2010 Feb. 21 Sunday
We went back to the town of Celebration, about 15 minutes away, and had lunch at the Celebration Town Tavern. It is one of the three-in-a-row restaurants facing the public area on the lake, and it’s patterned after the original in Boston. We both had a scallop roll - several scallops on a bun - with sides of potato salad (both), cole slaw (Linda), and baked beans (Bob). Very good. They also had a version of Sam Adam’s that was new for me, but good. After lunch, we walked for over an hour around two of the three lakes and saw two alligators and three large turtles. We did some bird watching and saw the usual water birds - great blue heron, tri-colored heron, lots of ibis, great egret, snowy egret, moorhen, anhinga, and cormorant. We also saw yellow rumped warblers, some downy woodpeckers, mockingbirds, red-shouldered hawk, and some unidentified warble-type birds. The best was a tufted titmouse and a great-crested flycatcher. It was a great day for walking and birding, and we sat on a bench for quite awhile watching people go by. An elderly couple (like us!) sat down beside us, and we had a nice chat. They live about 10 miles away, but also have a home near Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains, where they spend four summer months. They came from Germany over 40 years ago, but they still spoke with a heavy accent. Their children live in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. After our chat, we walked over to - you guessed it!- the Starbucks for iced coffee and a treat. We watched several people fishing, again catching blue gill on hot dog. Home for supper.

WEATHER: High 73, low 59. Humidity is rising, and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

FL NEWS: (1) A member of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association said the cold weather had been a ’financial disaster’ for strawberry growers. In one February week, the harvest was less than one-fifth the size of the same period last year. Farmers said picking crews are working fewer hours, and some stores in Central Florida have reported berry shortages.
(2) “ON TRACK FOR HIRING” Jobs. Thousands of them. That's one of the main ways supporters pitched the trains heading for Orlando. The key is just how quickly the money that been promised to build high-speed rail ends up in Tallahassee, the headquarters of the state DOT, which is overseeing the project. Much of the preliminary legwork for the high speed train, which would link Orlando International Airport with Lakeland and downtown Tampa, has been handled mostly by state officials. High-speed rail is waiting for $1.25 billion from the federal government, which is about half of the $2.6 billion the state requested to build the project. No one is quite sure when that money will be turned loose, though design and construction is expected to start next year.