The Turtle

Got up this morning intent on getting back to running but the desire was not there so went for a power walk with Janet (hard to keep up to her), we came upon Denny's so decided to have breakfast and walk back to the condo in a fast manner to wear off the calories, still couldn't keep up to Janet. Janet had work to do so I went out for a bike ride on Legacy Trail, put in about 30 kms, must say I miss my biking buddy Don and our Sunday biking jaunts which made the kms slip by very quickly. The trail was busier today with bikers, runners, skate boarders and rollerbladers, you get to see all kinds of bikes, street bikes, road bikes, triathlon bikes, bikes that you lie down to peddle and even some that are closed in like small cars. Generally everyone is polite and stays to the right when you come upon them, you get the odd few who are jerks but at least you don't have to deal with any vehicles. Last but not least I came upon a snapping turtle at the side of the road, I stopped and took a picture with our cell phone and I guess he/she didn't like me taking the pic because it opened it's jaw, made a threatening sound and came at me, with lighting speed I jumped on my bike and was outta there. Well that's it for today, think I'll relax and have a couple of beers and watch the Oscar's tonight, although I will probably fall asleep well before they get to the end.

Bike Ride to Venice

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and our plan for the day was to head off on our bikes to find the “Upper Crust Bakery” in Venice.  We went to the end of the Legacy Trail and wound ourselves around the streets until we found downtown Venice. We were surprised it really wasn’t too far off the trail and stopped for a coffee and scone – that is what they are famous for. 

I had a Raisin Scone, Brian had the Apricot!

A gentleman sitting at an adjacent table saw us taking pictures and asked us if we wanted him to take our picture. 

It was a really nice bike ride, we rode approximately 32 miles and were gone for about 2 1/2 hours.  It was a really nice way to start the day.  We then came home and I had bought a needlepoint project to work on last night, so I got started on it while watching a very old movie with Bette Davis in it called “The Letter” while Brian sat on the balcony reading his book.  We are heading out to eat at Panera Bread tonight and just have a relaxing evening.  I can’t believe a week has gone by already. 

Here are some pictures of the pool at our condo complex where we are working on our tans!  We can’t come back to Canada without a tan!

Upper Crust Cafe' and Bakery - Venice FL

Janet and I got up this morning and we headed off on our bikes to Venice Fl via the Legacy Trail. The morning was beautiful with not a cloud in the sky, not much wind and temp at about 16o C. We had been to an English Cafe' when we were down in January and hoped we could find it, with Janet's navagation skills we found it after about an hour ride. We made it to the "Upper Crust Cafe and Bakery" and had coffee and a scone while seated at a nice little table just outside the Cafe'. Janet will blog later today and give some more details including some pictures.

Another beautiful day in Florida, got in a good swim and bike (gave my foot a break today and didn't run). Janet and I went out on "Date Night" to eat at LongHorn's Steak House, I had the prime rib and Janet had fily mignon with shrimp. Great meal. We then went over to Siesta Key Beach, which we heard was the best in Florida, they are right, I have seen quite a few beaches down here and this one tops them all. The sand can only be described as white flour and the beach is probably 150 metres wide and goes in both directions for at least a couple of miles. We will come back during the week, the temp of the water is about 18 o C and if the weather stays this way will keep getting warmer. There is another beach a little south of here (Turtle Beach) which we will check out also, I hear that the water is rougher there so maybe can do a little body surfing. That's about it for today and our first week in Florida. Got Annika her first "prize" today will have to show her when I see her on skype, still looking for Selena's first "prize".

Went back to the pool today and had a good swim - felt better then yesterday -again the weather has been great - here are some pictures of the Swim Club.

Legacy Trail

Yesterday, as you can read in Brian’s post below, we decided to bike the entire Legacy Trail.  We were out for 2 1/2 hours and went approximately 33 km.  I was so proud of myself until I BBM David and he said “it took you 2 1/2 hours to bike 33 km – that’s slow – I would have done that in half an hour”.  Oh to be young again……

Today I decided I had done enough playing and maybe should spend some time working, so I spent the entire day at my computer while Brian went about doing all his training.  Gee, work actually felt like I was relaxing!  I will have to get out for a run with Brian tomorrow morning.  Here are some pictures we took of Legacy Trail:

 

This is one end of the trail where we started.

This said “Nonna’s bench”……….that’s close enough to “Nana”!!!!!!!

Look at how fit Brian looks………what a handsome guy I married!!

Riding the trail……..the next trip we are riding into Venice and going to the Upper Crust coffee shop! 

Legacy Trail

Feb. 21st (Happy Birthday to David)

Janet and I went on the Legacy Trail again but decided to bike to what we thought was the start, it was actually what they called the end of the trail. We took off and headed to the start which is just under 17 kms away, ending in Venice Fl. It is really quite a ride as you go though a State Park and along the way there are rest areas every few kms. It is as flat as a pancake,it would actually be nice if there was a hill here or there. Along the way we came across an Armadilo and a large Turtle, thank goodness no snakes. It was a fun ride and on one of our next rides we are going right into downtown Venice and stop at a nice little coffee shop called The Upper Crust.

