It's been an unusually quiet Hurricane Season here in Florida this year and we don't mind one single bit.  And now that we are a ten days deep into October, I will admit that perhaps we had become a little complacent, a little cocky even.  Because I think many of us (not just me) were a little surprised when Hurricane Isais popped up on the weather dudes radar (literally!)

Initially, it began as a poorly formed and unimpressive "disturbance" in the gulf.  We mostly ignored it.  Then it got it's act together but it was still only a Tropical Storm which is seriously just a heavy, windy rainfall and wind. Back in New England that reads as an autumn Tuesday. 

Then Isais got more serious and the reports said the dreaded word, "hurricane" and people started paying more attention.  As usual, the projected course and landfall changed multiple times so the folks who lived anywhere in the vicinity of Mississippi through Alabama to the panhandle of Florida made plans and took necessary precautions.  Lots of people just evacuate, especially if they live in areas that tend to flood. The ones who decide to ride it out take a few extra steps.

Those of us who live way down here in Venice, which is still on the Gulf kept our eyes peeled.  We knew we would feel some sort of impact but mostly our hearts and our thoughts and prayers were focused on those in the hurricanes path.  We've all lived through this before, some of us multiple times and we know how it goes.

As it turned out , Isais made landfall last night in Destin Florida roughly an 8 hour drive from here.  We've actually been to Destin. (Gorgeous beaches there by the way).  It has since been downgraded to a boogery Tropical Storm  and now is pelting down on an inland path routing up through TN.

Surprisingly, down our way, a little south of us on the barrier island of Manasota Key, they had to close the main road due to flooding. Literally, waves were coming up and over the road. Wow! But at our house, today, it's mostly peek-a-boo sun'n'clouds, more boo than peek actually.  A little wind and some rain. Nothing like what is happening elsewhere. We consider ourselves very fortunate.

Tim and I did wonder if all the fuss being kicked up elsewhere perhaps translated to some interesting stuff happening along the water.   Bear in mind here that the Gulf of Mexico (AKA Gulf of America) is Enormous.  It is about 930 miles wide and at it's deepest point, 14,383 feet deep!  The surrounding land curls around the Gulf, hugging the water and creating a lovely, fairly comprehensive curve, nearly but not quite a circle. Everything within that arc is impacted to some extent whenever there is a storm anywhere in the gulf.  It's just a matter of degree.  How much impact and of what kind?

For the residents of Mississippi, Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida, the impact was flooding, uprooted trees, all sorts of branches and leaves strewn about, power outtages and here and there, possibly damage to their homes and businesses.

For us here it was more surfable waves (and yes, those crazy surfers were out in the midst of the worst of it), rain, much smaller level flooding here and there and some photos.  Yuppers, you betcha, Tim and I headed to the beach late yesterday afternoon and I snapped away.  And it will always feel bizarre to me that often the worst weather makes some of the best photos.  

Here is some of what I captured. You be the judge:
​

It's time, once again, for a Photo Safari Report!  Late last week, Joy and I headed out, cameras in hand, despite the dire weather predictions and tight schedule.  Because Joy had very limited free time that day, but still wanted to hike, we chose a very close by and small preserve, the anticipated rain was just a bonus complication.

Our expectations were very low on how many, if any, pictures we would get. I believe that one of us even said, out loud, to the other, "it's probably just going to be a botanical hike, if we get anything at all" which, by the way, is fine :)  I have no issue with botanical shots but it's more fun to get a variety of kinds of pictures.  And part of the entire point of Joy and I hiking is good exercise and good company and that we get regardless of photo outcome. Our philosophy is very  "it is what is".

But here is the thing about expectations.  They are often wrong. And I love that :)  All things considered; I believe I will call this one the "Low Expectations Hike" because that is where we began.

This time of year being what it is, and the weather being what it was, we left at the time we almost always do and still arrived before the birds were awake, before the sun had crested the trees, before my brain had fully engaged.  As we trudged along, at one point I happened to look up and East and got that photo at the top of the page.  I believe that was the best light we saw the entire time.  And I was happy about it.

Sunset gets all the press but Sunrise is equally stunning. Every day, starting out all brand new and shiney and waiting for us to decide what to do with it.  We chose the hike.

As I said at some point earlier, we were there before the birds were awake and we know that because it was dead silent on the trails.  I asked Joy, because I am never certain if what I am hearing is accurate, and she confirmed, no noise.  It made of a weird, twilight zone kind of feeling but we shook it off and kept going.

Then, as we came to a fork in the trail, we heard our first wildlife sound, a hawk scream.  If you've never heard one before, it can be a bone chilling experience.  Naturally we headed toward it.  No hawk is going to be able to carry either of us off for breakfast after all. Makes it easy to look fearless.

He was surprisingly easy to spot and hard to get a good shot of. Here's the best I could do:

His screams must be the equivalent of a birdie alarm clock (perhaps that is his job?) because immediately aftewards, we began seeing and hearing birds in every direction. Because it was early morning and they were all hungry and hunting up food, I didn't get a lot of other bird photos though I'll share what I have.  My favourites were the Piliated Woodpeckers. There were three of them which I think is the most I've ever seen at one time.  

Side Note; apologies for the poor quality of photos this time 'round.  I had to artificially add light to most of these so you that you could even tell what the photo was of and it throws the entire picture off a bit.  And, as you can see from time to time, it was a little breezy as evidenced by the ruffled feathers. Imperfection is sometimes the best part.

Occasionally, a beam of light burst through the gloom just as we were snapping a photo and those few photos looks remarkably different (and BETTER) than the others.  Here are some of those:

Naturally, as always, there are a couple of randos as well:

We got sprinkled on a few times but the real serious rain thoughtfully waited until we had to leave anyway.  

I was so surprised, but pleased, to have come away with far more photos than I anticipated on this Photos Safari but that is the best part of a Low Expectations Hike -  being proven wrong.

​Hope you enjoyed!

Guess what happens in two days?  I mean, well, it'll be Sunday of course. And that's nice. I do love a lazy Sunday. But it's also October 4th.  And that's the part that's significant. At least with regard to this Blogpost.

I'm sure a lot of important historic things have happened on October 4th. Give me a minute here and I'll check.

A number of famous people were born on October 4th, for example: Charlton Heston, Susan Sarandon and Buster Keaton.  It's also the date that in 1957 Sputnik was launched!   In 1895 there was the very first US Open Golf Tournament (an Englishman won by the way).  On October 4th in 1927, work began on Mount Rushmore. 

It's also the day, ten years ago, that this Blog published it's very first post !  Wow!  That's one entire DECADE of my blog!  I am shocked, frankly.  I had no idea, NONE, that I would still be writing this and, even more surprised, that you guys would still be reading it! I am gobsmacked.  And grateful. Very Very grateful.

When I began, I always said to myself that I would keep writing as long as it was fun for me and I had very little hope of anyone reading it. And then people starting reading. And occasionally reaching out and commenting on what they were reading.  And that was ten long years ago.  And I cannot believe that my readership continues. I am still as delighted and surprised today as I was back then. How did I get this lucky?

Thank you, one and all, for keeping this blog alive.   I'm still having fun writing and I can only assume that you, my faithful readers, are enjoying the read. So thank you , thank  you, thank you!

I have no idea how long the Blog will continue, perhaps as long as I continue.  That's wild to think about!

Happy Anniversary ya'll!  Happy Anniversary to us :)

Welcome to the complicated world of women's fashion. Not only are there nearly unlimited options but literally every season of every year there is a completely different list of what is In fashion and what is most definitely Out of fashion. It's hard and expensive to  keep up with.

Then of course, one must take into account one's body type.  Not every shape fits easily into every style that is au courante.  So if one gives a damn about trying to look remotely in style,  one must pick and choose, carefully.

And then there is the colour issue.  Not everything fashionable is about size or shape, sometimes it's about colour.  Yes there are do's and don'ts which also change for colours. Tragically, gotta face facts on that aspect too, not everybody looks good in every colour.

But I knew all of this. I've paid at least a little bit of attention, vaguely, sort of around the edges for most of my adult life. I don't always indulge in new styles and fashions, but, at least peripherally, I've been aware of some of it.  And ultimately, through a lot or trial and error (heavy on the error) I have, over these many years, kind of come up with my own style which is largely classic with a little bit of whimsy.

Over the years, I've become pretty comfortable with my so-called "style".  I've dressed, for the most part, the same way for a very long time. A really long time. Maybe a little too long as I've recently come to realize something. There is one more thing I am supposed to be keeping in mind when it comes to my own personal sense of style and that is my age.  It seems that at certain ages there are styles I must avoid. Dang.   It's like a brain teaser that just keeps getting harder.

After overhearing a few not so complimentary comments about older women trying to look too young it occurred to me that I am one of those "older women" and since I don't think about such things often, I had to ask myself, I am dressing inappropriately for my age?  Yikes!  I don't want to be the person other women are saying such things about.

To answer the question for myself, I recently walked myself through my closet and was oddly surprised to discover that some of my shorts - and this is Florida so we wear shorts often - are rather short.  

It turns out that most of my summer shorts are right around this length. oh dear.  That is probably too short for 73, right?  Dang it. Well, I decided, to hell with it. I'm going to wear them anyway becoz that's what is in my closet. But definitely not to work, even on super hot days and probably not out to dinner and maybe not even just out and about on a weekend.  

It's far too hot and humid to wear long pants all summer. I would spontaneously combust.  But there is such a thing as long shorts- knee length shorts - I am certain I could get away with those. However,  in roaming through my closet it seems that I have exactly two pair of knee length shorts.  Hmmmm.  I decided that what I need is more, long shorts. I really did not want what to go out and spend a lot of money, assuming I could even find some. (which is whole other thing which practically becomes a Quest) What to do, what to do?

In discussing this situation with my friend Marsha, she suggested altering my capri's into long shorts!  Brilliant!   I own 3 pair of capris'. That it's.  Just three. I almost never them wear becoz the length is just weird on me and I blame that on my height or lack thereof.  Probably on a normally heighted person, the capri length is perfect. On me they look like long pants that shrank in the wash. 

It seemed like the perfect  solution! 

There is one little sticky point however and that is that I do not sew.  Well, okay, if pressed, I can replace a button. But it is always an ordeal that involves several bandaids, much swearing, the worlds ugliest sewing job and a button that may or may not fall off in its next wash.  So a big job, like turning capri's into long shorts sounded beyond crazy.

And then I was introduced to the concept of this iron-on hem stuff.  WHAT?  That is the best idea I've ever heard!  I got a roll of the stuff and gleefully got to work.

Randomly I selected a tan pair of capri's to be my test case.  Mostly becoz they were my least favourite pair. I decided that if I screwed them up and had to throw them away, I haven't lost much.  

First step was deciding how much to cut off.  I put on the capri's and stood on the coffee table while Tim put a straight pin at the point I indicated.  I allowed for a bit of hem and then bravely cut off a LOT of fabric. 

The next step was making the other leg match the first.  Took several tries but I figured it out.  It was exhilarating. I was excited about this project!

I set up the ironing board and iron next.  Turned on extra overhead light. Read the instructions on the iron-on hem product multiple times.  Thought I understood it.  I did not.  I tried again.  Still did not work. What the hell was I doing wrong.  I was starting to get frustrated.

I called Tim in to assist. He also read the instructions multiple times and said, out loud, quietly, this isn't very clear. I felt a little better after that.   Eventually, between the two of us, we had it.  It took a while, it is not a super quick process, but we got there.  Finally, I had magically turned a pair of capris into long shorts. Taadaa!  I was so tickled with myself.

