Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
That's the siren call of Florida to me (it's actually Christopher Marlowe's Passionate Shepherd to His Nymph, but it works for me). Although she doesn't have much in the way of valleys, hills, or steepy mountains, Florida is a seductress all the same.
On Monday Miriam and I took Mike to visit the Everglades Wonder Garden up in Bonita Springs. It was our second visit, Mike's first. It was even more charming this time because it was a Monday morning and there weren't as many people there. We especially liked feeding the flamingos and lorikeets.
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| Casey the umbrella cockatoo. |
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| Miriam and a boa constrictor. |
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| An albino peacock. |
Tuesday morning we had to take Mike back to the airport. After we dropped him off, while we were up that way, we went to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates Museum. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both had homes next door to each other along the Caloosahatchee River. Miriam and I took an audio tour of the homes and the grounds. The homes were surprisingly modest - no ostentatious displays of wealth - but lovely. The grounds were beautiful with gardens and trees.
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| The Edison's living room. |
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| The Edison's dining room. |
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| The Ford's dining room. |
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| Mangos at the Edison Estate. |
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| Ford's house. |
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| Edison's house. |
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| Orchids. |
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| Me and Mina Edison. |
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| Miriam, Henry Ford, and I. |
When we got back from that, Mr. Rigas needed a haircut and so did I, so we went to a barber. It's been a long time since I went to a real barber, not since my barber, Lester Tarbox, died back in 2011. I usually get my hair cut by a lady in Genesee and she does a good job, but it's just not the same as going to a barber. Maybe it's the atmosphere of all the chairs, the sounds of the clippers and scissors, the smell of talc and tonic, the masculine chatter. I got a great haircut and my beard trimmed and I felt like a new man.
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| At the barber. |
From there, Miriam and I went to the beach while Stacey took Mr. Rigas for his massage. He goes every other day to a place called Hand and Stone. The beach was beautiful. It was a very warm day. The sky was clear, but there was fog out on the gulf and the water was calm. When the sun set, it was spectacular.
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| The foggy beach. |
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| Sanderlings on the beach. |
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| Sunset. |
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| Sunset. |
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| Last light. |
That evening we went out to eat at a Greek restaurant called Opa. Mr. Rigas's sister Katherine came with us. We got there late (you end up doing lots of things late with Mr. Rigas) and were the last customers to leave. The food was good. Mr. Rigas wanted us to try different things. We had spanikopita, calamari, saganaki, baklava, and kataifi. I had a bowl of avgolemono soup and lamb souvlaki with tzatziki. It was all so good - a great culinary adventure.
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| Dinner at Opa. |
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| The chef serving saganaki. |
On Wednesday Miriam and I finally got to go south to the country around the Everglades. We didn't go into the National Park, but we visited Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand State Park, and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. We saw lots of birds and alligators. We were especially happy to see a roseate spoonbill, a bird at the top of our wish list. I'd like to explore the Everglades more fully some day.
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| In Big Cypress Swamp. |
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| An alligator. |
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| On the boardwalk at Big Cypress Bend. |
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| Thousand Islands. |
On Thursday I spent some time sitting in the sun by the dock and reading, enjoying the 85 degree weather. There was a mockingbird singing from the top of a palm tree nearby. It was idyllic. We went to the beach to watch the sunset one last time. Yes, one last time.
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| Our last sunset. |
We are nearing the end of our adventures sooner than planned. We were supposed to fly home this next Tuesday, but Mr. Rigas has a friend who has his own jet plane and is flying back to his home in New York tomorrow. He offered to fly us to Bradford. We'll fly out of the Naples airport at 3:00 p.m. and land in Bradford at 5:00 p.m. Then we'll have an hour's drive home. That's a lot faster than taking a commercial flight and we won't have the hassle of going through TSA, and that will be nice. But I'm not ready for it to end yet. Oddly, I haven't been homesick at all while we've been here.
I have always loved living in a temperate climate. I love the changing of the seasons. I grew up where there were four definite seasons and in my mind, that was how the world was supposed to be. Then for twenty years I lived in Southern California and for twenty years I wanted to escape it and move back to a temperate place. And I did at last. And it was the place I'd always wanted to live. And I've been happy living my dream. Now after twenty years of living in that place, I've stumbled into a conundrum. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older. Maybe I'm losing my mind.
We've been in Florida for thirteen days. I'd never been here before. The only things I knew about it, I learned mostly from watching Flipper as a child. I knew that it got hot and humid in the summer. I'd heard about the bugs from my sister Mindy who served a mission there. I knew about hurricanes from watching the news. I never thought for a moment that I'd ever want to live there. Never. But after a few weeks here, I'm starting to wonder. I think I'm being seduced.
It might be because it was so dismally cold and snowy when we left home and it has been so beautiful while we've been here. Winters have become increasingly hard on me, mentally and physically. Over the past two weeks, I found myself thinking things like maybe someday we could be snow birds and come here for the winters. Then I started thinking that I really like heat and humidity and maybe we could live here year round someday.
Of course if we did, we'd have to live out away from all the hubbub of the crowded, developed areas. While driving around we've seen rural areas further inland. I find myself thinking, maybe we could have a little house and a bit of land where I could grow mangos and citrus fruit and other tropical delights. Then I'd never have to wear fleece or flannel lined clothing again or shovel snow or scrape ice off a windshield. I could grow orchids in my garden.
I don't know. It might just be the dread of going back to the cold and snow so soon. I've escaped the clutches of winter for a few weeks and I don't want to go back. I know spring will come to Gold eventually, but it will seem long in coming and it will be brief as will be summer and fall. And then winter will come again. That doesn't happen here.
But how could I ever think of leaving my beloved Potter County? I've been seduced by palm trees and plumarias. Is this just a passing fancy? Am I having some sort of midlife crisis crush? Would I eventually grow out of my infatuation and long for my former love? We will see. Tomorrow we will be home.
