It is hard to be a retired couple

We couldn't just lay around the beach for the rest of our lives so we came home to a beautiful, and very white, Winter Solstice.

In this photo you can just make out the house near the center of the ridge line.

These were taken on Thursday. On Friday we got another foot of snow.

By the way, the color of the sky is accurate. Some days it looks like there is simply no air there.

On Friday we hook up the trailer and head south until we get to I-10. Then we turn left and follow the Gulf Coast until we are back in Florida. We get a week with close friends in Ocala, a week with family back at the beach cottage and then a few days with Gerri on the East Coast of Florida before meandering back to Santa Fe.

Back to Reality as a Retired Couple

O.K., so we can't just lay around the beach every day!

We had a wonderful, and white, Winter Solstice and then it warmed up and then we thought winter must already be over and then -- wham!

You can just make out the house near the center of the ridge line. The blue in the sky is the actual color of the sky. No photoshop involved.

This is looking down on the house from our road.

Kathy and Jackson. He loves the snow here. It's all dry powder so when he runs through it like a snowplow the effect is amazing.

This is the turn around in our driveway.

But, retirement does have its costs. We leave on Friday with the trailer, heading south until we get to I-10. Then we turn left (go east for all you geography freaks) and just go until we get to Florida. Another difficult couple of weeks with friends and family in the warm glow of the Gulf of Mexico and then we come back to Santa Fe and get the motorcycle ready for the Spring season.

Three Boobs on Captiva Island

Wait a minute! What were you thinking when you saw the title?

Well, we are shocked!

We were speaking, of course, of Kathy, Craig and Kathy's college roommate, Gerri.

Kathy's family is part owner of a beach cottage on South Seas Plantation which is at the northern most end of Captiva, and island on the Gulf Coast just south of Fort Meyers. It is really quite amazing.

Photos of the three boobs to follow.

Kath and Gerri -- some friendships just last.

We arrived on the island during the

second week in December and it was incredibly empty. Apparently most people skip this week because they are getting ready for the Winter Solstice.

On our first day Beachside we ran into this guy and four other people.

It was like having the place to ourselves.

The first shot is Kathy alone on the beach.

The second beach shot is looking North with the Gulf on your left.

The third is looking South with the Gulf on your right.

The weather was perfect. Daytime highs in the mid-eighties. Cool at night. No need for AC.

Enough said, we had a wonderful time.

Saying good night with a sunset -- the cottage is known for just beautiful sunsets.