I snapped these at the Destin Seafood Festival on Saturday evening. Studly Doright and I had no idea that the festival was taking place and just stumbled onto it by happy accident. Unfortunately, Studly doesn’t eat anything that lives in water and I’d eaten such an incredible seafood omelet at brunch that I wasn’t even a bit tempted.
I’ve titled these “Oh, to be Hungry!” and “Dream Buffet,” respectively.
Let’s call this one, “We Found the Beach and it was Good.”
As I listened to one celebrity after another pay tribute to the recently deceased golfer, Arnold Palmer, yesterday afternoon, I recalled my own brief encounter with this legend of the links.
For Christmas one year I’d purchased club house passes for Studly Doright and my dad to Arnie’s Bay Hill tournament in Orlando, FL. We lived in Melbourne, FL, at the time, so we were only an hour away from the course. I have to confess that when I purchased the tickets a part of me was secretly hoping that I’d get to attend at least one day of the tournament. As it happened I ended up using the passes more than Studly and Daddy did.
Now, I’m not a golfer. I’m the furthest thing from a golfer anyone could possibly imagine. But I grew up watching the great golfers on television with my dad, and Arnold Palmer almost seemed like a member of the family. So much so that when he walked up beside me as I sat in the lower stands on the tenth hole at Bay Hill and took a banana from a bowl near the tee box that I just smiled and nodded and he smiled and winked back before teeing off.
It wasn’t until later that it hit me I’d been in the presence of greatness. In retrospect I wish I’d said something witty or golfy, but maybe, just maybe he thought to himself, “That was one cool chick. I should have offered her part of my banana.” We will never know.
My newest t-shirt! I call this one, “Thanks Studly for My Early Birthday Present!”
I spent Tuesday afternoon wandering about the garden section of our nearest Home Depot. I don’t garden, but Studly Doright has promised we’ll fix up our courtyard area this week. And not a moment too soon–I feared hurricane cleanup crews were going to mistake our residence for a disaster area and begin removing debris from the premises.
Studly and I have a great many ideas for improving the courtyard-style entryway. A few of them are even approximately the same.
I know that on the right side I want a garden of low maintenance potted plants and a small potting bench, with a scattering of stepping stones similar to these:
I picture the area as welcoming, and not at all formal. Studly and I can’t quite agree on the material to cover the ground. Do we want mulch or river rocks?
If we go with river rocks, I think dark ones will look spiffy with the red brick of our home.
And the plants? I just have no idea. The area receives full sunlight for most of the day, so something that will grow well receiving the sun’s ardent attention is a must.
We are edging into fall here in Florida, so I’ll need to take that into consideration. Thank goodness for Google and YouTube and every other modern resource at my fingertips. But if any real gardeners have suggestions I’d love to hear from you.
Peace, people!
Inertia: Watching the golf channel all day because it was what Studly had the tv tuned to last night before we went to bed, even though the remote is literally touching my elbow.
Twelve hours without electricity (courtesy of Hurricane Hermine) and the joys that it brings (hot showers, air conditioning) resulted in Studly Doright and I staying in a Bed and Breakfast Inn on Friday night.
We’d tried to find a hotel in Tallahassee, but the ones with electrical power were all completely booked, while ones without power wouldn’t have improved our lot. I looked farther afield and found the 1872 John Denham House in Monticello, FL.
Even though the grounds of the inn had suffered at the hands of Hermine, this gorgeous home experienced a loss of power only briefly and was an air conditioned oasis on a hot, humid Florida day. The cool air felt so good when we stepped into the foyer that I almost cried.
The inn’s proprietress gave us a brief tour of the first floor before showing us to our room.
Studly Doright and I were fortunate to book the honeymoon suite. It was a great deal more charming than the room we stayed in at The Camelot Inn in Amarillo, TX, 40 years ago.
I took these photos after our night in the room, so the poorly made bed is my fault. It was impeccably staged for our arrival.
After a restful night Studly arose early to play his Saturday golf game, leaving me to enjoy breakfast without him. I didn’t think to take take photos of the meal, but it was outstanding, consisting of a fluffy soufflé, fresh fruit, yogurt, and homemade biscuits with a variety of homemade jams and jellies.
I met two of the other guests at breakfast, Gordon and Addison, who are members of a meteorological research team from the University of Oklahoma. The two men used the inn as a base while studying Hurricane Hermine. I pried as much information from them as possible, trying not to be too obnoxious. I’m fairly sure I failed in that regard.
Sensing my interest they provided directions to their rig parked at the edge of town, so on my way home I stopped by to snap some photos:
I sincerely hope the researchers gained useful information for future hurricane survivors. Specifically, how do we avoid loss of electricity? Now that would be a worthy project.
Peace, people!
Hurricane Hermine arrived in a fury of wind and rain while Studly Doright and I lay sleeping Thursday night. Downgraded to a tropical storm shortly before impacting the Tallahassee area, she inflicted damage nonetheless.
The electricity went out around 1:45 a.m. EDT, well ahead of Hermine which hit us at 4:30 on Friday morning, and did not come back on until sometime on Saturday–long enough for all of the perishables in our refrigerator to be rendered unusable, but thankfully before the contents of the freezer could be damaged. I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning out the fridge.
