#he came out and was like 'ok. do you want chickens pigs or trucks.'

[pig-wings]

Pearl broke her toe 😢

[thegraysonzanderthings]

The Girl Off to the Side

March 17th, 2015, is the day my life changed. My name is Jason Stone, and as I said before, I can pinpoint the last regular day of my life exactly. I awoke early that day before even the world itself had stirred. I lay there just thinking about my life, wondering if I was doing everything right or if I had been doing things wrong.

Before I knew it, my mother was calling me down for breakfast. I grunted in displeasure and got up to get ready for school. I pulled a random shirt from my drawer and put on some old jeans. As I was leaving my room, I grabbed my jacket, looked in the mirror, and thought to myself today was going to be different, it was going to the day I changed things. It turns out someone else was going to change it for me.

As I walked downstairs, my pops told me to go out and feed the pigs. I looked at him and said, ok. He looked back at me said, “Jason, I wish it had been you.” I looked back at him and told him, “me too.” After that, I walked downstairs, grabbed the sandwich mom made me and left. My pops hated me; he blamed me for my sister’s death, and… so did I.

Before going to school, I gave the pigs their food, hopped into my truck, and drove to school. My school life was great; I was popular, and everyone liked me. I could have any girl I wanted a fact that many other male students envied. But none of that mattered to me, no, I wanted something more something better. I wanted to be somebody who that person is I don’t know, but I know it’s not who I am now, and I know that this town isn’t the place it’s going to happen.          

So, I tried hard. I got straight A’s and was the star player on the football team even though I didn’t care about football at all. It was all just a distraction from the fact that I killed my sister.

Anything that made me forget about that was worthwhile. That’s where my best friend Ivan comes in, he’s hilarious and helps me forget about the crap in my life. Honestly, he’s the best part about this town without him I honestly don’t know where I would be.

If there’s anything I miss about my old life, it’s him. Anyway, let’s move on because this next part is important. It was the start of everything the beginning of my real life. It’s when I met “her” for the first time Aubrey Lancaster, the most beautiful girl in all existence. It was homeroom and our teacher Mr. Herber told us we had a new student, that’s when she walked in, she was beautiful; it was almost like she wasn’t real, but she was, and she was looking at me.

She had just moved to town and was the new girl in school, which was weird because there were only two months of school left. I didn’t care about all of that honestly; I could barely think at all she was mesmerizing. She was wearing a leather jacket with a blue flannel shirt and a black skirt with military boots. She had stark black hair and eyes the color of a vengeful storm.

Before I knew it, she was sitting next to me, and she was starring… at me. I didn’t know what to say, so I just didn’t say anything. The class went by so fast, and I never said a word to her, after class, she got up and left without a word even though she had been staring at me. I couldn’t make sense of it throughout the school day. I tried to talk to her, but every time I got close, it was like time slowed down, and I could never get close enough.

School ended, and I hadn’t gotten a single chance to talk with Aubrey I felt defeated, but I thought to myself there’s always tomorrow.

I decided not to think about it and just head to the arcade with my friends. Ivan was roasting me about how I was such a chicken, not being able to talk to her. I grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground we were laughing and yelling and having a great time.

Time went by quickly, and it was nine o’clock. I said later to the boys and left the arcade as I was walking to my care I felt like I was being watched, but I didn’t see anyone, so I shrugged it off and attributed it to the many energy drinks I had drunk.

Once I got into my care out the corner of my, I saw a figure move it was slender, but from what I had seen, it looked deformed the only thing I could make out was the color of its eyes the same as Aubrey’s eyes. The feeling of being watched intensified drastically, and I shook off the thought that it was Aubrey; it had to be just a trick of my imagination because that thing could never be Aubrey.

After all my big talk, I still hadn’t spoken to Aubrey, and it had been three days. Although I’ve never talked to her, she still stares at me throughout homeroom, but every time I try to speak to her, she never talks back. Even outside of class, every time I try to get close to her, that feeling of time slowing down starts, and I can’t even get close. At this point, I felt like I was going insane. I mean…is she... is she even real? No, she has to be real. I’ve seen other people talk to her and even my friends make fun of me about her.

I can’t take it anymore. I’m determined to talk to her… no matter what. The next day I’m committed to not let her out of my sight. During homeroom, I stare right back at her, and as soon as class ends, I follow her, and this time it’s working. She leads me down a hallway I had never been down before, which was impossible. I knew this school like the back of my hand.

Nevertheless, I had never been to this part of the school; she finally stopped walking once she had taken me to a classroom at the end of the mysterious hallway. Once inside, she walked to the middle of the classroom, turned around, and motioned for me to come closer.

As I started to get closer to her, she started to change, her arms dislocated and grew long and gangly her mouth unhinged from its socket and grew so large it could easily swallow me whole what’s worse is the rows and rows of shark-like teeth sharp and piercing. Her legs grew as well, and she was easily 8 feet tall. I couldn’t move. I was petrified; she hunched down over me, put her face directly in front of mine, and gutterly whispered, do you still think I’m pretty?

My mind went blank and next thing I knew I was in my room with my parents shaking me awake as soon as I saw them, I hugged them and cried for a long while too afraid to let go.

I didn’t go to school for a few days; after that, every time I thought about it, I felt like puking. Friends from school kept on texting and calling, but I didn’t respond, I was too afraid, and even if I could answer, I had no idea what I would say... Finally, a couple of my friends came to check on me.

My mom let them go up to my room where I was, and Ivan opened the door and tackled me to the ground yelling at me, asking where I had been. I laughed for what seemed like forever; it was the first time in days that I had felt like myself. My mom brought snacks, and we talked and made fun; no one pressured me about what was wrong. They just messed around with me, making me feel so much better.

As I was talking and laughing, something started to feel off. It was like something that hadn’t been there before just appeared, and I was the only one who seemed to notice. It was Aubrey out of what seemed like thin air she appeared, but no, I searched my memory, and she had also been there since the first night she came to town. Always watching silently from the side the nights I spent awake at night wondering what she was doing or why she wouldn’t talk to me, she had been right there next to me. I didn’t know how I never noticed I started to scream all my friends tried to calm me down but they couldn’t I started to yell at everyone to leave as I frantically tried to put distance between myself and that monster.

My mother ran up the stairs and told everyone to go. She stayed with me until I calmed down and had fallen asleep.

Later that night I woke with cold sweats I couldn’t stop having that nightmare I sat up in the dark and looked around to my horror she was still there. Before I could even breathe, she was sitting next to me. I wanted to run I tried to scream but I couldn’t I was frozen by what seemed to be a supernatural force.

She started to whisper in my ear. I don’t remember what she said, but I do remember what happened next. She got up and kneeled next to me and kissed me and I kissed her back it was like nothing I had ever felt before as soon as she stopped, I wanted more. Aubrey got up and smiled at me and shook her finger no, then disappeared into thin air.