Here is what the capri's looked like originally.  (At the time I bought two of the same capri's in different colours/patterns, just I forgot to take a before photo of the tan ones)

And this is what they looked like after:

Ok I confess. The hems aren't exactly perfectly the same but they are close.  And for a first attempt, I think, it's not too bad?

I decided to save the other two pair for another day as I had already put far more time and patience into the project than I anticipated but overall I was pleased.  So pleased in fact, that I wore my new long shorts the next day.

Perhaps I should say that I attempted to wear them becoz within an hour one hem was already falling out. Dang it!  I have to re-do one leg.  And I will. At some point. On a day when I'm feeling a lot more patient than I am right now.

How bad of a seamstress does a person have to be that even when using a non-sewing method of sewing, fails??????  LOLOLOL

Perhaps, I will just wear my too long capris' that hit in a strange spot they way they are .  After all, as we saw from the chart at the top of the page, there are all sorts of shorts!  And fashion is cyclical.  Eventually, if you wait long enough, whatever is in  your closet will be in style again.  

Perhaps I'll wait.

Last weekend was Free Museum Day here in Florida!  I don't know if every state does such a thing but Florida does and I absolutely Love that it does.

I am not positive but I think I've mentioned before how important Museums are to me.   I get excited about going to a museum the same way other people get excited about going white water rafting or ziplining.  To me, going to a museum is an adventure!

My love affair with Museums began when I was very young. In fact, it is, I believe, my earliest memory. It was before I started school and my sister was too small to go, just a tiny baby, so I couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 myself.  We lived in Illinois then, in Chicago in fact and it was the Museum of Science and Industry.  I have been since and it still ranks near the top of my list (the Smithsonian being the tippytop).

I recall my first impression of the Museum of Science and Industy - now called the Griffin Museum I believe, that of feeling overwhelmed in general.  Enormous rooms that echo your footsteps, giant things hanging from the ceiling room after room after room of treasures and amazement and endless surprises.  Being as young as I was, the standout for me that first visit was Colleen's Moore's dollhouse.  (If you don't know about it, you can google it. It is incredible). The dollhouse, which filled an entire room with room to walk around the display tables that held it, was the most breathtaking thing my young little mind had ever beheld and I dreamed for years after of being six inches tall so that I could live there.  I think it now lives in the Smithsonian.

It made such an impression on me, in fact, that from that point forward, I could not get enough. I was (and still am) ready at all times to go to ANY museum; art museums, history museums, circus museums, cat museums....  Literally any museum. I would go to a museum of matchbooks and love every second of it. (There are such things, by the way.  There is a dandy one in Australia or so I've read)

Sooo this past Free Museum Weekend the questions wasn't do you want to go? t was, which museum do you want to see?  We ended up meeting our friends, the Minocks, a the Imagine Museum in Tampa which, as it turns out, is a museum of art made of glass. Which sounds like a place a clumsy dolt like me ought to steer clear of but I promised to  be EXTRA cautious and off we went.

The one downside of Free Museum Weekend is also one of the best parts.  Free Museum Weekends are VERY well attended, as they should be.  I hate crowds but I love that so many people took advantage of the opportunity.  Due to the massive crowds, the 2nd floor was off-limits that day and there was a specific traffic pattern throughout, no wandering about willynilly.  It worked, keeping the chaos to a minimum for sure but walking in a line strictly following the person in front of me always makes me feel rather "moo-ish" if you follow that.

Regardless, it was a place of wonder and beauty!  I am Always astounded by other people's creativity and talent. There are so very many ways to create art out of glass, ways I would never in a zillion years have thought of. I loved every piece in every room as we walked through. though I confess that some pieces impressed me more than others.   

I don't bother to analyze why certain pieces impact me so strongly, I just except it as true and those will be the pieces I share with you here:

We enjoyed it so much and had such a great time that we hope to go again an a non-free museum day when we can take our time throughout AND check out the 2nd floor exhibits too.  To that end, because museum people are rockstars, at the exit we were given half-price vouches for our next visit!  Awesome!

​Find Museums in your area. Go. Enjoy. Learn Stuff. It's a good thing :)

Have you ever heard of a Candlelight Concert?  I had not. I am probably the only person on the entire planet who had not, but oh well.  Now I am aware.  In fact, I am not only aware, but I am in favour of them.

When Tim first mentioned to me that he had read about a Candlelight Concert relatively close to us, he asked if I might be interested in going.  I told him that I knew nothing about them and we kind of left it there for a little bit.  I thought about it.  It seemed fairly obvious that the name suggests music by candlelight which sounds lovely. Great ambience for sure.  I think my concern largely stemmed around my hearing, or lack of hearing I suppose.

The hearing aids that I wear are fabulous.  They work really well, or as well as anyone could expect with my own auditory limitations and the world being the noisy place that it is.  I can hear and understand most voices, I can hear and understand what the sound is when someone knocks at our door or an ambulance sneaks up behind me in traffic, and those sorts of things.

I say specifically 'hear and understand and/or identify' because while sound that a normally hearing person easily understands, for me (and others like me) it ain't so easy.  Because I am missing enormous parts of the hearing spectrum I do not hear sounds exactly like most folks. I hear Parts of sounds. Swiss Cheesed sounds.  And eventually I relate those bits and pieces of sounds to what those sounds represent. Works out fine most of the time.

But music is an entirely different beast.  Music is so multi-layered and complex that  even with the worlds best hearing aids, it just doesn't sound the same. And when it's music you are familiar with (from formerly better hearing years) it feels wrong. Just plain wrong.  Music no longer sounds the way I remember it. Which is sad (and a little frustrating) but worse, the more "electronic" music is, the worse it sounds to me. I pick up more on  that electronic whine than I do the actual music resulting in something akin to the sound of garbage cans being thrown around in an alley.

So you may understand my reluctance to spend money on a concert that I may end up with very little appreciation of.  But! On the other hand, having never attended a candlelight concert, I honestly had no idea what it would be like. Only one way to find out, so we went.

The concert was held in a small six sided church on Siesta Key, whose beaches win awards every single year. (just FYI)  As suggested in the name of the concert, there were candles everywhere, on the alter, on the steps and along the aisles.  We had front row seats which was amazing.

The musicians performed in that teensy opening on the altar surrounded by candles in case you wondered.

One entire wall was filled with the pipes of a pipe organ (which we never got to hear) and I was surprised that such a cute little church had such a fancy organ, and shame on me for making such an assumption

There were stained glass panels at the top of each of the six walls of the hexagon. Between the candlelight and the sunset outside, the resultant glow provided quite the amazing light show.

And further, there was a metallic cross on the wall above the altar that reflected those amazing stained glass panels providing a beautiful and constantly changing effect.

Obviously we couldn't take photos during the actual concert itself but I can tell you about it.  It was a string quartet; two violins, one viola and a cello and the four together created a magnificent sound.  It was pretty spectacular.

Now for the part that might have some people wincing.  The music they played was Abba and Queen.  Not what you might expect.  The result was certainly not like the Real Deal or even a tribute band, but it wasn't elevator Musak either.  It was a string quartet's interpretation of Abba and Queen.  Artists interpret other musicians' music with their own signature all the time. This was just a little bigger than most.

Now I will be absolutely honest in saying that I recognized very little of it, the exceptions being two Queen songs, "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We are the Champions" which I think even aliens from far away galaxies know.  But that is mostly due to my Swiss cheesed auditory system and more importantly, it did not prevent me from enjoying the music. I adored it. 

It was actually kind of emotional for me.  The first music I learned was classical so I do have a deep love and appreciation for it even though I haven't been to a symphony in a Very Very Long Time. So I connected with it through decades of memories.

Then too, as I sat and listened and watched the violinists in particular, I could actually feel my fingers hitting those notes, I could feel the strings vibrate under my touch, I could smell the resin on the bow and feel the particular muscle groups in my right arm tense from bowing double stops. As they worked their way through the playlist, the terminology ran through my head, "pizzicato", staccato", "col legno", "tremolo".....    That used to be me up there :)

My hands no longer cooperate, I cannot shape them in a way that will allow me to finger or bow properly, but I still remembered how it was done. And it struck me in that moment, how long it had been since I played or even thought about the fact that I once knew how.  What a gift it was to open that door in my memory banks.

Ultimately, I am delighted that we went, we both had a wonderful time and at some point in the future, I hope to go again.  At this late date in my life, I am finally learning to say more Yes than No to new experiences ;)  (But I'm still not Bungee jumping!)

Look who is back in town!  YAYAYAYAY!  Joy is back from her trip after weeks (and weeks!) away and naturally that calls for a Photo Safari!  Woohoo!  I won't call this one a hike coz it was not. It was a mostly a drive.  Yes, we hit up Myakka State Park once more before Tourist Season ramps back up. We picked a perfect day and time. The weather was beautiful, there was a terrific breeze and with almost no other people around, no crowds and a lot of peace. Perfect for a Photo Safari.

The other thing working in our favour was that we've had loads of rain this 'rainy season'  which sounds logical but last year we had very little which in turn made the dry season, Extra Dry and that is never good.  The goodly amount of rain we've been having means the green stuff was thick and luscious and the wildlife rampant!  The river waters were high. Sometimes, very high. It's okay. We can work with that.

The final reason that we elected a drive-through state park this time around was this:
​

Ouchie.  Yes, I broke another damned toe or possibly two.  The details are unimportant. Obviously I whacked into something unwhackable and there you have it.  It happened around 4 am which is only a few hours before Joy and I were planning to head out so I iced it as best I could, somehow squeezed into a sneaker and then we were Myakka bound.

Luckily, most of what we needed to shoot, was literally right outside the car windows!  CRAZY!

Soooo with all of this in mind, I believe I will call this Photo Safari the Broken Toe Non-Hike.   Yeah, that feels right.

​Moving on:

Let's start with the deer. Mostly because I adore them and they were Everywhere!  Joy always drives very slowly and we keep an eye peeled for them because they often seem to need to cross the street just as cars are coming down the road.  To complicate the situation, deer usually do not travel alone, so even if you spot one, it needs to be remembered that there is probably at least one more travelling right behind so do not Zoom past!!  Joy and I are always very gentle and patient with them, never approach and only speak very softly to them and then they reward us with photos like these:

Oh!  remember I said that the water level was quite high?  Here are a few water photos :

Lots of birds, loads of birds, it was a Birdie Bonanza!  Turkeys everywhere, which was unexpected.  I'll try to limit this slideshow to just one of each type of bird. I'll try. NO guarantee:

A few insects maybe:

Naturally, there are a few botanicals:

A sign that made me laugh because my first thought was, "they make you wear seatbelts in canoes nowadays?"

And one saucy squirrel:

It was wonderful to get back out there, camera in hand, hanging out with Joy again.  Next time it ought to be an actual hike and perhaps that will result even better photos :)  Hope you enjoyed coming along for the Broken Toe Non-Hike Photo Safari Report!  (geez that's  a long name!)

Have a Great Weekend!

This is Sharkey's.   It's a beachfront restaurant here on the island that is very popular with tourists, snowbirds, visitors in general, fisherman and beach go-ers.  We have eaten there and it's perfectly fine.  It's pretty much what anyone might expect of a beachfront restaurant.  Music, food, drinks, both inside and outside dining options, beach view, pier view, gorgeous sunset views. And there ain't nothin' wrong with any of that!

