These are the good old days

©2012 Lydia Hinshaw

One of the regular visitors to our campsite

Our living room for Christmas, 2012

Our neighbors' solution to high winds

 ORMOND BEACH, FL -- The great thing about being retired is you don't have to dread coming home from vacation.
 Indeed, there were times last week when it seemed as if our Christmas trip to Fort De Soto on Florida's West Coast required more patience and determination  than one of those crazy business trips I used to take in another life.
  The weather was not what we'd ordered.  One pleasant sunny day out of five was all we would get, and it would have to be enough.  Every day, we talked about bailing out, and every day we decided to hang around because it might get better tomorrow.
 Our first two days were spent in a wind tunnel, and we didn't have nearly as many tarps as some of our neighbors, nor were our trees as strategically placed.
 One day it rained, which was OK since we had our wind-damaged picnic shelter repaired by then and the rain came straight down instead of blowing sideways.
 Christmas day was gray and gloomy, but but warm, dry calm.  We spent most of the day sitting in our campsite, reading novels and observing the locals who dropped by.
 A dozen or more white ibises made their usual appearance in the morning, first wading in the shallows and then scouring the grass, always with heads down in search of tiny edibles. Ibises are a lot like aquatic chickens, but prettier.
 Several times, a great blue heron walked with great dignity across our waterfront.  Out on a channel marker, visible only through binoculars and too far away to photograph, an osprey spent hours shredding and eating a fish, watching the sky between bites to guard against thieves. 
 When it was time to eat, we did the same thing, as aggressive squirrels and raccoons are also part of the Fort De Soto experience.
 It was more entertaining than your average cable nature channel.
 It was a pretty good Christmas.
 And when it was over, we were glad to come home.