I promise

I will be back to blogging about the Romania part of our trip ASAP... meanwhile since my last post about ten days ago - we have moved south for the winter (twenty hours of drive time) and then got the Florida condo opened and cleaned up (pest guy, pressure washing guy, cleaning lady...etc.)

We also managed to hit a couple of our favorite places for meals- Blue Marlin and Waterfront... and then by Friday had plans for a couple of nights for concerts- one near and one far...

so off we go on the catch up post and I PROMISE - I will get back to Romania next week...

on Sunday morning the cats wouldn't let us sleep at all so we left the hotel around 5AM (having checked in around 12:30- LOL- a VERY short night) so we found ourselves needing lunch really only about two hours north of "home"- we stopped at this BBQ in a gas station and thought it would be good- we were totally wrong... it was the worst BBQ brisket I have ever had- so don't go here- despite the authentic look- it was awful!

we got here so early we needed dinner close and easy the first night so we headed over to AMOB for some grouper- and the world's best lobster bisque!

the cats settled in right away- you can see "watch-cat" Penny keeping an eye on things from her top of the couch perch...

the next night we headed over to Blue Marlin for some fabulous fresh fish (right off the dock - this night- Black Grouper) and our bottle of white was terrific even though it was an older vintage-

the following night we ate at home - and Phil ran over to the dock/fish market at Star Fish Company for stone crabs- which we devoured as if famine victims (which we were since we hadn't had any since the spring!) and then some tuna as Hawaiian Ahi Poke salad---the fish company has a huge trading program where they send their fresh caught grouper and stone crab claws to other places around the nation and exchange for their fresh local catch- that way we get Alaskan and pacific NW Salmon and Tuna and other things really fresh on direct exchange flights...

by Friday night we were well into our winter schedule and headed to Fogartyville for a SOLD OUT! concert of The Slambovian Circus of Dreams which was completely funky and fun... since we were last there they have gotten AC (which was needed this week!) and a new art installation-

these folks play folk festivals up along the Hudson (Falcon Ridge and Clearwater both) and yet are really more of a fantasy rock band... they played things reminiscent of Floyd, Allman Brothers, Donovan, the Beatles and yet everything had their own twist - and mythology from the Slambovian history... a rousing evening- we would definitely go see them again. And I think John and Barb enjoyed the show as well (although they can weigh in on their own...LOL)

I even got a small clip from their Flapjacks in the Sky...

then the following night- last night- Saturday night- the four of us (John, Barb, Phil and I) headed north an hour to a house concert in Seminole- Ben Bedford was the featured artist.  A wonderful writer of words and melodies, he doesn't have the strongest voice or a particularly good range but he makes up for it with extreme charm and good nature. A very nice evening of shared food, drink and music at hosts Alexa & Craig Huegel's home...

 
so that brings me back to current and this upcoming week is filled with more "chores" but should give me some free time to continue on the Romania trip blog posting...so come on back....

who's (on) first?

on Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to CBGB and went home to relax for 24 hours... then on Monday our friends Ron & Mary arrived - they had actually arrived on Saturday afternoon but because we were busy with Forks & Corks and CBGB until Sunday night they headed down to Naples for a couple of days to visit other friends and then returned to SRQ (Sarasota Bradenton) area for four days here...

we met up at 5:30 Monday hoping for a sunset drink but found the Beach House outdoor area closed due to high winds - really high winds... and the sunset was pretty much ruined by low clouds on the horizon - so no good reflection on the water and no great last minute colors in the sky.... because the Beach House had no room for us for more than 45 minutes (read that- "go screw yourselves until after sunset"- we only have one small area open and we don't care if more people show up") we went elsewhere.  The Beach House in our opinion only has the view going for it - the food is mediocre - oh I guess I take that back they do have a lot of good frou frou drinks with umbrellas and fruit in them that are also quite good....

so we moved on and had a drink down the street - we had later reservations for dinner at the Blue Marlin on Bridge Street - across from the Bradenton Beach Post Office (starting point for the Victoria Sterling Historic Anna Maria Family Tour- LOL)- we had a lovely dinner with a couple of good wines - an old Chassagne Montrachet and a new Old Stones Chard from Josh Bergstrom. After dinner we did a quick run from Bridge Street south to the Long Boat Key bridge and back to the Bungalow Beach hotel where our friends were staying... along the way I gave them information about the walking and biking path along the three mile long beach at the south end of the island and a couple of breakfast recommendations -

we made plans for the next day to pick them up for lunch after my arts class and so met about 1 PM and headed to the Star Fish Company- of course they loved it- who doesn't?  Three of us had the grouper sandwiches (yum!) and Phil had the oysters and shrimp combo.... we sat in the sun and basked in the radiant heat even while the day was on the cool side...

