12 Oakdale

We began with 3 days at the condo Mary and Ryan rented at Englewood Beach. Across the street and a block north was the public beach. I loved the Gulf, and it’s still “of Mexico”, no matter how much our Dear Leader thinks we will call it “of America”. Bella rode with us, so we stopped by Venice Pier to reconnoiter about finding sharks’ teeth, the main mission of this part of their vacation. Sadly, the road to the best area was destroyed in the last round of hurricanes so it would be a trek. We could, however, rent a scoop, i.e. Florida Snow Shovel, at $10/day and use it right there. No, we could not rent one for several days,  Information gathered, we drove on south to the Chadwick Cove condo, a 2-story building on the bay. Set up on stilts, the 1st floor (ours) was a 3-bedroom unit. Upstairs were 2 2-bedroom ones. Perfect for various sized families and groups, Ryan’s father and stepmom had arrived but weren’t around. Grant managed the stairs up and settled in for the stay. Bella an...

Definitely something I never wanted to see: the overhead sign on the turnpike which said, “Wrongway driver detected.”  It was already raining, so this seems like a good time to stop at the rest area just up the road and have lunch. If we didn’t meet that misdirected driver first. We were on our way to Fort Lauderdale for my Toastmasters club’s 60th anniversary party. The invitation was to dress like we would have in 1963. Most people thought hippies, but I knew better. My vintage wool skirt and white blouse, Grant’s madras shirt and khaki pants were what we would have worn. No jeans for us. I didn’t even own any. I dug through my jewelry and found my circle initial pin (PCS), and both my and Steve’s class rings, his worn on a chain around my neck. It still amuses me that Naples High School rings featured a swamp buggy on one side and the Naples pier on the other. No generics rings for us back then. I doubt that is true nowadays, if they even still have class rings. We’d both stuck ...

Four day staying at birding friends Launa and Kyle’s condo in Bonita Springs. Each morning, we’d drive to the beach for a couple of hours, sitting in the shade most of the time, then floating in the water for a short time. The first day we struggled to remember how to put up our little cabana, which just goes to show we haven’t been doing it enough. The beach was gorgeous: air temperature was low 90s, however the water was cool and calm, my kind of beach. We watched paddle boarders, jet skiers, and a man on a hovercraft zip back and forth. Only a couple of pelicans, gulls, willets, and terns flying past, so my scope stayed, once again, packed up in the car. Next winter, I’m coming back for all the shore birds. One morning, Sally, who joined us for trip, and I walked on the beach for a while. The rest of the time we were shore potatoes. I am proud both Grant and I can get up from our low beach chairs. I can just use my hands for balance, then get right up. He needs more help, but still!...

My July schedule is up at 5:30ish, pee, start coffee, feed cat, exercise, then turn on the Tour de France. Broadcast starts at 6:30. I watch for a couple of hours, eating breakfast while I sit, then out to work in yard until it rains, or I get too hot.  I am finishing the bed by the boathouse from the path over to the rose by Nancy’s fence. The area had already been cleared for a squash bed last year, abandoned until the guys were finished with the deck. I had to pull weeds and all the branches we’d tossed in when we removed the Brazilian pepper from the canal’s edge. I put down new cardboard which Grant covered with the oldest compost we had. Now I’ve planted 5 dwarf Fakahatchee grass (Tripsacum floridanum)  about 18” away from the boathouse fence. I hope their roots will grow deep enough to hold any dirt that would like to wash away. There was one more obvious hole at the deck edge, so Grant dug in some of the leftover tongue and groove boards to fill it.  In front, I l...

I looked it up: the last movie we’d seen in a theater was Knives Out  on December 1, 2019 at Sunset Cinema when we lived on Key Biscayne. 31 months ago! (We’d spent the $30 gift card Patten gave us a few Christmas before that I found when I was packing for our move from 14th Court. Serendipitous.) This time, we saw the new Top Gun  at West Orange Cinema, just up Maguire Road. Amazingly, ticket prices were about the same. We indulged with draft Highstepping IPAs from Crooked Can Brewery and a small popcorn, light butter. I’d gotten spoiled with reclining loungers at our old movie houses, but the chairs were comfortable, and the sound level great. We may get Covid yet, but we’re willing to take the chance. BTW, Top Gun  has to be the best Navy recruiting film ever. Of course, not enough women’s roles, but to be expected in an action film.  Even though we’re back home 11 days, I’ve only worked in the yard one morning. The weeds are ecstatic. Over the weekend, we drove t...