The next day I went to school and was no longer afraid, as soon as I saw Aubrey, I ran up to her and gave her the biggest kiss she smiled up at me and had me follow her inside. As she was walking inside the school, she started to change her arms dislocated and grew long and gangly her mouth unhinged from its socket and grew so large with rows and rows of shark-like teeth sharp and piercing, and she was absolutely the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

When I looked into the school trophy case, I noticed that I had changed to, I smiled and laughed and looked at Aubrey I was happier than I had ever been and oh so very hungry.

[daisychains4]

Can’t Handle You | Chapter 9: Barcelona

Can’t Handle You | Masterlist

Warnings: One curse word

AN: Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

“If everything in your house had to be one color, what would you pick?” Shawn was picking at his guitar while Brian played FIFA on the PS4 they’d hooked up in Shawn’s hotel room. To Brian, the question came out of nowhere.

“Huh?” Brian asked, keeping his attention on the game.

“You know, like if everything in your house had to all be the same color, what color would it be?” Shawn asked again.

“I don’t know, blue I guess,” said Brian noncommittally.

“Blue, really?” asked Shawn incredulously. “I think I would get tired of that.”

“Maybe,” said Brian, “but who the fuck cares?” he turned his attention back to the game.

 “It’s just a question,” said Shawn, pseudo-defensively.

“Where in the world did it come from?”

Shawn momentarily contemplated telling Brian about the stack of notes he had saved, shoved into a journal where he wrote down song lyrics that flitted into his head day and night. About how a stranger - a mystery woman - had captured his attention with the witty notes she’d begun to sign with an X, handwritten in a hybrid of cursive and print with architectural As and cursive Fs that were written lazily, quickly, the effect being that the letter looked backwards. He thought about telling Brian that despite his pride in getting to know everyone on the tour, someone in his entourage had managed to escape his attention. Or maybe, he thought to himself, it’s someone I do know. He thought about the women in his crew, their personalities, whether he’d ever seen their handwriting. But something told him that this woman wasn’t Addison or his stylist Tiffany or the girls in hair and makeup. This woman - who was equal parts witty and thoughtful based on the notes and the way she cared for him - had a humor to her that he hadn’t seen from the women who toured with him. And that’s how he would describe what she’d been doing: caring for him. The tea, the earring solution, the scarf, the most incredible gift she’d given him in Italy, of those moments when he closed his eyes and believed he was in his childhood home. Something about all of this told Shawn that he was missing someone, that he hadn’t been paying as close attention as he’d thought.

“Dude?” Brian asked, finally noticing that Shawn had disappeared inside his head.

“I don’t know,” Shawn said, shaking himself out of his train of thought. “Nowhere I guess.” He wasn’t ready to share this somewhat unconventional friendship with Brian yet. Some part of him wanted to keep her all to himself.

 ---------------------------------------------------

The note was sticking out of a pocket of Shawn’s backpack when you found it just hours before the Barcelona show.

Gray, it said decisively. It’s the only color I can think of that I wouldn’t get tired of, and it comes in a million shades. I would never be able to give up my guitars, though, and they’re all different colors, so I won’t be living in a monochromatic house anytime soon.

And before you go calling me boring (again), I’ll remind you that the point of this game is that I ask questions that will help me figure out who you are. It’s a little unfair. You already know who I am.

You chuckled at this. He was right, you had to admit to yourself. The game was more than a little one-sided.

You finished steaming Shawn’s shirts, knowing he would want to go out after the show tonight, and you thought about his latest question: Where are you from? And I want to know more than just the name of the city. Tell me about your home.

 ---------------------------------------------------

It was never lost on you how incredible the experience of a Shawn Mendes show was. You watched your twelfth show of the tour from the floor with Addison and a few others from the crew. This was your first time to see the show as a member of the audience rather than backstage, and it was unlike anything you’d seen before. The energy of the crowd was infectious, and you found yourself singing loudly along with them, fangirling with the rest, forgetting momentarily that earlier today, you had been folding Shawn’s underwear into drawers in yet another hotel room. If only the surrounding crowd knew. You chuckled to yourself, then let the show carry you away.

 ---------------------------------------------------

When Shawn made his way into the green room after the show, sweat was dripping from every part of him. He grabbed a towel to soak up some of the perspiration - evidence of another adrenaline-pumping performance - and passed through the green room and into his dressing room to shower. As he stood in front of the lighted mirror, toweling off his hair while the shower heated up, he caught sight of a note tucked underneath the corner of his toiletry kit.

The note was the longest yet - almost a page. He leaned against the vanity, unable to resist reading it, when Brian burst through the door. Shawn hastily stuffed the note into his toiletry bag. Luckily, Brian wasn’t the most observant person, so he didn’t notice Shawn’s behavior.

“Hurry up, man!” Brian said excitedly. “We’re going out tonight!”

“Alright!” Shawn laughed with his best friend. “I’m going!”

It wasn’t until hours later, holed up in his Barcelona hotel bed, that Shawn read:

Austin, Texas. It’s not as backwoods-country as people tend to think. We don’t all have thick Southern accents and I’ve never seen anyone ride a horse to work, although once, in high school, someone did bring a pig to first period.

Austin is a huge urban city. We have some of the best food in the world. Maybe I haven’t been as many places as you, but so far, nothing I’ve tasted has beaten what you can find in any of the food trucks on South Congress. Maybe it suggests I’m an indecisive person, but I really can’t think of anything better than fusion food because it’s the best of all the worlds. Give me Kimchi fries from Chi’lantro and a bahn mi from Van’s. Or find me at Whiskey and Fried Chicken Wednesdays at The Peached Tortilla. (That place started as a food truck, too. Maybe I just love food trucks.)

A lot of Texas is flat, but not Austin. Austin is Hill Country. When I was little, my mom would take me to the top of Mount Bonnell (which is less mountain, more hill), and I thought I was standing on the top of the world. We have Lake Travis, bats (look them up), and the most beautiful parks. I learned to ride a bike at Zilker Park, which is this completely incredible piece of land dead in the middle of the city, but when you’re there, you forget that you’re in a city at all (a little like Central Park, in fact, which is near where I live now). I learned to swim in Barton Springs, a massive spring-fed pool that’s the perfect temperature all year long. I went swimming there in the winter once. The water felt ok, but getting out of the water was a totally different story. I’m in no rush to do that again.

Austin is the perfect place to live if - like me - your love of the outdoors is equal to your love of the city. The sunrises are magical, only rivalled by the beauty of sunsets.

But my very favorite thing about Austin is the music. We’re known for it - the Live Music Capital of the World. It’s where Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughn started. And later, Spoon and Iron & Wine (two of my favorites). It’s everywhere, in every part of our culture. You can hardly go out to dinner most nights of the week without being subjected to some live musician or other.

I grew up surrounded by music. It fills every part of me. Every memory - good and bad - comes with a song attached. And while I don’t have it in me to play or sing or even write, I need to be near it. I guess that’s why I’m here, chasing around a world-famous rockstar while he lives his dream. Folding a rockstar’s underwear is less glamorous than it sounds - but there’s nothing quite like the music. I’d follow it anywhere.

