Florida 2016-17 week one

Hi all:

I've been in Florida one week already. The time flies by. Enjoying morning coffee and smoothie on the lanai. Dawn is at work; Abby is across from me, sleeping on one of the patio chairs. This is definitely her favorite room during the day.

My travels here were some of the smoothest so far. Only one accident on the Interstate just north of Nashville. My accommodations in Clarksville (TN) and Tifton (GA) were there usual adequate. Abby once again was the perfect little traveler.

I arrived at the condo unit about 3 p.m. on Thursday the 3rd. I got everything from the Prius unpacked and then waited for Dawn to come home. We had dinner at one of our fave restaurants, Pawnbrokers, where I had the 3-way shrimp platter and Dawn had baked cod. All very delicious as usual.

Friday I walked a lap around Lakes Park, about 1.25 miles. The farmers' market at Lakes Park has been moved from Fridays to Wednesdays, so no market today. Next, I stopped at Sun Harvest Citrus (on my way to the Fleamasters flea market) to check out the citrus situation and drink a free sample or two of the fresh OJ. The grapefruit was delicious, but the navel oranges were the only ones that were in season at the moment, and they were awful. So I bought three grapefruit and a half gallon of fresh OJ and called it a day. I had a chance meeting with two guys, Charlie and Ed, from the "Peckerheads" bicycle club. I usually see these guys at the Lakes Park farmers' market, and they assured me they continue to go on Wednesdays and that we would see each other there. We caught up briefly, and then went our separate ways. On to Fleamasters where I met up with "Chris the Book Guy," my book connection down here. I bought a copy of John D. MacDonald's "One Fearful Yellow Eye," which is another in his Travis McGee series. Lunch in the food court of a gyro sandwich and diet Coke (Sorry niece Kris, I just can't completely shake the diet Coke habit, though my consumption is down considerably). Back to the condo to stash the citrus and OJ. Next to the grocery store for needed supplies. In the afternoon, I swam 10 lengths in the swimming pool and got a couple chapters into "Yellow Eye." For dinner, meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli, and fresh pineapple spears for dessert. I took a chance on whole pineapple at Walmart Neighborhood Market for $2.99 and lucked out; it was delicious.

Saturday Nov. 5. For breakfast, I made a special treat of my homemade buttermilk pancakes, and coupled that with some thick cut bacon. All done on my electric griddle, which I ferried down here from Wisconsin. And of course some that fresh OJ from Sun Harvest, which is awesome. Dawn had a haircut appt. today, so I went to Planet Fitness and did a one-hour workout. We rendezvoused back at the condo and went out to lunch at the Ginger Bistro, a new place for me, though Dawn had tried it over the summer and commented that they serve Dim Sum. So of course I wanted to try it, so we ordered six dishes to share. Everything tasted fine, except when we got to the beef. I thought the menu had stated "beef tenderloin in bbq sauce." But what arrived was beef "TENDON" in bbq sauce. It was like biting into beef flavored Jell-O cubes, and after a couple of awful bites of this, I called over the waitress to ask what cut of beef this was, because it certainly was not tenderloin. After she clarified, we set that dish aside and chalked that one up to education. We both agreed it was one of the most awful things we had eaten in recent memory, but leave it to the Asians to use everything in the cow except the moo to make something to eat. We will look more carefully at the menu next time.

Sunday Nov. 6. Ham and cheese omelets and fried potatoes for breakfast. We watched CBS Sunday Morning together, and this was my first chance to watch it since leaving here last May. Jane Pauley is the new host of course. This episode was their political edition, intended to line up with Tuesday's presidential election. But there were a couple other themed segments, in particular I enjoyed the one on Paul Simon. Geez, 75 years old. Sorry to say I don't really like his later stuff much. He's fascinated by the sounds of obscure musical instruments, but he crams too many into his compositions, and mostly what I hear is a lot of noise. Simon is, for me, one of those musicians frozen in time, mostly with Art Garfunkel, but I do enjoy some of Simon's early solo career stuff like Kodachrome, Still Crazy After All These Years, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, etc. After the album "Graceland," things got a little too crazy for me. Next, Dawn and I took a 40-minute drive north to Punta Gorda to do some exploring. We went to Fishermen's Village, a collection of shops and restaurants, and had lunch at the Captain's Table, which was highly rated on Yelp, and was excellent. We both had the fish 'n' chips which contained a generous portion of batter fried cod, steak fries/onion ring combo, and coleslaw. Ice tea to drink. We skipped dessert, saving it for ice cream and coffee at another shop. We had a nice stroll along the marina and window shopping at the various stores.

