Just saw the movie "Birdman" last night. After it won all those Academy Awards Sunday night, including Best Picture, I got curious and had to see it. Had to travel 14 miles to Estero/Bonita Springs because that was the closest theater showing it. But it was worth it. It was raw and gritty at times, exposing the underbelly of show business, and ultimately dealt with the desire for redemption, which most of us have felt at one time or another. Not myself, of course, because it's difficult to improve upon perfection.
Ha! Just seeing if you were paying attention! Seriously, though, it was a really good movie, and surely is Michael Keaton's best performance to date.
After the movie, I had dinner at Big Al's Sports Grill in Bonita Springs. They had a location in Fort Myers when I was here two years ago, but they went out of business for reasons unknown. It's a pity, too, because it was one of my faves and the prices were great and the place was always packed. They do the same nightly specials at the Bonita Springs location, and Monday's special was "any dinner on the menu for $11.99," so I got the full rack of baby back ribs which were delicious, served with corn on the cob (surprisingly good), fries, and cole slaw.
I was also going to stop at Dixie Grocery Liquidators out that way, but they close at 6 p.m. (obviously catering to the retired crowd) so I was out of luck there and will have to return on another day. I am still enjoying the five pounds of Starbucks coffee beans I bought on my last trip there; they (the beans) may well last me my entire stay here.
I know it's been a week since my last blog entry, and I hope no one has taken that to mean that I am sad or in a bad way or anything. It's simply that there are stretches of days where nothing of much significance occurs. I rise usually by 8 a.m.; Abby does a good job of not letting me sleep much later than this. I make a pot of coffee, sit out on the lanai for a while and check news, weather (back in Wisconsin and here), and emails. Then breakfast of one sort or another. I may then read, or scour the Internet for any number of things. Then there's the usual tasks that accompanies one wherever one goes, including housecleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, and what not. Sometimes I will play with Abby and/or watch her luxuriate in the sunshine and warmth:
I will usually take one meal a day "out" somewhere, if for no other reason than to get out of the apartment for a while. Fridays are a regular favorite of biking to the farmer's market and driving to the Fleamasters Flea Market, if for no other reason to talk to my book buddy, grab some lunch, and people watch.
I do have a couple of adventures coming up. Supposedly "Rona" (from the dating site ourtime.com) and I are doing an Everglades air boat tour next week. Then there is the Kissimmee watch show coming up the second week of March, which I am combining with a little scouting trip to St. Petersburg to evaluate that city as a possible wintering location for the 2015-16 season. And I'll be sure to apprise you of both these adventures.
But in the meantime, be assured I am happy and well. If anything, I am a little homesick for the familiar sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and camaraderie of Wisconsin, and will be looking forward to a homecoming in May. That said, I cannot describe to you to joy of being able to step outside, take a bike ride, or a little drive somewhere dressed in T-shirt and shorts, and not have to worry about slipping, falling, or sliding into a ditch somewhere. The sunshine and warmth are completely invigorating, versus the energy-sucking cold and seemingly endless stretches of cloudy days of the Wisconsin winters. So I do feel extremely fortunate to be here. But I do miss the beautiful landscape of Wisconsin; the drive to Dubuque through the driftless region especially comes to mind. There is nothing here but flat. And while the fresh seafood and produce are completely awesome in Florida (especially being on the coast) there is a serious dearth of good pie down here. And cheese spread (my kingdom for a tub of Owl's Nest garlic cheese spread). And I've yet to find a pizza place anywhere near on a par with Paisans or even Mac's Pizza Shack down the street from me in Janesville. And of course I miss the easy access to friends and family. Despite numerous attempts, I have yet to establish even one solid human connection down here.
I know ... woe is me. I don't mean to whine (really). But all this stuff serves to remind me that I'm a confirmed "snowbird," at least for the foreseeable future. The best of both worlds. Stay in Wisconsin just long enough to avoid the enforced idleness brought on by winter; stay in Florida just long enough to avoid the monsoons, hurricanes, and ungodly heat/humidity.
So rest assured, sports fans, I am well here in the "City of Palms," nestled on the southwest shores of the Sunshine State.
