Excuse me....your guest has arrived....

After nearly an hour delay The Man's Bro arrived at Southwest Florida International Airport ready to rid himself of his pasty whiteness and see what all the enjoyment is about here in Port Charlotte.
Of course the day he arrives we have the first real rain storm of the winter.
Natch.
Now I'm worried the weather will be less than favourable for his quest to get "a good base then work on a tan for the rest of the week".
Yikes.
We'll adapt as required.
We arrived home about 2:30 am and had a beverage by the pool and unwound from the journey (his unwinding required, ours just enjoyed).
After a few hours sleep it was up to investigate the area, do some shopping and enjoy some wings and "happy hour Port Charlotte style".

The Man and The Bro hoisting a cold frosty one.
Wings were awesome. Beer was cold (in a frozen mug no less) and we even tried GATOR. Yup, those prehistoric things that crawl around, we had 'em battered and fried.
Really though, not much to write home about. Didn't really taste like chicken as some people said but was interesting to have.
Okay, been there, done that.
While out for a walk in the morning I saw my neighbour out trimming his (what I thought was grapefruit tree) so I went over to talk to him. Thought it would be interesting for the Bro to get grapefruit right from the tree and I figured I'd ask of we could get some.

Turns out these fruit were lemons.
The biggest, hugest, heaviest lemons I've ever seen.
Ahhhh you know what they say about life when it gives you lemons....

Lemonade!!!

Boy did we get lemonade. About 4 litres of it! We had two shopping bags full of lemons!
We are not going to get scurvy for sure now. Fortified for life.
My hands and nails are a little soft from squeezing these things (I did half, the Bro did half) and the house smells great but it was soooo worth it. They are so soft that they can be squeezed by hand. Cut them in half and squish away. Awesome.

Today we took the Bro to Boca Grande. Just a little taste of the rich and famous sea shore and the Gulf of Mexico. The Bro has to take shells and sand home to his daughter and I figured this was the perfect place to go. Armed with a bottle for sand and a bag for the shells we set out.
The skies cleared, it was sunny, hot and a great breeze. The pasty white guy won't be so for long.
Shelling has it's own name here in Boca Grande. You're not going shelling, you're doing the Boca Bend!

The Bro demonstrating the Boca Bend at the Boca Grande Lighthouse. (Note his pasty whiteness.)

The Boca Bend is demonstrated by many people on this day and it is an activity for young and old, though the young were few and far between as this is not the season for that demographic.
There are people at the beach here. The picture above doesn't show it.

The Boys, as I call them, enjoyed their time at the Gulf of Mexico.

The Man and The Bro at Boca Grande beach (Note the Man is not pasty white)

And we picked up a huge haul of amazing shells.

I know the Bro's daughter will like them. We got quite a selection for her. They are drying in the sun after a thorough washing

After practicing the Boca Bend for over an hour and hanging out watching waves, birds and fish (a shore fisherman caught a sting ray!!!) we headed into town for a late lunch at The Loose Caboose. This building was the old rail way station. Awesome lunch with excellent Key Lime Pie (hey, it's been over 2 weeks since my last piece) and then we were on our way back to the house for some pool time and resting in the warm Florida evening.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. There is always a plan with options when there is a guest but this guest is family so just hanging out is good too.

It was a good day! If not a little windy at the beach but sooo lovely. Ahhhhh