Confessions of a Grandma

Time in Florida would not be complete without a trip to the Marie Selby Gardens in Sarasota. Even the gift shop is a treat: Just a fraction of what there is to look at in the gardens:

Magnolia blossoms I adore having a sense of smell most of the time.  I stop to smell the roses, the lilacs, the magnolias, the gardenias.  I love to have an essential oil infuser working in my home.  Certain soaps and the aroma of baking bread take me right back to my grandparents' house.  I think life would be so much sadder without the sense of smell. Which is not to say I don't understand that scents can be an irritant resulting in severe sensitivities. I get sick to my stomach just walking by a candle store myself.  But I would hate to live in a scent free world.  Even noxious smells tell us something -- stay away. I don't douse myself with perfume to go out in public.  I don't need my sheets and towels to  smell like detergent for weeks. Warm air and sunshine work for me. On the other hand, if you object to the smell of  orange or eucalyptus in the air, best stay away from my house.

Today is Earth Day, 2018.  Did you know that we have former President Nixon* and the 1970 Congress to thank for the original Earth day?  They also created the Environmental Protection Agency that same year. The focus this year  is plastics, specifically ending plastics pollution: From poisoning and injuring marine life to the ubiquitous presence of plastics in our food to disrupting human hormones and causing major life-threatening diseases and early puberty, the exponential growth of plastics is threatening our planet’s survival. One small step suggested-- give up plastic drinking straws.  (Actually, this will be a huge step for me.  My grandchildren have actually accused me of owning my own straw manufacturing plant. 😞) Our consumption of plastic straws in the United States alone equals enough straws to  wrap around the earth's circumference 2.5 times a day .  We are smothering the planet. I recycle and compost religiously but I ...

There are new signs at the beach. From what I can observe rules do not apply across the board though. Some people reserve the right to walk and dig where they want and let somebody else worry about the erosion on the beach. But to be fair: Most of this erosion was done by Mother Nature for reasons of her own.  A couple of years ago the dunes extended out to the end of this walk way.  Thee were a number of picnic tables to the left.  Far longer ago there was even a pavilion. It was destroyed in a hurricane and never rebuilt because so much of the land was lost.  Now the distance from te gulf and the intracoastal waterway is less than the length of a football field. And nature is discouraging anyone from walking on what is left. This sign is not at the beach, but beside a pond I pass on a frequent walk/bike I do. Never been tempted to feed alligators or snakes. I know they have to eat to, but I think they can manage on their own. I did co...

The weather -- yikes.  The gods must be crazy.  But in Florida -- granted a bit cooler than one expects for this time of year -- still, pretty close to perfect. The first glimpse of the gulf water, and it is always hard to  believe it is real: It doesn't matter how you get to the beach. It's beautiful Looking up or down. Paradise

I had planned to take some more painting classes this year but I somehow never got around to it.  I have signed up for an afternoon workshop entitled "Painting Your Destiny."  No previous experience or talent required. I have been dabbling a bit though. It is on my list of to do for next winter -- take some classes.

It's almost time for me to make my return trip to Vermont and I haven't yet railed about Florida traffic laws yet.  Well, let me correct that now. I don't know that these are official part of the Florida traffic codes.  In fact I am pretty sure they are not.  And yet there are a few things that I observe routinely. 1.  Perfectly okay to drive while blind.  I kid you not.  I am not a very social person and I don't have a huge circle of acquaintances, but I know four people whom I know for a fact to be legally blind.  And they drive.  I have to believe that if I know four such people, there are a lot more out there. 2.  Most places have right turn on red, but why not add a little adventure to your life and try left turn on red -- regardless of whether or not there may be oncoming traffic.  I've seen that more than once. 3.  Pedestrian crossing signals are put up only to dare pedestrians to attempt crossing.  They have no im...

The Florida climate is kind of rough on mailboxes.  I had been noticing rusted bits of bolts around my mailbox and then on Saturday the door fell off.  I went to the local hardware store and picked up a new one. Getting the old mailbox off was a piece of cake.  Getting the new one firmly affixed -- more like trying to chew a piece of old shoe leather. First of all, the new one was just slightly wider than the old so it did not fit nicely on the board that was there for mounting.  And no mounting hardware, no bolts, nothing, actually came with the new mailbox . . . so a trip back to the hardware store.  They are very helpful at the local hardware store, but they did not have the correct mounting bracket in stock.  I had to go to one of those big box stores.  Grrr. I found the mounting bracket but when I got home I discovered I do not have a long outdoor extension cord.  I was going to have to use the drill.  Fortunately, my neighbor foun...

i have been engaged in an epic battle -- woman against the forces of nature. Anyone who owns a home knows there is always something in need of urgent attention.  This week it was war waged on an infestation of white flies. I had been noticing that an orange-scented jasmine that I have growing in the side yard has not been thriving.  I was thinking it was due to the dry season we have had and I was including it on my watering schedule, but it just seemed determined not to thrive.  I decided to cut it back and in that process i noticed the dead tips of branches and looked up possible causes.  Based on what I had read, I checked for a couple of likely pests.  Sure enough, i found white flies. I sprayed with soapy (Dawn dish detergent) water.  I sprayed the next day with neem oil.  It seemed the white flies were no longer lurking under the leaves, but then I noticed that they were rising up out of the surrounding grass, so I started spraying the lawn...

  Several area beaches sport drum circles.  This one from last Sunday took place on Venice Beach, FL.  The photo was taken as the drummers were setting up a medicine wheel. Typically, people gather to drum in drum "circles" with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.      -- Mickey Hart , former drummer for The Grateful Dead The crowd begins to gather closer to sunset and some people enter the circle to dance or perform while others watch.  For some reason, belly dancing and hula hoops are popular.  At he drum circles I have been to, a conch shell is blown just as the sun sinks into the...

I feel as though I have been on vacation for the past week.  My gentleman friend from Vermont was here for a visit for his vacation and so we were doing vacation things. It was his first visit to Florida. We were lucky to get tickets to a spring training game between the NY Yankees and the Tampa Rays. Spring training was coming to an end so it was definitely not the A Teams out there, but it was fun to be in the crowd Don is not a big beach lover, but you can't come to Florida and just tour Harley dealers!  We did stop at some Harley dealers . . . four I think .  .  .  but the beach makes a better picture. I take anyone who visits me to Myakka State Park. It's pretty much guaranteed that you will see an alligator there. We saw one alligator that was being very aggressive, slapping his tail and chasing other alligators out of his territory.  I'm guessing the one he let stay was a female and he was going to take advantage of mat...