Bruce
Good Monday to all of you. It's President's Day, another bogus holiday that only postal and government employees get off. Just finished lunch at a place called "Burgercue" which features, you guessed it, burgers and barbeque. Had a lunch portion of their ribs (four joints) with beans and slaw, plus ice tea, with the total coming to $20 including tip. So definitely not cheap eats, but good food. I'm presently hanging out with the other barnacles at Starbucks, seated outside in 75 degrees with tall Pike Market blend with cream and sugar.
The weekend was decent, highlighted by my attendance Saturday at a watch & clock exhibition at the Fort Myers public library, sponsored by a local group of collectors. I saw a couple of interesting watches (pocket and wrist) that people brought in, and gave value estimates on. I spent four hours there, mostly jawboning with other members of the club and getting to know them. The one guy I was hoping would show up, another wristwatch collector, did not come, and I suspect he had better things to do with his time. That's one thing I've noticed with folks around here: with so many things to do, and with such nice weather, people are somewhat vague about commitments. I noticed this with meetup.com. People would RSVP and then not show. "I'll be there" often means "I'll be there unless something more interesting comes along."
Sunday was more or less errands and chore day, with stops at CVS Pharmacy for fish oil capsules, and the Walmart market for kitty litter (Abby gets her litter box changed out on Sundays) and a few other things. Did anyone catch the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special on NBC? I thought I was going to go mad during the Red Carpet preshow with all the inane questions of team Lauer/Guthrie/Roker, so I turned it off. I missed the gem of the evening when Jim Carrey asked them where they were hiding Brian Williams. I watched the replay, and it was literally the show-stopper of the evening. No one had a rejoinder on that one. The best Lauer could muster was, "Let's cut back to Carson Daly." Guess Carrey won't be appearing on NBC any time soon, but it was worth it. Leave it to Carrey to deposit the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.
I know everyone and his cousin was blogging and tweeting about the show during and after, and everyone has their opinions. I thought the flashbacks were priceless and brought back many funny memories. I thought most of the veterans looked haggard and tired ... don't think a lot of them will make it to the 50th. Musical numbers were a mixed bag. I had to hit the mute button on Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed." Ditto on Kanye West. Rap isn't my thing, and hearing it performed by someone lying on their back didn't make it sound any better. And what was that little slut Miley Cyrus doing there? Her sphincter-twitching rendition of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" surely had Paul Simon (who looked like hell, by the way) hurling in the Green Room. That's four minutes that could have been better spent, that's for sure. (Where was Massive Head Wound Harry when we needed him?) But all in all, it was great fun, and I stayed up for the whole thing.
Friday the 13th was spent at the farmer's market and Fleamasters flea market as usual. I bought a hard copy of Randy Wayne White's novel "Night Vision." Started reading in in bed Friday night. And realized about 15 pages into it that I read it already! Don't you hate it when that happens? That one will be going back to Chris the Book Guy next Friday, and I'm sure he'll let me trade it in on something else.
Thursday (Feb. 12), I was back aboard the “Big M” casino ship. A little nicer weather than last time. Calm seas and sunny skies with a high of 70 degrees. Breakfast this morning was at the Sunflower Café, off San Carlos. It abuts to a shopping center being torn down, and I found out that morning it’s going to be another Walmart Supercenter, which I believe will be Fort Myers’ fourth such store. Anyway, the Sunflower is the restaurant where your food order is prepared so quickly that time moves backward and you get your food before you have ordered it. If you want your eggs over easy, it’s better to order them over medium. I guess if you order them over easy, they arrive raw. (Sister) Dawn, I didn’t get a chance to take you there, either, but it’s like a big Greek family restaurant on the order of the “Omega” in West Allis. The cruise was fairly busy, with about 150 people on board (including a bus tour) and I won $114 at the craps table ... my first $100 win aboard the casino. Surely I will endure a spanking next time.
