Christmas Animals

(you can click on pictures to enlarge if you want)

Christmas in Sanlan was not bad at all. We enjoyed the Moscow Ballet Nutcracker at the Lakeland Centre on the 21st. It didn’t even take much convincing to get John to go! (Bucket list?) We thoroughly enjoyed it and it seemed so Christmassy! The Lakeland Centre (partly shown in this picture) is a big venue for entertainers and productions of all kinds. We are fortunate to be able to take advantage of it while here. Shows that are seen in Toronto at home tour here but it is much easier to get to!

On Christmas day we got together with 4 other couples, also braving a Southern Christmas, and played Shuffle on the big courts and Horseshoes of all things! It was fun and very relaxing.

Dinner was a joint effort; I did the turkey. It turned out well. Necessity is the Mother of Invention: I had no gravy boat. While looking for somewhere to put the gravy to keep warm and also to use to transport it over to Ken and Kathy’s where we were eating, I had a eureka moment. I put it in my stove top stainless steel tea kettle. Voila! I was able to keep the gravy warm and then it worked perfectly to pass and pour.

I missed family and northern friends but I have to admit it is quite peaceful and relaxing having this type of Christmas. It is low key and Christmas Chaos is nearly non-existent. Everything is downsized. The key is to stay out of the stores at peak hours too! It has been wonderful enjoying the great outdoors in summer weather at Christmas! It is beautiful here and the wild life is amazing. The wild life I am talking about is not of the human kind although we are enjoying a great social life.

Imagine walking nature trails through jungle-like terrain (live oaks, palmettos) around Banana Lake and 100 yards down the path you see a bobcat! People at Sanlan RV Park have told us about them but we really didn’t believe it until we saw one the other day ourselves. It seemed frozen on the path when it saw us. We froze too. John looked through the binoculars as I fumbled to get the camera on it. The cat hunched up and stared and then sprung off into the dense foliage. Too late for a picture. It was a beige or tawny colour with blackish fur around its ears and face. I was a little nervous at first but soon realized it was more afraid of us. This picture shows the area of the trail where we saw it.

The other day we were biking the Fort Fraser Trail to Bartow and a couple of miles down smelled something horrible. We looked over at a field and in the distance saw a large dark lump on the ground. I immediately thought dead cow. John got out the binoculars and sure enough that is what it was! Ick! We continued to the end of the trail and by the time we passed it on the way back it was covered with buzzards. I hope it has been cleaned up by now! Surprisingly Florida has a lot of cattle and they graze in the strangest places.

Until now I have only seen opossums as road kill. At dusk the other day we were sitting in the screen tent beside our RV with friends. A possum was only a few feet from us. It was really ugly! The fur was splotchy and the white face and tail looked hideous. To make matters worse it was staggering and even falling down. It must be sick or rabid! I haven’t seen it since but have been on the lookout. Our neighbours are keeping a close eye on their dog. (since then we have heard that possums have poor balance so maybe that was normal behaviour)

Sanlan is unique in that it has large natural areas as well as a golf course, RV park, ponds and trails but it is on the edge of Lakeland and easy access to shopping, theatres etc. With all the birds and wild life around here you would think we were in a jungle; but not at all. It is the best of both worlds. Now that Christmas is over the park is getting busy and filling up. We are looking forward to the New Year’s Dance. A large group of us have tickets together. They only cost $5 and you bring your own preferred drink. Can’t go wrong!

Not for wimps

December 7th to 16th

(You can click on pictures to enlarge them)

The pre-amble to Christmas in the South is very similar to what it is in the North! Fir trees, poinsettias, twinkling lights, Santas, snowmen decorations and nativity scenes abound. When I am in a store it looks and feels like I am at home in Ontario. But, when I walk outside and am hit with the heat and sunshine I feel a bit disoriented! You can see my attempts to make it "Christmasy". I think it's working!

