May 11th, 2021

Recently Tim and I have noticed that our weekends are either mostly chores and errands and projects or being so tired out from all of that after a crazybusy workweek that we were sitting around like lumps.  Neither of those options is ideal.  So for the  past few weekends Tim and I have made it a point to step away from our endless of of gotta-do's and and have taken the time to do at least one fun thing, like taking at least a short walk each day.  And not the usual noonwalk circuit either!  
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As you probably already recall, nearly every Monday through Friday, Tim tries to take a break part way through his day, generally around noon (hence the name) and we take a walk.  Usually it's the same circle.  It takes us down pretty streets, past some historic and lovely homes and past the beach.  The intent was to have the beach and ocean in sight for as much of the walk as possible y'see.  It's a measured distance, so we know exactly how far we've walked AND more importantly for Tim's work, exactly how long it will take.  It's a very pleasant not quite 3 mile stroll and we look forward to it every day.

But on the weekends, we wanted to do something different.  So the weekend before last (yes I'm that far behind on this post) I took Tim to Sleeping Turtle, a preserve he had never hiked.  Because we didn't get around to this walk until later in the afternoon, it was a bit warmer and more humid than is really ideal so it wasn't on of our longer hikes, but it was still lovely.    And unlike my hikes with Joy, we actually followed the trail makers with no deviation!   Or at least that was the intention,  Everytime there was a trail intersection that happened to have a marker, it never indicates which way is the real correct way to go.  Dang.  I never noticed that before.  So there was a little by guess and by gosh. 

It was beautiful as it always is, quiet, green and lush.  The most memorable thing we saw was the biggest, thickest spider web either of us had ever seen.  We just stood there and goggled at it!  Initially it looked like a clothes line, but in the middle of a preserve?  That made no sense at all!  Coincidentally on our way out, we came across a person who works there and he told us about a spider called a golden orb spider he has recently seen which is Very Large for a spider.  The female's body is 3 inches across.  3 inches doesn't sound like much until it's the body of a spider.  Then it's downright HUGE!

That is a stock photo, not Tim or me by the way.  We never actually saw the spider.  But we did see that web.  I took a few photos. Not sure you can really get the full impact of it but here they are anyway:

I did take a few other photos, I didn't just take the web.

This past weekend we did two walks, one on the beach, one at Phillip Estates park.  The beach was packed. I mean, holy cats!  People People People!   I searched in vain for something taller to stand on so I could get a photo of the sea of umbrellas.  Well here, you can get an idea of it.  

Oh we completely understand why all of these folks are at our beach.  It's one of the reasons why we moved here too. But wow!  This was more people than we have EVER seen. Ever!  Still, we walked along the water's edge,  getting our feet and legs wet, carrying our shoes (and my camera of course) for a ways.  The trick was walking back across the Very Hot sand barefoot.  I cheated and just shoved my sandy wet feet back into my sandals.  

Across the street from this beach is a parking lot that has a little pocket park with a dolphin statue fountain.  And I never before noticed this funny sign.  You wouldn't think you have have to officially tell people this would ya?  The fact that the city felt compelled to put up this sign suggests that at some point this was a problem.

On Sunday, we drove up to Sarasota, at my request, to do a short little walk in Phillippi Estate Park.  I don't know much about the park except that it's on the Historic Registry.   It's on Phillippi Creek and there are a couple of historic homes still on it, which can be rented out for events.  And it has a short little hiking trail.  That's all I really needed to know I suppose. And for whatever reason, that was where I voted to take a little walk so that's where we went! 

There was no one thing that really stood out on this walk. It was just a very pleasant way to spend some time outside. 

So there you have it. We have been enjoying some lovely walks in a variety of different places and hopefully we will continue this trend.  It's important to get "stuff" done but it's also important to have a some breathing time too.  

One more photo for the road.  Just happened to see this in a pond behind a house that we drove by.  Tim was kind enough to circle the block so I could take this picture.

Make sure you take some time to breathe.