I’d been obsessing about testing negative for Covid, a requirement to join our birding tour. My anxiety level went even higher when a couple were forced to drop out because he tested positive. Yikes. Finally time to test, and all good. Both Grant and I are negative. Which I was sure we would be, since we really haven’t been around anyone. Except for all the people at Bob’s funeral 11 days ago. Surely, we’d have symptoms by now. Except Patten tested positive and didn’t feel bad. Round and round the hamster wheel turned. What a relief to be done with that! We drove really long the first day and got to Fayetteville, North Carolina, staying at the Baymont by Wyndham, mostly because it claimed a hot breakfast. That is always desirable so we can eat, then get on the road, rather than spending an hour debating where to go. Evidently, Wyndham and I have different definitions of “hot breakfast”. The cereal choices were corn flakes or Fruit Loops.  Another long day to Carney’s Corner, New Je...

After 22 boat-less months here on the canal and previously 40 years in Fort Lauderdale on New River, we now have 2 watercraft. The first is a Montgomery Ward Sea King 12’, probably built between 1965 and 1970, lovingly refurbished by our friend Lee, then given to us since it no longer fit his plans at his lakefront house. All we needed was an electric outboard, oars, and life jackets. Such a deal. Then, because the manufacturer is replacing his motor without requiring he return the one he bought less than 6 months ago, he’s giving it to us, after he sands and paints the corrosion he complained about. Plus he’s throwing in a couple of life jackets. We down to just needing a couple of batteries. And oars, although the lakes are so shallow, we could just walk home if the motor conked out. Our second vessel is a Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 12’ fishing kayak I bought from a RSMAS graduate who realized he wasn’t going to be solo fishing soon, since his wife recently had their second child. I hav...

Cabin camping with our friends at Cabbage Key. The weather is cold, windy and rainy, but our cabin, the Cabbage Patch, is warm and too big to really be called cozy. Two bedrooms, two baths, wraparound porch, large living room/dining room/kitchen with picture windows. Lovely. The captain of the Island Girl gets fewer points for not dropping us off at our dock, but management was able to round up a golf cart to bring our stuff from the main dock, about a quarter mile away. Way too far to schlep our packs, chairs, and food by foot along the wet, sandy paths. Plus our cabin mate has a sprained ankle held stiffly in a huge boot. The small island is all mangrove grown over a huge shell mound made by the Calusa on an ancient sand dune, not a barrier island, as I erroneous assumed. This meant no beach. The first day was still too rainy for more than reading in the cabin, but the second was just cold, so we walked the short nature trail. The ospreys call continuously. One pair had just lost the...

Peg, Betsy, and I went to Venice Beach for sister time and to hunt sharks teeth. Success on both fronts. Our base was the Venice Beach Villas, a non-beachfront old Florida-style motel on Venice Avenue, within walking distance of the beach, restaurants, and shops. Initially, I was disappointed not to be right on the beach, but I changed my mind. Owner Craig provided bikes (which we never got around to using), scoops and sieves to sort sand from treasure, beach chairs, and lots of towels. Perfect. The Gulf was calm and warm. We spent hours sitting in the water, just at the shore’s edge, looking for teeth. To find really big ones, we probably had to snorkel along the backwater riverbank, but mangroves do not appeal to us. Two young women said they’d found more than 200, but we weren’t as diligent. Oldsters stopped by and reminisced about finding teeth while just walking the beach. Since these teeth are from prehistoric sharks, I think there are just as many as there were 30 or 40 years ag...

After no beach forms year, now a second trip in one week: 10 days with 8 at the beach. This time, a shore bird trip in South Carolina with Orange Audubon Society, lead by Craig* from US Fish and Wildlife. In three days, we visited 6 sites, recorded 100+ species, and saw thousands of birds. Firsts for me were greater and lesser black-backed gulls and Wilson’s, golden, and piping plovers. I learned how to distinguish a Sandwich tern by the color at the end of its bill: either mayonnaise or mustard, but I haven’t leaned what sex and/or age has which one. Perhaps I’ll look that up. My big accomplishment was learning that sitting down to use my scope is absolutely the way to use it. My back appreciated that. We birdied at a gated community, Harbor Island, with fantastic but private beaches. Would that it were a state park, open to the public, rather than just those with enough money to live inside the walls. I guess from the birds’ view, private might be better, with fewer people able to di...

I now live as far from the coast as I ever have except for the years I attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I need my beach. Not being able to come down next weekend to celebrate Patten’s birthday, we headed south on Friday and spent 4 days at the Hotel Sheldon on Hollywood Beach, old but maintained. Betsy calls it the dodgy Hotel Sheldon. Our plan was to go to his house Saturday night for dinner, but communication missed, and he had tickets for the first UM home football game. Instead, we joined him and Ryan for lunch (the usual Big Daddy’s hamburgers and fries), and they came to the beach Sunday morning for a swim and breakfast. The first 3 days, the water was warm and clear. Almost no waves. Like floating in a bathtub. Absolutely perfect. That morning, the wind was onshore, so waves and sargassum seaweed. Not as pleasant, but Patten spotted a baby tripletail fish while snorkeling in the weed. Friday night we joined other cabin camping friends and supped at one couple’s home, seeing the...