It's always busy at Sharke's. Massively busy. The parking lot is usually full and there is even overflow parking across the street.  There are usually a full compliment of folks on the beach as well as both visitors and fisherfolk filling up the pier.  The only times I've ever been there when it wasn't insanely busy was during a storm and I was seeking good storm photos. The pier was an excellent choice for that!  I believe we were the only people there that day.

There are actually two restaurants on site, the more casual Sharkey's and the much fancier version upstairs which is Fin's.  We  have eaten at both places and had a good time at each.  But neither is  a place that we go on the regular. It's more when we have visitors. Everybody wants to eat at Sharkey's and walk on the pier.

About the pier, obviously referred to as Sharkey's Pier, it's been rebuilt multiple times after particularly nasty hurricane season and hat's off to the owners who bother to do that each and every time.  It's a solid feeling structure, tall and wide and about half way down there is a little shop for whatever a person hanging out on a pier might need.

Sharkey's has an indisputably kitschy charm, which is, I'm sure, at least one of the reasons why it's so popular.  For another it's because it is one of only two waterfront restaurants on the island which is kind of crazy when you think about it.  We are lousy with restaurants. Have them coming out our ears. But only two of them are on the water. Kind of crazy.  Doesn't sound like great planning does it?  OR perhaps it's great planning because being by the water means a higher risk of storm damage.  Hmmmm.  The other restaurant that is on the water, which we've also eaten at a few times, is called Crow's Nest and it's NOT on the beach, but it is on the water.  It's on the complete Other Side of the island. Sharkey's is on the south end, Crow's Nest on the North end.  Both of them are wildly popular, again good food and beautiful views.

But this post is about Sharkey's.

I'm sure that your town has places just as popular, perhaps not on the water but with other equally redeeming character. Places that, when people visit, this is where they want to go, or perhaps it's where you want to take them, even if you, personally, do not go their regularly.  Places of, at least, local renown.   Kind of nice.

What's the point of all this?  Nothing really.  Just Tim and I did a different beach walk the other night at Sharkey's and I thought, if I'm going to post photos, maybe someone might wonder what the significance of it all is.  No real significance. Not really.  Just caught my eye and my camera's eye, thought I'd share and hope you enjoy :)

This is our off-season right now so the beach was fairly quiet but the restaurants were still packed.  Bonus points for us, we caught some of that gorgeous just before sunset golden light which made it even better!

Behold!  I don't know why that particular word was my choice today, but it feels right.  In fact, it feels so right, I'm gonna do it again.  Behold!

Before you is a prime example of Elote, otherwise known as Mexican Street Corn.    Don't know if you've ever had it before but I made some over this past weekend and it was an unqualified hit. 

I kind of surprised myself with the choice, to begin with.  Like a zillion or so other folks who celebrated Labor Day weekend, we had a cookout on Saturday.  Putting together a menu was easy because our guests requested the "good hot dogs" which means the ones from our local Farm Market, Detweillers.  The next question, for me, was what to put with them.

Normally I think 'cook-out' out and hot dogs and I immediately jump to macaroni salad or potato salad, both of which people seem to like.  Sometimes in fact, they like them so much, I make it by request.  Happy to do so. There is something about cooking for people who reallllllly enjoy what you make that is such a pleasure and not a chore.

While both side salads are perfectly fine, I felt an urge to do something different.  But what?  I rattled that question around in my brain for some time and eventually thought, well maybe corn on the cob. Not every body makes that on the regular so that might be a treat.  And so that became the plan.   Simple enough as we have to go to the Farm Market for the hot dogs anyway, maybe as well pick up some freshly picked corn while we are at it.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with fresh corn on the cob, dripping in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper. YUM!

But it feels a little ordinary. Bah.  I wanted to do something special, something different. Hmmmmm.  I thought on it a bit.  Just left it there in the back of my brain to ferment.

And then, like a bolt out of the blue, the idea came to me. Mexican Street Corn.  I had never made it before but how hard could it be?  I looked up a bunch of recipes and since they were all very similar and reasonable decided, Yup this is it. This is what we are doing.  Tim was 100% on board.

If you've never had it, basically it's corn roasted IN the husk, the peeled while still super hot (oh my gosh, so hot) then brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with cotija cheese, chili pepper, cilantro and lime.   The hardest part of that was finding the cotija cheese.  Surprisingly, it was right there in the cheese section of our regular grocery store.

The weather was iffy at best.  We had already committed to grilling the hot dogs so if it rained, somebody was going to be getting wet. But when I read that the corn could be roasted in the oven, I was all in.  The directions for that could not have been easier.  Pre heat the oven to 350, put the corn, husk, silk and all into the oven and take it back out 40 minutes later. I was concerned that the husk and/or silk would catch fire but nope. It was all  good.

Once removed it was carefully remove husk and silk (which although hot was simpler and cleaner than when it's raw), butter, cheese, chili powder and cilantro and squeezes of fresh limes. Easy Peasy as they say.

Turns out that many Elote recipes (just not the one I chose) also mentions putting mayo on before the cheese and so forth.  I assume that it helps everything stick to the corn?  A few other recipes mentioned something called Crema, which turns out to be a mix of buttermilk and heavy cream which is used as a condiment?  Obviously we didn't have that.

But despite my failings, our version of Mexican Street Corn was a huge hit. So much so that the requested "good" hot dogs were practically an afterthought.  

It was a great cookout, it was fun to try something new - which now that I know how to make, I will surely make again. Perhaps this time with the mayo or Crema?  And of course we enjoyed our laughing and talking time with our guests too.

Oh dessert?  Of course there was dessert.  I spent a lot of time going through my various cookbooks, and ending up just being the mood to make ordinary regular chocolate cupcakes with white icing. All home made and all delicious!  Everyone loved them and still the Elote was the star of the show

The cutiecute sprinkles on top of the cupcakes, by the way, were gifted to me by my lovely neighbor Joan. (The brand is Sprinkle Pop- check 'em out on line!)

The rest of our holiday weekend was quiet and restful.  Tim had, somehow, hurt his neck while doing a housey project. So most of the rest of the time was spent alternating hot and cold packs, moving as little as possible *(coz moving HURT!) and taking lots of Advil.  It was kind of enforced relaxation but necessary and, in truth, both of us needed a little downtime. It's a heck  of a way to get it but hey.

Other than Tim's injury, (which he is now recovered from) it was a great weekend, fun and relaxation in equal measures.  Just about perfect

Hope your Labor Day weekend was awesome!

This is my left hand. Well part of it. For some reason I find it incredibly difficult to take a photo of my hand with only one hand. (?)  Weird.  Anyway, as you can clearly see, it's lumpy and bumpy and crooked and something is missing.

My rings.

About six months ago, out of the blue, I suddenly popped up with a wicked onset of eczema which began under the rings on my left hand.   You know the ones, the "wedding set" as I have come to learn they are referred to.  I had already stopped wearing the engagement ring most of the time to protect it (from me and my clumsiness mostly)  but even with the increasingly annoy eczema, I kept my wedding band on as long as I could, hopeful that this 'round of eczema would be a short and quick one.  Alas, it was not.

The skin condition spread to the entirety of the ring fingers and on to the pinky finger before jumping over to the ring and pinky fingers of the right hand as well. What the actual heck?  Why the  eczema prefers those two fingers is beyond my comprehension but there you have it.  It was miserable. And ugly.   Two things you don't really want to combine.

Eventually the day came when I realized that there was nothing to be done for it but to remove the wedding band so the situation could heal itself.  (over long years of battling the occasional eczema bugger, I've learned that while various ointments and creams may help a bit, really it doesn't go completely away until it is dang good and ready).

And so I sadly, attempted to remove my ring. I say attempted because initially it wasn't coming off.  The issue was my knuckle.  I could easily slip the ring up TO the knuckle but there was no freakin' way it was going over the knuckle. Clearly it had been a Very Long Time since I took that ring off.

I could feel that little bit of rising panic inside me. Oh no! Was I going to have to have it Cut Off?  (the ring, not the finger). First I soaked my hand in really cold water in case there was any swelling from my attempts to force it over.  Then I soaped up my hand really extra good and slowly, ssslllooowwwlllyyy I began to feel it move up and over that dang knuckle.  Finally, it was off.  My finger was red and the knuckle was scraped up some, but the ring was off.

I carefully cleaned my ring and then, for safekeeping, put it in it's little box with the engagement ring.  Given enough time, the eczema would go away and then I could put both back on and tralalala go on with my life.

Except, that didn't happen.

I absolutely could NOT get the rings over  the knuckle to put it back on. What the actual heck?

That knuckle was a barrier that was holding firm.  Thou Shalt Not Pass!  I even tried the old soap trick in reverse, putting on instead of taking off, and nope.   Ratz! It seemed logical, after all,  it worked the last time. But it didn't work this time. Not even a little bit.

I blame my Arthritis which has reared it's ugly head once again.  At least my ring finger is straight, I'll give it that, as opposed to the middle finger which is now curved (and that itself is so bizarre).  But that big old ugly knuckle says no.  I was sad but I put the rings back in their little box while I thought on it.

I considered getting a nice gold chain and wearing the rings as a necklace. Except what would happen if the chain or the clasp broke and the rings slipped off and then were gone forever.  Heartbreak! That's what would happen.

So the rings remained in their little box.  And I tried to stop thinking about it. I went around living my life, ringless while my rings lived elsewhere. Safely, but elsewhere. "It is what it is", I said to myself.  "It's only as important as I make it be". I added.  "It's just stuff", I tried to convince myself.

Except that it's not just stuff.  Those are not just pieces of jewelry; it's what they represent.  Our marriage, Our love, Our commitment, Our vows! Those things are important to me and I decided that it was worth at least looking into what would be involved in having someone fix this situation.

We found a local jeweler with a stellar reputation who does work on site , took a deep breath and decided to trust them.  Turns out that old wrinkly arthritic ring finger of mine, or at least the knuckle of it, which used to be a size 5 is now a 6 1/2 which is a huge difference.  They were surprised that I was able to remove the ring on my own.  

It was not cheap to take care of the problem. But it was worth every penny. Some things are.

The rings now fit, both of them are extra sparkly once again and I am tickled to bits.

To be honest, I still do not wear the engagement ring  every day. In fact, I only wear it occasionally. It's beautiful but I catch it on things and it gets over involved with cooking, cleaning and gardening which requires another thorough cleaning so just not wearing it all the time seems not only easier, but wiser in the long run.

But the gold band, that simple ordinary gold band, that stays on.  Now that I have it back and it fits again, that one stays put.

And all is well in my little corner of the world once more

One of the big bonuses of living in a place that (part of the year) has loads of rain is that every once in awhile, there is a rainbow.  I adore rainbows and always have. I do not want to hear that these days I am childish for my love of rainbows as they are the domain of seven year old girls and/or the property of PRIDE.  Please.   I do not entertain that nonsense.  I have no problem with little girls or alternate lifestyle people also liking rainbows at all. Zero problem. Nobody owns rainbows.  Rainbows are one of the more beautiful gifts of nature (as opposed, for example, to tornadoes), freely given to all of us to enjoy and marvel over. (yes I know the sentences shouldn't end in prepositions either but today I am feeling rather rebellious) 

I do understand how rainbows happen, the whole refracted light and prisms and Roy G Biv of it all.  But I can KNOW the science of it and still love the whimsical magic of it and so I do.

Most of the rain that we've experienced lately, unfortunately, has been hard core, late day or evening thunder and lightening storms with black roiling clouds, torrential rain pounding down with cracks of lightening and rolling thunder. Very impressive indeed.  But rainbows need light.  And, at least at our house,  we haven't seen much of that.

