bday67 girls' trip: bonnet springs park!

Christina found this one for us - most excellent!!!

Bonnet Springs Park is on about 160 acres of what once was a train yard in Lakeland.

Now, it's walking trails, playgrounds, exercise sites, picnic areas, various gardens, and even a first-class museum.

All of it's free, too, except the last one.

There's even a free shuttle to get people from one site to another, and multiple parking areas for folks to use at their favorites.

 

We started at the Welcome Center, on the far right on the map, parking there, then being on foot for most of the rest of the day.

The girls loved playing on the train, but we convinced them to try out another playground after we'd been there about thirty minutes.

Following the squiggles, our path led across the Heritage Gardens and then veered left, over to the base of South Mountain, going toward the Circulator (shuttle road).

What a fabulous hill!!!

And look!

It has three trees on the top, just like there are three people on its slope!

Now what are they doing?

Why, the first niece is trying to teach Miyah and Chloe how to roll down the hill!!!

Oh, joy!!!

Chloe was very good at it!

Miyah kept throwing her arms out, not realizing that was actually stopping her roll.

I'm sure she'll get the hang of it with more practice!

I didn't hang around to watch, though, wanting to have a little birthday adventure of my own!

Up, up, up I climbed the South Mountain, reaching the crest!

Then down, down, down I carefully sidestepped until I reached the parking lot for the Florida Children's Museum.

That place had an incredible giant alligator - made of metal, with traffic cones as teeth and the spines on its back - that begged for children to play on it!

They reached the patio entrance just a little after I did, having circled around the hill.

Ready to go in?

Yes, yes, and look at D.O.T. hanging from the ceiling! The colorful dragon of toys that it took 47 people to make! 

Yes, yes, and look at the giant yellow alligator outside to play on!

Yes, yes, and look at the science area with the lab coats and race tracks!

Yes, yes, and look at the Watermelon Seeds play area inside where it's nice and cool!

Yes, yes, and all it cost us was $3 apiece, thanks to my Senior SNAP card.

Hallelujah for the Museums For All program!

Soon enough, we were all ready for our picnic lunch.

That meant going back to her Christina's car at the Welcome Center.

Time to check out the shuttle service!

Oh, but a lightning warning came into effect, so Mark - the driver - had to pull over to the Nature Center (left of the lake on the map) until the "All Clear!" was given.

That just gave us another place to explore, along with the pier and boathouse.

 

Within an hour, all had the signal to move along, which was good.

We were definitely hungry!

Thanks to my first niece, we had a picnic lunch ready to be eaten: sandwiches, chips, tiny Slim Jims, cold beverages, and cookies for dessert.

Yes, yes, she loves us so very much that she even plans our meals while on vacation! 

She's the best!!!

(smile!)

What was next to do???

Should we stay afoot?

No, let's take the shuttle over to the Owl playground!

I don't know, just look at that dark rain cloud coming up fast.

Why not take the car and drive there instead?

Hey, here's a better plan!

We'll drive back to the museum and y'all can play inside until they close, okay? 

So that's exactly what we all did!

We returned to the FCM for their last forty minutes, with the girls' choice to go to the second floor to explore.

They fell in love with the City Play area!

Child-sized grocery store and pet doctor, pizza stand and police office -

so many career paths to follow and move on!

Too soon closing time came and we couldn't stay there.

However, we could be part of the departure parade, waving banners and banging drums and marching happily along!!! 

I even marched, too, with a yellow ribbon banner, celebrating on this Tina Tuesday -

what glorious fun!!!

And guess what?

This was such a big hit -

and such a big park -

that we're going back tomorrow!

Hooray!!!

Thank you, Christina, for finding this place!!! 

copernicus kiss

Earlier, my ex sent me a message about the doodle of the day at Google. He does that from time to time, if it's one he knows will appeal to me. I always enjoy those doodles and, also, that he is looking out for me in that way.
Very nice.
Anyway, here is the transcript of out "conversations" concerning that day's doodle. Jump onboard the train of thought and hold on!

Tuesday, 19 February:
him: Today's Google doodle is really nice. It's an honor of Copernicus. It's animated but not interactive.
me: How cool! Nice planet action!
him: Please excuse the grammar. The dictation mode doesn't always work well. You should have seen what it originally called "Copernicus."