X

P.S. What would you name your boat if you had one?

Taglist | @librarianct, @5secondsofjade4499, @theetherealbloom

[travelingtheusa]

FLORIDA

2021 Feb 23 (Tue) – We went out for lunch today to Micanopy. It was a small, historic town with lots of antique shops.  We wanted to eat at a restaurant but it was closed so we went next door to Coffee & Cream where we enjoyed chicken salad sandwiches with rice and beans. After lunch, we walked up and down the main street wandering in some of the shops and reading the historic plaques describing the history of the town.  

     On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the post office to mail off some items and at a convenience store to pick up wine and get some lottery tickets.  Then we stopped at the Antique Emporium.  It was a large warehouse with 55 vendor shops inside.  There were so many items we used to use for sale.  There is no faster way to feel old than to walk through an antique shop and see your life’s belongings laid out and considered to be “old stuff.”

2021 Feb 22 (Mon) – We took our time closing up this morning. Bonnie and Sheba got to play outside and we chatted with Rich and Margaret for a while.  Then we packed up and left Hernando at 11:35 a.m.  The campground was just 40 miles away and we were here within an hour.  Ocala North RV Park is a very nice, very clean facility.  It is large and there were workers putting in new lights, a shuffle board, and a bocce ball court.  They are getting ready for a luau in two days.  The clerk who checked us in said the owner bought the rundown campground two years ago and has been working on renovating it.  He’s done an excellent job.

 2021 Feb 21 (Sun) – We all drove over to Matt & Michele’s today.  They were hosting a drone speed course event for their local club.  It was amazing to watch these little things zip around the yard, sounding like a bunch of angry bees.  We could watch the drones fly around the course and watch the TV screens to see what the pilots were seeing in their headsets.

     When we got back to the house, Margaret made roast beef sandwiches for us.  For dinner, she cooked baked clams and steaks.  We visited for a bit after dinner then returned to the rig to get ready for tomorrow’s move.

 2021 Feb 20 (Sat) – I did some laundry today.  Margaret was kind enough to let me use her washer and dryer. Matt & Michele came over for dinner and Margaret outdid herself, as usual.  I think she loves to cook and is glad to have people visit.  She not only made lots to eat, but packed us a take-home box.

2021 Feb 19 (Fri) – It started out cloudy, rained, then got really cool.  We had to switch to long sleeve shirts and pants as the day wore on.

     We drove to WalMart at 8 a.m. to get an oil change on the truck. There was a line of six cars in front of us waiting for service.  We checked in then went shopping where we spent almost $200 on items in the store. The damn oil change should be free considering we shopped while waiting and spent so much we would not have spent other wise.  Lol.

     We got back around 10:30 a.m. and Margaret & Rich took us to Matt & Michele’s house.  Paul and Margaret used to work with Matt at NYSDOT.  They were building their home and a drone speed course when we were here last January.  It is all finished now and everything is very nice.  The drone control center and speed course are quite the thing to see.

     We returned to the house and finished off Margaret’s egg salad. Later, we went to dinner at Crump’s Landing in Homasossa.  It had a large grass covered roof over a seated patio area.  There were plastic panels pinned in around the sides to keep it warm along with large gas heaters.  It was very nice and the food was good.  After dinner, Rich drove us over to Monkey Island.  It is a small island in the middle of the Homosassa River where a troupe of monkeys lives.  It was too dark to see anything but there is a house and a replica lighthouse on the island that is little more than a mound of dirt in the middle of the river. Guess the monkeys were asleep because we didn’t see any.  It was too dark anyway.

 2021 Feb 18 (Thu) – We packed up and left Tampa at 10:30 a.m. It was a little more than two hours to Hernando where we are staying in the driveway of friends, Margaret & Rich. We were here last January where we celebrated the New Year with them.  Margaret was waiting for our arrival with egg salad sandwiches.  We visited for a couple of hours.  Later, she made sausage and peppers heroes for dinner.

 2021 Feb 17 (Wed) – I went back to ENT doctor today.  First I had a hearing test with the audiologist then a follow-up with the ENT doctor.  I was told I have hearing loss in both ears and should go back to the VA for a re-evaluation on the hearing aids.  The doctor prescribed prednisone for 6 days and a Flonase.  Both are intended to reduce swelling and allow the fluid behind my ear to be reabsorbed.

    After the doctor, we dropped the prescription off to CVS then went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  After a stop at U-Haul for propane, we went back to CVS to pick up my prescriptions.

 2021 Feb 16 (Tue) – Johnny & Linda and Rick & Brenda came over for a barbecue.  It was chilly with an overcast sky and cool wind blowing.  At least it didn’t rain.  We had burgers, baked beans, potato salad, tossed salad and a chocolate cake to celebrate Brenda’s birthday.  We visited for almost 4 hours.  It was very enjoyable.  After they left, we took down the town and cleaned up.

 2021 Feb 15 (Mon) – I went to the ENT doctor today.  He wanted to follow up and see how my ear was doing after using the drops.  While the pain is gone, my ear still feels stuffed up.  The doctor believes that I have fluid behind my ear.  He asked me to come back for a hearing test.

     After the doctor, we stopped at Bonefish Grill for lunch.  The Bang Bang Shrimp is good every time! Then we stopped at Publix to pick up some groceries.  When we got back to the campground, Paul set up the covered tent for tomorrow’s barbecue.

2021 Feb 14 (Sun – Valentine’s Day) – We went to the Hard Rock Café & Casino for lunch.  Thought we’d enjoy a meal and a little gambling.  What an UNenjoyable experience!  The place is huge with several parking garages surrounding the main casino. We walked deep into the building before we found the café.  The food was OK but very expensive - $101!  After lunch, we went up to the second floor to the non-smoking lounge.  We searched for 10 and 25 cent machines.  That didn’t make any difference.  When you found a 25 cent machine, you had to bet a minimum of 30 credits – each credit being equal to 25 cents.  We both put $20 in a machine and after just 3 or 4 pushes of the button, we were broke.  It is nice when you can find a machine to play that will last a little while. After all, you look for entertainment for a while.  I don’t mind losing my money if the machine lets me play for an hour or so.  

     So, we went back down to the first floor and stopped in at a lounge for a cocktail and just enjoy the ambiance of the place.  We walked up to the plastic shield and waited for service. Two bartenders were making drinks and even though they came by us to get bottles off the shelf, no one said anything to us.  The bar was oval shaped and they were waiting on people on the other side of the bar. After about ten minutes, we spotted a waitress.  Paul asked if we could get service at a table.  She said yes so we sat at a small table and ordered our drinks.  I asked for a double shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Paul had a shot of 43.  My drink wasn’t more than an ounce.  In fact, I questioned her as to whether it was even a double as it looked like so little. The charge for my drink was $22. We left the casino feeling ripped off and very unsatisfied with our experience.  Sad.

