Rich and I cruised to the Florida Botanical Gardens, found it and indulged ourselves in the fabulous light show. It is a funny way to experience a garden for the first time. I am now more interested than ever to go back.
I couldn't get over the huge palms all decorated with lovely lights. Rich noticed that the lighted bulbs were not hot to the touch. Things are always improving and yet these little things don't get heralded from the headlines.
I've visited St. Petersburg a few times for meetings, but today under the bright sunshine and with 80 degree temps I ventured around downtown on foot. It is a colorful city with unique shops that have not been drowned by chain stores. There was a Saturday market in the park with a live band and lots of hustle and bustle in the shopping district.
There is a trolley that loops around the city for weary legged tourists, but the trolley appears a little weary itself!
And of course there is a large municipal marina. On such a beautiful day and with gas prices low there was a lot of activity here.
The sun was falling in the late afternoon sky and it being a holiday I was walking along the beach aimlessly when I discovered these abandoned toys. Even on my return they remained unclaimed. I believe I know what happened!
I passed all sorts of "beach debris". The kind of stuff that loses the battle of life in the gulf and the tide deposits on the sand. Just look at that crab claw! It almost looks alive...but not.
We were fortunate to receive free tickets to the Nutcracker at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. The building was very new and modern and while pleasant, a bit unremarkable.
The house was full and the costumes extravagant. Can you believe that there was no live orchestra? Quite a disappointment. The dancers put on their best show and while mostly beginners and intermediate dancers, it was tried and true Nutcracker.
Luckily, my camera is no night light. The screen was as dark as the theatre. Not so for the family in front of us. Twice the usher came over to scold them!
My friend, Wanda Water, was feeling a bit watered down in the sunset, but otherwise we had a delightful time singing along with the band. I keep trying to feel homesick for snow and ice and the freezing temperatures that go along with it...but I'm not.
Rich and I are beginning to explore our neighborhood's culture. We hopped off to the Botanical Gardens and found ourselves in Heritage Village instead so we traipsed around. It was a beautiful sunny day and we learned much about early Florida. Rich loved the garage/store/barbershop/post office, but it was the log cabin that thrilled me. It was so different from up north - the ceiling was relatively high, it had plenty of cracks to let the light in and the hearth was small, because of course they cooked outside. Rich and I keep forgetting that it does not get freezing cold!
So many meetings has meant so much driving! But it is Florida and that means spectacular sunrises and brilliant sunshine. Coming down from the Skyway bridge headed toward Sarasota early in the morning I was pleasured with this incredible sight. The clean and calm half light was softly punctured by rays of sunshine. An auspicious sign for my fledgling business as I attempt to find an entry into the Florida market? Indeed!
For years and years I have kept a hammock balled up and unused. Here in Redington Beach I have opened it up, stretched it out and tied it to two trees. Funny though, as it turns out I'm not so good at relaxing in it. Then again, maybe I just need a little practice...
I had the great pleasure of being given a tour of the Ringling Museum by the Senior Development Director. These are wonderful times for them! I will be returning to the museum again soon because I might be in love. At first it seemed eclectic, and it might be a bit with the Tibballs Learning Center and the Historic Asolo Theater questioning the orginality of the art museum itself, but the charm and personality of the place infects one and causes a new perspective to emerge. The family story enlarges and expands just as the museum has. And that includes the Dwarf Garden!
Finally I'm getting out of the "office" and meeting people. This picture was taken from the University of Tampa campus where I was meeting with the school's prospect researcher. I also got my hair cut from Jakki's friend and had lunch with Jakki in between her classes. How fun is that? Lots!
For reasons unbeknownst to Rich and me, a small group of white ibises decided to hang out at our house - I mean dock - today. They were fun to watch frantically feeding in the grass at the water's edge and tutting around enforcing pecking order. Unfortunately they left a bit of a mess behind, although they did pose rather nicely.
It is Thanksgiving weekend and the beach is ALIVE with activity. Boats, parasails, sunset watchers....and on my bike ride on the beach this late afternoon I caught young people swimming in the water. Swimming! Brrrrrr. Florida is surely a paradise for many as this sunset can attest.
We have discovered a new place to haunt! The Beachcomber Resort has music every night at Jimmy's Beach Bar. It has a lovely wooden deck and a terribly striking view of the beach, which of course you can see reflected both in Rich's laugh and his eyeglasses!
Here is a view of our house from the backyard. On your left is the wonderful covered patio where I have spent many a delightful meal and hours upon hours working on my laptop.
I still can't get over how beautiful the views are from just about everywhere! So what if I mixed them up a little bit...
There are these lovely yellow flowers, rather generic I guess, but pretty. They are prolific at the top of the beach so I've gotten to taking a few now and again to add some color to everyday. Kitchens need that you know. Otherwise the everyday begins to seem mundane and then washing dishes wouldn't be fun anymore. Bad situation that would be!
