Walking through a shower

Posted on February 2, 2023 by dinajohnston

I love these foggy winter mornings. It’s quiet and most people stay in when it’s like this. Right after Christmas I went out for a walk at the nearby Oldsmar pier. It was so damp that if felt like I was walking through a cool shower.

I then headed over to the Dunedin marina for a quick walk. The fog was almost gone but dark clouds had moved in and it started to drizzle.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home (a slightly long detour) and the sun was trying to peek through.

I have been to the fishing pier at Safety Harbor a million times but I had never been in the hotel next door. I pass it as I’m doing my walk but I never stop in. I had heard their Christmas decorations in the lobby were pretty so I decided to check it out. It’s a fairly small lobby but still had a lot of history in it. One of these days I might have to eat at the restaurant here.

Party at the baseball field

Posted on December 25, 2022 by dinajohnston

For the last several years (excluding 2020) my husband’s work Christmas party is held at Enchant. They decorate the Rays baseball field (Tropicana Field) with tons of lights. We have a late lunch in a private suite and then everyone gets to walk around and see the lights. These are all last year’s pictures since we just went to this year’s party and I haven’t gotten a chance to download them.

Have a Merry Christmas and thanks for stopping by! More to come.

A holiday walk down Main Street

Posted on December 22, 2022 by dinajohnston

Downtown Dunedin is all decked out for the Holidays. The small business owners on Main Street each decorated a light pole on the sidewalks. It was fun to walk around and look at each one. This is only a small sampling of them. I was here early in the morning, before the stores and restaurants opened so I didn’t have to dodge the crowds but the challenge was the shadows on the shaded side of the street. It was a festive way to get my walk in that morning.

Decorations in the parking lot.

Murals along Main Street. Notice the dogs painted on the right side of the top shot. Dunedin is also know as Dogedin. Most of the restaurants have outdoor seating and encourage people to bring their dogs. One has a dog menu and your table comes with a bowl of water for the dog. Everyone is out walking their dogs and many of the long time residents can point out their own dogs that were painting on the murals.

Getting ready for Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was early November and they were already decorating the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the Christmas light show.

It was putting me in the holiday spirit even though it was warm while we were there.

Walking through the wooded path, the colors were popping. It felt very different from the color in central Florida (which was still the usual green).

A 3 park morning

Posted on January 18, 2022 by dinajohnston

I was out early one morning right before Christmas. My first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular but thought I would do a quick lap around the gardens. The gardens were decorated for Christmas and you could see the lights all over the bushes and trees. I thought this owl statue was cool and would have loved to see it all lit up but I didn’t make it here for the night holiday lights this year.

The usual birds were in the main pond. A green heron at attention, a wood duck (the entire family was floating around the pond) and there were lots of moorhens.

After the botanical gardens, I stopped at nearby Largo Nature Preserve to see if there was anything new. A grebe spent some time preening close to the boardwalk and there have been some northern shovelers there for several weeks now but nothing new or different.

My last stop before heading home wasn’t really a park but the Dunedin marina. I was hoping to see dolphins or manatees hanging around the marina but I didn’t see any on this trip so after walking around for a while it was time to go home for lunch.

Christmas in the gardens

Posted on December 23, 2021 by dinajohnston

Two of the big trees at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo.

Some of the fun decorations I saw.

I thought these were cool and maybe I could do them myself. I could use some of the pine cones in my backyard and add some ribbons and some of my balls since I didn’t put up a tree this year but here it is, a few days before and I still have done it. Maybe next year.

They have some cute critters that are wearing fun holiday outfits.

I walked over to Heritage Village next door but they had minimal decorations on the historic houses.

Visiting my parents

Posted on December 20, 2021 by dinajohnston

Wreaths Across America is a donation/volunteer based group that puts wreaths on the graves of veterans across the country. I took this at Bay Pines National Cemetary in mid-December last year when I stopped by to visit my parents grave. They were still laying wreaths but it was beautiful to see them all laid out across the field.

Some of the graves had more personal touches that were added by family members.

The memorial monument dedicated to those who served our country stands at the entrance.

Not happening this year

Posted on December 22, 2020 by dinajohnston

These are some of the shots from last year’s Thanksgiving weekend visit to Disney Springs. It was our 3rd annual lunch at the Springs with my sisters and we had a perfect day last year. This year we all did what we were suppose to do and stayed at home. They didn’t get to come visit this year so next year we’ll have to make up for lost time.

Above are some of the Christmas trees we saw around town last year including the manatee statue waving in front of the tree.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas in spite of the things that are going on. Are you staying at home instead of visiting relatives? If it’s warm Brett and I might spend the day at the beach (if it’s not closed) just to get outside. Although, even if it’s cold we might still go. Nothing like a long walk on the beach all bundled up when it’s cold. Below are some old pictures I found of my family being bundled on the beach. The first is from the early 70’s of my mom and two sisters walking on Clearwater beach. The 2nd was more recent (early 90’s) of my sister and I goofing around on the the beach. Both were on Christmas day.

Lunch in Tarpon Springs

Posted on December 21, 2019 by dinajohnston

Boats along the waterfront in Tarpon Springs. While my sisters were here for Thanksgiving weekend, we headed up to have lunch and walk around the docks. When I was little we use to come down to the Tampa bay area to visit my grandparents and my parents loved to make the drive up to Tarpon to walk around. Little has changed since the 70’s here with the exception of some new public restrooms. The tourist shops have the same stuff and we always leave Hellas with a lot of desserts. The bakery there is the best. They even have chocolate covered baklava.

A small sampling of the desserts and pastries.

Natural sponges are still being harvested today although most sponges you find today are synthetic. Tarpon Springs was built on sea sponges being harvested in the area.

Christmas decorations along the docks. It’s always fun to take a selfie in the big ornaments.

That big golf ball in the sky

Posted on November 28, 2019 by dinajohnston

Years ago Brett and I had a free Thanksgiving day so we headed over to Walt Disney World to spend the day at Epcot. It wasn’t too busy in the morning and we were able to ride most everything we had planned to but it got crazy busy later in the afternoon. We took a break and climbed on the monorail and headed over to walk around at some of the Disney hotels just to get away from the crowds. All of the hotels that were on the monorail line were already decorated for Christmas so it was fun to walk around. Then we headed back over to Epcot to have dinner at the nice Italian restaurant.