Early Days

The morning dawned bright and lovely over the balcony  in the bedroom!  We found my ‘Community” coffee yesterday in the Publix and I had a great cup of coffee, Dean had a

Diet Coke.  Kevin, Nancy and Little Oscar showed up and we all walked on the beach.  

It was nice, mid 70s sunny.  Little Oscar was not so sure about the ocean, and i have to admit it was pretty nippy!  

We had lunch at Sloppy Joe’s on the beach.  Dean had the Sloppy Joe and said it was not so hot for a restaurant of that name.  (I told him Kathy MIller’s sloppy Joe is AMAZING!) After we came back and I painted the afternoon away and had a little Josh and Fritos.  Dean and I just got back from a second perusal of the progress of the sculptures and a sunset. 

 We can not figure out the imagery of the two pieces with a cross, and wooden people.  One fellow suggested that they were puppets but still the meaning eludes me.  Hopefully we will get to talk to the artist and become enlightened.  My mind can go all kinds of ways with it, but I want to know that the artist intended.

There is a Dali museum here a ( in St Pete) and this one piece is like a sandcastle abstract to me, FULL of imagery as you walk around it. I think dinner is going to be Italian,  I’ll report on that tomorrow.

Revisiting

 Four o-clock came pretty early this morning. I got all my last minute things done though and Chris came, picked me up, we retrieved Dean and headed to the airport.  Things went well until we got to TSA and the guys said there is a little problem,  he thought my birth year might not be 1995.  It was an easy fix and everyone was kind.  I was rather crushed that I cold not pass for that BD though.  We got through TSA without a further hitch, ate some airport breakfast. Though eggs are eggs, right?  I want to the powder room and when I cam out Dean was saying we need to board ( it was 7AM our flight was 7:30) and so we sailed right on the plane.  Southwest and it was a nice shiny new plane.  The ride was uneventful and we had an empty seat between us.  I dosed a tiny bit but mostly read, chatted and played on my phone as Dean could get me SW internet.  

Kevin and Nancy were not getting in for about 2 hours so we had lunch at PF Changs, and then moseyed around the airport and finally roosted until they arrived.

I loved this “Pink Pelican”. 

We went for  lunch for Kevin and Nancy, Little Oscar (Van) sure has grown.

He is about 9 ish months and is already as big as Petunia! Just pulling up though not walking yet! 

 HE is so cute, it is uncanny how much he looks like his daddy at that age.  The house Kevin rented is nice BUT this condo is amazing! 

 It has a largish balcony with a table for 6 and  a lovely view,

we actually saw a dolphin swimming!  

Dean let me have the cool room with a view!

We walked next door to a Publix. Got to witness a lovely sunset.

 All these people were on the beach and we realized that they were there for the sunset.  Anyway we got some supplies including a nice Josh Cab!  

Gooey Buns and Hob Nob

Sometimes I have to wonder at myself!  I purchased tickets before the cruise for a singer called Emmaline at the Jazz Kitchen. I used to hang out some in Broad Ripple and I forgot that there were entities called the Jazz Cooker and a separate one called the Jazz Kitchen.  Silly me as I did events for Legacy House years ago in collaboration with the Jazz Kitchen and the food was fabulous. But I was one minded and thought the tickets were for the Cooker.  In the meantime I started in on when could we go on a weekender AND I got the horrible news that the Hob Nob is closing.  The Hob Nob is the white restaurant catty corner across the street from the Brown County Court House. 

 It has a great supper menu that is in addition to the regular lunch menu and a favorite place of mine to go for date nights.  SO our weekend get away became Brown County and it was for this weekend.  Oblivious to the above mentioned tickets, when I realized it it became incorporated into the plans.  

We came down and stayed at the Cornerstone Inn again in Shilo 3.  Not my favorite location in the repertoire of the Cornerstone, but it was rather o last minute and the only room in the inn.  We got here in time for dinner and Jodi, cheap date that she is, had a salad and toasted cheese.  I had the pork chop with apples and onions and mustard cream sauce on a bed of mashed potatoes and a glass of Klinker Zin.  It was delish!

My hair dresser, while getting my hair cut on Friday, the second person to tell me that there was a place to get “ the best cinnamon buns”.  

I got up, ( had brought a quickie dress) threw on my dress and went for a fabulously short walk to get our breakfast.  Nikki ( the afore mentioned hair dresser) said they were not so good, with the Carmel sauce on them. I ignored this advice and boy was  I glad!  They are amazing and not to be missed. We lingered on the screened in porch for quite a while and finally got it together and went to the park ( who could possibly eat lunch after that bun?).  I started a painting and Jodi just enjoyed.  We eventually went back into town and late lunched at the Hob Nob.  We had a “45 minute” wait and it was amazing to see the all kind of kinds that passed before us.  I saw the biggest gluteals I believe I have ever seen, folks with a messy melange of thrown together stuff, night wear, too tight, too loose, pink hair, blue hair, fanny packs………….

