Schebly winery

The new addition to the winery in south Miami...the new place will be gorgeous. They are building a new 5000 sq foot tasting room as well as a wonderful outdoor area full of buildings called Chichi's (kind of like a palapa in Mexico)
Inside this area is a beautifull water fall and lovley greenery. Chichi's are built by local Seminole Indians and are apparently the only ones allowed to build them (by law they must be liscenced)

Florida is full of gorgeous tropical fruit that is indigenous to the area.

A smart guy and his wife (who own a fruit and veg distributorship) opened up a winery close to where we are staying.

It is called Shnebly winery and specializes in different wines such as Carambola (star fruit, which by the way actually tastes good here. Not like the ones at home that we only use to decorate dinner plates with) Mango wine, Lychee wine, Guava and Passion fruit wines. They also make two sparkling versions of wine as well. One is from the Carambola wine and one is from the Passion Fruit.

They actually even made an attempt at avocado wine, not bad, but a little green tasting.

See the waterfall to the left. So nice. They were working on getting the water straightened out so they could add some fish. Notice the rocks? This is actually dug out coral. Like I mentioned before, this whole area is coral reef.
This area will be for picnics and they make it lovely with gentle music piped in everywhere.

I thought of my friend Teresa, I think she may have enjoyed some of this different wine.

So, there is another adventure....lol

Sugar and Spice Park

So there is a local state park here in Florida City (south Miami) that has fruit as well as spice plants from all over the world. We spent a little time there one afternoon.I have no idea what his flower is but it is beautiful and was so colorfull.

The park had different areas dedicated to areas such as Africa, Asia, South America, Central America as well as local produce.

This cool flower is from the Ylang ylang plant. One of my favorite scents, and surprisingly delicate looking flower. The scent was lovely.

This cute little plant looks like it has a pepper growing from it but actually it is not a pepper at all. It is called the miracle fruit. Why, because this fruit has the ability to make anything taste sweet. If you tasted some lemon and then ate this fruit, then some more lemon, it would taste sweet. I have no idea how it works but it does....cool hey

This fruit is called a elephant sausage...it grows very large and as you can see from the face here, it is also very heavy. They are called elephant fruit because elephants are about the only ones big and strong enoough to break it open and eat the tough pulpy insides...
They also have a section of poisonous plants. This plant is a oleander tree. I didnt know that the whole tree is poisonous. I thought that only the leaves were but apparantley not. And the little creature on the leave is a catapiller that is also poisonous. They are very brightly colored and oddly enough the birds know not to eat them. The can tell from the color....neat hey? Good old mother nature.
This funny looking thing is actually the start of a banana bunch growing. See at the top of the long stem....those are bananas. They will grow all the way down the stem right up to the bright red colored flower.This little gem is called the lipstick fruit. Not a very imaginative name considering that the use of this fruit was used exactly for that. Lipstick or coloring for makeup

Sorry, the pic is blurry but you can see how the seed pods stain your hand, or whatever you would put them on....

So, that was a cool afternoon .

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE

So, we spent the New Years Eve day checking out the surrounding area.... Imagine wearing a bathing suit on Dec 31st. The picture here is one taken at Pennekamp state park. We are walking on a board walk through a mangrove. Very cool trees that thrive in swampy moist sandy or corally ground. They reroot themselves kind of like a banyon tree does. There were 3 different type of mangroves in this park.

We found that the whole east side of the Florida "Keys" is a large coral reef. So as you can imagine, there is a lot of snorkelling, diving, and some glass bottom boat tours. The waters are also abundant with beautiful tropical fish. There is also a lot of fishing going on around here. Private and tours....

And, as Hercules is showing you here, the trees grow in funky ways. Not just straight up but curving around and twisting.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at here at this restaurant...some pan sauteed yellowfin tuna and seafood enchilads. Beautiful view dont you think....

Notice how the mangrove are right in the ocean. This is actually the Gulf of Mexico. It is funny when you are driving down the "Keys" that the Atlantic is on one side and the Gulf of Mexico is on the other. With sometimes as little as 200 feet in between them. The road has only two lanes for most of the way....

The evening was quite for us. We went for a quick dinner and then we took in a flic. We watched Charlie Wilsons War, and found it cute and light hearted. Which is what the doctored ordered...

That night, back at the ranch (lol) there were a million fire works all around us and tons of Spanish music playing in the neighborhood. (I think this is all just to get me ready for Mexico, lol)

All in all, a great day. Sunshine, beautiful places, great company, and some entertainment...

So, HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE...All the best to you all

Shannon and Daniel

Florida's oddities...

Well, I guess that they arent really oddities but they are different for me. I havent seen a palm tree like this before. They call it a Cuban Roayl Palm. It is different as it is smooth all the way up.


And has a pretty green smoother area near the top of the tree.
They can grow very tall as well.....
When they loose a frond, the whole thing peels off like a banana peel. Leaving the tree smooth...kinda cool . This is why they are smooth.

We headed to a local market. The customers were lined up for such cool treats as key lime milkshakes, or guava shakes...They guy had a GOOD business.
We found some crazy fruit there as well. Read the cards on the fruit.....(if applicable)

Plantains...small banana's
Geeze, Gayle, I didnt know Jack had a fruit!!!!lol And check out the coconut tree growing beside it.

This one says that you must eat it when it is very soft. It tastes like a sweet and creamy custard.

Yummy papaya's and mango's behind them

Sounds yummy I think.
And, this is my favorite....A fruit only a mom could love....LOL

HELPFUL WORDS FROM MY FRIEND IN MEXICO
If you want to view a pic from here larger...just click on it. It seems to work for all except the side profile ones...enjoy

OUR VIEW CHRISTMAS EVENING....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS

TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS

FROM THE SOUTH.....Shannon and Daniel