We still don’t have cable or internet service at Doright Manor, so I’m sitting in a cafe in Tallahassee typing this as Studly plays golf. As long as the links are open life does go on.
We could have stayed at home Friday night, but the heat accumulated during the day made the un-air conditioned house uncomfortable. We looked for a hotel in Tallahassee, but the ones that had power were completely booked. We ended up staying in a bed and breakfast inn in Monticello, FL, and once I have access to my own internet connection I’ll share photos of the beautiful home in which we stayed.
If one merely glances out the window the world looks perfectly normal.
The sun is shining, birds are singing, squirrels are squirreling. But just a trip around the neighborhood gives clues as to the force of Hermine’s wrath. Unfortunately I’m unable to share any additional photos right now. I’m hoping that’s due to the Internet at the cafe and not something going on with my WordPress account.
Downed trees and fallen branches littered the roadways. Leaves stripped from branches were plastered to the sidewalks. Businesses and homes sustained broken windows. But as far as I know there were no deaths or serious injuries as a result of the storm, and that’s the only thing that matters.
Thanks to all my followers and readers who’ve been concerned with our safety. I received so many thoughtful posts that until today I was unable to respond to. Off I go to the grocery store to buy replacements for perishable items. At least one really good thing came from Hermine–the inside of my refrigerator is sparkling clean.
Note: This was a pre-prepared blog post. For all you know I could be lying trapped beneath a downed pine tree in the neighbor’s yard, having been tossed there by Hurricane Hermine. Carry on.
On Saturday I purchased a special house at the Farmers’ Market in downtown Tallahassee.
Notice anything unusual? No door! But that’s ok, because it’s a house for bats.
And the entryway is in the bottom of the house. Cool, eh?
I figured with our do-nothing GOP controlled congress and our equally lame GOP governor ignoring the Zika crisis I should do my part to cut down on the mosquito population. What better way than by inviting bats to live in the neighborhood?
Of course in order to attract bats the house probably needs to be hung. Preferably outside.
Studly Doright isn’t in the mood to hang my new purchase (we are in the middle of a huge storm right now, so I suppose I’ll forgive him). It could be awhile before we’re ready to invite bats to Doright Manor.
In the meantime, I’ve been researching bat houses and ways to attract the flying mammals at https://batconservation.org/.
Apparently Florida is host to at least 14 different kinds of bats. Hopefully at least one kind will like our house well enough to move in. I’ve been told that none of the commercial attractants are effective, so one has to mount the house on a sufficiently tall pole, in an area of the yard that receives ample sunlight, and wait for occupancy.
Locating the bat house near a lake is supposed to increase the likelihood of the house being occupied, so we’ve got that going for us, but the literature indicates it could be months, maybe even years before we have bats living in the house.
Considering their inability to take decisive action, these bats might be Republicans.
Peace, people!
After much procrastination (not to brag, but that’s one of my specialities) I decided to drive into Tallahassee to stock up on supplies. I knew we’d need bottled water, but beyond that I didn’t have a clue. I’m not a terrific grocery shopper under normal conditions, but with a possible hurricane headed our way I needed to focus.
I only had to shop for Studly Doright and me, so there was no need to go overboard. I figured a loaf of bread, a fresh jar of peanut butter, mixed nuts, Cheez Whiz, tuna fish and chicken salad snacks, crackers, power bars and fruit snacks would tide us through a couple of days without power. Of course I couldn’t leave the store without buying Studly’s favorite Vienna sausages. Shudder!
My problem now is convincing myself not to eat any of our supplies until there’s an actual need. I can leave the little sausages alone, but those Apple Straws look interesting. They were an impulse buy to substitute for my favorite Little Debbie oatmeal cream cakes that had already sold out. Damnit! Everybody wanted that chewy, creamy goodness. Here’s hoping a dearth of Little Debbie oatmeal cream cakes isn’t a matter of life and death.
After putting away the groceries I noticed a note propped up against the cookie jar on the kitchen table. Hmm. Maybe Studly stopped by Doright Manor during his lunch time. But when I looked closely I realized that wasn’t Studly’s handwriting:
The cats seldom leave notes for us, and when they do they mostly pertain to the quality of their treats or the state of their cat litter. Scout once wrote me a thank you note for cleaning the carpet of her upchucked hairballs, but that was an exception. This apparently was another exception. Not far from this bit of writing was the indicated note:
First off, I could see the cats need a lesson in changing the “y” to “i” when creating past tenses and plurals, but I was overcome by their thoughtfulness.
I delivered the note to the faeries, now it remains to be seen if they trust us enough to accept our invitation. Of course if they do I’ll need to figure out how to feed them. Maybe Studly will share his Vienna sausages.
Update on the storm: As I typed this post, Tropical Depression 9 was reclassified as Tropical Storm Hermine. I just heard on the Weather Channel that the Tallahassee area could experience the worst storm in decades. Oh joy. Maybe I need to go in search of those Little Debbie cakes.
Peacr, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 