"And mom said that I have to eat it all to get some of those delicious brownies !" 
"Is it clean enough, huh Mom?"
While waiting for dinner 
, I decided to wake the new great-great niece for her dinner. But she doesn't seem to care, just wants her nap!
Later she is fed and content so she gets passed around. Uncle 
, would you believe that her sweet smell might have changed?? Who wants her next?
In the mean time her cousins are playing while Gary is trying to get candid shots!! 
Note the summer clothes in the screened patio! But I do believe that Gary missed one shy little girl! We will have to try again next visit. Maybe we can win her over!!
In the evenings I got to do my favorite thing with the two older girls, read a bedtime story. Becky said they talked about it long after we left last year. So I had to live up to my reputation. This year on Saturday, I got to add to the fun! They checked out our picture file on the computer 
. They loved the videos, so Gary took one of them!! Hope you can open it and see. I have never put one in the Blog before, so see if I am successful.
When leaving Port Charlotte we noticed this home and another type of palm 
. I love the various palms and just had to have a picture. I also loved the house and many others around!
On Tuesday when we were waiting for our motor home to be finished at Classic Coach Works, we decided to go out east of Lakeland to Lake Wales and see the BOK Carillon Bell Tower and Gardens completed in 1929. On the way as we passed the citrus groves 
, you could see the tower in the distance 
. The tower is undergoing a renovation because of deterioration of the steel beams that support the top of the tower and the grille work at the openings in the walls. The gardens and weather were beautiful 
!! From the base of the Tower, at the top of this highest point in Florida at 324 feet above sea level, you can see city off in the distance to the east 
. What a view! There were two swans in the garden pools around the grounds 
. They were also beautiful and aggressive. When Gary was standing too close, one swan almost got at his foot. I would have loved getting a picture of it pulling his shoe strings, but we could not get it to interact again.
Approaching the 205 foot tower we begin to see the scaffolding in the upper stories 
where the work is going on to also clean and restore the cast iron ceramic tile grills 
and Georgian marble and Florida limestone of shell and coral fragments. The decorative metal work 
nearer the base of the tower is being cleaned and repainted at this time also. During the work, the 60 bronze bells and frame will be covered with plastic to protect the mechanisms from debris.
where the work is going on to also clean and restore the cast iron ceramic tile grills 
and Georgian marble and Florida limestone of shell and coral fragments. The decorative metal work 
nearer the base of the tower is being cleaned and repainted at this time also. During the work, the 60 bronze bells and frame will be covered with plastic to protect the mechanisms from debris. 
Walking around the base of the tower 
and the wrought-iron gates with birds, we could see the brass door that depicts the Biblical story of Creation. We could see the site of Edward W Bok's grave 
in front of the brass door 
. It will be nice to be able to go through the gates after restoration is finished to see the door! Bok was a humanitarian, peace advocate and Pulitzer-prize winning author.
The inscription under the Sundial tells that the Singing Tower and adjacent Sanctuary was dedicated and presented to the American people by Calvin Coolidge, President of the US in 1929. Only with a Membership would you receive an invitation for one of the four annual tours of the Founder's Room (at ground level). After touring the grounds we waited on a bench on the grounds for the musical bells at 1 'clock. The half hour of music is only played twice a day, but is well worth waiting around to hear. We could see the gentleman playing the bells 
by video in the gardens. Notice that they are not played with the fingers as you would play an organ, but with the heels of the hands! After listening to the music, we ate lunch at their Blue Palmetto Cafe'. I so enjoyed the air plants and flowers around the cafe' 
.
Hope you enjoy this Tower visit as much as we did! Take care and God Bless!
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