Friday, Nov. 27--the day dawned dazzlingly clear. We played with Sam, went with Doug to his campus office and a tour of FGCU (another blog post to come) while Matt worked. In the afternoon we headed for Sanibel Island and the home of Anne-Marie, our holiday meal cook, for "leftovers" and more conversation with yesterday's guests. Night found us around the table, or around the living room, exchanging stories and histories and ideas. It was a good coda for a wonderful Thanksgiving experience.
Anne-Marie's condo is in a community on the bay, looking back toward the mainland. It doesn't have a beach, but it has great views and there is a nice boardwalk along the sea wall. Since night falls quickly after sunset, we all set out for a walk around the grounds soon after arriving.
Inside, the condo is light and inviting. This table expanded for our meal later. We admired many of Anne- Marie's family antiques, including wood work done by her father. 
This intricately carved harp is one of those wood pieces that he created.
The walk around the bay took us by a number of boats and some people who were fishing. The cloudless day looked warm, but the breeze was actually little bit cool. It wasn't a day for wading.
In some parts of SW Florida, it almost looks like the great recession never happened. Some of the neighbors have some really large boats. These would be able to travel the intercoastal waterway.
On the bay side of the condo we saw a lot of pelicans, and Doug walked out on this fishing pier with the cars on the toll bridge from Ft. Myers zipping along in the background. The water was choppy but pelicans fished in it anyway. (Photos of pelicans and other birds coming in a later post, as well.)
We returned to find some of our dinner companions deep in conver- sation. People who had never met before found many experiences, traditions and even places they had lived in common.
NIcole is Anne-Marie's sister. She came not only to visit, but to consult on how to make the stuffing for the turkey! She is head of a special collections library at a large university. We loved hearing many of her stories about living in Europe. Anne-Marie, whose photo didn't turn out, is an art historian at FGCU.
Hamdesa is a conflict resolution specialist. He has traveled widely to study causes and remedies for conflicts, and teaches at another university in South Florida. His home country is Ethiopia.
Kathy teaches at FGCU and also studies the role of communi- cation in conflicts. She enjoyed holding the smallest guest, a 6-week-old baby girl, while her parents got to mingle with everyone else.
Anothoer FGCU faculty couple are the baby's parents, Sachiko and Farshad, who met as grad students in Carbon- dale, Ill. Japan and Iran are their home countries. With all of this international and national experience, topics ranged far and wide. One thing we all agreed on: the leftovers were even better the second day!
Not long after sunset it was dark, and then we were all feeling sleepy, so it was time to bid farewell and head for the mainland again. Some out of town guests would leave on Saturday, others on Sunday. For all of these faculty types, there is still one week of school, followed by final exams and a lot of papers to grade!
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