But a few nights ago, just as I was finishing up dishes from dinner during a typical storm, I noticed that it seemed lighter outside.  Interesting.  Did the storm move on earlier than anticipated?  I peeked outside and saw, to my delight, that even thought it was still full on raining, the sun was brightly shining.  Which means, somewhere out there, is a rainbow.  And I was determined to find it.  Mind you, not only find the rainbow itself, but the end.  While we enjoy all parts of any rainbow, we particular like finding where it starts or ends. I don't know why, we just do.
​
First I checked out all of the windows in the house.  Nothin'.  Dang.  The rain kept falling and the sun kept shining. okay, I need to be outside to see farther.  I asked Tim is he wanted to go Rainbow Chasing with me. He grinned and grabbed his keys. I snagged my camera.

As we walked out of the house, dodging raindrops, I scanned the sky to the east since rainbows are always opposite the sun.  It was hard to be sure with all the trees in the way and we didn't see any immediately. Ratz.  Maybe we will see better from the road.

The instant the car backed out of the driveway, I caught a glimpse of the rainbow over the roof of a house behind us so we knew the general direction. (photo at the top of the page)  And that meant going over the bridge.  I kept an eye on the rainbow while Tim managed traffic.  At one stop light, I saw a moment, one perfect opportunity to capture it but was concerned that the shot would be too full of stuff other than the rainbow, too distracting. I took the shot anyway:

That is one busy slice of sky!  But it did help us to zero in to where we might get a better shot.  We continued on over the bridge thinking that the first stop should be the old train station (which is now a bus station).   It's a far more open area and perhaps we could narrow down the finis of it all from there.  In this bridge shot, the distant sky was still so dark and ominous while the foreground was bright and shiny.  A little wierd but very cool.

By the time we got to the train station which was, by the way, no more than a mile from the house, the dark had overtaken the light and the rainbow was gone. Dang.   If only I had looked out that window a little earlier, we might have found the end and even have gotten more and better rainbow photos.  Drat.  Still that's the way the rainbow bounces, so we kept going.   Camera in hand, what else can we see that looks coolio? 

We continued, back over the bridge and then did a quiet, lazy drive around the island, with my window open for photography sake which means the rain was trickling inside the car too (never fear, I kept the camera covered) and every once in a while, we saw something really pretty.  Not a rainbow, no, but still photo worthy.

c
The thing about rainbows is that the sky is so huge it's harder than you would expect to track down exactly where the "end" of the rainbow in question is.  Either end, we don't care.  We are aware that there is no mythic pot of gold at the end, we know that. But it's still fun to find. And even better would have been to be in a spot where the entire rainbow was visible and photographable.  We've done it before. Just not this time.  

Even though we didn't get terrific rainbow photos THIS time around, it was still a lot of fun.  Rainbow Chasing doesn't fuel the adrenaline rush that serious storm chasers love. And of course we aren't doing any science experiments or  meterological reports as we hunt these rainbows down.

But we are having a lot of fun and that counts too.

Can you stand yet another post about our kittyboys?  I apologize for inundating you with their escapades lately but, frankly, there just isn't much else going on in our lives right this minute. It could change at any time, so hang in there with me.   Now that I think about it tho, I've never written about anything life altering or earth shattering, so I suppose this is pretty much on brand. heh.

Assuming you are still here and reading, here we go.  Not all that long ago I wrote about my discovery that pets do not necessarily need a constant influx of New Toys to stay engaged. That sometimes just presenting the Same old toys in a different place is sufficient. (which worked out great because I had no novel ideas for new toys - that I could make).   I was excited about that idea and I'm still occasionally moving things around the house. It does seem to be working. Brysco and Wyatt have been getting excited all over again for things that they kind of forgot that they had.

Well, in a way typical for me, the instant I committed to paper, or ummm well, internet I suppose, that I had no new ideas, I immediately had a new idea.  It involved saving toilet paper and paper towels rolls and water bottle caps.  So for a few weeks, I dedicated myself to hording these cardboard and plastic bits and bobs rather than recycling them as I normally would.  A few days ago I felt that I had enough to at least give the new toy idea a whirl.

First I cut the rolls into smaller rounds, then I hauled down a tray that we are not currently using.  I put the carboard circles and the water bottle caps, open end up, in the tray.  Then came the demonic part.  I put some kitty treats here and there, sometimes in bottle caps, sometimes in the circles. Then I placed it on the floor.  That's all it took to get them interested.

They both sniffed around it thoroughly.  We could almost hear them thinking, "What is this?"  "I smell treats!"  "Where are they hiding?"  "How does this work?"  Then we watched them gingerly prodding  things with their paws. Sometimes pawing at the circles worked, but sometimes it didn't give them their desired result. Then they resorted to biting cardboard pieces, lifting and spitting them out elsewhere to get access to their treats.  Clever boys.

Brysco actually figured it out first and boldly just stepped into the tray to reach things. Wyatt, with his giant paws was at a distinct disadvantage, but as he has more teeth, the extraction of cardboard via chompers was more his method.  Actually Wyatt has long had a habit of sitting back and allowing his brother to eat first, and he did that with this treat game as well. So we had to do a second 'round just to allow Wyatt his fair opportunity.

It was an unqualified hit!  Long after all of the treats were gone, Brysco, in particular, was still batting the circles around in the tray.  

We enjoyed watching them solve the puzzle of how to reach the treats and their delight in the game and we're pretty sure they liked it too.  It's not the sort of thing we will do with them every day but every once in awhile when it appears that they are well and truly bored, I have no problem hauling it out and setting it up for them.  

I took a few photos (of course I did):

I am still saving cardboard rolls and water bottle caps to add more circles to the game as I think it will only improve it; up the problem solving difficulty quotient and perhaps keep Brysco from standing ON the game board - unfair advantage.

Hope you have a terrific week ahead of you and hopefully I will have more, different, interesting, fun things to write about later in the week!

​Hugs all 'round

You see before you a picture of our living room. Well part of our living room.  It's a cozy space that exists between the kitchen/dining area and the family room.  Normally, there isn't a ton of furniture in this room, one small sofa, a coffee table which is, frankly, a little too big for the room, two swivel chairs and the display cabinet.  (also built-in bookcases topped out full of books but I don't count them becoz they are built in, as I said before). It's a perfectly sized room for reading, having a quiet phone call, a small group of friends talking etc.  It is, as I said before, cozy.

It's a room that we quite like but it turned out to feel just a wee bit perhaps more formal (?) than other rooms in our house, like say, the family room which is a kind of insane spot. (possibly more on that another time)  Since the living room is also a path that we walk to get back and forth from kitchen to family room and back again, it seemed logical and safer that simpler would be better, more streamlined, less "stuff".  And somehow, we decided at some point, that it would be a room with no kitty stuff. No toys, no trees, no beds, nothing that would junk it up.  Certainly sounds like a good idea, right?

Quite obviously, as you can clearly see in the photo, there is a kitty toy in that room.  A hammock. A kitty hammock.  Now why is it in the room that was never going to have kitty toy obstacles in it? That is an excellent question, I'm so glad you asked.

I've been doing some reading. (I hear you groaning)   Mostly because I am currently fresh out of kitty toy ideas that I can make.  There have been many over the years, some of them are still in  use, in fact.  But other creations either got used up, played to pieces, were always intended to be temporary, or turned out to not be great ideas to begin with.  And I could tell that the kittyboys were getting a little bored.  Well it seemed that way to me.  Which is why I was reading.

Was I imaging it?  Do cats get bored with the same old toys every day or was I projecting?  Turns out I was absolutely correct.  What is a good pet parent supposed to do other than go broke buying toys? (or making them)

Turns out, according to what I read, sometimes they don't actually need new toys.  Cats often consider an old toy placed in a new environment, a new toy.  Interesting!  So I spent some time considering moving things around.  Just as an experiment.  I decided to NOT move everything right away; just one thing, at first. Let's see what happens.

When the hammock first arrived a year or so ago, it was an instant hit.  There was a cat lounging on it before Tim had it completely constructed which did not help construction one single bit.  It lived in the family room in front of the TV where we could see the kittyboys and they could see us AND if they wanted to, they could also watch TV (sometimes they do). They played with the little dangling pompom, they fought over whose turn it was to lay on it.  They leapt over it while racing around the house. In short, it was very popular.  Right up until it wasn't.

Eventually it kind of got pushed to the side behind a chair in the family room and mostly forgotten by all of us.  So that was my first target.  Let's rethink placement on this kitty hammock. But where oh where else could it go?

We live in a small house. We, intentionally by the way, downsized. Perhaps a wee bit more than we probably should have but mostly it's all good.  But it's a rather efficient sort of space.  All furniture in the house is exactly where it should be and there is little open space leftover. It occurred to me that I could move something to make room for the hammock possibly or perhaps put it under something else (like a table).  I tried it out in multiple different spots. Nothing seemed exactly right. 

And then on my zillioneth walk through the living room it occurred to me that the space between the two swivel chairs it probably  exactly right, rules be damned.   I set the hammock in place and went on with my day assuming that it would take a few days before Brysco or Wyatt really paid any attention to the "new" old toy if they cared about it at all.

I left the room to bring a load of clean laundry in from the dryer to fold.  That's it. That's all I did.  I was gone for the precise amount of time it takes to take clean warm dry clothes from the dryer, pile it in a basket and bring it into the kitchen to fold.  I had just dumped the contents of the basket onto the counter, when I happened to glance into the living room and immediately my eye went to:

Wyatt lounging on t he hammock as if it were something he did every day.  He looked up at me with his sweetie face and I grabbed a quick photo.  I patted him a moment and went back to folding clothes.  I then put the clothes away and took the laundry basket back to the utility room.  When I returned, I looked toward the hammock, expecting to see Wyatt still happy in his hammock but instead saw:

Brysco!  I grabbed another quick snapshot and patted Brysco as I had done for his brother.  When had they changed places?  It was one and then the other almost immediately sort of like a magicians trick.  Presto Chango!

The point being that they have rediscovered a toy they loved before and then got bored with.   As long as Tim or I or both of us are in the kitchen or living room, there is often one house panther or the other in the hammock where they can keep an eye on us. Apparently that is their job and they take it VERY seriously. Sometimes they have to wrestle a bit to determine whose turn it is. We do not interfere as long as blood is not drawn.  Which is, coincidentally, the same rule I had for the human boys when they were small. Worked then, works now.

AND it all seems to have proved that the articles I read are correct.  Cats do get bored but they do not necessarily need new toys.  Old toys in a new place works great too.  Love it.  I will be doing more re-arranging in the future.  

​Just thought I'd share :)

You know this lady, right?  I mean, you at least recognize that it's me?  At least that was me on Thursday just before I left for the museum. Wait, this isn't coming out exactly right. I am not explaining myself clearly. I am still the essence of who I always was, after all, that part didn't change.  Just the packaging changed.  Wait, what?

It's about my hair. It's almost always about my hair.  It is with a lot of women.  What is it with us and our obsession with our hair?   I recently read a statistic that on average, women spend over a thousand dollars a year on their hair and that's an average that includes every US woman from the ladies who are willing and able to shell out major buckerooties on the regular to the cheapo's like me who trim their own bangs, only go in 2 or 3 times a year, with a coupon mind you, and only to very low expense salons.   I can think of a lot of things to do with a thousand dollars that do not involve hair. 