2021 Feb 13 (Sat) – A fierce thunderstorm rolled through last night. The campground is full of puddles and squishy grass.  It rained off and on all day today.  There are more thunderstorms on the way over the next two or three days.

     At 11:30, we wandered over to the livestock barn to see what was going on with the little piggies. They were having some kind of contest.  A group of ten kids with pigs entered the ring. Each one had a long, thin switch that they used to continuously smack the pig on the right side of the face. Apparently, that is how they control the pig; with the switch and a stiff brush in their other hand.  It looked like a confusing melee to me.  The pigs walked all over the place and the kids followed, switching them in the face while trying to maintain eye contact with the judge.  A judge watched and selected two or three contestants.  They left the arena and entered cages on the side.  The rest of the contestants were dismissed and the selectees came back out, fist bumped the judge, then left, too.  Then, the next group of ten entered the ring.  We watched for about a half hour.  The animals were beautiful – strong, healthy looking beasts with ears that stood straight up and an energy to their trot. Some pigs were pink but more were other colors – chocolate brown, black with a pink band around their center, black with pink spots or pink with black splotches.   It must be more difficult than it looks.

 2021 Feb 12 (Fri) – We met Brenda & Rick for lunch at Portillo’s. The restaurant is famous in Chicago for its hot dogs and chocolate cake.  We sat outside and visited for almost two hours.  It was fun.

     Next door was a Walgreens.  After lunch, Paul and I went to find cards for our grandsons.  We addressed them, put in a few candy hearts, and mailed them off.

 2021 Feb 11 (Thu) – We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  We were appalled to see many tables with the dishes still sitting on them after diners have left.  The service was very slow.  We watched the hostess come in, haphazardly wipe off a table and then seat a couple there.  She definitely is not COVID protective.

     After lunch, we went to Lazydays which was right next door to the restaurant.  After buying a few supplies, we met with a salesman who took us to look at several rigs. We found two we liked and when we returned to the office, he worked hard to get us to buy one of the RVs.  He even brought in the boss to talk to us. Fortunately, he saw we weren’t looking to buy right now so he just chatted amiably with us then left. Good.  I didn’t feel like going through a high pressure sales pitch.  They offered to give us a trade in of $32,000 on our current rig.

     Campers are starting to come into the campground.  There will be a Swine Festival this weekend for the local kids club.

2021 Feb 10 (Wed) – Paul tested the charge on several stanchions and found high voltage running through the line.  I called the office and they sent an electrician over.  He said they have a fair coming up and run a higher voltage over the line.  With lots of people drawing power, it causes the voltage to drop.  Since we are the only camper here, the voltage is too high and they can’t reduce it.  It should be running around 128 but it’s over 133 and tripping the surge protector (which we thought was broken but was really doing its job).  So, we packed up and moved to the other side of the campground where they are not setting up for the fair.  The voltage seems to be OK over here.  There’s one other camper in this area.

     After the set up, we drove to MacDill Air Force Base.  We have tried to get reservations on that base a couple of times but they were always full.  They have over 400 spaces in their campground.  It was full and the sites were very close to each other.  We were just as glad we didn’t get in.  

     We then stopped at the commissary and picked up some groceries, then walked next door to the Class VI Package Store and picked up some wine.  

 2021 Feb 9 (Tue) – We drove to a laundromat to do some wash. They had a value card system in place. You have to put money on a card and put that into the washer and dryer.  It is a confusing system but we managed.  For two washers and two dryers, we spent $12.70.  That was high.

     While the clothes were doing their thing, we went to WalMart and picked up oil and DEF for the truck.  Paul asked about having an oil change done but the clerk said they didn’t have a lift big enough to fit the truck.  He told us to go to the WalMart in Valrico.

     We had lunch at Duke’s Brewhouse.  It was a relatively new place (as an evaluator said on Trip Advisor) but was not crowded.  The walls were covered with big screen TVs playing every kind of sports.  The Tamp Bay Buccaneers are big news after their win at the Superbowl this past weekend.  I had a Greek flatbread and Paul had a Caesar wrap.  The food was OK.

    The electric breaker kicked off twice.  Our surge protector usually takes two minutes to bring the electric back on.  It did it the first time but not the second.  Paul thinks the surge protector has bit the dust.  It is almost four years old.  That’s an awful short life.  Add to that the Jetpack that keeps giving us problems in accessing the Internet.  Ugh.

 2021 Feb 8 (Mon) – I found an ENT doctor and went to see him this morning.  He said I have a bacterial infection in my ear and prescribed ear drops.  He said to stop the Amoxicillin that the urgent care doctor prescribed.  I am supposed to go back to see the ENT doctor in a week.

     We then went to Smokey Bones for lunch.  The ribs were delicious!  Then I ran into CVS (which happened to be in a Target store) to get the ear drops.  I spent a good part of the day cancelling reservations and appointments back in New York. I was supposed to fly out today.

2021 Feb 7 (Sun) – We packed up and left Sarasota at 10 a.m. It was an hour and a half drive to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.  Sometimes I have to wonder about our timing.  The Superbowl is being played in Tampa tonight.  We always seem to arrive somewhere where something amazing or very big is going on – like a presidential rally or a big concert.

      When we arrived, we discovered we didn’t have an assigned site. The saleslady had acknowledged our reservation and promised to send us information before we arrived.  She didn’t do that.  The guard called someone who told them to just point us to the camping area and to pick a spot.  That’s what we did.  There are two RVs camped along the fence next to the interstate.  Having camped near the interstate before, we knew it would be too loud with the 24/7 traffic.  So we found a site on the other side of the field as far away from the road as we could get.

     After set up, we went out to get some lunch.  We were also going to do some laundry but my ear was hurting very badly.  I got a message from Southwest that I had to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arriving in NY.  On top of that, New York is getting another snowstorm today and another is scheduled for Thursday, all on top of a snowstorm they had a few days ago.  I decided to cancel my trip until I could get my ear repaired.  Maybe the COVID test will not be a requirement in another month with the vaccine out there.  We’ll see.

     My sister gave me a homeopathic treatment for my ear so we went to Sprouts Market where I picked up some ear drops.  It did help to alleviate some of the pressure in my ear.

 2021 Feb 6 (Sat) – We stayed in the trailer all day except to walk the dog.  The wind was blowing briskly but it was more balmy than cold.  Paul dumped the tanks this evening in readiness for our move tomorrow.

 2021 Feb 5 (Fri) – It was cool today.  Had to wear long pants, socks, and a jacket in the morning.  We ran several errands around town.  We went to Millie’s Restaurant for lunch.  It was a delightful little café decorated with a French motif.  I told Paul that I would like that wallpaper in our next house, wherever we settle down. Next stop was at Petco to pick up dry food for Bonnie.  In the same shopping center was a Total Wine where we picked up some wine, a cordial, and a margarita mix.  We stopped in a mall to look for sweat pants and jeans for me.  It was about 3/4s empty.  I guess COVID killed most of the stores.  There was a JC Penney’s where I found a pair of soft slacks, not sweats nor jeans.  We looked at cruise wear but decided to wait before buying any.

