Thanks, readers, for your continued patience, as I try to catch up!
On Monday, I head over to the fitness center for a workout. I have made a dinner date with my friend, Carol, over to "Big Al's City Sports Grill" on Tamiani Trail (Hwy 41) a couple of miles from the condo. They run a special on Monday nights to drive business to their establishment on what is normally the slowest restaurant day of the week for restaurants in general. And, boy, does it ever work in "Al's" case! The deal is: ANY dinner on the menu for $10.95, regardless of the posted price. The special excludes any dinners that are marked "Market Price," such as the crab legs, lobster, etc. But you can order their most expensive dinner, which is is 10 oz. top sirloin with four shrimp, normally $17.95, for $10.95. The only other "catch" is that you must order some type of beverage. Doesn't have to alcoholic; just any beverage. So if you're ordering two "surf and turfs," that saves you fourteen bucks.
So the joint is hopping for a Monday night. Carol meets me there at 5 p.m., and by the time we leave about 6:30, there is a wait for tables. Carol and I each get the surf and turf, with our steaks done medium rare. We each get a salad and a baked potato. Everything is delicious. I order a warm apple pie for dessert, and Carol has maybe one bite, claiming she is putting on weight.
She follows me back to the condo, and I show her the watches I have bought in Daytona Beach, which she finds interesting. She leaves about 9:00.
Tuesday Feb. 14
I had just about as perfect a day I could imagine, except the obvious thing of not having someone to share it with, which of course was brought into sharper relief by the fact it was Valentine’s Day. I spent the entire day over on Sanibel. I started with a HUGE breakfast at the Sanibel Café with a full stack of their delicious pancakes (similar to mine) and I smuggled in a bottle of REAL maple syrup. I later was talking to “Katie” (the waitress) about this, and she said the restaurant offers real maple syrup for a $1 upcharge. I can’t imagine they give you very much for a buck, but I’ll try them next time. My only gripe about the place is their coffee; it’s a weak-ass generic grade coffee that they must get from their provisions supplier. Pity, but I’m not going to abandon them, because their food is fabulous, at least their breakfasts. The ‘cakes are definitely better than those at the “Lighthouse Café,” which are like bricks.
After breakfast, I went next door to an Italian dolcé shop that carries gelato, baked goods, and ironically serves a GREAT cup of strong coffee. I got a cup, then sat outside on one of their tables and read (“Isaac’s Storm”) and I had my little netbook computer with me, so I caught up a little bit on the blog. I stayed there until almost noon.
Then over to Billy’s Rentals where I picked up a nice beach cruiser and proceeded to bike on over to the Darling nature preserve. On the way, I passed a big turtle (maybe about 20 inches in diameter) which was grazing on some grass next to the bike path. I took a picture on my phone camera. When I got to the nature preserve, I showed the photo to one of the volunteers, and he identified it as a “Gopher Tortoise,” and said they were very common on the island. In fact, they wander onto the roadway quite often. If it’s daylight, the locals will often stop their cars, pick up the creatures, and set them back the side of the road. If it’s night time, well, often the tortoises aren’t so lucky. So after perusing the visitor’s center, I biked the four-mile nature trail (a two lane roadway shared by cars, bikes, and pedestrians) and saw lots of birds and another big frickin’ ‘gator pretty close up. The only minor glitch was at the beginning of the ride back at Billy’s, when I spritzed myself with a bottle of sunscreen that I had gotten on Sunday from the flea market for $3. It comes in one of those spray pump bottles. I accidentally got some in my left eye, and it stung like a motherfucker. I finally had to stop at a restroom about a mile from Billy’s and rinse out the eye, but then all was better. After the nature preserve, I went over to Bowman's Beach where I stripped down to my shorts and walked barefoot along the surf line for about a quarter mile. There wasn’t anyone swimming in the ocean because it was still a quite choppy. But the sun was out full blast and there were many people on the beach soaking up the sun. I want to say it was around 80 degrees.
I then rode back to Billy’s, missing one of my turns and ending up biking about another mile. But it was a pretty drive through another section of a nature preserve. When I finally got back to Billy’s I was only 15 minutes over my 4 hours that I had paid for, and they didn’t charge me anything extra. By that time it was around 5 p.m. and the traffic coming off the island was horrendous, so I decided to to stay on the island for dinner. My car was parked in Billy’s “overflow lot,” so I figured they wouldn’t mind, so I just started walking along the main drag and wandered into the first restaurant I came to, which was a place called “Trader’s Café,” which is an upscale bistro that has gotten good reviews on tripadvisor. The place was packed, and the hostess was turning people away, and I couldn’t figure it out, and then it dawned on me that it was Valentine’s Day. So I walked a couple more doors down to a place called “Island Pizza” which serves a lot of other stuff but of course their specialty is pizza. I ordered a 10 inch “Island Special” which is piled high with four different meats and lots of veggies, and I asked for thin crust. It was delicious, all washed down with two Budweisers. It was probably good that I ended up there anyway, because the place was definitely more laid back than “Trader’s,” and by this time I was a hot, ripe mass of sweat and sunscreen. I stayed there about an hour and read more of my book. I actually had sense enough to let the pizza cool a little bit before jamming a volcanic slice of it into my pie hole.
By then, the traffic had eased, so I began the 12 mile car ride back to the condo, including the 2-1/2 miles over the causeway which is simply beautiful. I arrived back at the condo at around 6:30 or so, and immediately stripped down and jumped into the shower and got all the sweat, sunscreen, and sand off me. During my shave, I noticed I had only some minor sunburn in a few patches that I missed with the sunscreen, so I guess it worked. It’s from a company called Mission Skin Care and is (or was) marketed to athletes because it’s fast-drying and supposed to be resistant to sweat and water. And now that I actually read the can, it says, “For face, spray on hands first and then apply.” (Hey, I did have sense enough to close my eyes before I “spritzed,” but obviously it still got in my eye.) The can retails for 10 bucks (I checked their website) but evidently a load must have fallen off a truck somewhere, and it ended up at Fleamasters and I got it for 3 bucks.
Anyway, I then got into a a fresh T-shirt, undies, and socks, and put on this nice pair of lounge shorts that I like to wear around the house. I plopped down on the sectional in the living room, and that’s when the exhaustion hit me. All that fresh air and exercise, then topped off with a pizza and a couple of beers. Zowie. Abby jumped up, and laid on top of my chest, which was very sweet, but her A.D.D. soon set her off in a different direction. I think I could just laid there all night and fallen asleep. But I wanted to watch “Biggest Loser,” and it did capture my attention. Plenty of drama among the contestants this season, and that's the way NBC likes it!
Expenses: dinner for Carol and I, $36; food on Sanibel $35; bike rental, $10. Total: $81
Bruce
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