Florida trip: THE PINEWOOD ESTATE

Pinewood Estate is a beautiful home on the Bok Tower property.

Nestled in the heart of seven and one-half lush acres at Bok Tower Gardens is Pinewood Estate, the enchanting 20-room Mediterranean-style mansion. Originally named “El Retiro,” meaning “retreat” in Spanish, the Estate was built in the early 1930s for Charles Austin Buck, a Bethlehem Steel vice president.

A beautiful kitchen garden contains these large heads of lettuce....

and quinoa.

Garden statue

I loved the layout of this kitchen cupboard holding everyday dinnerware.

The bathrooms intriqued me with their colorful tilework.

And always the beautiful carved doors.

Beautiful!

The office holding the home's only phone.

Breakfast served on a tray.

Steep stairway to the second floor.

Florida trip......BOK TOWER GARDENS

Approaching the site, we passed a beautiful and fragrant orange grove

Bok Tower Gardens (also known as Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower) is a National Historic Landmark, contemplative garden, and bird sanctuary located north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It consists of a 250-acre (100 ha) garden, the 205-foot (62 m) tall Singing Tower with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate, and a visitor center. The tower is built upon Iron Mountain, one of the highest points of peninsular Florida, estimated to be 295 feet (90 m) above sea level.^[4] It is a National Historic Landmark that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Gardens was one of our side trips from where we were staying the first week near Orlando with Jenni, Larry and Will.  The day they met friends in Sea World, we tackled this very beautiful sanctuary.

The carillon is housed in this beautiful tower.  We sat in a shaded area to listen to the carillon concert and watch the maestro on video as he played high in the tower.

Had to photograph this camellia as it laid by itself on a bench.

The reds were vibrant against the green wooded areas.

I love capturing photos of gates.  This one leads up to the carillon tower.

A magnificent sun dial attached to the side of the tower.

The Singing Tower

at last........SPRING!

Such a long and cold and wintry-mix kind of winter.  Sadness with the passing of my sweet dad....trips to Rochester to watch as he grew tired of this life, waiting to see my mom again for their grand reunion. And watching others fighting off the winter blahs.  Enough time has passed and we are in the midst of April, so surely this must be SPRING! Worth the wait as each day something else bursts forth in color.

Yellow is the first color out: daffodils and forsythia

Daffodils come in all shades and shapes of yellow

Early tulips blend with lillies

Lenten roses are especially beautiful this year

Our absolute first sign of spring is the return of our osprey

joined this year with a pair of egrets