Late March Beach Walk

The Grands and I took a short walk down the beach this afternoon.  It felt good to be there and get a first hand view of how things look.  The ice isn't completely gone yet, as you can see.  The sun was still out when we were there, but it did cloud over and both snow and rain before the afternoon was over. TJ brought along a yard stick and measured around a foot of snow at the bottom of the stairs, about the only place where it hasn't melted.  Here's a photo of the ridge of ice hills just off shore.

We walked north for a bit, then decided that it was too cold and windy to stay down there long, and came back up the north access stairway and home through the neighborhood.    In about two weeks it will have been 18 years since we bought this place.  Every year is different.  I never get tired of it.

Oh, PIE -- I am so over you.

The identifying letters for airports don't always seem to make sense to me.  RSW for Ft.Myers, for example -- apparently regional south west is what it stands for.  I get MSP and have no problem with GRR, but PIE is a mystery to me.  It's the Clearwater/St. Petersburg airport, and having flown into and out of it on our most recent trip south, I still don't know.  What I do know is that I won't be going there again.  I got lured in by the promise of cheap, direct flights and as is usually the case, what sounds too good to be true, usually is.  JB described it as Calcutta.  To me it was like going back in time about 50 years -- outdoor stairways to the planes, for example.  Screens with no useful information on them.  That sort of thing.  450 people in a room with limited bathroom facilities and even more limited food choices.  And delayed flights.  Not a delightful experience.  We did manage to navigate the obstacles and instead of waking up to this, as we did on Thursday morning:

We woke up to this, this morning:

There was homemade chicken soup in the refrigerator when we returned (from Kelly), and OSLO and the COTU brought food and stocked the refrigerator for us over the weekend.  If you have any of that "food is love" training left over from your childhood, you may understand how sweet this all is.  This morning the walking group walked, and drank some hot chocolate together afterwards.  I ran into an old friend at the grocery store this afternoon, and got caught up on their lives as well.  More social contact so far today than I've had for the last month or so.  There really is no place like home.

Leveling Up

If going from the 24,000's to the 25,000's (in days) isn't leveling up, then what is?  I like the idea of it -- at least in part -- because I used to lecture my introductory students about how the measurement of time, especially how we cut it into segments, is somewhat arbitrary.  Also, I'm still hanging out in Flor-Ida and have totally run out of things to say about it.  So here's a photo of the 25,000 day old person with his little family, taken in 1983 during Tulip Time. Late edit:  It was probably 1985.  The baby hadn't been born yet as of Tulip Time 1983.

Looks like maybe he's going to live forever and then turn into a hickory post.

Random thoughts on the first day of Spring

There was an item on the local TV news tonight about the early hatching of baby alligators this year.  Unseasonably warm and humid weather is thought to be the reason.  Yippee.

I took a walk after supper tonight to one of the bridges currently under destruction on Edgewater.  I found this sign a little confusing -- or at least its location.   For those of you that are familiar with this area, that's Sunrise Park off on the right, and the houses behind the sign on the left are on our street.

During the "noon day sun" portion of the day I mailed home some excess clothing and a couple of big bottles of hot Florida sunshine for the COTU.  Last year at this time we'd been home long enough to have turned around and left to attend a family wedding.  Time flies.

It's green they say, on the far side of the hill.

Even though JB is half Irish, St. Patrick's Day doesn't inspire much revelry here.  We're fine with that, as it turns out.  On Tuesday mornings we usually hit up the gym at the Cultural Center and often stop in their cafe after we're done with out "workout" for a late breakfast.   The people watching is always pretty interesting there, and today was no exception.  It's an older crowd and though there was quite a bit of green being worn, it mostly seemed a little half hearted to me.

My impression was that there wasn't much planning or effort that went into the wearing of the green -- more like we all walked into our closets this morning and rummaged around until we found something green.  That's what happens on the far side of the hill.

Florida Miles

We've been here in Flor-Ida for longer than ever before (or ever again).  We arrived the first week in December and plan to go home the last week in March.  Biking hasn't been my primary source of exercise for a couple of years now, and though I still keep a bike log, it's mostly from habit.  My bike is both heavy and old (20 years and counting).  The average length of a ride has been pretty short -- it's not a number I compute any more, but I'd estimate 12 to 14 miles.  Taken all together, including December miles, I've ridden more than 700 miles since we got here.    I'll be danged.

And it isn't even Spring.