     After we got home and dropped off our purchases, we ran back out to a medical clinic.  My ear has been painful for a couple of days and I am getting some blood on a Q-tip. The doctor thinks I might have ruptured the ear drum and recommended that I see an ENT doctor.  She prescribed an antibiotic.  I think she should have cleaned the ear out with a topical antiseptic but she refused to do it.  I called back home to my cancer doctor to be sure there was no problem with an interaction with my chemo medication.  I stopped taking it yesterday.  A nurse called back and said there would be no problem with the two medications.

     When we got back, we fed the animals then went into the lodge for dinner and drinks. I still had my free drink to claim from the Queen of Hearts drawing.  The bar was full and service was very slow but we finally got our meal.  The Exalted Ruler came over to chat with us and Paul met a couple of people who were from4rrrr our hometown.  One man came over to sit with us and reminisce about the old town.

2021 Feb 4 (Thu) – I called my brother, Gregory, and made arrangements for dinner.  We met them at Longhorn Restaurant.  The meal was delicious!  Afterward, we went to Greg’s house to visit with him and Potsy for a while.  He had us laughing with his stories of doctors, nail guns, and children.  I love his sense of humor.

 2021 Feb 3 (Wed) – We pulled up stakes and drove 120 miles northwest to Sarasota.  We are camped on the side of an Elks Lodge.  There are 3 campers hooked up.  We got the only 50 amp site. We parked so another camper can fit between us and the motorcoach next to us.  The RV is due to come in tomorrow.

     We went out to pick up groceries and dog food, drop off postcards for mailing, and refuel.  We stopped at the Bayan Tree Chocolate & Café for lunch.  They had a display case with specialty chocolates right when you walked in.  We sat and ordered off the menu.  I got a quiche and Paul had a sandwich.  We took home chocolate chili for dinner.  It did not taste as good as it sounded.

     At 5 p.m. we went to the outdoor Tiki Bar behind our trailer for a drink.  Several people were in there with heaters and a fireplace all blazing away.  It was cold and everyone was in jackets.  We then went into the lodge to pay for our site. We sat at the bar and had a drink. It was Queen of Hearts night so we bought tickets for that as well as the 50-50 drawing.  I won a free drink.  We paid the bartender for our 4-night stay.

 2021 Feb 2 (Tue) – We drove the Loop Road this morning.  It was pretty cool.  It is a 40 mile road that loops through the Big Cypress National Preserve.  About 12 miles of it is hard packed gravel (unpaved).  It was in pretty good condition with few potholes.  It was a narrow, 2-lane road that wound through the Everglades. There were cypress trees and bushes lining both sides of the road and lots of water on either side.  We spotted 3 alligators and several egrets.

      When we came out on the main road, we drove to Everglades City to take an airboat ride.  We were an hour early, so we stopped at a deli on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation for lunch.  We bought a meatball hero, a bag of chips, and an iced tea.  We sat in the car and split the meal between us.  At 1 p.m. we drove to the meeting spot.  It was an entrance into the canal with no office building. Two airboats were sitting there, waiting for customers.  Our guide came over, introduced himself (CPT Ryan), and gave us paperwork to sign absolving them of all liability if we got hurt.  It was only the guide and the two of us on the boat.  We wore headsets so we could hear him speaking over the drone of the engine.  He drove us through the Everglades for better than an hour and a half regaling us with stories of his childhood and descriptions of the area with its wildlife, fauna, and flora.  We saw gators, great blue herons, egrets, vultures, and turtles.  It seemed like we went deep into the wild and untamed wilderness.  The water was so clean and pure looking.  Not at all what you would expect a swamp to be like.  We saw a couple of alligators and many kinds of birds and even a turtle.  I was hoping to catch sight of a python but our guide said they were hard to spot – usually only when a bird or gator has caught one.  What a great experience!

 2021 Feb 1 (Mon) – We packed up and headed out at 9:30 a.m.  It was 110 miles to the Big Cypress National Preserve where we are camped in the Midway Campground.  There are 32 campsites arranged around the perimeter of a large pond.  We have electric hookup only.  We dumped our tanks and filled the fresh water tank before pulling into our assigned site.  The camp host met us at the entrance, ran through a litany of rules, and wished us well. He warned us to beware of the wildlife. When I asked him what kind of wildlife they have here in the park, he said “Everything!”  Does he think they have a zoo in here?

     After set up and a quick lunch, we headed out to the visitor center. It was very small.  We watched a video about the ecosystem but it failed to explain how it all works together.  Outside the center was a wooden walkway that ran along a canal. There were many alligators in the water as well as different kinds of fish.  It was quite thrilling.

     We then drove to Everglades City.  It looked like it has been pretty much beat up over the years.  Almost all of the buildings were raised 10 or more feet off the ground.  Is that for storm surge or wildlife avoidance?  The city is laid out in a large grid.  The houses have large yards; they might each be on one or two acres apiece. The local museum was closed.  We stopped in a very old store-turned-museum and wandered around all the old stuff.  They had interesting signs up describing how various equipment/furniture/ appliances were used.  The Smallwood Store was built in 1906 on Chokoloskee Island.

     My hair is going through another kind of metamorphosis.  It seems to be losing its curl and is more coarse. I guess the change in chemo strength is doing something.  I made reservations for a flight back home next month for a PET Scan and checkup.  I am not looking forward to going back to New York in February.  It’s cold! And with the damn virus, they might make me take a COVID test.  Keep your fingers crossed I don’t have to do that.  I won’t go back then if they try to make me take that thing.  It is too painful.

2021 Jan 31 (Sun) – We went into the Elks lodge for brunch at 11:30 a.m.  The food was very good.  At 5:30 p.m. we drove to Marathon to meet Tim at the Sunset Grill.  We had dinner and watched the sun set. There were clouds in the sky so we did not get much color.  A gentleman sitting next to me got a very interesting looking appetizer. I asked him what it was and he said it was cheesecake spring rolls.  I asked him many questions about it.  What was that name again?  Did the waiter recommend it?  It is sweet or tart?  Is it supposed to be a dessert?  He said it was delicious and he couldn’t taste any cream cheese at all.  We finally got our hands on a menu and looked up the appetizer, hoping to find out what ingredients could be put into a cheesecake spring roll that would erase all taste of cream cheese.  What a laugh we had!!!  There was a cheesesteak spring roll on the menu.  The bar was crowded, he had misheard the waiter, and he never bothered to check it out on the menu.  We had quite a chuckle all night long as we ordered and ate our “cheesecake” spring rolls.

     There are the nastiest gnats around here.  Their bites sting and just keep itching.  Our legs and arms are covered with these small red blotches that won’t stop itching.  Ugh. Well, we have checked off the Florida Keys from our bucket list.  Time to move on.