Tuesday (Feb. 10) I spent a day at FM Beach with a woman whom I will call “Rona” in case she doesn’t want her real name used on the blog. I met her on “ourtime.com,” a dating site for over 50 that I’ve been on before. I debated whether or not to put my dating exploits on the blog or not, but in the end I decided what the hell, because it’s all part of what I’m doing down here. It was a helluva windy day, and only 69 degrees, so it wasn’t exactly an ideal day for a beach walk, but we managed to do about a mile walk, and then headed over to the Gulfharbor Grille for drinks and appetizers. We were together for about 3 hours, and talked about doing an airboat tour of the Everglades in a couple of weeks. We’ll see if that happens. The day was pleasant enough; we seem to have a few things in common. She’s retired and for fun (and sometimes a little income) she is a shell artist and painter, and dabbles a little bit in home decorating. She's originally from Ohio, but has been here a long timel and knows the area real well and offered me some tips on different things to do and places to go. But I don’t see her as the type who would want to spend any time in Wisconsin. But that’s OK. At this point, I’m looking for women with whom I could see myself being friends, rather than judging them right off the bat based on whether I could see myself married to them. So I’m not necessarily lowering my expectations, just adjusting them, if that makes any sense. So we’ll see what happens.
Wednesday (Feb. 11) was tamale day at La Casita, so I enjoyed a couple of delicious tamales (one chicken, one pork) with pinto beans and rice. I don't know why more places make them (and why this place only makes them once a week). They must be labor-intensive or something.
I am getting a little more prepared for the watch show in Kissimmee in about a month. There will be two shows there back to back, so it looks like I’ll be spending about 3 days/3 nights there. Plus, I’m spending three days in St. Petersburg to get try and get a feel for that city as a possible wintering spot. I booked a private room in a home near downtown on “airbnb.com” which will be my first time using this website, so I’m interested to see how this will work out. I get the run of the house, full kitchen privileges, and a private bedroom and bath, all for $60/night. If you want to see the place I booked, you can view it here. I thought a residence would give me a better “feel” for the city versus a regular hotel/motel room. My next door neighbor will look in on Abby again.
That's all for now.
Bruce
It's Sunday morning, and another glorious sunny day here in Fort Myers. Abby and I are sitting out on the lanai. A couple of blue jays are duking it out for territory along the treeline. The smell of cigarette smoke is wafting over from next door, as neighbor Randy begins his daily ritual of pickling himself in tobacco and alcohol. (Nice guy, heart of gold, but racing to an early grave.)
I don't have a lot to report since my last blog entry Wednesday. I have more or less fallen into a comfortable routine of goofing off and doing as little work as possible to keep my little watch enterprise going.
Thursday, I met with (former landlord) Heather to catch up and see if there were any developments on her two rental units. She brought me two bottles of Wicked Dolphin Rum (one straight, and one spiced) as a thank-you for my positive review of the Cape Coral Distillery, where her boyfriend (soon to be fiancee I'm told) is the head distiller. She also treated on the drinks and appetizers at Stillwater, where we met. Her renters at both her locations are solidly in place, so there's virtually no chance of renting from her once my lease on this apartment expires in July. It appears her little rental empire is stalled, due to a lack of qualified properties to buy. I think the days of cheap property (resulting from the real estate bust of 2008-2009) are over. More and more folks like me are moving (or at least wintering) in Florida, and there's more demand than supply. Homes that were $40,000 five years ago are now $80,000. Not that I'm looking to buy or anything, but the upward movement in house prices is moving up rental prices as well because the rental income moguls are no longer finding cheap housing to renovate and turn into rental units.
Thursday also saw the arrival of my first batch of shaving razors and complimentary handle from the "Dollar Shave Club." This is an online enterprise where when you join the "club," you get a fresh batch of four razor heads for a buck, plus postage. Niece/nephew Kris and Jim hooked me up with this, and so far I am very pleased. The last batch of disposable razors I bought were just awful, and the name-brand razor heads have gotten so damned expensive, that this was an idea whose time had come.
Friday, I did my usual bike ride to the Farmers Market, and auto trip out to the Fleamasters flea market. The market was jam packed that day, and for the first time I had to park in the overflow parking lot. February is definitely the thick of the high season, and it will continue through March. My grand total expenditure was $3 for a new ballcap to replace one that I lost (no doubt it's around here somewhere!). I had lunch at Pincher's Crab Shack at the downtown marina. I was hungry for fried clams, and (sister) Dawn, they tinkered with the recipe once again, switching from thin clam strips to fat clam strips, and they are delicious and have much more clam flavor than before.
