Friday J and I headed over to Ft. Lauderdale to do a face to face with someone I’ve been chatting online with for almost 3 years. Julie and I “meet” in a message board thread for those living with MS. And after chatting for a few months oblivious me finally noticed her signature and had a lightbulb go off. Her signature had her flicker account username as MsSmith (name changed to protect the innocent
), which happens to be Mom’s maiden name.
Julie set up her flicker username as her soon to be married name. A few inquiries later, mostly to Grandpa who’s memory is slowly starting to resemble swiss cheese, and it was determined that Julie’s then fiance Rob is actually a distant cousin. So not only did I go to meet with an online buddy, but also a distant cousin. Julie and Rob were in Ft. Lauderdale to head out on a cruise Saturday to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary.
J took a vacation day and came with so we both enjoyed a three day weekend. For those interested in Ft. Lauderdale, fair warning. THEY CAN’T DRIVE! If there’s an inch of open space between you and the vehicle in front of you, someone else will decide they need to be in that space. And no signaling either.
Friday night was spent relaxing with Julie and Rob over dinner. Saturday while Julie and Rob were boarding and enjoying their ship, J and I decided to play tourist. We wanted to do a snorkle trip, but that was pretty much out of the question in part thanks to Ida hanging out in the Caribbean. I know, it’s many many many miles away. But we’re still feeling the effects here in Florida. Trust me, I battled the winds the entire drive across Alligator Alley, there and back. Here’s a video of the waves, this is a beach in Ft. Lauderdale.
Since snorkeling was out of the question we headed over to the Bonnet House. This house was built by artist Frederic Clay Bartlett, a post impressionist. He decided to build a plantation house, using his interpretation. The house and grounds are beautiful and I was glad I had my camera with to take pictures.
This was our view when we first walked into the courtyard of the house. The fountain originally was made out of shells, but had to be recast in something sturdier when the shells broke down.
This is a closer look at the railings. They were sent from New Orleans for the house. The red roofed building slightly behind the tree is an aviary.
An orchid at Bonnet House. The home owners were avid orchid fans and even had a greenhouse to grow them in.
These next few pictures are some of Frederic Bartlett’s artwork. He painted the ceiling’s of some areas of the walkways. Also, he set the shells in the cement for the eagle design.





These were two swans on the property.

There were also these monkey’s on the property.

Mom and baby monkey.
Dinner Saturday night was at the 15th St. Fisheries. I don’t like fish so I had the chicken tenders. J however had their skillet, the fish for that varies depending on what was messed up while being prepared for other entrees. The chef of course doesn’t want those items to go to waste, so they put it into the skillet, which is cooked with a wine alfredo sauce. The sauce was amazing! It’s really too bad I don’t like fish, otherwise I would totally have had that dish. We ate on the main level, it was a little more casual and the menu is cheaper. Our table looked out over the dock where we got to watch restaurant staff feeding the tarpon and jack (according to one gentleman, jack are like pirinha). When the sun went down and it was full dark we got to watch fish swimming over the lights that are set down in the water.
We also did some speculating on the view outside our window. Like this yacht.

And this yacht. The bridge just beyond the yacht, when Julie and Rob’s ship departed we watched it sail past that bridge.
We definitely had a good time in Ft. Lauderdale, but I don’t want to be there again without a horn. And I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s a good place to visit, on occasion.
Posted by craftycritter
Posted by craftycritter
Posted by craftycritter
This was the first picture I took and I had to take it for Dad. I know the lighting doesn’t really show it, but it’s purple and yellow. It’s the Vikings bike 
Got a family of 3 but most bikes only carry two? Well no problem with the super duper family hauler! Hmmm, seats like that might work for Ciera.
This gives new meaning to the alternate term for motorcycles.
I just love the paint job on this one.
And this one. The level of detail is stunning.
J asked “You don’t believe those are nuns and nuns ride?” My response was “Nuns on bikes, sure. Nuns on bikes giving the finger? Nope.” The one on the scooter was flipping the bird to bystanders as they took her (his?) picture.
Part of the fun was just watching the people and the different costumes and outfits they wore. If this couple was on a bike I’m not entirely sure who did the actual driving. Or if she managed to avoid flashing everyone.
More people watching.
I’m still trying to figure out how she got this top on without ripping anything. Maybe she put a top on that was whole and had someone shred it after? I’m not entirely sure.
This bike was pretty cool as well. Even J and his buddy couldn’t figure out how the blue was done.

And some eye candy. He looked just as good from the front. And see the girl “between” the two guys? She’s one of the bar girls. One of the things that surprised me was none of the bar girls wore bikinis. Nope, they all wore lingerie. For the most part nothing was actually showing though. Anything that was lacy was usually worn over another pair of something else. But it was definitely an interesting sight.
This one was at the bike event we attended at the beginning of the month. I got a kick out of all the pink on this one.
Looks like one can buy pretty much anything at one of the Daytona bike events. Including these play toys.
First is the dragon. I was in between projects and decided I wanted to make a dragon. I knew it was going to be a gift for someone and J suggested our friend’s daughter. Yesterday they had her 2nd birthday party, so the dragon got wrapped for Monkey.
Monkey got one in solid purple and I wanted something a little different for new baby. Using what I had on hand, this is what I came up with. I used no specific pattern for color change with this one. It was more a case of “ok, I’m ready for a new color now”.
. The confirmation email I received showed what time the shoes were ordered, and it was listed in central time. So I figured the shoes are probably coming from someplace in the Midwest. Imagine my surprise when I opened the “your item has shipped” email this morning to find they were picked up yesterday and due to be delivered today. So I checked out where they were shipped from. My shoes were shipped from Tampa, they went to Orlando and as of this morning they were back in Tampa. Uhhh, why not just keep them in the same town? LOL
First we have the doorway to heaven. This is a two story house and apparently the builder decided the AC unit stuff needed to go in the space above the stairs. And of course there needs to be access to it. So we have the floating door. J is tall enough that he can actually reach to the handle while standing a step or two up. But the rest of us not really all that short people? Yeah, not happening there.
This is the same house. The house has a 1/2 bath downstairs, right next to the stairs. I actually thought this was a clever idea, this little door is for a small storage space under the stairs. And even though it’s clever, the little door that would fit one of Snow White’s Dwarf friends was actually pretty cute and funny.
This is a short sale that apparently had a leak in the pool. The guy fixed it, but since it’s a short sale didn’t want to be hassled with cleaning the pool. So not only is it this pretty green color, but there’s also tadpoles. Lots and lots and lots of fat tadpoles. Frog legs anyone? The scary part? This is one of the houses J is seriously considering. Anyone want to come clean a pool? We’ll let you take a dip to cool off when you’re done
Pretty sure this was the same house as the pool. This is the master bath and the realtor said this is a “Roman” bath. I guess the faucet at the bottom is for cleaning feet. Heh, it’s the foot version of the bidet.