2021 Jan 30 (Sat) – We had planned to take a glass bottom boat tour in Key Largo with Tim today.  He called to say that the weather for the day was bad for boat rides.  The wind is blowing pretty hard which would give us a rough ride.  So we cancelled that plan and arranged to meet Tim at Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada.  Every time we drive down the road, the marina is packed.  Apparently, they have lots of activities going on there and we wanted to see what they have. 

      We got there at 11:30 a.m.  There was a storyboard that told the story of Scarface.  The owner found a tarpon with its jaw badly torn and hanging.  He called a friend who sewed the jaw back in place.  The owner nursed the fish back to health and after six months, released it back into the wild.  Apparently, it liked the treatment because it continued to hang around the marina.  In addition, it brought friends back for handouts, too.  Today, you can pay $2.25 to walk out on the dock to look at the tarpons gathered around and you can buy a bucket of food for $4.00 to feed them.  The dock was crowded with people and pelicans looking to sample the food.  We skipped the melee and had lunch on the patio.  The margarita was terrible.  We told the waitress that and she brought another drink.  It was a little better but still not good.  The food was not that good either.

      Tim’s friend, Jimmy, joined us.  He and Tim met back up in New York working on the casino boat that went out of Freeport.  They have both moved down here to Florida.  Jimmy works for a pool company.  He was pretty funny.  Interestingly, Tim is talking about getting an RV.

      It was cloudy, windy, and cool all day long.  We went on to the patio at the Elks lodge at 6 p.m. to watch the sunset.  We were sure that with all the clouds, the sunset would be fantastic.  Unfortunately, the clouds were too thick and too low on the horizon.  There were no beautiful colors to see.  A couple sitting at a nearby table live next door to the lodge and came over to watch the sunset, too.  They peppered us with questions about RVs.  They were dressed in winter jackets, gloves and hats.  Guess they thought it was cold.

2021 Jan 29 (Fri) – We met Tim at the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center.  It is located on the property of the Islander Resort in their convention center.  It was small but interesting.  Tim and I got in free because we were veterans.  Paul got the senior rate.

      After the center, we went across the street to Lorelei for lunch.  We found a table in the sun out on the patio and enjoyed a delightful meal together.  After lunch, Paul and I stopped at Publix to pick up a few things.  We also stopped at the post office where I mailed off our passport renewals.  Let’s see how long it takes to get the new passports.

      Our mail arrived this afternoon.  I asked to have our mail forwarded 2 days ago.  UPS marked it as a 3 day shipment but it arrived in 2 days.  Unfortunately, the package was marked as one of two packages.  The tracking number for the second package says it is scheduled to arrive here at the Elks Lodge on Tuesday.  We leave on Monday.  The UPS driver said they could forward it to us.  Just leave the forwarding address with the camp host here.

      A cold front came in today.  The temperature dropped to a low of 59 degrees.  Lol.  The Floridians brought out their parkas, gloves, scarves, and hats. 

2021 Jan 28 (Thu) – We went to the laundromat this morning to wash clothes.  We sat in the truck while the clothes washed, then drove to a Mexican restaurant for lunch while they were in the dryer.

      I spent an hour putting together an annual report on finances for the SMART Nomads.  Later in the day at 4 p.m. there was a Zoom meeting with National Muster committee (I volunteered to chair the Administrative Team).  The meeting went on for about an hour. 

2021 Jan 27 (Wed) – We drove to Marathon and met Tim at his boat at 9:30 a.m.  Before we got there, we stopped at a nearby Walgreens to have passport pictures taken. He took us out on the dinghy to his dive boat then we rode out to the Sombrero Reef, the third largest reef in the world.  The water was such a beautiful green-blue color.  Tim said the water was not cold but I thought it was so I did not go in. Paul put on a weight belt and a belt to hold the breathing regulator in place.  Right after he jumped into the water with just his bathing suit, Tim promptly donned a wetsuit.  So much for the water not being cold!  Paul and Tim spent about an hour diving on the reef hookah style (as Tim calls it).  The 50’ hoses were attached to the oxygen tanks that stayed on the boat while they swam around the boat.  I looked over the sides and watched the colorful fish go crazy for crackers I threw in the water.

     After we got back, we transferred to the dinghy and rode to the Dockside Grill where we enjoyed a refreshing drink.  Then we returned to the dock and came back to the campground, stopping at Walgreens to pick up our pictures then at Winn Dixie to pick up a few groceries.

     At 6:45 p.m. we went into the Elks lodge for dinner and to play the Queen of Hearts.  The woman whose name was drawn did not choose the $900 Teaser.  She drew a card but it was not the Queen of Hearts.  So she won nothing.  Next week’s drawing will have a prize over $32,000.

 2021 Jan 26 (Tue) – We drove to the post office to make application to renew our passports.  The clerk told us to go online.  Turns out that all renewals have to be done by mail.  That means we have to go get our pictures taken somewhere.  Ugh.

     We went for breakfast at the Bitton Bistro.  Turned out to be a French café.  The owner, Michel, is from Morocco.  He was the only person working in the café and there were 3 tables taken and several people coming and going to buy pastries.  The food was good and we even bought pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast.

     We met Tim at the Crane Point Museum.  It is a 63 acre hammock.  A hammock in Florida is used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem.  Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them.  There were birds in a cage being cared for by rehabbers.  The group included pelicans, cormorants, owls, kestrels, egrets, herons, and an eagle.  A little further on was a pedicure pool.  People could take their shoes off and put their feet in the water. Little fish nibbled on the bottom of their feet.  Four people were sitting on the dock with their feet in the water.  They said it tickled.  We wandered through thick foliage with lots of roots sticking up in the pathway.  It was a rough hike through the trees.

     After the tour, we drove to the Overseas Pub & Grill and had lunch outside on the patio.  It had an Irish menu and I enjoyed shepherd’s pie.  Tim had corned beef stew and Paul just had a burger.

 2021 Jan 25 (Mon) – What an illuminating day it was!  We drove to Key West today.  It was 90 miles one way.  The road (US 1) passed over one island after another.  Each island is called a key and there are many keys (also called a cay).  The houses and buildings are painted in lovely pastel shades of pink, green, blue, peach, yellow and dove gray.  Some islands are very built up and others are sparse.  There are many boats and marinas along the way.  Key West was incredibly crowded.  The streets are narrow and the houses are tightly packed.  The entire place was so built up!  We had to wait on a long line just to get our picture taken at the 0 mile marker for the southernmost point in the Continental U.S. There were so many people in town and no parking that we couldn’t even tour the Truman Little White House or Hemingway’s Home.  It was very disappointing.  

     We did stop in at a Butterfly Conservancy.  That was delightful.  There were butterflies flying everywhere!  The docent told us they buy 300 egg sacks a week and release 15-30 new butterflies into the screen area every day.  There were also very colorful little birds flying around.

     We drove over to the Naval Air Station to check out the Sigsbee Campground.  Although they have almost 100 hookups, there were not many RVs camped there at all. We guess that only servicemen who are stationed at the base are allowed to camp there.  It was nice but the sites were tight.  We are just as glad that we never got in there.  