Saturday (yesterday) I took a long bike ride up and down the John Yarbrough Linear Bike
Trail, which runs parallel to a man-made canal for six miles between Six Mile Cypress Parkway on the south end, and Colonial Blvd. on the northern end. It's a nice level ride, with no vehicular traffic, and lots of wildlife in the canal, including heron, egrets, turtles and rumors of at least a couple of alligators, though I have yet to see them. The only downside is that you must cross a couple of busy highway intersections if you want to go from end to end. At one end is the Sunshine Harvest Citrus Company, which is a must stop for the free juice samples. I also got an orange-vanilla twist cone and a slice of key lime pie to complete the sugary shock to my pancreas. All together, traversing the trail end to end and back again, I put in 12 miles, plus another two miles each way to the trail from my apartment. So 14 miles total, which is approaching the upper limit of my comfort zone. It was a beautiful ride, with sunny skies and temps in the mid 70s.
I hope all my friends and family back in Wisconsin are well, and hanging in there with the winter weather. I see Madison and surrounding areas are getting some freezing rain today, so be careful.
Bruce
I’m on board the “Big M” casino ship, wondering if I made the right decision. It’s supposed to hit 73 degrees today, but I am dubious, being currently at 49 degrees, plus there’s a pretty good wind blowing, so it promises to be a bumpy, chilly ride. I have my sweatshirt on, one of only a couple days I can remember wearing it since arriving here back in November. All of which would feel welcome, I’m sure, to you folks back in Wisconsin. I see that it’s currently 3 degrees in Madison, and I see there’s more snow on the way to boot.
I had breakfast this morning at Marti’s, a family style restaurant on San Carlos Blvd. that’s very popular with the locals, plus is gaining a favorable rep with the tourists/snowbirds via Yelp and TripAdvisor. (Sister) Dawn, I didn’t get a chance to take you there, but it’s very similar to the Cottage Café back in Madison. Generous portions, and breakfast is usually under $10, including coffee and tip. This morning, I had a Western omelet with Swiss cheese, hashbrowns, raisin toast, and coffee.
Nothing earthshaking to report the last few days. I have the bike in the shop at the moment undergoing some adjustments and a changeout on the seat, both of which I decided to save myself the aggravation and not try to tackle on my own. So I drove the Prius over to the beach today rather than ride the bike.
Sunday I decided to watch the Superbowl after all, joining the game about half-way into the first quarter. Despite having no interest in either team, it was a very interesting game, especially at the end. I, along with the millions of other viewers I’m sure, couldn’t believe the Seattle coach’s decision to go with a pass at 2nd down and goal to go, when all they had to do was give the ball to their tallest player and have him simply fall over the goal line. Holy cow. That Seattle receiver who a few plays earlier had made that amazing pass reception that put Seattle near the goal line in the first place surely had to have felt robbed.
Some of the commercials had not played on youtube, and were interesting/provocative, too. Did anyone see the McDonalds commercial for the “Pay It With Love” promotion they are running until Feb. 14? The reason I ask is that, in a moment of weakness on Monday, I stopped at the McDonald’s near me for a quick “food pill” of a McDouble, small fries, and diet Coke, and was one of those randomly selected. My “payment” was to perform a “fist bump” with any restaurant patron in view of the cashier, which I did with a gentleman seated at a table with his family.
I had a nice long (40 minute) Skype session with Dawn on Sunday, and got caught up on family news, and Dawn showed me the snow on the ground and piled up at the end of the driveway outside her condo.
Happy to report that I won $52.50 at the blackjack table on Tuesday. I was going to play craps, but the boat was rocking so badly that it was hard to keep my balance standing up. Despite my doubts, the temperature did finally get into the mid 70s, and the wind finally died down by the time we got back to the dock. My winnings were more than enough to pay for the adjustments on the bike ($31), which I picked up on the way back to the apartment. Had I attempted to do this myself, I'm sure it would have cost me at least two hours of aggravation, and that's two hours that could be better spent at the beach or perfecting my Margarita-making skills.
It's now Wednesday, and I'm in desperate need of a haircut, so am returning to "Doug's Barber Shop" on Cleveland Ave. Then I'm thinking of a bike ride along the John Yarbrough Lineal Bike Trail, with a stop at the Sunshine Harvest Citrus Co. for some orange juice samples, an orange/vanilla twist cone, and possibly a slice of key lime pie. It's supposed to reach 78 degrees today. Tomorrow, we are supposed to have rain and possibly thunderstorms, so it might be a good day for a movie.
Bruce
