Confessions of a Grandma

The YMCA is less than a mile from my house.  It's a busy, busy place and parking is sometimes a problem.  It only makes sense to ride my bike there.   I was looking for a basket to attach to my bike.  I can strap my yoga mat to my back, but sometimes I want to take extra things like a towel and my wallet and my house keys.  I also thought carting books to and from the library would be easier in a basket than packed up on my back. Then I remembered that I had some upholstery fabric samples.  I got out my sewing machine and made my own bike basket. It works for me. ************** Of course I did purchase some material at the quilt show last weekend.  I am making a wall hanging, not a bed sized quilt.  My Florida bedroom furniture is oriental style.  I think this will look nice hanging on the bedroom wall. The red material is for the backing.  I have not decided yet whether I will fold that around to the front...

Of course the weather was perfect the day after my sister-in-law went home The beach was crowded with early morning beach goers. High tide was taking a bite out of the sandy shore. This is what Mike always referred to as the "dead tree."  It had fallen over about seven years ago and there really is not too much left of it now, but it was a land mark for us.  Mike always had the best luck finding sharks' teeth near it.  When I would walk to the beach to meet him after his early morning hunting, this is where I would meet up with him and we would walk the mile and a half back to the parking lot together.  I was greeted there today by a large dolphin maybe fifty yards off shore.  A shout out from Mike. Another half mile down the beach, two new dead trees, Causarinas.  I was sorry to see their demise even though they do drop sharp little cones. South Venice Beach Access--by ferry. It looks kind of deserted, but it really was no...

I got smart today and took my bike ride early...before the wind kicked up to 30-45 mph.  The wind has been relentless for the whole month of March and it has been colder than usual (but not that bad relative to other areas, so I do not complain. Usually, March is the nicest month here. Mike's swollen ankle has gone back to near normal.  His blood test showed a high level of uric acid which indicates gout.  We thought he had gout before, but the uric acid levels were not so high back then.  He of course wants it to be something else because gout means diet changes.  I am hoping I do not have to become the diet police.  On the other hand, it might mean fixing just one dish for the both of us--lots of vegetables without salt.   We need to follow up with his primary care physician at home for a review of the medications and how they may be impacting his kidney function.  So many meds mean too many side effects.  At least congestive he...

This morning's walk on the beach was a reminder to be grateful for the good things in my life. We had our coffee while watching a beautiful sunrise.  We slathered on some sunblock (well one of did, but not the one who has been treated for pre-cancerous sun-damaged spots), and made our way to the beach.  Eight in the morning and it was 74 degrees.  The sun was shining, the sky blue with soft pillows of white clouds.  The beach was lined with fishermen and behind them, a phalanx of snowy egrets.  Brown pelicans rested on the rocks jutting into the water to the north of the boardwalk.  A few plovers with their doe-like eyes Kippy toed along the shoreline, not very concerned about our presence there.  The early morning beach pickers, smiling greetings, were making their way back to the parking lot.  A couple of osprey were scooping up bits of seaweed.  Nest making time. I spotted a porpoise and we stopped to watch if it would surface again...

This was a glorious morning for a walk on the beach.  It was a bit on the cool side, but the breeze was gentle and the sky was clear and blue.  The past week had been quite windy and the gulf waters had been pretty rough so the sandy portions of the beach had been carved into steep step formations with a black reef uncovered just off the shore.  The entire character of the beach changes on a daily basis, so it is never boring. Today it seemed like the most fitting place for us to be on a Sunday morning.  I couldn't have been more inspired or renewed in any church. As we walked along the shore we could see a dolphin swimming just along the black reef, no more than twenty feet away.  It popped its head out of the water as if to look at us, then circled around a couple of times and came up again.  We felt truly that we were given a gift at that moment. Yesterday we took a walk at the Marby Carlton, Jr. Memorial Preserve.  We took a trail around a...

Mike gets himself off to the beach early most mornings.  I am not so much of a morning person.  I like to linger in my pj's over a cup of coffee and putter around the house a bit.  When I'm ready, I walk the couple of miles to the beach, walk up the beach a mile or a bit more where I meet up with Mike out on his saunter. I usually walk back with him and get a ride home, although if he is too involved in beach scavenging, I have been know to walk home again. Yesterday was one of those impossibly gorgeous days. I realized after walking along the beach road and down a nearly deserted stretch of beach that I had been in a blissful, zoned out state for some time.  The sun was nicely warm and the air at the beach was so soft on my skin.  The sounds of gentle waves and birds calling had an  almost hypnotic effect.  The light sand, the blue sky, the expanse of aqua water--the colors were soothing to my soul.  The smell of the beach and the nea...