 2021 Jan 24 (Sun) – We drove to the Florida Keys History and Discovery Center in Islamorada but it was closed.  It is located in the Islander Resort and a guard at the gate told us they are only open Wednesday to Saturday.  That was disappointing.  

     We drove down the road to the Island Grill and had a meal outside on the beach.  Out table was a long table with two trees growing up through the table.  After lunch, we drove further south to Bud ‘n Mary’s Marina.  A friend of ours told us to go see the fish there.  There were loads of pelicans begging scraps from a fisherman cleaning the day’s catch.  In the water was a manatee, several very long fish (we think they were mackerel), and lots of minnows.  The water was a beautiful color.

     We stopped at the Hurricane Monument.  A carved granite marker stands on the side of the road in tribute to the people who lost their lives in a hurricane in 1935.  Next, we stopped at the History of Diving Museum.  It was a very informative place.  There were displays of deep sea diving gear, SCUBA gear, and underwater equipment.  Lots of storyboards told about the personalities that made breakthroughs in diving and contributed to the sport.  We enjoyed the museum very much.

 2021 Jan 23 (Sat) – We drove to the post office this morning to get pictures and submit paperwork to renew our passports.  We will be taking a cruise to Australia and New Zealand next year.  Following the cruise, we are planning to take a camper around Australia for 2 or 3 months. That’s when our current passports will expire.  We are renewing them now in order to avoid the possibility that our passports might expire before we get back home.  Unfortunately, the post office was closed.  So we went next door to the Made 2 Order café and had a late breakfast.

     After our meal, we drove to Islamorada to the Theater of the Sea.  It was fun.  We got on a tour that went to several stations.  First was the fish display.  There were sting rays, parrot fish, and nurse sharks in shallow pools. The guide described the fish and showed how they train the sharks.  Next to the display area was a wading pool where people could wade in the water with some of the fish.

     Next stop was at a glass enclosure that held two alligators; one female and one male.  We learned the females grow to about 6-8 feet and the males can grow up to 14 feet. Another enclosure held a crocodile where the guide explained the difference between the crocodilians.  

     After that was a stop at the turtle pools.  They had leatherbacks, loggerheads, and green sea turtles.  One turtle floated around the pool with a life vest on.  There was something wrong with its shell that prevented it from surfacing.  The vest helps it to be able to take a breath. These critters were so big!

     Then we went to 3 shows.  The first was where they had several parrots and macaws.  The emcee described the different types of exotic birds and where they come from.  Then we all went to a large pool where two dolphins performed tricks for the audience. Beside the pool were two small pools where people were swimming with the dolphins.  The place offered the opportunity to swim with dolphins, sting rays, and sharks, all for an additional fee.  The admission fee was pretty steep - $87 for the two of us and that was with a 10% discount!  After the dolphins, we went to another pool where they had sea lions perform tricks, too. And, again, there were people swimming with the sea lions in small pools near the main pool.

     The tour ended with a ride on a bottomless boat.  The boat had benches on the four sides of the boat with an opening in the center.  The two dolphins from the show came swimming by and popped up in the center of the boat and did tricks inside and on the side of the boat while we rode out and back on the lake.  The guide said the entire park is landlocked so they pump in over 11 million gallons of water every day.

     After the park, we drove to the “world famous” Lorelei Restaurant. It is a bar with a very large patio on three sides that sits right on the bay shore.  We found a table where Tim joined us.  He was meeting a friend who is in Florida on vacation.  The friend didn’t want to come to the table so he sat up in the walkway in his wheelchair watching the women go by. Joey was also there, sitting up on the walkway with a friend.  

 2021 Jan 22 (Fri) – We drove to Marathon today to see Tim and take a ride on his boat.  He actually has two boats.  One he lives on and the other is his dive boat.  He can take out groups of up to six people to dive on a nearby reef.  His son, Joey, was also there.  

     We parked the truck and got on the dive boat.  Tim drove from the dock to a nearby restaurant where we docked at the pier and had lunch on the patio.  After a couple of margaritas, we got back on the boat and rode out into the ocean.  We parked (can you park a boat?) out near the 7 mile bridge and watched the sunset. Sadly, there were no clouds in the sky so the sunset was pretty bland.  You have to have clouds in the sky in order to have a beautiful sunset or sunrise.

     We returned to the marina where Tim anchored his dive boat and we transferred to a little dinghy for a ride back to the dock.  It was tight and a little nerve racking but we did it without incident.  It was a good day.

     When we got back to the lodge, I went in and asked if they had any leftovers.  It was prime rib night and I thought I could get some of the leftover food.  It turned out they had plenty left and we wound up sitting down to dinner at 8:30 p.m.  Ugh.  That is SO late to eat a heavy meal.  We brought most of the meal back to the RV.

2021 Jan 21 (Thu) – After the motorhome next to us left, we readjusted our position in the campsite.  We fit much better now.  We have no TV stations over the air.  Paul had to put the satellite dish up on the roof but it is working fine.

     My brother, Tim, came over this morning.  We were stuck in the campground because I was waiting for UPS to deliver my medicine (I have to sign for it).  At 1 p.m. I called UPS and asked to pick up the package at their office tomorrow. The clerk I spoke with (sounding like she was in India) arranged it.  We then went out to lunch at Tower of Pizza. Tim said it is the closest thing to New York pizza outside of New York. It was OK.  

     We returned to the campground and sat down by the water.  A truck pulled up with a 100 gallon tank on the back. The driver put a hose in the water, turned on a generator, and began pumping water into the tank.  It turns out that he sells salt water to aquariums for their collections.  Who would have thought you could make a career out of that?  A UPS truck pulled up and, low and behold, my medication and our forwarded mail were both on the truck.  Luckily, we were here so I could sign for my medicine.  

     There was a beautiful sunset tonight.  Tim, who lives on his boat in Marathon (an island further south in the Keys), says the sunsets seem to go on for hours down here.  The water is incredibly clear.  We walked out on a pier they have here at the lodge.  There are little needle nose gars swimming in the water.  They blend in with the water and algae so much that it is difficult to see them.  I could not spot any dolphins or manatees.

 2021 Jan 20 (Wed) – We are in The Keys!  We packed up and left South Bay at 9 a.m. and drove 3 hours to Tavernier.  We are camped at an Elks Lodge on Overseas Highway.  The lodge is right on the water.  The Keys is on a narrow strip of land flanked by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.  The sites are very tight.  We got into our assigned site (# 13) but we could adjust a little.     The motor home next to us will be leaving tomorrow and we will readjust our position after they leave and before the next RV gets here.

