a vicarious vacation

My trip to Florida was filled with family time, the professor's colleagues, and travel to and fro. Therefore, all my photos are from Saturday and Sunday. I managed to snap photos for the blog in between large amounts of eating and socializing. Here's a trip to Florida if you're suffering from winter doldrums!

In Sarasota, you can swim in a heated pool with a view of the real water beyond. Lots of people live in enormous high rises that are taller even than the palm trees. There are also lots of flowers in the winter time.

We went to the local farmer's market, which was very crowded with people and well behaved dogs...and my brother-in-law loaded up on vegetables to cook later on. We found cold press Italian olive oil, specially imported from a family farm in Italy to the Sarasota Farmer's Market. We also found good tea, organic star fruit, and other edible delights.

We dropped by two bookstores and one fabulously friendly yarn shop, Picasso's Moon, to talk to folks about my new book, Fiber Gathering. (Click on the link to the right of the post if you need more information on that! It's going to be available soon!)

I find the book promotion stuff a bit awkward, but my father-in-law buoyed me along and apparently also acted as my advance team, since two out of the three places recognized us already!

On Friday night, we went out for a very upscale meal. (I had duck cooked two ways. Fancy.) On Saturday, we ate brunch at my father-in-law's place, Lebanese food for lunch at a restaurant, and my brother-in-law cooked up a lot of those veggies for dinner. We ate well.

We even stopped by a grocery store on Saturday night to grab a bottle of wine and caught this sunset from the parking lot. Imagine, a grocery store parking lot with an ocean view!

On Sunday, we drove to Gainesville so the professor could give a lecture at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera Research.

On the way, we stopped at Hancock Groves, a citrus farm that has been owned by one family for 100 years. We loaded up on citrus for the professor's colleague and our host for the next couple of days.

We're now home again and I'm very tired! The trip was sunny and full of friendly people, but I'm glad to be back home with my dogs...

PS: I never made it to the 3rd knitting project. The first deadline project is done and I've got half a sock left to do. After that? Maybe I'll be getting to some mittens with the yarn pictured above...

I hope you've enjoyed the Florida photos!?