do not walk across the street, in the dark, in this weather, to get the paper!

Marshall Quilt Show

We spent last Saturday at the Marshall Quilt Show. There were some extraordinary quilts-actually works of art. Several were particularly interesting. The first picture is an applique wall hanging depicting women inspecting quilts at a quilt show. The second quilt was done from a pattern created by Edyta Sitar from Marshall. It's a pattern I have started but in very different shades than this. This particular quilt was interesting to me for its border.

Van, Judy and I had a great time together. In addition to the great quilts, we had lunch at Pastrami Joe's in downtown Marshall. It's a small deli with adequate seating and wonderful food. We each had a different sandwich and all were excellent: pastrami on rye, corn beef on sourdough and Reuben. The soups are homemade. I had the seafood bisque; it was excellent. I could taste the very sweet pieces of crab, it was light but flavorful. Yummy!