10-2-15 Deerfield beach---
It was time to hit the beach again.  Not to play in the water, but to admire the views.
Oct. 2 and the water temperature is still 85!!!  

 Love watching these little pipers (?) scurrying all over the beach.

  I did wade in the water.  

 Love seeing all the tropical plants around South Florida---like these spider lilies.

 Another common sight around here are green parakeets.  I don't know how they originally got loose, but there are quite the colonies of wild ones around here now.

 We even had a really nice chat with the young life guard here.  There are so many really friendly people here.  I was really getting tired of the "stink eye" in north county St. Louis.

 t's hard to tell from this picture, but the intercoastal had risen so far that the water was over the roadway.  We were having a Super Moon full moon then and it was making the tides exceptionally high.

9-25-15  Kids to FLL then we head to Lauderdale-by-the-sea and Pompano.
The kids were taking off today for a 10 day trip to the north east coast and asked us to drop them off at the FLL airport.  

 Here they are heading off on their 8th anniversary/ Angie's 35th birthday trip.

 Every since we came back from St. Louis, I'd been looking for a quick release for my old tripod.  Couldn't find one online or at the used camera shop in Coral Springs, so we decided to check out a camera shop near Lauderdale by the Sea after leaving the airport---Camera Clinic on Commercial.  Much to my surprise, they had one and the owner was a very friendly helpful guy.  If you need any camera work done, this is the place to go.   So we bought the quick release and continued on to the beach.  Ken swore he had seen a big sign for a beach at Lauderdale by the sea last time we were in the area, so we drove up and down A1A 4 or 5 times trying to find it---to no avail.  But we did see the neat food court area by Anglin pier in Lauderdale by the Sea.

Another view by the pier.

Entrance to the pier.

 We continued north to Pompano and lighthouse point. 

an interesting bird there to greet us.

There's a great little restaurant near there called Sunshine Bagel.  It's only open for breakfast and lunch and I presume most people think they only sale bagels, but they have a great full breakfast and lunch menu.  Ken got eggs, sausage, hash browns and pancakes and I got a rueben.  It was all very good---including the service.  One of our favorite places to go along the beach in that area.  When we were done there, we checked out the antique store Angie just bought a booth in.  She's been refinishing furniture for years now and selling stuff online, but this will be her first "booth" and goes by the company name of Old Southern Soul.  Check out her really cool blog--- Old Southern Soul or her facebook page here .  Hopefully it does fantastic!  We saw a lot of really neat stuff there at Sugar Chest Antiques in Pompano.  Even a small table made of old tools welded together.  Check out some more of their stuff here---The Sugar Chest.  Can't wait for Oct. 8th to get here so she can take over her booth.

 From there we came back to Coral Springs.  When the kids are gone, Ken stays at their house and becomes the dog watcher.  I go over and use their huge dog drinking bowl.

 Molly and I also enjoyed taking evening walks.

 And spoiled Micky enjoys watching tv with us.

9-23-15 bike riding and sunset at Loxahatchee:
Ken figured his foot was feeling well enough now after blistering them on the pavement chasing after our Grand dog a month or so ago.  Therefore, he decided to go for a bike ride with me.  We did about an 8 mile ride.  This time we rode around in Parkland.

  Later, we checked out sunset at Loxahatchee again.   Not quite as spectacular as many other times, but not bad.

9-19-15  to Deerfield to play in the ocean with Angie, Josh and their friends from Nebraska:
Yep---back to Deerfield.  It happened to be a gorgeous day to be at the beach!  The ocean was so calm and warm.  Ken still didn't get in the water, but he stayed up by the "beach fly" that Angie and JOsh brought and enjoyed the shade and views.

  heading in!

 While standing in about neck deep water, Josh started saying, "everyone slowly back up towards the beach".  When we turned to see what he was looking at, a very large dark shadow went by us.  As we backed out of the water, we watched the shadow head towards a couple paddle boarders.  They saw it too and fell off the board.  But the shadow just kept going.  Most everyone else on the beach and in the water were oblivious to what we had just encountered.  Josh and Sarah had seen it's dorsal fin when it  was coming towards us and Josh said it was a shark.  The lifeguard said it was probably a large tarpin.  Regardless, it was large!  But then, I guess we looked large to it, too.  I imagine that sort of encounter happens more often then we'd care to know about.  When we couldn't see it anymore, the 5 of us went back into the water.  This time I brought my camera out there with me.

 I'm sure there are sharks hanging around the fishing pier down the beach.  We're always amazed at all the surfers we see by the pier.  (Oct. 19, 2015 a spinner shark bit the foot of a surfer by the pier.  Fortunately for the surfer, he only needed 20 stitches and is already planning his next surfing adventure).

 When we were done playing around in the water, we sat under the "beach fly" and gazed out at the sea a bit longer.

 We got back to our neck of the woods before sunset and it looked like it was going to be a nice one so we did what we often do for sunset---head to Loxahatchee near Parkland.

 Raining in the distance

 Pretty spectacular sunset tonight.

 I presume these are vultures.  There are hundreds of them that are always hanging out by this tower.

 We usually see quite a few alligators there, too.

 It's also a popular place for airboats to put in.

Sept. 13, 2015:  back "home" and back to the daily thunderstorms.
I actually rather enjoy the storms.  Although sometimes the lightening is really intense!  Usually the storm hits and is gone in a half hour or so.  This night, the skies lit up for hours.  We finally drove around a bit to find a place where I could try and take a few pictures of it.  Here were a few of my better shots.

Biking around the neighborhood

We did bring our bicycles here and I love being able to ride all around the beautifully landscaped areas right from "home".  Back in St. Louis we use to spend 30 minutes or so driving to somewhere to ride.  Love that all I have to do here is open the garage and be on my way!

  Love the wide paved bike/walking paths.

  and all the scenic canals

  I even come across a couple golf courses on some of my rides.

 With it being summer, I usually ride near sunset when it actually feels very pleasant here.  Have seen some beautiful sunsets.

 Now to get serious about biking again!