But still, my hair must be dealt with now and again and l lately, my hair has been driving me mad.  It turns out that my last haircut was about four months ago, so I suppose it makes sense.  I have trimmed my bangs multiple times in the interim, of course.  And I do it so very slowly and carefully, snipping off the tiniest bits at a time, terrified of opps-ing big time and ending up with something.............unfortunate.  As I look at the photo I suppose that my bangs didn't look terrible, I suppose.  I am, by no means a professional, and I really have no idea what I'm doing except getting the hair out of my eyes. That's the biggest goal when I trim my bangs. I succeeded at that at the very least.

But the rest of my my hair, the length of it, the heaviness of it,  the floppy weird bulky fall of it,  the odd bits that grow either much slower or much faster than the rest of it (and what is up with that?) were getting harder and harder to manage. And by that I mean manage to make it look half way decent, especially when I'm working or otherwise seen out in public. The rest of the time it's very whatever and I don't care all that much.

It was taking longer to tame and I was becoming more frustrated every day. I was, frankly, kind of over it.  So yesterday I decided, this is the day. I'm getting my hair cut.

These days I don't go to a fancy schmancy place. It's just a trim/cut, not washing no styling no big doobiedo consultation, just a cut.  I have always operated on the, "What is the difference between a good hair cut and a bad one?" platform.  (the answer, by the way, is two weeks).  If I don't like how it turns out, I just hang in for a couple of weeks and then, suddenly, it's a lot better.  Partly because it has grown out a bit and partly because I have figured out what to do with my "new" hair.

And because I don't go to a fancy, standing appointment with a dedicated stylist and peaceful music playing and some soft and beautiful fragrance wafting through anymore, I never know who I'm going to end up with on the other end of the scissors.  And I'm okay with that.  I show up, wait a short time, sit in a chair, pay an embarrassingly small amount of money and come back with shorter hair.  It works.

But I will confess that the following two week period of time, when I'm attempting to re-learn my shorter hair, and figure out how to work with it, is a struggle. Sometimes a bigger struggle than others.  As I walk along, and catch a peek at my reflection out of the corner of my  eye, I wonder who that short haired woman is walking beside me.  It's me. Every dang time, it's me.  I just don't recognize me.  

At least not for the first few days.  I'll get the hang of it.  Just bear with me. I want to wear a tee-shirt that says so, by way of explanation, but of course I do not.    This time it's not just shorter but she also "thinned' out my hair. I wasn't aware that it was in need of 'thinning' but I suppose in the humid hothothot of any Florida summer, it's not a terrible idea.

So in the meantime, here I am, not looking like myself, or at least not the way I think of myself (or perhaps remember myself?)  for a short time while it begins to grow out.  It's not bulky anymore, it doesn't flop oddly or hang limply,  and it's off the back of my neck which is always where it feels the hottest this time of year AND the bangs are out of my eyes. So I'd say the haircut was a success.

Are you curious? Do you want to know?  Would you like to see?  Ok.  Hang on to your hat coz here we go:

Two weeks, guys, I'll get the hang of this in two weeks.

​Have a great weekend!

 I don't know about your house, but at our house, Amazon deliveries are a regular thing.  Amazon packages arrive at least weekly. It is a Very rare week without one.  During the Christmas Season, we take full advantage of Amazon and work it hard.  We purchase gifts, usually shipped directly, buy cookie baking ingredients that I cannot find locally, and decorations that, somehow, we seem decide that we need.  Vitamins, books, clothing, shoes, phones, small appliances and helpful gadgets galore, the list of what Amazon can deliver right to your door is nearly endless.  Seriously.

Please do not get me wrong, I also shop locally and I especially love the little boutique shops right here on the island, particularly when I'm buying gifts. Tim and I both believe in supporting our local businesses.  But there are times when we cannot get what we want here in town. Or what we need just costs significantly less when purchased online and that matters. It matters a lot.

There was a time when purchasing things online was a dicey affair.  Everything was ordered individually through the company that offered it and some companies were more legitimate or  perhaps just better verse in the process than others.   What you thought you purchased may end up being something else entirely and there was, very likely no recourse for you to rectify it.  Sometimes whatever was ordered took weeks (and weeks and weeks) to arrive, in various states of broken.  Occasionally it never arrived at all.  Trying to return an incorrect or unneeded order was a nightmare.  Things are different now, thank goodness.

Whatever we order through amazon arrives correctly and quickly and returns are relatively painless.  If there is, somehow, an error of any sort, it is dealt with directly.  And when something is needed ASAP, I am always surprised and grateful when it does, indeed, show up overnight. Sometimes even the same day it is ordered! I appreciate the convenience and the efficiency.

 But I honestly never realized what happens behind the scenes.

We got the opportunity to see, at least some of the BTS recently on a Minock Day.  We met up with our friends in Tampa at an Amazon Fulfillment Center for a tour.  There ended up being roughly 20 people in the group, which is not too bad.  

Our tour guide gathered us together, checked our ID's against her list of attendees and led us through security.  We were each given bottles of water and encouraged to drink up. Anyone who hadn't had breakfast first (me) was given a granola bar with instructions to eat it immediately as they didn't want to "lose anyone" during the tour. heh.  After some important safety instructions, we were each given a pair of noise cancelling headphones which were mic-ed and we played follow the leader.

The tour was fascinating!  There were so many employees!  So many computers!  So many Packages!  So much Stuff being packaged!  And to me, the coolest part, so very many robots!! Each type of robot has a name.  The one I remember clearly was Hercules who was a hard worker for sure.  Hercules robots, which are similar to giant Roombas, deliver to which ever employee has called it up, via computer, the item they are in charge of.  The products are somewhere in a huge line stack of hard plastic crates. Hercules zooms the stack right over to the employee.  The employee then grabs the item in question and before you ask how they know where in the stack that one item is,  Hercules whirls around until that side is facing the employee and the area where the item lives lights up.  It Is So Cool!

We watched items get checked in and other items be checked out. We saw products wrapped and prepared for shipment and then be carted off to be shipped out.  We saw robots being recalibrated and also saw them hie themselves off to be recharged at, of course, the recharging stations.  The robots themselves are treated with a courtesy and kindness usually offered only to humans.  Nice.  

The Fulfillment Center is huge. No, it's bigger than huge, it's......hmmmm what's bigger than huge...Enormous? Colossal?  Massive?  I'm not sure that any of those words suit but I think you get my drift.  There are multiple floors, elevators of course, a lot of industrial staircases, great sightlines, so much machinery!, surprisingly bright and shiny decor here and there,  and noise. a LOT of noise *(hence the headphones)*.   It was so large that they have medical staff on sight at all times.  Whoa!

The entire plant was remarkably clean and for all that it seemed kind of chaotic, it all made a crazy kind of sense too.  Everyone we saw working there was pleasant and smiled, waved and sometimes spoke to us as we walked through, head on a swivel, trying to see everything all at the same time.  Each step was painstakingly explained to us and questions answered.  One of the things we learned is that full time employment there is 10 hours a day, 4 days a week which sounds awesome.  When I was working, I often said to my bosses that I would Happily work 10 or more hours a day if I could just have that one day off during the week for appointments and errands which of course never happened for me. But I feel vindicated a little bit that Amazon gets it.  

Tim and I have always enjoyed Factory Tours and while, technically, I suppose it as not a factory, it was still fascinating and I'm so glad we went.  Not every amazon place offers tours but a lot of them do and if there is one near you that have that option, I suggest that you check it out.  It was free, it was interesting, it was fun and I now have an extra appreciation for all of the amazon packages that arrive on our doorstep.

I guess I owe everyone an apology.  I haven't been writing lately.  It was no one big thing, really, just a lot of smaller things that ate up my time and I kept telling myself, "oops, dang, I missed another day. Oh well, I will write tomorrow" and then tomorrow came and went and I was still saying it.   Life happens.

But today I'm back, first of all to hope that all of you are well and happy and having some fun out there while living your lives but also to show you a few photos I took last night.

For multiple reasons, among them vacations, appointments, heat advisories and rain, I haven't been on a real hike in over a month now. And I missed it. A lot!  Not just the hiking, although I do love that, but also being in nature, taking photos and hanging out with my sister.  As it so happens,  Joy is otherwise occupied right now, totally understandable, and I cannot control that. BUT I can control whether or not I go out on my own.

So with that in mind,  Wednesday night I told myself that I would wake up early the next day (thursday) before it got too hot, and grab my camera and head out around the island snapping away. And that was a great idea right up until I had a terrible night of non-sleep and finally dozed off around 5:30 am for about 90 minutes and the idea didn't sound very good any more. Dang.  But Thursday night after dinner I guess I got my second (or third or fourth) wind and  Tim and I headed over to the beach.

The first thing that struck me, other than, as always, how beautiful it is, was that it  was LOADED with people. In August!  In Florida! Our beaches are usually very quiet and practically abandoned in August. It's partly because August and September are our most likely months to have hurricanes and honestly, who would want experience that willingly?  But it's also because, this time of year is hot. Not just hot but 7th level of hell hot.  Daily heat advisories hot.  And also humid. Not just ordinary humid but soupy humid. Breathing under water humid.  It's unpleasant.  And why would anyone pay money to visit us then?  

Mostly they wouldn't.  But for whatever reason, this year, it seems that they would.  Sooo yes, Lots of people. Which is lovely.  It genuinely makes me happy to see so many people loving our town and our beaches!  Yay!  But I don't' really want to take loads of pictures of random people on the beach.  So we didn't spend much time at our first stop. Here's a few shots though.  One of them from the lifeguard shack - you'll know which one it is:

Even these few photos were tricky to get because people kept walking into the shots.  I wasn't mad at anyone of course. Everybody as just having fun! They were enjoying themselves, as they should.  But we decided to move to another beach access point.  Hey it's an island, the entire perimeter is water! Just pick another spot!

So we moved on.  The next spot was filled with giant machinery and pipes and other things I don't typically think of as photo worthy.  (all stuff from a beach renourishment project currently going on) But Tim saw a couple of possibilities which he pointed out to me so I rethought it and decided that even though it was far more industrial than I usually gravitate toward,  I kind of liked how different the shots might be from my usual.  You can decide how you feel about it on your own:

Our next stop was in an area that is loaded with beach front condo's on one side.  Definitely possibilities there.  Tim with his great eye for photos, was a terrific spotter of possibilities as we peeked down the corridors between buildings. Eventually we crept down to their beach for a few shots as well;

I think the pictures from the boat launch and marina are my favourites this time around.  That pink water reflected from the sky was just amazing.  

After all that we headed home, thinking I was done taking photos that night.  But as we drove, Tim cleverly spied one more really one good shot beside a house that is currently under construction.  Once he pointed it out, I could not resist this one:

Do you have a "Dream Home"?  I mean, in the broadest sense of hopes and wishes and dreams, is there a mental image of a house that has a better look, layout,  location or number of rooms?  Is there something would better strike your fancy?  Maybe it's not an entire house, maybe it's just one room that, in a perfect world, with deep enough pockets, you might tweak a bit?  Or perhaps you love your home, just as it is, but you wish it was closer to or farther from town?   I suspect that most us do.

Tim and I love where we live, walking distance to our cute little downtown, walking distance to the beach, easy driving distance to multiple different cities and airports. We are very happy  with where we live.  And we even like our little house.  It's just a cute little old beach house, emphasis on the little and the old.  

We've updated and improved things, one project a year for ten years now, and we still like our house just fine. Honest, we do!  If we spend every day of the rest of our lives in this house, that would not be a problem at all. And, as I said before, we love where we are.  But is this our Dream Home?  No. Not at all.