Monday Nov. 7. Back to work for Dawn. I rode my bicycle over to "EA Bike Shop" on McGregor for a tuneup and safety check. Was going to have lunch at the new Norman Love chocolate shop and cafe, located in the same strip mall, but unfortunately it is closed on Mondays. Took an Uber ride back to the condo ($7.82) then went to Publix for some fresh salmon for dinner. A nice swim in the afternoon and more book reading. Pan fried salmon, rice pilaf, steamed broccoli, and a salad of greens and fresh pear for dinner. We had a Scrabble and cribbage marathon out on the lanai until about 9 p.m., which is Dawn's usual bedtime.

Tuesday Nov. 8. Election Day. Dawn will vote after work, so she is picking up dinner at "Sonny's BBQ" so I don't have to worry about dinner. I did a one-hour workout at Planet Fitness, then back to the condo for lunch. Fell asleep on the couch for two hours, then went for a swim. I made an apple crisp for tonight's dessert. Dawn got home around 6 p.m.; there was virtually no line at her polling place. She came home with a "sampler platter" from Sonny's which contained some of each meat that Sonny makes, including ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket, and chicken. The sides we chose were baked beans and a sweet potato. We each had a corn muffin, and Dawn got an extra 1/2 pound of pork shoulder, which we didn't even touch because there was plenty on the sampler platter. The platter is $15.99 which makes a reasonably priced meal for two. We deliberately skipped the election coverage and played Scrabble and Cribbage instead.

Wednesday Nov. 9. Well, who would have thought? The polls were wrong, and the media deluded themselves into believing their own rhetoric and completely missed the groundswell of people completely fed up with the Washington establishment. I have my thoughts on this whole "president thing," but this is not the forum for it. I will only say that life goes on. Our Republic has survived 240 years. It survived Nixon and Jimmy Carter. It will survive Donald Trump. I have lived long enough to see that the pendulum swings, and each time it does, we persevere. The folks running around with "Not My President" banners are wasting life energy. Temper tantrums don't solve anything. I am not interested in moving to Canada, and I seriously doubt Miley Cyrus, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Barbra Streisland, et. al,, will be moving either despite their claims to the contrary. Actually, Miley, if you're reading this, it would not break my heart if you moved. In any event, I spent the morning at the Lakes Park Farmers' Market, and had a lovely breakfast there of a bagel breakfast sandwich, fresh fruit, and coffee. I met up with the Peckerheads bicycle club, and we talked of the election and other subjects. The afternoon I spent on Sanibel Island, where I had a nice lunch at the Island Cow, and rented a bicycle and drove around the island, including a run through the Ding Darling Nature Preserve. Two things of note on the Island: 1. The Sanibel Cafe is closed indefinitely on accounr of a fire. I will miss them, not only for good breakfasts, but they are one of the few places I've found that offered free public wi-fi with no password. 2. Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grill has closed its location at Rabbit Road and San/Cap Highway. This was always a favorite midway stop for me to have a cold beer on my bike rides from Ding Darling back to the Sanibel's main business corridor. They have relocated to 2500 Island Inn Rd., closer to Sanibel's business hub along Periwinkle Way. Too bad. I liked the old location better because it was off the beaten path a little bit. It did make for a congested intersection, but now the new location makes an already busy intersection (Periwinkle and Tarpon Bay Rd.) even more so.

Back at the condo, I prepared Italian chicken breasts, mashed potatoes with gravy, and broccoli. For dessert, we finished the last of the apple crisp. We then drove to a T-Mobile store, where I got off the "Boost" system and onto the T-Moble network, and got a new phone. I've been loyal to Boost for the last couple years and I like their flat-rate pricing system. But time and again I have been foiled by lack of coverage in some of the most unlikely places (like LaCrosse, WI, for example) and I don't want to chance not having cell service when I really need it. So Dawn and I are on a two-phone plan now, costing $100 a month, and I have a new Samsung "Galaxy J7" phone now (not the model that catches fire!) with twice the memory of the old phone. The old phone was running out of memory to the point where the basic apps couldn't even update any more. So I am having fun playing with the new phone and installing my various "apps."

Thursday Nov. 10. Got a call from the bike shop this morning, so I am headed to Planet Fitness for a workout, then to the bike shop. It will be nice to have my bike back as it will give me yet another option to exercise.

Update: Well, fly in the ointment with the bicycle. When I mashed the bike into the back of the Prius, I messed something up with the front brakes and now the brake pads are pressed tight against the front wheel, and bike cannot be ridden. Damn! Back to the bike shop on Monday. For dinner, Dawn and I went to La Casita, our fave Mexican place in Ft. Myers, but we had a rare miss tonight. The shredded beef that they put into the beef enchiladas (and burritos, chimichangas and everything else) was WAY over salted. I don't know why so many Mexican restaurants are heavy-handed with the salt, but La Casita is a rare exception, but tonight somebody messed up. We brought half our dinners home, and I am hoping to desalinize the beef and repurpose it for another dish, perhaps hot beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy. I'll let you know on this one.

Well, I know this has been a long, rambling entry with no pictures to break up the text. So congrats if you made it all the way through. Hope everyone is well and in good spirits, and I'll check in with you next week.

Bruce