Wednesday, 20 February:
him: I have a new phone and your pic is you eating Buddy's pizza.
me: Good times! I'm glad I was able to see you this summer.

him: Yesterday, Copernicus was "caipirinha kiss" ... I was shocked to find that this knew what a caipirinha was.
me: My bff was just telling me how her smart phone has spelling problems, too, with odd words instead of more common.

him: Yes. Speaking of Sam, I had my first caipirinha when we all went to Fogo de Chao.
me: Okay, I just looked that up. It sounds like a mojito made with something called cachasa.

him: Very close. Cachasa is a raw Brazilian rum that tasted of banana oil, last time I had one.
me: I don't recall that at all. Where?

him: Yeah, Atlanta after we decided the line was too long at the aquarium.
me: Oh! That's been a long time! Did you ever make it back to the aquarium?

him: No, that was my one and only time there.
me: You should make a trip of it sometime. It's a very nice place, though the one in Chattanooga is still my favorite.

him: Oh, that was a good time! Remember when Z broke that squishy toy and got goo all over himself? We all laughted and laughed at him!
me: Oh, I remember that! Poor little boy!

him: Yeah, but he had been warned. Then BOOM!
me: hahaha!

It's really nice to have people who have known me for such a long time.
I need those roots to bind me to Earth.

so, i sez to the doc

Dearest Mama,
A week ago Wednesday, the railroad ties were removed from my traintrack. No one had said anything to me about any anesthesia and the procedure was to be done in the doctor's office. As a preemptive measure, I took an 800 mg ibuprofen, just to dull the edges of any forthcoming pain.
As I was lying on the table, the doc told me the staples were definitely ready to be taken off. My body was hard at work rejecting them, pushing with all the strength the surrounding cells could muster. I told him I was regarding the site as my personal Polar Express traintrack. He paused and looked at me and said he had never heard anyone refer to it as that, but he liked it because that story was one of his family's favorites. I told him it had been one of yours as well.
So, he starts removing hardware. And removes more, moving from one side of me to the other to get a better grip on some of them. I ask what will be done with the staples and he asks if I would like them. After the briefest pause, during which I wondered if he might think me mad, I replied "sure!" Then I mentioned that I had some nephews who might get a kick out of them, but really, truly... I wanted them for ME. I wanted to be able to hold them and count them and examine them, these bits of metal which had been protecting the sutured site beneath.
Eventually, the doc tells me that the last few might hurt a little. He was impressed that I had taken measures beforehand to minimize any pain. Then he set to work, freeing those just above the pubes. Sure enough, that DID hurt, but not overly so. When he asked me if I was okay with the pain, I told him the truth: it really wasn't that much different from plucking hairs from my chin. He looked at me to see if perhaps I was joking, saw that I wasn't, and told me he had never had a patient tell him that before, either. I thought it a good comparison to liken the staple removal to facial hair maintenance. It certainly made the whole procedure more tolerable and put it into the proper perspective. You know?
All in all, not a bad experience. I think this gyn doc (David Byck, who is also Susan's gyn) has a different impression of me now and I hope he might share it with his wife, who just happens to be MY general doc. She'll get a kick out of my revelations!
That's all for now. I just wanted to share that story with you before it dimmed from memory. I know how you always loved my stories!
miss you still and love you always

postscript: In case you wondered, there were fifty-seven bird-shaped staples removed. Those silver birds are now safely caged for display!

trains, 3

My latest tattoo, courtesy of Byck & Gilbert. It's a rather expensive piece, so I don't recommend it as fluff art, but rather to commemorate a momentous occasion. I'm calling it my Polar Express train track, in memory of Mama and in honor of the season. WooOOOoo HooOOOOOOooo!


The photographs show the tattoo as the two-part session rendered it. First, with the fifty-seven silver staples serving as the ties on the track. Second, with the ties removed, allowing a softening effect. Pretty stunning!

trains, part 1

Here's a joke told to me some time ago, but having relevance these days.

Roy Rogers' Boots

One day Roy Rogers was passing the boot maker's shop when he noticed a pair of boots in the window that were the most beautiful he had ever seen. He entered the shop and told the proprietor that he must have the boots that were in the window. The proprietor said the boots were made for someone else, but, if they fit Roy, he could have them and he would make a new pair for the other customer.
So Roy proudly left the shop wearing his new boots. However, on the way back to his ranch, it began to rain and as he walked up to the ranch house, his new boots got all muddy. He left them on the porch and entered the house. While he was eating his dinner, a bobcat snuck up onto the porch and grabbed the boots in his mouth and ran off with both of them.
Fortunately the cook saw the theft and called Roy. Roy was livid. He whistled for Trigger and took off at a gallop after the bobcat. A few hours later he returned with a dead bobcat across the front of his saddle. The once beautiful boots were hanging out of the saddle bags. They were torn to shreads. As he rode up, the cook hailed Roy.
When the cowboy drew near the cook shouted, "Pardon me, Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?" (sung to the tune of "Chattanooga Choo Choo")