John hugs his favorite banyan tree

West Virginia native’s winter wonderland

My annual winter visits to Marie Selby Gardens in Sarasota is a double homecoming:

1. My favorite banyan tree in the world (and I’ve seen a few since I’ve been to 56 countries and 44 states) gets a hug from me.

2. Buried on the grounds is Marie (born Mariah Minshall) Selby, who was born in Wood County in my native West Virginia. Parkersburg is the county seat for Wood County.

I have another favorite that I’ve visited for more than 25 years:

Siesta Key, Florida beach, my favorite in the world. Its sugar-sand is cool to the feet, even in 100-degree weather, and it regularly ranks in the top 10 in the nation and the world among beaches. There’s a beach in Saudi Arabia that matches Siesta Key’s sand.

Paula wanted another visit to Siesta Key as her 2017 Christmas present. So we spent 4 days there.

As a bonus we visited, at a safe distance, dozens of alligators in the Myakka River State Park along with snowy egrets and other magnificent feathered creatures.

Plus the superb cuisine of Sarasota dining, including polenta whipped up by a Northern Italy chef (my mother and her parents were born in Northern Italy, a 3-block place in the foothills of the Alps called Mione and a now-whitewater rafting town of Pellizzano).

We took a break from our January-April winterizing in Paula’s home in The Villages, Florida. Eventually, we’ll find out way back to our Tallmadge, Ohio home.

Eventually.

For a photo album of John and Paula’s Christmas-at-Eastertime visit to Sarasota and Siesta Key, click on

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOqH6CpKcC4iPU1Dw2cCfkyJ2pRD6J3RiL8RMJe