Duty Done!

           Our next door neighbors here are so close that our porches sit side-by-side. We’re outwardly friendly, but like the big ole hypocrites we are, we avoid them with dodges and weaves worthy of any prizefighter in the ring.

          Outwardly, they seem like friendly people, but he’s a vocal conspiracy theorist and she has the lack of awareness that caused her to duck under police tape to photograph a suicide that occurred here a few years back. And I know this because I saw it.

          So.  Knock, knock. There was Stephen at our door. Patty’s 70^th was coming and would we join them for a building-wide lunch for the event.    

          There are 12 units in our building, but I didn’t expect a big turnout. And how sad would it be if no one went? So, after processing all plausible excuses, I said yes, we’d be happy to go.

          At first, it was planned for a pleasant breakfast/lunch spot with wonderful food like avocado toast, healthy smoothies, not a hash brown in sight. Then there was a change of venue:

 

          Before we left for the event, I went on-line to see if there was anything, anything that wasn’t brown and/or fried. An omelet, maybe? Nope. Aha! Some kind of egg scramble with mushrooms.

          Only nine people were there, including the happy couple, with one man who wasn’t even from our building, but at least there were enough to make it feel festive. And most importantly, My Guy and I were at the farthest end, sitting next to the nice neighbors who live on the other side of us.( They’re quite old, but interesting. I should write about her sometime – she’s a nutritionist who’s overseen some of the food that went up in the first moon mission.)

          Turned out, they’d spiced up my eggs to the point where they didn’t even taste like eggs and the apples on the side had a tinny, chemical tang. But all wasn’t lost. The grits were great. So, my healthy lunch was basically a biscuit and grits.

          Still, plenty of shopping opportunities in the endless gift shop you have to wend you way through before you get anywhere near the restaurant.

Candy I haven’t seen since I was an eight-year-old in Virginia.

 Note the SkyBar.

Moxie, a (I think un-drinkable) New England phenomenon.

And lots of sister-wife kind of dresses.

 

Morning Constitutional

 

Another stroll around our quiet (especially now that many of us snowbirds have left) complex once again provided some unexpected sights.

 

 

        Thanks to a past hurricane – I’ve already forgotten which one – every single window in our 132 units will be replaced this year at some point. 

My first thought was that should cancel any window washing plans for the foreseeable future.

       

   And yet.

 

    

      I wish we had smell-o-vision on Blogger. Once this bush starts blooming, I’m always
bowled over by its fabulous scent when I pass by.

      By today, our magnolias should be in bloom, which is probably my favorite scent in the entire world. 

     

    

This little guy obligingly stayed right in place until I took his picture, then scurried back down into the depths of the plant when I was finished.

  

        And in the category of ‘what could possibly go wrong’, these teens with their underdeveloped hippocampus emerged from the open land next to our complex, one on a scooter pulling the other one in a wagon.

          Fortunately the road has minimal traffic, serving only our complex and the farms further down, on a dirt road.

Shameless or Brilliant Marketing?

 

As we were leaving the beach the other day, I noticed something that at first seemed out of context, but then realized it was perfectly placed. 

A Little Free Library

There you are, baking in the sun with nothing to read. Solution – a quick trip over the sand to pick up a freebie book.

          I’ve usually seen these small windowed boxes on the edge of someone’s lawn.

I’m not sure what prompts them. Did the residents build it themselves in a fit of philanthropy?

      

    And then, oh-my-goodness, I’ve just done some googling. 

Little Free Library is a non-profit out of Minnesota. If you decide to host one, you become one of their stewards, and your library can be listed on their world-wide location map. 

Look up their mission statement – it’s enough to make this former English teacher and current voracious reader’s heart sing. (By the way, I noticed Amazon squeezed a plug onto one of the pages, offering to sell you the box to house your library.)

    

      Sadly, my impulse was less altruistic.

       

   I returned the next day with my own contribution – one of my books, with a few bookmarks that might just possibly have mentioned that more of the series is available on Amazon.

Disasters in Clay

Because last year we’d enjoyed our maiden voyage into the land of clay, my friend Ann and I returned to the Venice art center for another pottery class. Neither one of us lays any claim to artistic ability, but this seemed like something even we could do.

Beach morning

Today being about as perfect as a day can get, we decided to do breakfast on the beach. 

Rainy Day

 

Nothing gladdens the heart in the middle of a drought like a good rainstorm. Our totally fake ponds, not spring-fed, were looking very low. In fact, it’s been so dry this year that one of them has grassed over and will need mowing before long.

Babies, scooter, snakes, and rainbow

 

You would think that walking the around our complex would be tedious. I mean, it’s just a circle. About the only variety you can achieve is in which way you take it. Admittedly, I’m always listening to a book on my phone since I always feel like a hamster on her wheel by the time I’m in the second loop to gain some steps.