Well, not really *thirsty*. Fact is, I got a new camera for Christmas (yes, really, Christmas) and I wanted to test all of the settings immediately and there we were at the table with our cocktails, so I had to snap multiple photos at night of whatever was convenient. I was tickled with the results. Glass is good and reflections are better.
We've been on the hunt for fun places to have a drink and listen to live bands. When we were turned away from the Tiki Hut at the Thunderbird Resort because the bar closes at 6pm we had to find out what it was all about. So we returned another day and discovered a crowd of resort-goers in vacation mode listening to two guys strumming and singing on the beach at the Tiki Hut. We watched the sun set on fried red skins and sandy babies while nurturing our cocktails. A little odd, really.
I do realize that I am a little off-center, but I don't see why my inflatable kayak should be! But it is. I'll figure it all out eventually. Please post if you've got ideas. I LOVE being out on the water. So when I came home from my conference and the sun was beginning to set, I quickly changed into my bathing suit and plunked the kayak in the water. Oh my. The water was so quiet and smooth (very unusual) and there in front of me was the sunset with the moon on the left. I am so loving this!
Oh my but to find this lovely monster in someone's backyard! This yard had every conceivable option. Especially alligators, pink flamingos and pelicans. But I could not resist this dinosaur. And besides it was found beneath a big sign "Antique Mall".
It only took one bar hop to find the Time-Out bar and grille at St. John's Pass in Madeira Beach. On the second floor of a retail building, it has a fun bit of balcony where the band was set up at the end. The band was very comforable playing together and we had a good time. Far better in fact than the Blues Festival in Dunedin we went to tonight. You see, we had expectations. We were expecting the experience we had in Media at the Blues Ramble. It just wasn't that good. But we'll be back at the Time-Out bar next Friday night!
We have lovely floors in our home. And when the sun comes out they look like they've been painted upon. I feel as though I am surrounded by nature's artwork!
I get to see a lot of sunrises here in Florida! It rains, as you can see, but either it pours out of the clouds quickly and stops or it is more like a spray from a swiftly moving cloud. And there does always seem to be a breeze tumbling about. Also, I believe I'm beginning to understand the kitschy style here. The Florida landscape and weather has so much color and vitality that it demands creative expression. Where is my glue and paint...?!
This is what the beach looks like at low tide while the sun is rising. Growing up near the Jersey and Delaware beaches did not prepare me for the lovely life on these beaches. Early in the morning if you walk slowly and pay attention you can see the sand crabs scuttling away into the safety of their holes.
Rich hopped on up to New York earlier this week and took the camera with him. You can see why! He is a proud grandfather of Jonathon Alexander, affectionately referred to as "Zander".
So we were on the boat and couldn't find a place to tie up. We decided we'll go under the bridge onto the gulf side and maybe there will be somewhere to dock. But look, there's construction even on the water! Oops, I mean de-construction. They built the new bridge and are slowly removing the old one. Noise and debris and wind, oh my!
The rental market has been good to us renters, but when I saw this sign out of the sun - well, it made me pause. The beautiful palms and buildings in the reflection seem so innocent next to the sign. Innocent and pretty like a spider's web!
Perhaps not the most "beautiful" picture, but fun. We have had the very best restaurant recommendations from our wonderful neighbors and when they recommended a bar for the recent Rays' baseball scene, well, we HAD to go! Only it turns out the bar was right next to the stadium and mobbed. My what a "scene" it really was!! But without a place to park, and unwilling to pay $30 for the privilege, we decided a beach bar in our neighborhood would have to be good enough. It was :-D
Madeira Beach may be the proud host of the only McDonald's with a dock. Yup, that is the McDonald's flag flying on that dock. They don't own the dock, but no-one seems to mind the boat traffic. And at this lovely sunset I witnessed a boat stop for just such a thing.
Rich and I ventured into downtown Madeira Beach (one beach down from us). Wow. A bikini-clad young'un skateboarded past us as we dined on incredibly fresh, delicious fish at Walt's Fish Shack. Sign juxtaposed to sign and every beach chatchki possible screamed tourism. When I saw this Bikini Key store I couldn't resist sharing. It's too early in the season for the hordes of tourists, but they are ready!
I've been doing lots of driving to meetings and not enough sightseeing to post. So I took the camera on one of our morning beach walks. Needless to say, we were not the first there!
Florida seems to a have a free-spirited nature when it comes to colors, as this canoe demonstrates. And they surely are not limited to canoes. I have seen quite a few distinctly designed automobiles as well!
It was our anniversary on Saturday and we decided to take our neighbor's suggestion and dine at the Salt Rock Grill in Indian Shores. We had a lovely evening. A little champagne, a view of the water and a lot of fabulous seafood made it easy to have fun.
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