1. This past February, we went down to Siesta Key to avoid snow, ice and cold in general.  Siesta Key is a great place and I hope to write more about it, but first I just want to tell about the great time we had on the deck at the back of the house.

The house sat on the edge of a canal and the deck gave a great view up and down the waterway.  Every morning I would start my day with a cup of coffee on the deck.  It was amazing to see the fish jumping and swimming in the water.  I tried to get photos of them but was never lucky enough to time a jump or to get anything besides the top of the water.  We did however, have other visitors.  Everyday I would see a bald eagle fly over going to the gulf to hunt fish.

One day I saw him returning with fish and an army of sea gulls following behind trying to get him to drop it.  We also had lots of other birds visiting us and I wish I could have gotten photos of all of them.

One of our more interesting guest was a manatee.  The large animal didn’t get real close to us, but it did keep bringing its head up out of the water to look at us.

There was another special guest who made everything even more special.

My grandson came down and spent a few days with us.  Looking back over our time in Florida, I can think of lots of wonderful things we did, places we went and great food that we ate.  The deck however, still stands out.  I sat there with coffee in the morning, I read several books as well as spending time writing.  I watched wildlife, I fished, I grilled several nice meals and ate them there.  Most of all I got to spend time with my family and made lots of memories of us together.

Next year as people look for resorts and amusement parks, I think I will look for a nice deck overlooking a canal at Siesta Key.