Sadly we are Easter egg-less on this house as you can't really buy them here. They have the gold wrapped Lindt bunnies, hideous bright yellow marshmallow things in the shape of chicks called Peeps (although these now come in a variety of colours .. blue, purple, pink ... and interestingly now in rabbit shapes so not sure that still works? Anyway, still bleugh) and you can get the sugar coated mini eggs ... some even say Cadbury's on the packet ... but they are just not the same. Outrageous! By the way, that reminds me. I read in the news this week that Cadbury's were no longer calling them 'Easter eggs' and they are now just 'chocolate eggs' in case any non religious folks are offended ... whaaaaat? for God's sake! (oops, sorry).
... Sunset from Naples beach
Think this is the closest Mr B will ever get to being a surfer ....
... Donatello? Leonardo? Michelangelo?
The last couple of months have gone by in a bit of a blur, and so it was nice last week to have a few days at the beach in Florida to recharge the batteries and try and regain some sense of calm and tranquility (even if that did mean getting on another plane!). Luckily, thanks to the Mystery Shop programme that Mr B gets to participate in, we were able to do it in style at the Ritz-Carlton resorts in Sarasota and Naples. The only down side to that of course, is that whilst 2 nights accommodation at each is refunded upon checkout, sadly the astronomical cost of the food and drink consumed is not, and as we also added an extra night at each it was hardly a cheap week away, but it was really nice to be completely spoiled for a few days :)
Despite a couple of days of iffy weather at the beginning of the week, the rest of the week was beautiful and we were able to enjoy the cool white sands and sparkling blue ocean, with little else to do but soak up the sun, listen to the waves crashing onto the beach and watch the Pelicans diving for fish, and of course the spectacular sunsets each evening. Absolute bliss!
We were really lucky to see dolphins on more than one occasion, including a close encounter with an especially inquisitive one who came really close to the shore to have a better look! Amazingly, we also saw a couple of turtles making their way up the beach in between all the sunbeds and umbrellas (probably on their way to pick up a pizza but as they weren't wearing their bandanas I have no clue which two they were :D). They didn't seem at all bothered by the excited crowds they attracted and plodded on past regardless. So cute!
All good things must come to an end though, and this morning I woke up to find myself back at home, knee deep in laundry and sandy flip flops... ugh ... and not a glass slipper in sight. Sigh. Still, on the plus side it is still sunny, 85 degrees (with no Florida humidity... yay!) and cacti are bursting into bloom all over the place. So, I decided that as the laundry would still be there tomorrow (and the next day ... and the day after that, thanks to that magical basket that mysteriously fills itself up again as soon as it is emptied), Mr B and I should ease ourselves back in gently and head off to look at the spring flowers at the Desert Botanical Gardens instead.
Good decision as it turned out. It was BEAUTIFUL! I will try and remember to post some photos next week as we actually remembered to take the 'proper' camera with us today and I haven't had time to download from the SD card yet.
In the meantime, I hope you all have a very Happy Easter weekend and enjoy those eggs! *sniff*
TTFN
Bev X
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