Lunch was o.k., Jodi had another toasted cheese, and potato soup

and I had their pot roast sandwich, is not what it used to be, but it was going to be better than dining at the Jazz Cooker.   We trekked to Indy towards the Jazz Cooker and drove past the JAzz Kitchen and I had a ephineal thought.  “What if……”. We pulled around the corner and I got out the tickets and lo and behold it was the Jazz Kitchen.  We found a parking spot relatively easy and went in to be checked in and seated in a back room that had absolutely no visibility of the stage.  In all fairness there was a streamed TV in the room we were in.  BUT wait, there is more, there was a minimum food order.  I was not even remotely hungry and felt relatively nickeled and dimmed as I had to pay for the tickets to the venue and now they are demanding that I spend money, (we would have purchased a drink which would have been darned close and maintained good will). The singer was good, but i have to admit, the other individual in the room were almost as entertaining.  There was one guy who,  I realized about half way through, had boobs on his shirt, like the number 3 with dots to resemble nipples,  and a woman at the same table of four sat there and sang along and postured through out the entire show.  I spent. A lot of time trying not to look as it was rather like looking at a cobra.     Both women were dressed rather 50’s retro.  Regardless it was interesting.  

Emmaline had a good sound and I was not in the mood to fight my way through the pile of people at her merchandise table, so I am hoping that I can find her on I tunes…..

I was worried about the drive back but we chatted and I stayed alert!

This morning we both went to the Oey Gooey Cinnamon Bun place and admittedly they are better right there in the store.  We managed to hit up the stamp store and the “Life is Good” store and are now releasing in the park. 

…

A Beautiful Sunny Day = Sunburn

This morning we did the safe thing and went to the windjammer, I can count on a croissant!  Coffee not so much.  We watched us pull into port, and this lovely lighthouse was right outside our balcony.

Regardless we  got off the ship as soon as we could and motored around a bit, Claire suggested a coffee (quite kind of her since she doesn’t drink coffee) at this place.  I don’t know what they do to their croissants or cookies (nor do I care) , but the coffee was heaven, A Lavender Latte.  

Best coffee of the whole trip!  We wandered up the boardwalk a bit but went back to the pier to catch our sail boat ride.

If you look real hard behind Claire there are a string of children apparently on a preschool outing.

  We walked as a group to the boat and it was a lovely trip, the weather was nice, the folks on the boat were fun and the sailors were nice.  I learned a bunch, not that I remember it all , but still.  Claire moseyed up to the front of the boat, I was a weenie and stayed in the back.  

This schooner belongs to the Canadian Navy, it is the last one. 

Our Ship in the back ground

We grabbed some lunch at a outdoor restaurant by the sailboat, it was lovely, the sun was shining, there was music, and our fish and chips were good.  I even tried a cider, which was o.k.  A little close to beer, but o.k. There was a loitering (actually he was with his dad on a leash  and very well behaved) dog who just needed some of my chips!  I went to the bathroom and got tickeled as this looked down at me.

We wandered and shopped, has ice cream at COWS ( I had maple since I am, you know, in Canada) 

and wandered and when we got back, I had wondered if the 

‘Hop On Hop off‘ bus might be a good way to get a quick overview of the city.  We did not have tickets and the window was closed but a bud driver told us to walk down to another window and it was closed too.  I asked the seconds bus’s driver was there any way to get tickets and he asked if we wanted to get off and on and I said no we just wanted a quick circle before our ship left and he said just get on.  Claire was iffy, but we hopped on and had a lovely tour of the city . We got to see downtown,

the Victorian Garden, The Citadel ( outside),

the graveyard where there are 121 Titanic Victims laid to rest, and the government building with a clock that stopped at the time of the great Halifax Explosion.  That explosion was the greatest non man initiated explosion there has ever been.  We tipped the driver and guide ( The guide sounded like my friend Cheryl - similar inflections and even the sound of her voice was similar - that was fun)  well.

  We are heading back out to sea again towards Boston!

Two Days at once because…….

Yesterday was a sea day, we went to the usual place for painting and we were hugging along minding our own business and we got kicked out again.  So we went to deck ll where it was lighter, and cold.  There is a big table, we had some lunch at the Wind Jammer and painted.  Dinner was at one of the “Extra” restaurants on board, and it was delicious! We shared a wedge salad and peppered bacon in a sweet chili sauce for appetizers.  We both got a filet and shared mushrooms and truffled frites. 

 For dessert we had Molten Chocolate Cake which went well with the bottle of wine we also indulged.  The evenings entertainment was “Tango Bruno’s Aires”. It was awesome, not my favorite but up there.

Today we arrived in Sydney and I was jazzed, and hopeful in spite of the haze that hung low as we pulled into port.  Unfortunately it never went away and the trip was really a waste of a day and $.  We did have a chatty tour guide who had lots of information and history to share.  We drove for about an hour and a half, they let us out to powder our nose and then drove for another hour and a half or so.  We didn’t stop any more because there were literally no views through the fog.  Lunch was at a little Cafe in Igonish where there were mussels, seafood chowder, tomatoe bisque and sandwich stuff placed out.  Fun to have the mussels but no tasty sauce with it. 

We did stop a couple of times after lunch at he Gailic House built by Clay Corson for his wife, Julia, who was ill.  IT worked, Julia  outlived him.  She sold it to the Canadaian Government who sold it to developers who tried to renovate it but it had DEEP problems and unfortunately it is no longer in use.  

We did have some close up views that were lovely,

mostly the time was was spent riding in a bus, listening to the guide and not being able to see much. We also got off at a beach near the Gaelic House.

  We also got out at a Galic School, who knew there was sauce a thing on this side of the pond?

  They have a cute little gift shop but I showed restraint!  The last straw was an accident on the way back ( no not us but it was blocking the 2 lane highway)  making us late, everyone’s knickers were in a wad!

  The bus they had us on was the Cape Bretons Hockey Teams bus, LOL the only time for this old girl to be in a team bus.The head waited told us we wold have to return at 8, and I confess i rather sheered, so he said 7:15.  It is Lobster night so I am looking forward to it.