The drawing is of Christmas carolers at Silver Springs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father joined us Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To enhance the Christmas experience we headed over to the 129 year old attraction, Silver Springs. They have a wonderful ‘Festival of Lights’. Lights are everywhere throughout the park. We waundered the park and enjoyed the feeling of Christmas. Dinner was also at Silver Springs. We took in their buffet.

Another stop on Monday was to Butterfly World(http://www.butterflyworld.com/) in Cocoanut Creek. Lots of Butterflies. More gardens, flowers and birds, birds, birds. The drawing on the upper left is one I made looking straight up. That is where this hummingbird sat and pooped on me. I didn’t see the tiny feathered “friend” previously. We had wandered through much of Butterfly World when we sat in one of the bird aviaries. The bird then greeted me in his own special way. The bird never looked down and kept staring ahead. So here is a drawing of his underside.

On Monday we made a number of stops including
this one to Flamingo Gardens, a not-for-profit attraction, in Davie. Here’s more about them: http://www.flamingogardens.org/ . This is a sprawling complex of gardens, birds, criters, historic home, etc. Lots of opportunities to draw birds. You can actually mongle with the birds. Most all of the birds are rescued and being cared for at Flamingo Gardens.

I also took a momment to note a bit of plant life.

Amongst our stops for Sandra’s book research was the Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale. Instead of explaining the spot, check out the website: http://www.bonnethouse.org/ . It’s historic home/museum/art gallery/gardens/etc. Here’s more about the art displayed: http://www.bonnethouse.org/artcollection.html .
This is a sketch of the entrance.

Saturday we headed south so that Sandra could research park areas for one of her upcoming books. We stopped at the Desert Inn for some food. The Desert Inn opened somewhere between 1860 and 1883 as a stop for cowboys and cattlemen to pick up food and/or for lodging. All can still be done today at the crossroads of 441 and 60 just west of the Florida Turnpike. Got a great hamburger! Here’s a sketch of the fellow managing things at the bar.

We were out in Holopaw, just south of St. Cloud, Florida, to participate in honoring the pre-eminent Florida author, Patrick D. Smith. If you have not read ‘A Land Remembered’, you must. Especially if you are a Floridian.

The event was held at ‘Forever Florida’, a working cattle ranch and destination for Floridians or tourists to learn and participate in horse riding, cattle roping and experience an eco-safari.

Sandra manned the ‘Florida Trail’ area and I drew caricatures. Volunteering, of course. After the event I drew Rose, “The Boss” of the gift area and restaurant. She apparently has had a bit of a problem keeping wine glasses intact.