Summer is Gone, Fall has Arrived!

It has been weeks since I have wanted to or had the time to post anything. We have been busy with Winter St. and then Katie was here for 4 days with her buddy Kelly. It was so good to fall asleep at night with Katie and Kelly talking out in the living room. I have such a unique sense of happiness when my kids are in the house. It was a good visit, way too short! She was able to get her car. We are delighted to be a two car family now. We have had up to 5 cars at one time....crazy!
We are enjoying Winter St now that we don't have guests booked for the remainder of the year. There is a booking from Jan-April, so we have that to shoot for to get things done....snail's pace, my kind of pressure! This is a big month for birthdays. My Ben had his 29th and it has really been a big number for me to comprehend. I was 27 when I had him. I remember as a young Mom one afternoon I wrote a letter to Ben as a man. In my mind I imagined it was on the event his wedding. I cried my eyes out as I pictured this infant, sleeping in his crib, as a full grown man. He has grown into a man so wonderfully beyond what I could have imagined. I am a very proud parent right now! Years later I found that letter and felt self conscious about writing it and threw it away thinking it was silly. I have always regretted that! Those were the years when I didn't trust myself.

I have thoroughly enjoyed our first Summer at Safety Harbor. My nightly ritual going out to the dock and watching the sun set has produced more sunset pictures than I'll ever need. They truly are unique and amazing, every one of them. The time of sitting, just being still, watching the water has been so healing and calming. Life is always changing so I grab those dock moments as often as I can. When I am at Winter St., as I am today, I find joy in the sunsets too, they are just different as the sun filters through the dogwood tree and the pines out in front. The changing leaves are evident, however subtle. One has to look hard to see the golden in the green. I pulled out my fall decorations right after Labor day. My favorite time of year. Halloween on Winter St. is a big deal, a carnival of sorts. I think people drive their kids to this neighborhood to trick or treat because it is so compact and inaccessible to thru traffic. You'd think you were on Main St. at Disneyland with the parade of lighted yard tractors, pulling trailers filled with kids....we missed it last year, but we plan to be here this year!

I have posted a few very recent dock picutres; one showing the almost full moonshine sending glitter to me on the water. Katie and Kelly on a late night talk fest in the kitchen at Safety Harbor. The purple berries on one of our indigenous plants, American Beautyberry, at Winter Street. The sun setting behind the live oak by the water.

A good Summer! Lou and I are looking forward to a little weekend trip in October to see some leaves changing and experience some cooler temperatures. Going by car-train to Virginia....will post pictures for sure!

Grouper Cheeks?

A nice date night last night at the Palm Pavilion, out at Clearwater Beach, for grouper cheeks (first I ever heard of these!) and fries. A walk on the beach, only brought home one shell. Not that I need any more. It was nice to see the gulf coast for a change. The water is warm and beautiful! Kinda cool onshore breeze to make it balmy. Nice end to a busy week.
Lou works pretty hard during the week; on his feet all day. On the weekends I defer to his preferences, much to my benefit I might add! Today we were up at the crack of dawn because our upstairs neighbors were up and the unusual noise woke us long before we were ready. We had our morning's hot drinks and then climbed back into bed when the noise settled down. After catching another couple hours of sleep we then shared a hearty late breakfast. Sunshine today for more than just five minutes. Got a walk in later in the afternoon when we were ready for lunch. So downtown to Brady's BBQ for a pulled pork sandwich for Lou and riblets and collard greens for me. Back home after lunch it was time for movies to take a nap by; Woody Allen's "Manhattan" put me to sleep.
A trip to the dock to watch the swirl of thunder clouds form behind me to the West and to the southeast. Called Kate back from her earlier missed call and caught her in the middle of a wedding shoot..yikes! Finished up the evening with a call to Paul's Pizza for dinner delivery; dry rub wings/bleu cheese dressing for me and a italian beef and sausage sandwich for Lou....got the Moto GP on the TV and just letting it all digest! We still have another whole day to hang together!!!
I am enjoying our very simple life right now. I have lived long enough to know it won't last forever. Living in the moment is becoming a habit.....I love it!