in the afternoon we finished the VJS tour of Anna Maria and stopped by the historic Anna Maria Pier for a short walk- there we saw the skyway bridge in the distance and a porpoise close up... after that we headed to our place for a bit of relaxing and to give Ron & Mary a chance to meet Lucy & Penny and see our condo - Mary has bad allergies to cats so they couldn't stay with us and had to limit their time at our place... for dinner we headed to another favorite Waterfront along with a couple of good wines - a 90 red and an 02 white burgundy-

Wednesday brought us to Riverhouse for lunch before spending time in the afternoon with Snooty our resident 66 year old manatee... and a drive by McKechnie Field and somehow the time got away and it was time for dinner before heading to the theater for Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker"- which will have its own post- (I also managed to get to both my classes this week- another post or two) but wanted to FIRST do the post about our visitors-

If you look very closely you can see the Sunshine Skyway bridge out in the distance-

there is a new Snooty book and so we had to get one to support our favorite 66 year old guy!

on Thursday we met Ron & Mary for lunch near the airport and said our goodbyes- had a great time during their visit and we hope they did too... next- What's on Second? second up - this week's classes!

in reverse order

I am soooo far behind on the blog posts- I do apologize and assure you I will get back to China- but before that I will do the UL Lafayette course we took the first week of December on Cajun history and culture... and even before that a post or two on the second week of December which we spent with our friend Lynn visiting.

She was going to drive down with me (and the cats) in November but conflicts in schedule proved providential in that she arrived here for a week of glorious weather here and horrid weather back in Chicago...

So I met her two hour delayed flight and we walked out into late afternoon sunshine and warm temperatures- rough life- LOL... we headed home- got her settled in and popped some champagne while deciding about where to go for dinner.  It had to be someplace we could eat outside so we picked the porch at The Waterfront.

the next day we went down memory lane (for me) and headed to the Sarasota jungle Gardens (which I actually have no memory of but do have photos of me squinting into the sun, at about age nine or so, with a giant bird on my arm from there and I know when we were kids we would visit there pretty much every time we were down here on AMI (Anna Maria Island)...

so we saw the cheesy but cute bird show and some reptiles and a few flamingos and called it for what it was "old time tourist attraction" of the style TB and I run into all the time on the DART (disappearing America road trip) adventures...

a few photos? I know you are dying to see the place- LOL

Below is Frosty - a long time celebrity who is now 77 years old! He performed his unicycle act on Ed Sullivan waaaay back in the late 60's - got love the old guy- still plugging away at it... he was seriously cute and charming!

a closer shot of Frosty

the map of the gardens- which were more jungle than garden- LOL

some of the non-performing birds hanging out (you can have your photo taken with them for a fee...)

one of a few reptiles they had on display - a few baby alligators - LOL... slim pickings

by the time we got to the Flamingo area the over head sun washed out the pink so you can see their beautiful color much better in reflection than in the direct light-

we met Phil for lunch at Landside so we could eat on the deck outside-

the next day we reserved the tour of the house and private spaces at the Ringling mansion- that will be a separate post as I have lots of good camera based photos (versus cell phone ones) but meanwhile- we also made time to get to the beach and do some shelling- and to stop at the salvage yard (better known as the Sea Hagg) to peruse the junk on offer there!

the water at the beach was still warm so we took off our shoes and rolled up our pant legs to go wading in the crystal clear water-

 

at the beach we saw a pod of six or seven dolphins swimming by following a huge school of fish and of course the terns (black skimmers) were close at hand! so many fish so little time! LOL

We ate outside on the porch at Linger Lodge and our favorite sandwich place (Casa de Pizza- LOL) and got stone crab at Moore's and before you knew it the week was over! boo hoo!  So I took Lynn back to the airport and sent her on her way to the cold white north- it had just snowed the night before in Chicago and was hovering in the teens.  I drove back home in the sunshine... I know- it is mean but sometimes I can't help but gloat.... the morning at the beach was just perfect- the jumping dolphins the warm water and sunshine on the white sand made the blue sky seem even bluer!

stay warm! the next post will be Ringling and then we will head back in time to the Cajun week....