Birthday Surprises in the Mail!

I was expecting the mailman to bring my order from QVC: lilies and phlox, so when he delivered 2 boxes, I thought, "Must be my plants."  I hurriedly slit open the first box and what a surprise!  It was a box of giant chocolate covered strawberries!  From my grandson in Ohio!  They were the largest, juiciest strawberries I've ever seen!  You'll notice one is missing...hmmm, wonder where it went?

I checked the return address on the next box, thinking that it might not be the plants, either.  I didn't recognize the return address and wondered what was going on.  Another big surprise!  This one was a bonsai azalea tree, which I've never heard of, from my daughter!  It's got dozens of tiny buds ready to bloom.  I can't wait to see this in full flower. 

The night time temperatures are still pretty low (48), so even though the days are nice and sunny and around 70 to 75 degrees, I bring the azalea in at night.   I've never attempted growing a bonsai of any kind, so I'm hoping I can keep this one alive.  I'll have to read some tips on the care and feeding of azaleas, as well as bonsai trees.  Pretty tricky.

Explosion of Growth

With the rain we've had for the past couple of days plus the sunshine today, coupled with very nice 70 to 75 degree weather this week, my little plants have become nice big plants!  I'm amazed how fast this growth spurt happened.  It's way beyond time for me to move the zucchini and squash plants into separate pots.  I've got a nice little green tomato on the Big Boy tomato plant (above) in the "home made earthbox" now.  How exciting!  I need a larger pot for the spinach; they are close to baby spinach size already.  My bush beans didn't sprout; I have no idea why.  Beans are normally so easy to grow.  I've planted 3 or 4 new seeds this week to see if they sprout. 

Zucchini on 3/14/10

Butternut Squash on 3/14/10

Spinach 3/14/10

The really bad gardening news is that I have some kind of bugs on all my pepper plants!  What are these things? Sorry it's such a poor quality photo and not easy to see what the bugs may be.  I'm not going to try to kill the bugs with anything, I'll throw the plants out and start new ones in the Fall.  I just can't imagine eating a pepper from a plant that had bugs crawling all over it.  This is the first time I've ever had this happen, so I guess I've been lucky all those years in PA when I grew peppers.  Or maybe this is a FL bug?  I kind of doubt it though; last year my peppers all produced nicely here in FL.  I grew red cherry peppers, hungarian hot peppers and green peppers last year and the only problem I had was that some critter was eating the plants.  I brought them onto my screened porch and they produced well after that.  I'm so disappointed.  I use peppers often in my cooking.  Guess I'll be buying them at the local farm market instead. 

The strawberry plants have flowers now and look healthy, and the patio cherry tomato plant has a ton of flowers.  I'm anticipating having a lot of tomatoes this year - hope I'm not jinxing myself by thinking that.  It's still early and anything can happen, I've discovered.   Always hopeful though and expect the best.

Strawberries on 3/14/10

Garlic in front, potatoes in back on 3/14/10

In my back yard, in the shade beneath my only tree, this sprouted up and began growing last year.  I have no idea what it is.  I don't know if it's a weed or a possible beautiful flowering shrub.  Can you identify it for me?  (Below)

Relax on Hutchinson Island (link here)

What a beautiful sunset while on the island!  Reminds you a little of the south seas, doesn't it?  This is just another great spot on the Treasure Coast.  I drove down to one of the beaches last week to see if any new larger shells had washed ashore but I was disappointed.  I sat and sifted through the tiny shells that were left there for sea glass but there was nothing worth bringing home.  It's still a relaxing past time.  The funniest thing is, as I was walking on the little pathway toward the beach from the parking lot, I spied these large green/brown objects! 

At first I couldn't imagine what they were, then it dawned on me:  they're coconuts!  How dumb am I?  But I've never seen coconuts like these before - just the small brown, hairy ones in the grocery store.  I picked up these 2 and brought them home.  I looked around for someone to ask if it was okay to take them, but there was no one.  They were lying on the ground, so I assumed it was okay.  You never know in a park if you can pick up things; even pine cones.

The beach was nearly empty, so I had it to myself.  Sometimes it's more fun if there are other sun worshipers to watch, though.  Don't you find yourself almost hypnotized by watching what people are doing? 

On the way back to the mainland, I stopped and took this photo at Fort Pierce Inlet.  It's a nice little area to have a picnic at tables there and watch boats from the Marina come in and out.  This is a busier area than the beach normally, but right now in early March, it's a little too early for crowds.  The Easter Holiday brings more people to all the beaches. 

Both of the areas shown above are along Seaway Drive on the Island.  There are numerous restaurants and other facilities, as well as condos and individual residences.  I'd love to live on either Orchid or Hutchinson Island. 

Take a Short Drive to Orchid Island (click link)

The weather has finally started to warm up here in Florida and that means I need to go to the beach and watch the waves for a while, walk in my barefeet in the soft sand and just let the sunshine feel warm on my skin.  This is why I had to retire here.  The extra long winter of 2010 has made this visit to the shore even more precious.  I went early in the morning, before everyone else decided to do the same thing.  The photo above is of Vero Beach in the area where I can walk for miles along the edge of the surf and look for sea glass or  small shells.  I've been looking for driftwood but haven't found any so far.  The photo below shows Ocean Drive with all it's marvelous shops selling clothing and accessories in tropical colors and pastels, as well as hundreds of souvenirs you would be proud to take home to friends and family.

Along various spots of Ocean Drive, are sculptures of brightly colored and patterned Loggerhead Turtles.  The Loggerheads are popular in this area and come ashore here to lay their eggs from late March through early September.  These turtles are an endangered species and are much loved and protected by the local residents.

Isn't this a feature that brings a smile to your face?  These sculptures also appear in front of various businesses throughout Vero Beach, such as the Main Library.

The Fresh Market - a New Store (Connect to store's website here)

I have my favorite shopping routine like everyone else, but once in a while I try out a new store to see what's up.  Today I drove to 21st Street in Vero Beach and went to The Fresh Market.  I'd been wondering if it was an organic, fresh fruit-vegetable place and it is, plus more.  I'm so glad I went.  Now I'm hooked.  It's lovely to walk into with the stacks of fresh produce, offering just about everything you hoped for: the usual Florida citrus, Spanish or Latino squashes, plantains, tamale corn husks, red and green peppers of all kinds, etc.  But for me the best part is the prepared foods section offering roasted chicken, small hams, pizzas, baby back ribs, pasta salads, side dishes, prepard fish - just wonderful for taking home for lunch or dinner.  They also have canned goods from different ethnic groups, fresh seafood and meats and a wonderful fresh sushi area and a deli, as well.  And let's talk about the fresh baked goods!  Oh my gosh!  Wonderful breads and rolls, cookies, cakes, desserts.  I wanted everything.  I stayed pretty well in control of myself and only bought a bag of Rosemary Sea Salt Rolls.  I had to have one right away, so I ate it in my car on the way home.  These would be great with pasta dishes, soup, salad or anyway you can think of. 

They are crunchy, salty on the outside while still soft and tasting mildly of rosemary on the inside.  Perfect!  This store is definitely on my grocery shopping list from now on.  By the way, the prices are comparable to other grocery stores.

This store also has special events, such as having a Chef come in and demonstrate cooking techniques.  I certainly can benefit from that!  I've marked my calendar.