And We Have A Winner!
Aha! Someone is listening out there. Our friend, Hal Bloom in Charlotte, correctly identified the strange tree we posted a photo of on our last blog. It's called a South African sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata). What an appropriate name. Congratulations, Hal.
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| Meet the winner, Hal |
In Case You Don't Know Where We Are
Punta Gorda is about 20 mile northeast from the Gulf of Mexico shoreline on Charlotte Harbor. The first Europeans to explore this area of Florida were the Ponce Deleon expeditions in the 1500s. Ponce Deleon did not find gold as he wanted; he did however conclude that this area would be ideal to establish a new colony. On his second voyage here with 200 settlers the local Indian population drove the settlers back aboard their ships after a short stay. Ponce Deleon was wounded by a poison arrow and went to Puerto Rico where he subsequently died.
Charlotte Harbor along with Tampa Bay are the two largest natural harbors in Florida. The bay encompasses more than 270 sq. miles. Charlotte Harbor was a major shipping point for cattle in the 1800s before railroads reached Florida. Timber was shipped from this area also. The Myakka and Peace rivers feed the bay with fresh water and this area is one of Florida's great fishing spots. The tarpon fishing at the Boca Grand pass, the Gulf inlet to the harbor, is some of the best tarpon fishing in the world. Charlotte Harbor is mainly for pleasure and fishing boats today. The area thrives due to its beautiful beaches, great fishing, and its mild winter climate that attracts many winter inhabitants. Retirement communities abound here.
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| Cool Change sits way up in Charlotte Harbor, just to the right of the first big bridge you see in the upper right corner. That bridge is really two one-way sections as you see below in a shot taken from the waterfront park.
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| City tree at the Friday art and music walk that we attended in downtown Punta Gorda. |
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| This 10 year old girl was making her sidewalk music debut, according to her father. Such a young girl and she did a remarkable job singing 60s rock. |
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| You won't be seeing this up north. Notice the shorts and jacket attire. Some mornings we strike out for a walk in the chill and are shedding clothes within fifteen minutes as it begins to warm up outside. |
Boat Sewing Projects
Christmas came upon us in a rush as it always seems to do but we managed to get all of our shopping and shipping done in time. The deconstructed quilt I told you about in the last blog became three Christmas table runners, two of which were given as gifts and one decorated our own table. For better or worse, I still have four blocks left. That's a project I am glad to leave behind at this point so I have no idea when those blocks will find a life in another sewing creation.
I also finished two quilt tops and I'll try to find a big space to lay them out and prepare them to quilt at some point. Not photo ready yet.
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| Christmas pajamas for two of the grandgirls and their American Girl dolls |
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| In North Carolina I made a quilt top for my neighbor and friend, Sandy. It is queen sized so she hired a professional to quilt it. She has shipped it to me here to bind and that part is underway. Next step - hand sew the folded binding down around the quilt's 450 inch perimeter. |
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| This is a microwave pot holder. My friend Dottie shared the pattern with me. You put your bowl into the middle and put both items into the microwave, then lift it all out, saving your fingers from burns. |
Wayne's World of Sewing and Repairs
Wayne began making canvas bags to supplement the expensive bag that we like so much to carry laundry and anything else to and from the boat. Some of the bags were made for friends.
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| This bag was made for Colleen's friend, Marla. |
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| You can get an idea of the size here. |
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| We replaced the window blinds last summer but found we couldn't reach the shade adjustment. Wayne first tried repositioning the shades but that wasn't totally successful. No problem. Mr. Fix-It removed the upholstered bolsters from the side of the window, took them apart, cut a few inches off and put it all back together |
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| Fifty or so staples later |
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| Another bag was made for our friends Jann and Gary aboard Tie a Knot. We met them in 2010 when we were in the mooring field in Marathon. |
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| OK! More canvas replacements. This is a rollup side curtain for the flybridge. The old one was becoming hard to see through and the zipper was failing. |
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| It all starts with the cutting of all components. |
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| This is the new corner side curtain |
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New entry curtain that Wayne made.
Last fall Wayne cut a queen sized mattress topper to fit
our forward cabin which has an odd-shaped berth. Then he remade
king-sized sheets to create a custom fitted bottom sheet and top sheet.
Here he is attaching Velcro straps that he designed
to snug down the sheets from the back.
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So, What do You do in Punta Gorda?
We stayed on the boat for Christmas this year. Merritt Island, FL friends Roger and Marcy came to spend a few days with us before the 25th. I imagine you all feel that you know those two by now. We were so happy to see them and the growing lettuce bowl they brought as a gift. Of course, Marcy and I worked on a sewing project together. Paper piecing is kind of like a paint-by-number picture except you "paint" with fabric, sewing different shades of colors onto a pattern with different numbers corresponding to the fabrics. Easy but also tricky as everything must line up perfectly to make the pieces fit and you have to watch not to mix up the colors. I'll be redoing two sections that have messed up colors. I admit, Marcy, all my fault.
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| Salad, anyone? |
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| Colleen and Marcy |
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| Eventually the pieces of this fractured picture will be joined together to make some handsome paper pieced sunflowers. |
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| While Colleen and Marcy were sewing, Roger and Wayne relaxed. |
We invited Jann and Gary over one night too and the six of us had North Carolina Bar BQ. Then on the 24th we were happy to have a visit from Lani and Don and Tina. Lani and I went to elementary and junior and senior high school together. The three of them made a major detour from their Boca Raton destination that day in order to meet us for lunch. Thanks again, guys!
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| Colleen, Lani, Tina, Don, Wayne |
On Christmas Day about eleven other boaters and the two of us got together on a boat down the dock (that's like "down the block" in landlubber talk) and had pot luck Christmas hosted by Harry and Joan. What a meal! The guests included two Brits and an Australian. We enjoyed mashed rutabagas and potatoes, heavenly seasoned with lots of cream and butter, known as punchnep in the British Isles, roast turkey and ham, a fancy dressing and homemade cranberry sauce concocted by Harry, several vegetable dishes and Wayne's mom's ambrosia. It was quite a feast.
Punta Gorda Sights
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| A handsome rendering of Ponce Deleon sits on the harbor |
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| Miniature '57 Chevy we found on our morning walk |
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| Three houses sit in a row here. The yellow one is labeled Yellow House; the Orange one is labeled Orange House and the purple one is......... |
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| Who lives here? Obviously, a large family of elves. |
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| I thought this lady looked so picturesque as she walked on the pier that I asked her for permission to take her photo. Look at the shadows of the palm trees, the curve of her hat, her black-and-white outfit and the angle of the rails. |
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| Jann and Colleen We've really enjoyed our time here in Punta Gorda with Jann and Gary. These two intrepid explorers live fulltime on their boat, Tie a Knot, and have journeyed all over Florida, up the US east coast, across the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi. |
And, just in case you think life is way too easy for us here in sunny Florida - yesterday Wayne got the worst haircut of his life and Colleen dropped and broke her cell phone. Oh, well, the hair will grow back and the cell phone still works.
Happy New Year to you all!
