Venice Beach & Sarasota, Florida

Venice Beach

Sisters Jane, left, and Elizabeth, right, on either side of Allen celebrate their 80th and 85th birthdays respectively today ...

... great grandson Payton is fascinated with the whole thing, especially the balloons.

A visit to Pattie, a dear friend from Richmond who now lives here and is closing in on her 98th birthday ...

... who is also Anne's mother.

Sarasota

We begin a sunset dinner cruise out of Sarasota into Tampa Bay with Ann, left, and Allan, right ...

... passing by the million dollar homes on Bird Key ...

... kayakers off South Lido Park and Nature Center ...

... a delusional individual crossing from Bay Isle to Lido Key on a surfboard with a paddle while powerboats pass close by heading for port. The next landfall across the gulf behind him is the Yucatan Peninsula. This is also as close as we come to sunset ...

... the flag of our vessel fluttering in the dark ...

... as we pass elegant condominiums on our way back into port to ...

... disembark — a great word coming down to us from 16th Century French — after being well fed during two hours at sea.

Photographed with a Leica M8