Saturday ...

   

 I Spent the day with my friend Mary Lou yesterday, we both had different ideas about what kind of plans we should make. She wanted to go to the Hard Rock, I wanted to go to Calle Ocho in Little Havana (Miami), yep ... Latin Carnival (Mardi Gras) bright colored costumes, 40 stages with top name Latin bands, food and people from around the globe. (I didn't win this time!)      We decided to compromise and start the day off without any plans and wait to see where we end up!

     I met her at her place, it's a 4o minute drive for me. While she was finishing up a few last minute details and phone calls I went outside to take a few photos.

   

     Mary Lou lives on the intercoastal so there's always plenty to see. As I was taking a few upclose shots of flowers, I heard a grumbly voice call down from above ... Him- "you're wasting film." I looked up on a balcony and there stood a man holding a huge white circle. No doubt that even the voice from the balcony above would have to agree that the two shots above were not a total waste, but I decided to play along.

     Me - "these flowers are beautiful, but maybe you've got a better idea, do you think I should be taking photos of you?" Him- " No, you couldn't afford to take photos of me." Me- "Okay ...  what do you think I should be taking photos of then?" He holds up the big white circle Me- "should I take a photo of that?" Him- "No you would be wasting film!" Me - Okay, then what should I photograph?"

 

He turned the circle around ... it was a brightly colored table top that he had painted. Him- photograph this. Me - Okay I will. Him - Did you get it? Me - yes and you are right ... that was not a waste of film, thank you. He walked back into his condo and I continued what I was doing.

     As you can see, many of the neighbors have boats ... nice ones!

 

     It was a busy day on the water ... boats, boats, boats! Mary Lou lives by a draw bridge, it's a high boat traffic area. 

     In the photo on the right, I was having a little fun with Photoshop (new skills from my Wednesday night classes). I actually used parts of 5 different photos that I took all within a few minutes of each other. I added an additional boat (the one up front) to the already brisk boat traffic photo, I also added the floating Pelican, the flying pelican and the GoodYear Blimp ... all from different photos. Kind of cool, right?

    

     We ended up spending a large part of the day at the Palm Aire Resort and Spa with all of the Snow Birds escaping the relentless winter in the north! That darn groundhog!

     Mary Lou gets and employee discount so we went for the royal treatment at the spa ... steam, sauna and a totally relaxing massage, ahhh ...we love employee discounts.

     It was a leisurely, rejuvenating afternoon and then we did end up driving to Hollywood to the Hard Rock. I go there frequently but she had not been since they opened the huge shopping area. (she so owes me Calle Ocho next year) 

   

     I'll give you a tour of the Hard Rock in another entry but I did want to share the photo of my frosty friend from the north, that was outside in the courtyard. I really thought she was a statue ... then I saw her move, it was very few huge animated movements, there were only 2 of us in the huge and very crowded courtyard that saw the little dance ... we stayed for at least 15 minutes to see if she would move again and that girl did not even bat an eyelash. Quite artsy but that's one job that I would not want.

                                *** Coy ***