We did some geo-caching this week with Ron and Mary from Southampton. They have wanted to try it for some time and when they found out we’ve done it we made plans together. We went over to Circle B Ranch (Polk County Nature Preserve that used to be a cattle ranch but is being restored to Wetlands) and found a dozen caches. They were mostly along the paths. You wouldn’t want to wander far off the path in there considering all the critters that are around! Many were on the path called Gator Alley.

We did have to go off the path to find one in a forested area and a huge spider landed on Ron. John knocked it off him with his binoculars but that was enough to send me back to path. Once I got there I noticed big spider on my arm…all fuzzy and as big as a twooney! I swatted it off and had a hissy fit…screaming and jumping around. I even got goose bumps. I felt like Little Miss Muffet! Most embarrassing and of course now everyone knows the spider story. Ron was really good at spotting the huge webs which were up in the trees. I zoomed in and got a picture of this one. I was glad we were not close to it but of course that was before one landed on me!

John and I were on the nature trails around Sanlan and went to look in this “Gator Hole.” Wow! There was a huge mother alligator with 7 babies! My heart pounded as I got as close as I could and zoomed in for a picture. These babies were likely born in the summer and they will stay with the mother for 5 months. I still can’t get over the sight of it.

At dusk we are chased inside by swarms of mosquitoes. They don’t last long but unless you are in a screened tent it is difficult to stay outside.

Retirement is not for wimps!

Sunday, November 23rd to Saturday December 10th.


Sanlan continues to be good to us despite unseasonably cool weather at times. Mind you today was in the 80's. Of course it is all relative! It’s much warmer than the snowy north. We have been enjoying the golf courses, bike trails and friends from last year who have been arriving daily for their winter in the warmth. We have been seeing armadillos on the trail and today John almost stepped on a little snake. He did quite a dance to avoid it!

It has been wonderful meeting up with people from home as well. Grant and Gisele were in the area for 10 days and it has been great connecting with them. We showed them around Sanlan, golfed, biked and visited. They had a condo about 15 minutes from here with friends from home but spent 3 nights with us on either side of that.

Joanne and Hedge were in Lakeland when we first got here so we got together with them and had a great day. Joanne and I biked and John and Hedge played 9 at Bramble Ridge right here at Sanlan. We had a nice dinner and you can see the great sunsets we enjoy. Not quite as good as Kincardine but it will do! What kind of tree is this? I don't know but is looks amazing this time of year. Thanks for the picture Joanne!

It is hard to believe we are into December. We got tickets for the Symphony this week and for the Moscow Ballet Nutcracker on the 21st at the Lakeland Centre. We saw the Orchestra last night and it was wonderful. They played Christmas music and the Florida Dance troupe entertained us along with a couple of opera singers. I think that is my Christmas present to John since he has never seen ballet or an orchestra and I haven’t since high school. There is a lot to do and see in Lakeland so we are not sorry we have come back for a second year. It will be hard to beat.

Plans are being made for Christmas dinner with a few couples who are not going home for Christmas. I have offered to do the turkey. I used the oven to make a meatloaf the other day so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I used the gas oven in the Sundance occasionally and this one is pretty much the same.

We have put up the Christmas lights on the dining tent and I have a couple of other decorations out. It still seems strange to see all the decorations among palm trees and in the hot weather.

Thanks to Grant and Gisele we went to Circle B. Ranch Nature Preserve about 5 minutes from here. They toured it when they were here. It used to be a cattle ranch but has been taken over by Polk County and Florida something or other. The land was a wetland before it was drained for cattle cattle grazing and now it is being restored to wetland again. There are thousands of gators and the bird population is amazing. We really enjoyed walking through there this morning. It gives you the feeling of being in the wilds of Florida for sure. The birds love this area maybe because there are so many lakes for them to feed from. Highlights were a bald eagle and a roseated spoonbill, but there were tons of others. I also saw an otter and a rabbit with reddish fur not to mention gators! Look closely to see this swamp monster!

You can click on a picture to enlarge it.