Irrational Exuberance

The question we will be asking for the next generation might be, "where were you on 3.14.15 at 9:26:53? " (Or 9:26:53.5 according to JB.)  Maybe not --though for the record, I was on my bike.  It is a once in a century occurrence (Unless you are among those who think that 9:26:53 comes around twice today ....)  Keeping in mind that this is a fairly American thing, as much of the rest of the world writes their dates as day/month/year rather than month/day/year and there will never be a 14.3 in any year.  The best those poor people can do is celebrate an approximate pi(e) day.  Pi is approximated as 22/7 -- so the Euro's can celebrate an approximate pi(e) day on July 22, and indeed they may. And Pi(e) Day is not the same thing as National Pie Day, but I no longer care.  I did post a recipe for Key Lime pie on the family food blog back in January of 2010 for that.  Key lime pie showed up on this blog again for pi(e) day in 2012 -- at the same restaurant on Gasparilla Island where BDE had some key lime pie earlier this year.  And then last year JB and I had apple pie at Russ' on this date, and a photo made the blog.  This year is the real deal, though.  Ten or eleven of the digits of pi (an irrational number, in case the title is confusing, and I doubt that it is to hardly any of you).  Almost as much fun as answering the doorbell and having a FedEx person hand you a box that looks like this:

Much exuberance followed as I opened the box -- Perishable, Fragile, Pure Michigan, Grand Traverse Pie Company.  A pie made a 1,500 mile trip to land on my doorstep on Pi(e) Day Eve.  A Fire House Strawberry Rhubarb pie.

There was a card, too.  Signed by Emily and Andy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Cool, right?  So I ditched my previous plan for Pi(e) day, which involved breakfast pie (quiche), lunch pie (some version of the New Zealand hand held meat pie), and dinner pie.  Maybe a chicken pot pie followed by some dessert pie.  It is probably a good thing that I gave up on that idea -- and went with this instead.  Here's part of my thank you email to them, which I want to share here because it contains what is probably my favorite pie story.  "It is very reminiscent of a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie I ate one summer evening while sitting in a condo along the shores of Lake Superior, recovering from my longest day ever on a bicycle.  That piece was better only because it was still warm, and it was birthday pie.  And because it was hand delivered by Emily."  

First 90 degree day

It doesn't seem possible that August has arrived this early.  We spent the entire summer in Michigan and I remember endless discussion about whether or not we were even going to have a 90 degree day, and though I think we did, I am not certain.  Here, at least according to the Channel 2 weather guy, the first 90 degree day typically shows up in May.  The temperature has been flirting with a high of 90 for several days now, with dew points in the 70's and pretty much constant winds.  The winds don't really matter, since I am not spending much time outside.  I hunker down in August in Michigan, and will continue to do that here as long as this continues.  The cause of this early bit of summer has something to do with the sub-tropical jet stream, we've been told.  It has moved north way earlier than normal. You're welcome.

I took a walk after supper tonight to check out the construction zone at the end of our street.  The sky looked a little threatening at that point, and it is currently raining -- another typical Florida summer day.  There are  a couple of flowering shrubs a street or two over that I wanted to photograph.

Once again, since I'm not from here, I don't know what these are, but they caught my eye earlier this week.  They're a strikingly bright yellow in real life.  With outdoor activity limited due to the suffocating atmosphere, I did some mall walking earlier today.  Well, this photo isn't from today, it's from early December, but it is the same concept.  Different mall.

It is time to start organizing the luggage.

Dying Art Form

I read somewhere recently that blogging is a dying art form. I tend to agree, though other social media sites are "all  really just blogs with fewer choices in worse formats."  (Same source, the no longer Alaskan,  Jill.)  Combing through my photo file gave me just two photos worth sharing, both taken on a recent evening walk.

Biking is on hold for now -- possibly until I return home and the roads clear.  Thick air, too windy, all the usual complaints.  I've been giving some thought to a Pi(e) day post, though.  It is the only time this century when the digits in Pi will align this perfectly  3.14.15   -- 9:26:53.

Annual Imperative

March fourth, understood to be march forth, as in "come forth, said the king, but he tripped over a camel turd and came in fifth."  The annual imperative.  Fun with dates.  Useful preparation for pi(e) day, coming up soon.  Anyway -- photos.

The Edgewater widening project has begun, along with the closing of three bridges.  All three will be replaced, but so far barricades are the only barrier to traffic.  Not much of a problem on foot or on a bicycle, until they start the tear down of the bridges -- which I think started today.

I took a walk after supper a couple of nights ago -- this park is walking distance from here -- assuming you can get across the bridges.  It's less than a mile from our house.

Sunset over a front end loader?

Southwest Florida is having a heat wave this week -- along with dewpoints in the 70's and brisk breezes.  Mostly I've been staying inside where the air is breathable, but this morning I took an early ride to the beach.  Construction is going on there, too.

Signs of spring?

I'm including this photo for the Smiths, who found this house highly entertaining.  Only in Florida.

Texting while riding.

Sundays are often good days for bike rides around here -- the traffic seems lighter.  Except that the parking lot was full at the church where I usually cut through to get across the bridge, requiring a route change.  I was just south of Ollie's Pond when my phone buzzed at me, the buzz that means it's receiving a text.  I pulled over and stopped to read it.  It was a greeting from my favorite grandson, and I took a few minutes to reply.  I sent him this photo to show him where I was and what I was doing.

It was a good ride, some time to spend alone contemplating the universe and such.