And that is a huge part of why we enjoy going to see model homes and Open Houses.  We are, mentally building, our Dream Home.  Seeing ideas, up close and personal, as opposed to just reading about them, has helped us to decide is this something we like (and if so, why) or is this something we do not like (and if so, why).  Other houses sometimes showcase things we might never, in a million years, consider. OR it's something we considered, discarded and now are reconsidering because seeing it in person is completely different than on paper.

I guess we take this fairly seriously because we have been "building" our Dream Home for nearly the entire ten years we have lived here.  The whole, if we were starting from scratch, what would our house HAVE to have, or what would be nice, but is not an absolute necessity, and what do we absolutely positively NOT want.  We have tossed around ideas, agreed, disagreed, made our case(s), discussed endlessly, drawn sketches on paper and pointed out in other houses that we see and even done a little research - (mostly about construction ideas and landscaping thoughts).

When Tim and I do the Noonwalk, which we try to do most everyday, it's a common discussion if we have nothing else pressing to discuss.  What do we think about this, that or the other thing.  When we are on a long drive, one or the other of us might be struck with a new Dream Home thought and that discussion might last 100 miles or so.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, that if we have a weekend day with no other plans, we sometimes will look to see if there are any models or Open Houses that we haven't already seen scheduled.  And that is what happened this past Sunday.

You are familiar with Open Houses, I assume.  The owners vacate the premises for a few hours, the realtor puts up Open House Signs with arrows around the neighborhood and in the yard, greets everyone who wants to check out the house and hands out paperwork telling about the home, the neighborhood and so forth.  Sometimes they want you to "sign in" sometimes they don't.  Sometimes they offer cookies and water. And they try, very hard, to answer all of the questions asked.  

Tim found Three houses, online that were listed as Open Houses that day all of which looked interesting, two of them in an unfamiliar neighborhood, one in a neighborhood we already like. We had no other plans, no other errands and it was a gloomy day that threatened to let loose so why not.  Off we went.

Tim was Pilot, I was Navigator, as per usual.    The drive was perfectly ordinary, it was rainy true enough, but ordinary otherwise, and when we arrived at the neighborhood, we both remarked on how cute it was. The lots were large, the houses set well apart, there were sidewalks on both sides of the street and mature growth trees.  The homes and yards were well kept and the houses of wildly diverse architectural styles, ages, and eras.  We were suitably impressed.

When we arrived at the address in question, however, there were no Open House signs, not one. How Very Odd.  I re-checked the  date and time on several different real estate websites and all of them agreed that it should be an Open House. Not only were there no signs, but no sign of life!  No realtor's car in the driveway, no lights on inside. Very Very Odd.  Well, we thought, perhaps they were delayed by the rain and would therefore be getting a late start. No worries. We moved on to the 2nd house on the list.  We continued to note pretty homes, the surprise of a body of water very nearby, what an adorable neighborhood feel it had and then, we arrived at the second address which also had Zero signs, Zero cards in the driveway or in front of the house AND Zero lights on inside. What the what?

Hmmmm.  We drove around the area for a bit then, just in case there was, in fact,  the late start, returned to the first house but nothing had changed. Bizarre.  How odd that both houses in that same neighborhood were apparently listed incorrectly?  Whatever, we said out loud to each other and moved on to the 3rd house and guess what?  Also no signs, no signs of life, no nothin'. What exactly is happening ?  

It felt Very Twilight Zone.  what are the odds that all 3 houses, three different realtors, three different streets, two different neighborhoods would all have Open Houses listed very clearly on line but not in reality. 

We headed for home, perplexed and disappointed, wondering what on earth was going on. Then we wondered, were they called on account of rain?  Wait a minute that makes no sense, this is not a baseball game.  We aren't viewing the house through the windows from outside getting soaked in the downpour.  The only time rain enters into the situation at all would be the short trot, under an umbrella mind you, from car to house, house to car.    But is it possible?  Could that be the case?  Has this ever happened to any of you?

Is this a new thing?  I admittedly do not keep up with all of the New Things happening in the world out there, but Open Houses that are, in fact, not open due to weather?  That's a new one for us.   Hurricanes?  Yeah, absolutely, that would be cancelled.  Tropical Storm, yupyup. Same goes for volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and blizzards, but just ordinary rain?  Colour me surprised. I just don't get it. I was just regular rain.....Gene Kelly did a whole song and dance in it!  Ryan Gosling and Rachel MacAdams had a famous kiss in it!   Football games get played in it.  Most of Woodstock was rain soaked.

I guess I just need to file this under, Learned Something New now let it go.  But that doesn't mean I like it.

You may have noticed that I have not posted any Photo Safari Reports in a few weeks.  Generally speaking, Joy and I usually hike on Thursdays which means I have Photo Safari Report (PSR) ready for you on Fridays!  But, with one thing and another, it turns out that the last PSR I put up was an entire month ago! It was June 26th, I just looked it up! 

I don't know if you've missed reading them, but I've missed writing them and mostly I've missed doing them!  The hiking, the photographing, the spotting of opportunity and the time with my sister are all  things too good to not do!

But life happens.  There have been appointments, travels, and mostly, there has been rain. Lots and lots of rain. Well it is our rainy season, so it makes perfect sense but dang!  Joy and I were both very hopeful for yesterday. After many weeks of NOT, we were sure that finally we'd be getting back out there. And then on Monday we checked the weather prediction and it was wet. Very wet. And worse than wet, it was filled with lightning. We don't mess around with lightning.  But during our usual Monday phone call, we agreed to wait to make an absolute decision until Wednesday.  The plan was that when I got home from work on Wednesday. I would check all of the various weather reports (because they don't always agree) and text her.

As soon as I got back from the museum on Wednesday, as promised, I checked the weather predictions and for a change, they all agreed.  Thunder, lightning, and rain. Full Orchestration. For Thursday morning.  Dang.  Joy and I texted back and forth for a bit trying to decide. After all, things do change. And around here, they change often.  So we agreed to do a zero hour decision Thursday morning. Whoever got up first would look out the window and text the other one.  Reasonable thought process! So we both prepared as we always do, camera batteries were charged, hiking clothes laid out, equipment gathered, we were ready, just in case.

I woke at 5:30 am Thursday morning to what sounded like an unending line of giant dump trucks filled with boulders crossing a metal bridge.  That is to say, rolling thunder.  I slitted my eyes open long enough to read the nearest clock and saw the time and immediately thereafter I was nearly blinded by a lightning flash in the very dark wee hours.  Dang.  I groaned softly, swung out of bed and padded to the window.

It was just a gentle pitter patter of rain at that moment; more drizzle than rain.  I checked the weather app on my phone and it confirmed that it had not changed it's mind about the storm. And in fact, if anything, it was going to be longer and bigger than originally stated. The entire county was now under a flood watch.  Well, that is just craptastic.

I texted Joy, knowing that eventually she would see my report and suggestion that the hike be cancelled even though the rain was just drizzly.  She responded almost immediately and agreed.  At that point it was more about the lightning than the rain.  It's not like we would melt in the rain.  It's not fun to be soaking wet, feet squelching in our shoes (a sure way to invite blisters by the way), clothes plastered to our bodies and hair running with water but it's not a death knell, just miserable.  The problem with the rain is our cameras and my hearing aids.  If they get wet, it's not just a problem, it's an expensive problem. 

We could bring plastic bags, that's easy enough.  They fold up small, tuck them in a pocket and cameras and hearing aids are protected.   Absolutely, that could be done.  But in Florida, the issue is the lightning.  Not only do we get a lot of lightning, and wildfires often start from lightning strikes here abouts, but  - and this is the scary part - people get struck by lightning with alarming frequency and that is ALWAYS a bad thing.    So drizzle or no drizzle, lightning says no.   No Hike.  Ratz.  Yet another week of no hike, no pictures, no photo safari report and no time with my sister.

Wait a minute, no pictures?  I bet I have some pictures.  And it's true, I do!  Just a few, but they are pictures and so they count.  Between rain bands on this past Tuesday, I saw the kittyboys raptly starring out the family room windows in the afternoon. So I quietly crept up behind them to see what they were seeing.  It was a nice variety of birds at and near the feeder :) I watched with Brysco and Wyatt for a bit then, for a change actually thinking, I grabbed my camera and took some photos. I had particular reason in mind, it was strictly, just because. Which is an excellent reason all on it's own. And now, well it's not a photo safari report and these aren't exotic or unusual birds and they weren't in a preserve or state park, just our backyard.  Still counts!

So I leave you today with wishes for a great weekend and a few birdie photos.  I hope all the places around the country today that are desperate for rain, finally get some! I'd send you ours if I could, but stamps do not stick to it!

​

Way back toward the beginning of July when I was writing about Tim's and my birthday, I neglected to mention the biggest and most unexpected gift I got on my big day.  My washer broke down after the very first load.  Dang. And before you ask why on earth I was doing laundry on my birthday and isn't that against my own birthday rules, let me remind you that the rule is that I get to do exactly what I please on my birthday and one of the things I was pleased to do (initially anyway) was laundry.  It was my dang day, I'll spend it the way I wish.

The way I knew that the washer was broken was that it was holding my laundry hostage.  That's right, the cycle was complete, the door was locked and it refused to unlock.  Well, that was unexpected.  My first thought was to try to trick the washer into unlocking by running a second, shorter cycle and surely, when the cycle was complete, the door would pop open and all would, once again, be well with the world.  Great idea.  Except for the part where it didn't work.  Double dang.

So I went online, typed in the model/serial number/etc  to check for trouble shooting tips.  Door that refuses to unlock was a category (not those exact words, but close enough) and they had three ideas for how to correct the problem. The first was to unplug the washer, let it sit a minute and think about what it had done, replug it and voila, the door should magically unlock.  It did not.  Is there a triple dang?

The second tip was what I had already done, run a different cycle.  It did not work the first time I did it. It also did not work the second time. And in fact, the second time it not only did not unlock the door, it also did not run the cycle.  Clearly things were not only bad, but getting worse.

The third tip involved opening some mysterious hidden panel that was beyond my ability OR interest.  By then I had given up. Feeling dejected and a little bummed, I told Tim about the issue.  Of immediate importance was getting that door unlocked so that I could rescue the clean wet clothing.  The dryer still works, after all. But if the wet stuff sits too long it'll become moldy wet stuff and that is never good.  

I suspect that Tim tried the 3rd tip and was able to find the secret hidden panel because he was able to open the door. Huzzah!  I quickly tossed everything into the dryer and was feeling pretty good about things.  Tim suggested that before I attempted to actually wash anything else, I should run an empty cycle first just in case the door locked me out again.  Good Thought!  

Once again, I set the washer to run the shortest cycle, hit start, it lit up and then about 90 seconds later, turned itself off.  Well crap.  Just to be thorough, I tried every cycle available and the same thing happened each time.  Insert big annoyed sigh here.

I really didn't want to even think about it for another moment on that particular day and so I did not.   Except to book a repair person. It turned out that the washer was still under warranty so yes, I abso-freakin-lutely was going to go the repair route.  our washer, by the way, is only two years old. I know that appliances do not last like they used to in the olden days, but two years is crazy.  I called the number on the warranty paperwork and got a robot phone answerer.  It asked pertinent questions, I answered them and then it sent me a website and an identification code.  So I went to the website, answered more questions, put in my secret decoder ring code.  The website authorized the repair, acknowledged the warranty *yay* and offered me dates for the repair person to come out.  I took the first one which was Tuesday.  (remember this all began on my birthday which was a Thursday this year).

  Obviously I was going to have to do somthing I realllllllly did not want to do and that was, go to the laundromat.

