Spring Fling 2011 - Day 11

This was yet another beautiful day and tempted us to a third straight "day out".  I had noticed yesterday that the Emery's Honda Odyssey minivan was wearing license plates that expired two weeks ago, so this was a good opportunity for me to be the driver and show off my van!

We went down to Sarasota and to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.  MS had been a wealthy wife with a deep love for gardens and exotic trees and plants and bequeathed the estate on her passing 35 years ago.  We basically spent the whole day there, seeing all that was there at a gentle pace.  After doing the conservatory with a variety of less-common orchids on display we bought salads and sandwiches for lunch and ate outside in the shade of a huge banyan tree.  We then made a leisurely tour of the gardens, which are like a peninsula with water on three sides.  Near the end, in one of the old buildings (a converted home) was an exhibition of very colorful wall decorations (called masks, but not meant for covering the face) all carved from solid balsa wood logs by talented Central Americans and brightly painted.  All had been for sale and the vast majority had sold for prices from around $300 up to nearly $700.  We did not buy!

We cruised the gift and the flower shop which had many beautiful exotics, largely but not only orchids, but all I bought was a cactus for my kitchen window cactus planter.  It is lovely to have opportunities for trips out like this but the travel time does consume quite a bit of the day.  Once we were back Jean made dinner and afterward we continued sharing our daily pictures and then moved on to showing each other our older photos.  My taking of my Qoop "albums" has proven to be an excellent idea.  A small selection of today's pictures have been posted on Flickr, and may be found here.