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  • We were working in the garden today and under a rock Miranda found this scary looking snake. (She would like it known for the record that she was thrilled and not at all scared). Its intense black body, a red stripe under its belly by the tail, and a yellow one on the rest of its underbelly gave me a shock. The yellow collar around its neck seemed to indicate something poisonous. What wasn't scary about it was its size. It looked like it could fit in the palm of my hand all curled up. Forget it!! No way was I going to pick up that snake. Instead, I picked up the camera, and the little thing stretched out and posed a bit before slipping off under a rock. I picked up our handy Field Guide to Florida book. It was easy to identify. The Ringed-Neck Snake! A simple descriptive name for a simple, non-poisonous snake. It still gives me the chills to be having snakes in my garden. I had just got used to having iguanas hanging out in the rubber tree above my head all day!


     

  • One of audacious male iguanas fell from the rubber tree in our yard  yesterday. In his desperate attempt to get back to a safe place he got himself stuck in the fence!


    He was stuck for a while, so we called the local Wild Life Care Center and within a half hour Russ came over.....cut the fence....and grabbed our iggy.


     



    The poor guy was very freaked out....but Russ got a hold of him..........



     


    With only a little damage................


    We let him go and he immediately swam across the lake.....................


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


    Later we saw him returning home.................... and he just climbed back up the tree............




     

    The moral of the story is.....................Call Animal Rescue!


  •  

    Here is the Ravenstone Hotel that we stayed at in the LakeDistrict. The following is a letter written by Miranda to the Trading Standards Authority. It details the gory details of our stay there!

     

     

    Dear Trading Standards Authority

    I had a strange experience when travelling in the Lake District last week and I would greatly value your advice as to how to deal with it.

    The Tourist Information Center in Keswick made a reservation for myself  and my travelling companion  at the Ravenstone Hotel in Bassenthwaite.

    The hotel was not cheap. 90 pounds a night for a twin room (including breakfast.) Double what we had paid for at a York B & B the week before, but it had a bar and a restaurant and we decided to splash out. We stayed there the 26th and 27th of September.

    We found out that the hotel locks its guests in at night. We found out about this because Ellen got up at 2 am with insomnia and residual jet lag on the night of the 27th of September to find a quiet place downstairs to read (so as not to bother me). She tried to go outside to have a cigarette and inadvertently set off the fire alarm by opening a fire door (the front door being locked). There were no notices on the fire doors warning guests not to open them at night (or any other time?)

    Unfortunately this was just the beginning of quite a sorry saga. The man who dealt with Ellen (who turned out to be the owner of the establishment) was very angry indeed and would not allow Ellen to sit in any of the public rooms downstairs (of which there were several). This, in spite of the fact that she apologized profusely for her error. She overheard him calling her a stupid woman to the fire department when cancelling the fire engine. He then came out of his office and told her that she could not sit and read downstairs. His shouted at her "It's 2 am, what are you doing up, you should be in bed." He shouted at her repeatedly "Go to your room." She repeated that she just wanted to sit and quietly read and he got angrier - shouting at her to go to her room and stay there. Luckily she was not vulnerable to taking his castigations personally and she decided that for the sake of peace and good will she would comply with his patently unreasonable demand.

    The next morning I paid and asked for the name of the man who was 'on' the previous night. The woman dealing with me asked me angrily whether I was going to complain and I said I was. She told me she was his wife and that they were the owners. I naively thought she might apologize so that we could all let the incident drop but she started shouting at me - saying that what Ellen did was unacceptable and a lot of other unpleasant things besides. She said she'd never had any trouble from any of her guests and it was "people like you" (Americans?) who are the problem. I was so incensed at this point that I called her a "silly bitch" - this was wrong and I'm not proud of it but it really wasn't the worst insult in the world - and I turned to leave. She jumped around the reception desk and beat on my back and shoulders with her fists.

    I know that you might be thinking I'm making this up at this point. That is exactly what I thought at the time. It was one of the strangest, more surreal experiences of my life. Her husband came from the kitchen and started shouting at me and threatening me. Waitresses were standing around with shocked expressions on their faces. I decided these people were either insane or very, very stressed and left as hurredly as I could not wishing to fan any more flames, just wanting to get out in one piece. I was very scared at this point.

    I went straight to the Keswick police station and filed a common assault complaint which they took seriously. They interviewed Mrs. Bins later that day. I understand she lied. Of course she did. She told them she thought I was becoming aggressive and so she pushed me away.