 I waited until the next day, gathered baskets full of the remainder of the wash that did not get done the day before, laundry pods, dryer sheets and my keys and headed to my local laundromat.  It had been probably ten years since I'd been there and things change so I wasn't positive what I was walking into and I'm sure that I showed my hesitation on my face.  I stood there like a statue, two very full baskets in my arms, purse slung cross body, sunglasses popped on top of my head and cast my eyes around the room trying to, I don't know orient myself to a new environment?  Within about 5 minutes, a very nice lady came up to me, introduced herself, told me that she ran the place and she kind of toured me around.

The last time I was there, quarters were the thing. A person had to have quarters to run the machinery. Lots and lots of quarters.  I used to go to the bank first and get a couple of rolls of quarters before going.  This time I was able to get the job done with a credit card.  So Much Easier!  Every machine had it's own card reader and it was just a matter of getting the knack of making that particular machine pleased with the speed of the swipe. Not too fast, not too slow.

So I got the laundry done, the lady was nice, the machines were easy to use, the laundromat is ON island which means I was able to drive there without having a heart attack and so I really have nothing to complain about. But I will anyway.  

First of all, I am grateful beyond measure that we have a laundromat and, again, that is was reasonably clean and easy to use and the lady who runs it was so nice BUT I do not like going to the laundromat. Not even sure why, just know that I don't.  And I never have.  There have been huge portions of my life when going to the laundromat was a regular bi-weekly thing.  During college when I'd take text books with me to study while the machine hummed along and during the warmer seasons, walk over to dairy queen to get a cone to eat while waiting.  When the boys were babies and I'd carry baskets of laundry, handfuls of toddlers and a hipful of baby to juggle while taking care of laundry business.  Again, when I was a single mom and the boys were older and we would go early on a Sunday morning when nobody else was there, the boys could entertain themselves and help fold/carry baskets/keep me company.  And of course, as I said earlier, when we first moved here and the house didn't have a washer/dryer hooked up yet.

So I'm familiar with the concept.  And to be honest, some laundromats are more disgusting than others.  I'm thinking way back now, to a particular laundromat when someone had relieved themselves in an "inconspicuous" inside corner despite there being bathrooms on site, there were remnants of gum in a dryer that I did not notice until I took the dried clothes OUT of the tumbler (sigh) and someone walked off with one entire load of my stuff out of the dryer.  (bigger sigh). In comparison, our local laundromat is heaven sent. But it is still a laundromat and I have to load stuff in the car, drive over, haul it out of the car into the building, afterward haul it back out into the car, drive home, carrying it inside and THEN put things away or in the ironing pile.

I think the worst part is the inefficiency.  When I do laundry at home, once the loads are started I can then move on to doing other things.  As every woman knows, multi-tasking is how things get done around the house.  Laundromat is single tasking. Humph.

ANYWAY, Eventually Tuesday rolled around and the repair guy showed up, found the problemS  yes, that's right plural problems.  There were three issues.   Told me he had to order parts and would be in touch to schedule the actual repair once they had come in and no, he had no idea when that would be.  I felt as if I was held hostage by the washer once again.

So I continued going to the laundromat  multiple times a week, getting better and better at the swipe timing as time went by and then one glorious day Tim got the call and booked it, Dan-O.  Last Friday, late afternoon, a repair guy came with three boxes (I assume the parts in question) and spent a few hours taking out the old, putting in the new and making sure it all worked. Beefore he left,  I told him he was my new favorite person. He grinned.

I do not believe I have ever been so happy in my life to do laundry as I am right now.  I have not only done the usual clothes and towels but blankets, comforters, mattress covers.........basically anything that fits in the washer has now been washed.  I am absolutely delighted.

Y'know it occurs to me that I ought to be at least a little embarrassed by how affected I was by not having a working washer.  After all, I'm just a few generations out from women who used to wash board to scrub clothes and boiled them in big pots.  I'm not sure if they would think I was weak and spoiled, or if they would be envious of how good I have it.  Maybe a little of both

This is familiar experience around here during Rainy Season, which is right now.  Actually it began June 1st but we honestly didn't see all that much rain for the first six weeks. In fact, we saw so little rain for the first part of 'rainy season' that we were official under drought restrictions especially regarding such things as sprinkler systems and garden watering.

It got worse too.  Wildfires began to pop up almost every day or so  primarily due to lightning strikes (lighting yes, rain no which is a bad combo) and smelling that acrid awful smokey air outside was beginning to be a regular thing.  You knew immediately who was flouting the lawn watering rules just by walking down the street.  Any good looking beautiful green carpet of a lawn was somebody who was sneakily watering more. OR they had artificial turf, it was for sure one or the other. The rest of us had patchy, brownish, crispy looking lawns.  Things that normally blossom like mad this time of year were stretching themselves to blossom at all.

It was all getting to be pretty sad.

Then last week, just in time to save us all, the rain finally came.  Huzzah!  But then it kept raining.  And raining.  And Raining.  Eventually every day was gloomy, dark & grey with thunder in the distance and lightening strike notifications pinging on my phone continually.  It was either currently raining, had just finished raining or was about to rain every moment of the day or night.  There were a few nights where we woke up from such rockin' and rollin' and full  orchestration that we couldn't sleep. It sounded as if the storm were directly above our house (and who knows?  Maybe it was!)

I was reluctant to leave the house at all because, seriously, who wants to dash through rain coming down so hard it looks like a wall?  Once while driving, Tim - who is an excellent driver and never flinches - actually pulled over into a parking lot to wait until it let up a wee bit.   That's how you know  was a gullywhomper of the first order.  

Umbrellas are fairly pointless in that kind of rain. The wind will pull it inside out in no time flat and even if your bumbershoot remains whole, the rain is often coming in sideways and you are going to be wet regardless- umbrella  or not!

The green growing stuff was delighted.  Suddenly all the blooming things began blooming like mad, colour in every direction.  The lawns are filling back in looking green and lush and the birds are responding enthusiastically.   Lakes, creek, rivers and ponds are filling back up too and that's loverly to see though it also means, beware of gators. They are sneaky and can literally be in any body of water you can see, whether it's a just a gully on the side of the road or a full sized lake.
​
Last Sunday, even though it was rainy with a prediction of yet more rain, we went for a drive.  We ended up by the water up in Sarasota and stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view. I hopped out of the car between rain bands and took a few photos:

Today is sunny, at the moment and 88 degrees, and not quite a humid as it might be for a Florida July, but rain is expected this evening once more and that will keep the green stuff green.

I'm sure eventually things will settle into the normal rhythm of the daily 4 o'clock rain band coming through and then going on it's merry way until Rainy Season is once again over and things cool off and the humidity lifts a bit. That would be Tourist Season which is a whole other thing.

Wishes you a balance of the perfect amount of rain and sun!

​Have a great weekend!

We are lucky enough to have a live performance theatre here in our city. Not just in our city, mind you, but right here on Venice Island.   We can easily walk there, which I love. While were aren't season ticket holders by any stretch, we have seen a number of terrific shows there and had hopes to see at least a few more.

But back in 2022, Hurricane Ian tore through Venice and, as you can clearly see from the above photo on the left, pretty much destroyed the nearly 100 year old building.  Everyone, theatre go-er or not, wondered what the future would bring regarding our theatre.  There were loads of theories and gossip, of course.  That's what always happens.

But now here we are, six years later and, after some very impressive fund raising, donations,  grants and Government assistance it appears that the Venice Theatre is repaired. Well that's what it looks like in the photo on the right, right?  

The truth is that it's only partially repaired.  There is still a ways to go.  And Tim and I found that out, up close and personal, last week when we were able to tour the building!  I adore "behind the scenes" stuff.  Our tour guide, a very personable and knowledgeable soul took us through all of the "do not enter" and "staff only" doors that I've long wondered about (I'm so nosy!)  We were even able to don hard hats (check out photo at the end to see Tim and I sporting very fashionable hardhats) and witness the part that remains under construction.  It was so much fun and quite the transformation.

Lets go backwards before we go forwards.  I will begin at the beginning. It's a very good place to start.  Our adorable little city of Venice Florida is only just now one hundred years old. So there you go, we were official in 1926. The roaring twenties!  And as such, it was a beautiful and very fun place that had quite a good number of Enormous and Gorgeous Grand Hotels for the folks with enough money to travel and vacation.   In 1927, on the exact site of the Venice Theatre, was an automotive garage (to take good care of the vehicles of those grand folks). It was called the Orange Blossom Garage.  Things were rolling along beautifully in this amazing gulf-side city filled with Mediterranean Architecture, lots of things to do, palm trees galore and a gorgeous beach.

By the time of the Stock Market Crash that changed the world in 1929, the city of Venice was already in trouble due to some iffy financial decision and mismanagement of funds. The Crash just finished it.  The city went from a thriving community of about 4000 people to around 400 virtually overnight.  It was practically a ghost town filled with huge empty hotels and so many other business closed down, including the Orange Blossom Garage.

In 1932, the Kentucky Military Institute (KMI), a military school, first rented and then bought several of the big empty hotels and the garage, among other buildings, to use as the winter quarters for their school which began to breathe new life into the city.  The KMI continued to house those building until the school closed in 1971.  The garage, which was being used as an armory, a chapel and a basketball arena, once again, sat empty.

Meanwhile, as the city had begun to revitalize itself over the years, the Venice Little Theatre, as an organization  was created in 1950 in borrowed space at our little airport which had previously been used during WWII by the Army Aircorps.   The community loved having its own live theater and eventually, in 1973, bought the old Orange Blossom Garage and slowly turned it into the Venice Theatre.

And now,  ack in current day, the Venice Theatre is actually a little campus of three separate buildings and once repairs are complete, there will be the one large stage, one smaller stage and in a separate building that will primarily be used for education, several other yet smaller stages. It is a genuine marvel!  And a serious one at that.  The folks involved are so very serious about the business of entertainment and education that in the world of Community Theatre, the Venice Theatre ranks #2 in the entire USA by the official organization that ranks such things.  Wow!  By the way, the #1 ranking community theatre in the US is in Omaha Nebraska.

Now that the history lesson is complete, I would love to share a few of the behind the scenes photos that I took:

I'll start with the under construction area which will ultimately be the main theatre.  What I neglected to get a photo of was the fly bridge which is where that massive staircase goes. It is incredibly high up and is such a lovely big space that it will be able to accommodate dozens of backdrops at a time along with catwalks, lighting and so much more:

Then some of the smaller rooms that I remembered to take pictures of (some of them I was too busy ogling instead of snapping):  

First here is the costume design studio. It is a surprisingly huge room@ One wall alone was just one sewing machine after another (with people manning several while we were there), the other three walls were lined with bin-stuffed shelving.  Every bin was labelled with such things as "sequins", "buttons" "lace"  "zippers" and far, far more.  The room was further crowded with worktables, some of which had partially completed projects laid out, mannequins in various states of dress, and rack upon rack of colours of threads. It was glorious!

One of my favourite rooms was the costume closet which is actually an entire room full to overflowing with carefully labelled and organized garments, hat, shoes and jewelry:

Another of my favorites was the Small Props room which, as the title suggests, holds small *but essential* props.  It was so quirky and fun:

One of the three building encompassing the Venice Theatre campus is the Set Design and Construction building. It is a builders paradise with a dedicated paint room, at least one of every tool ever created, storage of the pieces currently unused but possibly useable again the future and it was filled with one of my favourite scents, sawdust!

Some of the rooms I neglected to get photos of were: the backstage waiting area, where the actors and dressers wait for their cues to go on; the orchestra pit which is really just small room with a video screen so the musicians and singers can see what is going on and prepare for their turns to perform; the music directors office which has a grand piano in it - of course it does - and so many more.