Mr. and Mrs. Manatee Visit Me

I had missed Thursday night to make my dock visit. I love going out to see what is happening with the sea life so I made sure I got out there on Friday after dinner. We ate late so it was after 8 by the time I went out. The first thing I noticed was that the water was as calm as glass and there were a lot of grasses floating on the surface. That made me think there probably was going to be some manatee action. I was sitting quietly on the far end of the dock next to the swim step when I heard that familiar breathing sound of a manatee...sure enough..there he was. The tide was high so he was able to hide deep down and down again he went. His big sized bubbles surfacing the longer he stayed down. I think they can do up to 3 minutes so I just waited and sure enough he came back up, but it a totally different area far away from my first sighting. Hmmmmmm....I was beginning to think there might be two manatees. I kept missing their surfacing; hearing them and then quickly looking just as they went back under. After about 20 minutes I was going to head back in, then I heard that familiar snort and there were two manatees right there next to me. Looking down into the water I could tell by their markings that we hadn't met before. With their closeness I figured they must be Mom and calf or Mr. and Mrs. Manatee. Since they were both about the same huge size I think I will call them Mr. and Mrs. Manatee. After they surfaced they almost as quickly dove back down to much on more of the seagrass growing on the bottom. Then I saw it: a manatee turd....

Today is Lou's Birthday

Got Lou his favorite lunch, Five Guys Cheeseburger and fries. Had a lot of paperwork to do today so I didn't get out of the shop until after 3pm. I had been eyeing a store that sells cheesecake for a while; The Better Cheesecake. Stopped in there and picked out a yummy looking raspberry cheesecake that was just the right size. I made Lou his favorite homemade tacos for dinner and he had just enough room for a piece of cheesecake afterwards. He thanked me for not making a big deal of his birthday. Funny how birthdays become more of an annoyance than anything after a while. He did get a call from Lois and I know it made him very happy. It made me happy too.
A trip to the dock watching the tropical storm bring dark clouds from the south so I didn't stay long. The tide had been so high that there was still flooding on the grassy area at the shoreline. I had to pick my way through high ground to get to and from the dock. I got to watch the clouds swirling above me as the storm moved in. It rained hard for a while, but nothing big.

Sunday Afternoon Drive

We woke to a phone call from my Kate. It was after 9:30 am, she wasn't jumping the gun, we were being slugs! Got the lowdown on her latest wedding while I made my coffee and put the electric kettle on for Lou's tea. So fun to know she is happy and having fun! After our usual morning bacon and eggs (for Lou) and gluten free waffels (for me) breakfast we decided to head out to explore the area east of Tampa. We drove over to Plant city and stopped at the train station. It started to rain while we were there, but for me it only added to the experience.

A Thursday Holiday!

We both slept terrible last night. I was up till after 3am and Lou got up at 1:30 and didn't sleep much afterwards. It was a good day Not to do too much work. Dana and Nancy had invited us to go with them to a Ray's Baseball game today. Since Lou wanted to get a morning's work done before we went, they picked me up and we went to breakfast at a local coffee shop/diner type of place. I had eggs and grits (yes, I have become a southerner!) We then headed over to the shop picked up Lou and Dana and Nancy got to see the shop for the first time. We got to Tropicana Field in plenty of time to hear the National Anthem.
The Rays ended up behind by two, but we got a bit of excitement in the bottom of the 8th inning when Rays had a grand slam and added to their anemic 2 points already on the board. (doesn't that sound so like an announcer?)
I was going to blow off T Tapp tonight, but thought it would make me sleep better to go. So I did and it was a good workout. I started working out with my weights again last week and doing my old routine in tandem with T Tapp and I feel a lot better in my torso and tummy. I also started to get out and walk more often. I have been steadily losing inches. I have a dress I wore to Katie's High School graduation that I would love to wear again. I took it out and have it hanging in a place where I can see it every day to remind me of my goal!
Got home from T Tapp in time to get in a dock visit before the sun set. Spied a flock of Ibis heading towards me and snapped a photo just in time. "No see 'ems" were biting me terribly so didn't stay out too long.

Everything has a story!

I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner the other evening and I started thinking about what Lou and I had brought into our marriage and how we have incorporated it all into our daily life.
Lou's cutting board is the larger one. He thinks he acquired it upon returning to the single life in 1986. He says that he probably picked it up at the grocery store when he realized he didn't have one. I had large ones similar during my previous life, but they were either lost to the division or sold at a garage sale. I use my little paddle style cutting board often. I bought it when I was 19, sometime shortly before I went to live in Tucson in 1974. I stayed in Tucson about 18mo. working at The Broadway dept store as the basic stock manager, I had my own office and pager number (you know that chime you would hear in dept. stores) for about 6 months before they eliminated that position and made me Men's Furnishings Mgr. It is the job that made me dislike shopping.