Feb 22nd

Went this morning and joined the "Y" and got a membership for 6 weeks (great deal only $55), the really neat part of joining is that I have access to the Swim Club Pool which is adjacent to the Y. The pool is huge and is lane swimming. Had my first swim and had practically the whole pool to myself, it is outdoors and heated to about 75 o F. Found it a little tough going as I haven't been swimming for some time, back to square one and work my way back. Been running each day but not for long distances - today was my longest at 3.5kms and the heel feels pretty good but I will just keep moving the distance up slowly. Also went for a bike on the trail on my own so I pushed it (not that Janet goes slow), it was a good ride. The weather is still great here, sunny and going up to about 78 o F each day. Much better then last year.

Florida

Well, we made it safe and sound!  It was a good trip down and it really helped that we stayed in Windsor on the Wednesday night.  Thanks so much to Charlotte Loaring!  She lives 5 minutes away from the border!   We arrived to the condo on Friday night and had the whole placed organized (just like home) within a couple of hours.  Of course, the first business at hand for me was getting my “office” set up and make sure the internet worked and lo and behold, I found the cable modem and attached my wireless router and we were in business!  That is always a stress for me when we go away – to make sure I have a high speed internet connection!  On Saturday morning we went out to get groceries at Publix (of course Brian had to get his Publix glazed donuts – he made a bee-line for the bakery as soon as we walked in the door) and of course we also went to Target after getting our groceries.  They are right next door to each other!  My next stop will be to find a Kohl’s which is on the agenda for Tuesday or Wednesday but I miss having Breanne with me! 

We went for a bike ride in the afternoon and found Legacy Trail which is a 14 km paved trail and it was awesome.  No cars to worry about just a pleasurable ride.  It goes through a State Park and ends in Venice.  We only went half way since it was the first time on our bikes and our bums were sore from the seats!  Sunday morning we got up and went for a short 20 minute run.  Brian is trying to get back into training slowly since he has been suffering from plantar fasciitis for months and it is slowly getting better but he doesn’t want to reinjure it, so is just taking things slowly for now and building up from there.  It felt really good to get out exercising in the nice warm weather!  Maybe I will lose a little weight but it seems to take me forever to lose anything but at least I’m exercising!

Happy Birthday Breanne!!!!!!  I can’t believe my daughter is 28 years old today….where did the years go, life passes by so quickly but I am so blessed to have the best children in the world.  They have both grown up to be wonderful, hard-working, caring, fun-loving adults and we love you both so much!!!  It is David’s birthday tomorrow and he will be 29 years old!!

I’m going to try putting on some pictures with this blog, so we will shall see how that works out as it will be my first time! 

I will write again tomorrow.  Love and kisses to Annika and Selena…..nana and papa are already missing you too much!!!  

We are ready to go on our adventures….David was happy to get us out the door!

In the car ready to go with our little stuffed doggie where Mavie would usually sit when we are travelling with him.  We missed having Mavie with us this year!!

“My office”

Brian’s “office” and where we eat!

Our bedroom with our “Annika pillow” and our pet “Mavie” on guard

 

Living Room and kitchen

Our screened in patio.  Nice place to read or have our meals – very private!

That’s it for now!  I will keep you all posted; so come back often to read our blogs!

Made it to Florida with two stay overs, one at Charlotte's (thanks soooo much) and another in Dalton Georgia. Temp down here is 23 C and the place we are staying is just great - very clean and lots of space. Going out for a short run today and tomorrow will go biking on this great trail which is not far from where we are staying

Breanne the "Master Blogger"

Thank you to Breanne for setting up our new Blog. Great job and made it easy for me to post something. Stay tuned to see how I do.

Brian's Birthday Posting

Had a great Birthday (if you don't count working all day).  Got some awesome gifts and dinner at Creekside with all my closest family and friends.  Fantastic "Black Forest Birthday Cake", Annika helped blow out all the candles and after everyone had a piece I still have lots left for the next couple of days (better do some running)   What a great day.

Brian

Hey Janet created this Blog - now I just have to figure out how it all works, have to get my knowlegeable daughter over to give me a training class

POSTED BY BRIAN

Well, I'm pretty new at this blogging thing but I really enjoy reading my children's blogs and other friends so Brian and I thought it would be nice to have our own blog to document our daily lives especially when we are galavanting over the countryside to Florida or Europe, or just enjoying our lives at home.  I'm not totally sure how to use this blogger but I am going to get David or Breanne to help me to set it up a little better and show me how to add pictures, etc. We are calling this the "B&J Sharratt" blog so that either Brian or Janet can post whatever or whenever they want and I'm sure there will be some hilarious antics that we get up to every once in a while as we love to keep our kids in hysterics when things go slightly wrong........they know what I mean.  Well, thanks for reading, I will try to keep up on the blogging whenever anything interesting happens in our lives!