We also got to sneak into the smaller theatre which is up and running and watched the builders and electricians prepare for the next show:

It was a fascinating and so very fun peek into what goes into creating these award winnning plays that the audience gets to enjoy.  I had to laugh a little bit because the tour, which was touted as a 90 minute show 'round turned out to take more than 2 1/2 hours. We were actually nearing the 3 hour tour mark and well, we all know how that worked out for Gilligan and his friends eh?

If you are lucky enough to live in close proximity to a community theatre, I urge you to, at least once in awhile, go see some of the shows.  The people who work there, hundreds (literally) of them volunteers, really do put their hearts and souls into creating some magic for their audience.  And the shows themselves are a perfect escape from our real, stressful, normal lives for just an hour or so. I believe we can all benefit from a little bit of that ;)

In case you wondered, these are all flowers from around our yard.  It's like living in a botanical garden!

Wishing all of you a Beautiful Weekend!  See ya'll next week!

Hugs all 'round

You knew that my birthday was last Thursday, but I'm not sure that you also knew that Tim's birthday was last Saturday.  Yes our birthdays are the 9th and the 11th of July which is kind of crazy, eh? It has been Birthday Central at our house, lately. Tim and I, both separately and together, have been thoroughly birthday-ed every single day for about a week now.  And it has been absolutely Awesome!

We have been treated to brunches, lunches, dinners and desserts. We've received phone calls, and texts and emails, mostly from folks far away who we love and miss so much.  There were also lots of cards (some sparkly, some funny, some sweetly sincere) which are currently on display on the kitchen table defying any resident kitties attempts to knock them down.  There were shopping expeditions, gifts and surprise visits. We received a homemade and absolutely luscious pie (see above - it was exquisite) and a birthday card that was also a puzzle, so fun, so cute, so clever and unique!  We were hugged and celebrated and made much of.  And I think Tim and I both have gained at least 3 pounds from being so very wonderful-ed. 

"Why yes, I believe I will have that ice cream, thank you. After all it is my birthday"  and "Thank you yes, I'd love a bit of that pie/cake/cookie!  Birthdays come but once a year". It may take me 'til next birthday to work all those goodies off. BUT it was totally worth every calorie :)

Every single special effort that anyone made for us, was special and heart warming and often brought me to tears. We both feel so very loved and what could possibly be better than that?    It was a lovely, magical, amazing birthday week for us both.

In fact it was so wonderful that it completely balanced out the fact that Tim's car is back in the shop and my washing machine quit (I spent way fun time at the laundromat today yay).  And honestly, neither of those usually really annoying things which would normally have set me off are making me give much more than a shrug and a sigh today because we are still riding our Birthday Specialness High :)

Thank you one and all for EVERYTHING that made us feel like we are important in your lives and helped make our birthday truly a celebration!!  We feel as if you all  love us and I promise you, we love you right back  
​

Today is July 10th which means that yesterday was my birthday. Wow! Another year, gone, *snap* just like that.   As of yesterday, I now have to answer "73" when asked my age. Dang that sounds old.  Which is only because it is.  That said, there lots of different sorts of age 73!  I consider myself to be very fortunate to be the sort of 73 that is still active, as social as I ever was (which isn't all that much really), capable of getting into all kinds of trouble AND with most of my facilities still intact.  Not too bad.

I have interests and hobbies, family and friends, a sense of purpose and a calendar filled with loads of things that are not just doctor appointments.  For this I am truly thankful though I couldn't say exactly why I have been so lucky. It could be due to some really great genetics I suppose - my family tends to be quite long lived, historically.  Or perhaps I can take a little credit on my own because, outside of a penchant for cookies and ice cream, I have taken pretty good care of my health.  Or maybe it's simple blind stubbornness in my refusal to give in or even acknowledge the carnage associated with being elderly.

Wait a minute, 'elderly'?  Whoa!  I am not elderly. Am I? Okay I just looked it up. Yes, I am. Apparently, a person is considered elderly past the age of 65.  And I definitely qualify for that.  Dang!  Elderly?  I don't think I like that word.  I'm okay with old.  I'm fine with senior. (I don't like either one, but I can deal with them). Elderly however feels fragile and vulnerable and kind of decrepit.  Not a pretty picture. 

So I'm tearing up that picture. I've mentally put it through the shredder and it's gone.  Yes, I am now Seventy-Three Freakin' Years Old!  But I'm also fabulous!

And now, as per tradition, the Birthday Rules because they will ALWAYS apply regardless of age:

BIRTHDAY RULES

1. Number one and most important on this hit parade:  It's all about the birthday person.  It really is.  No exceptions. If it's your birthday, everything that day is about you. Period.

2. Of course, to be absolutely fair, I am not a person who really likes being the center of a big crowd of people. But a small, comfortable, familiar crowd is fine. In fact it's awesome.  A small group of people that I really care about it absolutely perfect.  If that group consists of me and one other person, sometimes that is the best group of all.

3. And there should be at least one treat that a person rarely has, like cake. Or ice cream.  Or cake AND ice cream.  And for heaven's sakes, if a person is going to indulge, it should be the good stuff. The real deal. No fake, crappy substitutes.  And speaking as a person with Lactose Intolerance, if I'm going to suffer later, I want the suffering to be worthwhile, which means the ice cream must be primo.

4. There should be a few cards, some of them should have sparkles, some flowers, some funny, some touching or maybe thought provoking. I like cards.  I set them up on top of the big display cabinet in the living room and admire them for far too long afterwards.

5. There should be some sort of contact from people far away, whether it's phone calls or emails or texts or facebook posts or telepathic thoughts, heaps of good wishes from folks far away makes a birthday extra special.  To think that all of those people bothered to take the time to acknowledge your existence on your birthday shows that you matter in this life.  That's important.

6. There should be no chores on your birthday.  Not one single solitary gotta-do should be done by the birthday celebrant.  Those things can either wait a day to be done, or someone else needs to do them.  I'm immovable on this fact.

7. The birthday person gets to choose what or where to eat for dinner.  And no matter what they choose, that's what dinner is.  Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  It is the ONE day of the entire year where nobody else's likes/dislikes/or personal opinion should take precedence regarding food.

8. It should be a happy day.  Only positive comments and thoughts please.  It should be a day of smiles and laughter. If there is something negative or sad that needs to be said, keep it to yourself for one more day.  Not even boredom is allowed.

​Happy Birthday to ME!

You see before you, Exhibit A, an ordinary pump dispenser.  This one happens to be body lotion. We use a lot of moisturizing lotion in this house.  Both of us. Even Tim.  I know this comes under the header of TMI, but since we have moved to Florida, Tim and I have fallen into the habit of taking 2 showers a day.  The first one, in the morning, is just part of waking up. While Tim drinks coffee, I do not. So for me, my morning shower is my "perk me up" instead of caffeine.  But, again, as Florida residents who spend actual time outside year 'round, we get sweaty, so before bed, we shower again.  We do this year 'round.  In the hot weather it is a necessity. In the cooler months, I suppose it's just habit.  The point remains, we shower, twice a day.

Which means we are very clean. But it also means we are drying out our skin which makes our skin itchy.  I hate itchy. I would rather be in pain than be itchy and I mean that seriously. Moisturizer, especially a super de duper moisturizer, applied liberally and often, helps tremendously (as does taking a less hot shower interestingly, but that's a different future post).

Anyway, that means we go through a goodly amount of moisturizing lotion on a regular basis.  We've tried a number of brands and kind of landed on Gold Bond in the end as one that we both liked.  As a product, I am a fan. A big fan.

However, the pump dispenser itself, as a means of accessing the lotion, is seriously flawed.  I mean it starts out just fine.  Tralalala, merrily we go on our way, pumping out lotion willynilly, until the bottle is about 3/4 empty. Then, suddenly, nothing. It seems to be kaput!  No matter how firmly or gently pumped, nothing else comes out. The bottle appears to be empty.  

Turns out, it is not. It was my friend Marsha, who cued me in on this.  "Good heaven's," she said to me when I whined about it to her, "it's not empty, don't just throw it away".  When I questioned her, she explained that she just cuts open the container to get access to the remainder. I raised my eyebrows with interest and curiosity.

On the one hand, I do like getting my money's worth.  Not a big fan of waste. On the other hand, is there enough leftover cream in the container to make it worth all of the pain-in-the-assidness of cutting open the bottle?  Only one way to find out.

First, I needed my tools, the most important of which was something to cut it open with.  I tried a number of things but it turned out that a box cutter was the best option.  As little scary, as I am not graceful and the bottle is every so sightly curved and I could easily imagine it slipping out from my clumsy hands and accidentally cutting something that bleeds rather than the container.  I vowed to myself to be extra careful.

Also got some paper towels because I anticipated at least a little bit of a mess and a different empty lidded container to hold any leftover moisturize.  Then I gathered up all no longer producing bottles of moisturizer that were in the house. Turned out to be two.

I laid each one carefully on it's side and took a deep breath, got a good grip on both bottle and boxcutter and began. Turned out to be more a series of punctures in the bottle than straight forward cutting as one might do on a cardboard box. But it worked so I suppose it doesn't matter.  In the end there were two half bottles of lotion and no blood lost so that's a win!

I was truly surprised at how much lotion remained at the bottom of the bottle.  At least a week's worth of application, would be my first guess. Easily. Probably more.  That's how much I was wasting by assuming that the pump dispense knew what it was doing when it stopped producing.  The container, after all isn't clear. I cannot see in!  And even if I unscrewed the top and peered inside, the lotion and the bottle are both white.  It would be somewhere between difficult and impossible to know for sure if the bottle were empty or not.

I suspect this is by design. I hate to be that suspicious of anyone's motives but come on!  I began to think about other pump dispenser products that I have used throughout my entire life and it's a crazy big number.  I wondered if it were true of ALL pump dispensers or just this one.  Well, I did a little investigating, and it turns out that the reason it happens is one of three things:

1.  a tube that is too short
2.  the bottle shape. A flat bottomed bottle tends to result in more residue 
3.  pump suction loss.  As the bottle empties, the pump loses suction and draws air instead of         product 

I hmmmmed on that for a wee bit because all of those reasons seem to be easily resolved with a design change so what the what?   I continued to read, perhaps there is something mechanical or physics related that I was missing in my thought process.  Turns out, Nope!  

"This design is a manufacturing and cost‑reduction choice — automated filling machines often round up to the nearest volume, so bottles are filled slightly over the labeled amount to ensure the pump delivers the stated volume. It’s also a practical compromise for mass production, as it’s easier to fill and test bottles at the factory."

And that is a direct quote. 

Ok, since I am not in charge of the world but also do not want to pay even more for the moisturizer, nor do I want to go without it (and making the necessary design changes would absolutely result in charging customers more), I guess I will just continue to do what I'm currently doing and preforming surgery on all pump dispenser bottles to garner every last pennies worth of product !!!!

You doubt me?  Here is what I scraped out of the two bottles I just cut open yesterday:

As an aside, I also learned that the pump dispenser design itself is literally thousands of years old.  Ancient Egyptians used it way back in 2000 BCE. The design has, of course, been refined  and modernized since then but still, I'm kind of impressed that the same basic concept used by Cleopatra and Ptolemy is still sitting on our bathroom vanity!  

Anyway, I guess the whole point here was to suggest to any of you who have noticed the same issue and maybe wondered if it was worthwhile that yeah, as lazy as I basically am, even I see the value in putting forth the effort to get every last drop in this particular case.  

No actual surgical license necessary  :)