    Compare and contrast the modest B & B in York where we spent the first 5 days of our trip. Yvonne and David at the Bronte Guest House could not been nicer or kinder or more accommodating. The comfort levels at their establishment were higher - the beds did not have springs poking through the mattresses (as did the Ravenstone Hotel), the TVs had remote controls (the Ravenstone did not) and the rooms were immaculately clean and the decor fresh. At the Bronte a sitting room for guests was available at any time of day or night - with the astonishing touch of a decanter of sherry from which we could help ourselves. We had a friend over one night and sat up until midnight chatting and laughing. David popped his head in around 10 and asked us to turn out all the lights before we went to bed. For these lovely people their B & B is plainly a labor of love and we were all on hugging terms by the time we left.

    I have travelled extensively over the past 40 years. I worked in the travel industry for at least 6 years, as a conference organizer for about 2 years, for a tour operator for the rest. I have never been locked into a hotel at night. I have never been subjected to such hostility by a hotelier - never shouted at or hit by one.



     

  • Footpaths, Stiles and Saint Begas.


    I begin my England report from the Lake District.



     


    It was our last stop, so I am out of order. But, I have been out of order for the last 3 weeks. I have excuses, but who cares about excuses. (Thanks for all those who have been egging me on)........


    The miles of Public FootPaths in England are plentiful, but they are unique to an American...... The Footpaths are old old old. But what also impresses me is the Dry Stone Wall, next to this sign......No mortar between the stones!



     


     


     


    The stiles (stairs over a fence or gate) along the footpaths also impressed me......They are old and come in a variety of styles those stiles do! Some are made of wood



    And some are made of stone..........(this one really amazed me)..........



    Here are some views along this Footpath route we saw.........



     



     


    And then we came upon an enchanting little church. St. Begas. Legend has it that an Irish girl ran away from Ireland because she wanted to dedicate her life to God, and not to the husband that her father selected for her. She ended up in England in the Lake District and founded this church. The church follows its vicars to 1100 AD!!!!                                                                                                                                                               



     



     



     


     

  • We're back. Actually have been for a while and I have been neglectful. Sure, I have plenty of excuses and a number of great ones, but I will not bore you.


    The trip to England was fantastic. We didn't want to go. We wanted to stay and play in our new house! The moment we landed though, we both felt at peace and homey and loved every second. From the first moment of warmth from Aunt Anne in Bagshot to the last day with a fight with a Hotelier in the Lake District! And there was so much in between!


    I will begin with the end! (Contrary as I am)


    The beautiful Lake District! We took a wander one day......


    Opps, the image input is not working.....


    Story to be continued. For what are my words without pics?

  • We're off.................


    To England for 2 weeks.


    Looking forward to the Hedgerows and the countryside...............


    Be back at the end of the month with lots of pictures and a thought or two.

  • I took this picture early this morning.....it is the western morning sky, with the moon visible and a rainbow cloud hovering below it.


  • I have been wanting a better (read bigger) telephoto lensed digital camera. I also wanted a smallish pocket sized one. It seems that these are conflicting desires. As our trip to England is fastly approaching, I not only wanted this camera, I wanted it now. I ended up with the Olympus C740 (10 times telephoto optical lens) and after taking a couple of photos I began to freak out and thought the camera was terrible. Nothing was in focus! It turned out to be user error and the results of a rum and coke!


    Here are a couple of our neighbors at our house............


    Click on the photo to see it enlarged........but be careful it can be scary.



    Here is a member of the Iggy Family. There are about 5 of them living under our deck. They love to hang out in the Rubber Tree during the day.



    This is Momma Iggy. She likes to hang out on the deck and tease our little boy cat. He stares her down and asks her to come over and play. So far, she has declined all invitations.



    Not sure the name of this guy, but he visited us for a while and posed for a few pictures before leaving.


     


    I think I'll keep the camera and drink less rum and cokes.

  • Our little boy kitten loves the pool. He has so many toys and facinating frogs, gecko's, salamanders, birds and iguanas. He has even been in swimming! Okay, he got scared and jumped backwards, landing in the pool....but then we saw him swim across the pool to the other side. He swam the dog paddle, or should I rename it to the cat paddle. Of course, he looked like a drenched rat when he climbed out. This scenario has occurred at least 5 times in the last month. I've been waiting to get some kind of photo with him and his pool. Here are a few sweet ones.

  •  


    Miranda is happy as a clam..........


    Ahh...................................


    Here is the wrinkle in time...........


    We are to go to England for 2 weeks on Monday....we planned this trip a year ago, not knowing that we would be in a new house. We love going to England, but right now we would prefer to be home and continue the enormous job of making our house our home. We want to sit and look at the new french doors. It isn't all that bad though.....I do look forward to seeing some special people there, and the hedgerows to name a few.......


    To complicate matters more there is this big hurricane


     bearing down on the South Coast of Florida. It would be a terrible thing if it hit our area while we are gone.


    Crossing our fingers and toes that the hurricane decides to cool down and become a tropical storm.