      We went into the lodge at 6 p.m. for dinner.  They had a Queens of Hearts drawing at 7:30 p.m.  That was a hoot.  The prize is over $31,000.  The reason the prize has grown so big is that they have a Teaser.  Tonight’s Teaser is $900.  If your ticket gets drawn, you get to turn a card over.  If you turn a Queen of Hearts, you win the entire pot (+$31,000). You can opt to take the Teaser ($900) and they still turn a card over.  If it’s the Queen of Hearts, you win nothing and they start a new game. Twenty-seven cards have been turned over so far.  The winner took the Teaser and the card that was turned over was a Queen of Diamonds. The game is still on.  The next drawing will be next Wednesday.

     I got a series of reservations from the Newburgh KOA for our caravan this summer.  The costs were all above our budgeted amount.  I called and spoke with the manager of the campground.  She explained that she had to just get something into the system to hold our sites.  The price adjustments will come later and not to worry.

 2021 Jan 19 (Tue) – We drove into West Palm Beach today. After a quick lunch at Zaxby’s, we took a ride on the Diva Duck boat.  There were just 8 adults and 2 children on the boat.  It was a weird sensation to go from the road into the water. The woman narrating the tour was very good and had lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes about ducks.

     After our pleasant afternoon, we stopped at PetSmart to get some dog food then Publix for a few groceries.  Paul filled up the truck and I bought lottery tickets hoping to hit the more than $800 million jackpot.  

2021 Jan 16-18 (Sat, Sun, Mon) – We stayed in the campground.  This was a holiday weekend and we were staying away from the crowds.  The folks with the chicken on a leash left today. I wanted to get a picture of it but I missed out.  Oh, well. The weather has been cool; lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s.  Hopefully, it will be warmer down in the Keys.

2021 Jan 15 (Fri) – We drove to Palm Beach today.  Palm Beach was named for the coconut groves that were once common along Lake Worth.  The only remaining coconut grove in Palm Beach is on the Flagler estate.

     First stop was at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum.  What an amazing place!  Another example of the opulence of the nouveau rich of the 1800s.  Flagler’s family immigrated from Germany to New York. Flagler left home at 14 to look for his fortune.  He found it when he joined up with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews to form Standard Oil Co.  He made millions (billions in today’s money).  In 1902, he built Whitehall as a winter retreat and visited there for 12 years until he died.  His wife died 4 years later and left their estate to a niece.  She then turned it over to private investors when it became too expensive to keep and they turned the mansion into a grand hotel.  In 1959, the investors had gone broke and the building was going to be torn down.  A great granddaughter bought the property and turned it into a museum in 1960.

     There were more than 75 rooms in the home.  Much of the original furniture, as well as furniture from the period, are in the rooms.  Each room is grander than the next.  It was amazing!  In the back of the home was another building housing Flagler’s personal rail car.  He built a rail line that connected Jacksonville to the Keys.  Flagler is credited with building up Florida and making it a major attraction for tourism and agriculture.

     Across the water behind the estate was a marina that housed several yachts. One of them was a small ocean liner with beautiful lines.  Ah, what the money people spend their dollars on.

     After the museum, we drove into town and had lunch at Almond.  It turned out they also have a restaurant in Manhattan and Bridgehampton back in New York.  We sat on the patio and watched all the rich cars drive by.  I’ve never seen so many high end vehicles – Tesla, Mercedes, Bentley, Ducati, etc. – in one place.  Parking is restricted to two hours and while we were eating, two of the wait staff ran out to move their cars so they wouldn’t be ticketed.  Our lunch was excellent but we paid for it.  It was almost $100 (tip included).  Whew!

     Next was a drive around town.  We wound up on Ocean Drive and drove past Mar-a-lago, President Trump’s Florida home.  It’s a strange arrangement.  The road cuts through the middle of the estate with the club on one side and the pool on the other side next to the ocean.  There was a very large American flag standing on the lawn in front of the club. We couldn’t see the entire building as there was a 6’ hedge in front of the place.  Most of them have 15-20 foot high hedges in front of their properties. I guess that’s more attractive than fences and certainly more private.  Each home we drove past was more opulent than the next.  This is definitely the place to come if you want to ogle the rich and famous.  

     When we got back to the campground, we could see that most campsites have been filled up.  It’s the weekend.  The folks next to us have a chicken.  They tie a rope to its foot and the rooster just hangs around.  He likes to be high so they put him on the handlebars of their bicycle or up on a 6’ ladder.   I’ve seen some crazy things during our travels but a chicken on a leash is a new one for me.  Lol.

 2021 Jan 14 (Thu) – We stayed in the campground all day.  I did work on the Nomads newsletter as well as the New York Caravan.  Paul worked on finding us campgrounds to stay in.  After he found a site in Tampa, I called Southwest and made a reservation to fly to New York next month.

 2021 Jan 13 (Wed) – We asked the office to move to a site further away from the road.  It must be a main truck route as it was noisy all night long.  We got moved from 85 to 151.  It’s marked as a handicapped site but the picnic table is located on the wrong side of the rig.  Regardless, it is much quieter over here.

     After our move, we drove into town to get propane and fuel.  We drove through Clewiston and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce & Museum.  It was small and not well laid out.  The CoC offers a Sugarland Tour which we very much wanted to take.  It is four hours learning about all the sugar cane farms in the area.  Unfortunately, tours are suspended until September because of the coronavirus.

     We drove through South Bay.  There were many slum areas, dilapidated houses, and closed stores. This town is suffering greatly. Trip Advisor listed only one restaurant in the entire town – Subway.

 2021 Jan 12 (Tue) – We packed up and left Cocoa at 9:50 a.m. and arrived at the South Bay RV Campground at 1:30 p.m.  We ran into traffic going through the Palm Beach area.  The campground is owned by the county.  It is neat, clean, and well laid out. Unfortunately, it is right by a major truck route and quite noisy.  We only got a 30-amp site while there are 50-amp sites open.  The campground is about 90% full.  It sits at the base of a levee.  There is a lake and creek on the property with signs warning of alligators. Check-in was online as they are keeping everything contactless.  There is nothing to do in South Bay.  This is the kind of campground you come to when you want to get away from it all.

 2021 Jan 11 (Mon) – We went to the Brevard Zoo today.  Paul thought it was very nice.  Not too big and all the animals were out and visible. We had to make a reservation online as they are limiting the number of people in the zoo at any one time.  There were lots of animals from Australia and Africa. It was about a two hour tour.

     We stopped at the Melbourne Seafood Grill for lunch.  I had a crab cake and Paul enjoyed clams.  Then we got some fuel in preparation for tomorrow’s move. When we got back to the campground, we did some wash.  Sheba brought some hairballs last night while laying on our bed so we had to wash the sheets and bedspread.  It’s time to take the flannel sheets off the bed anyway.  We are headed into southern Florida where the weather is sure to be warmer (we sure hope so!).

 2021 Jan 10 (Sun) – We did laundry today.  It seemed like Sunday was wash day for a lot of people in the campground and we got the last two machines.

     We met George & Linda at El Leoncita for dinner.  The food, margaritas, and company were all good.

 2021 Jan 9 (Sat) – We drove back to Merritt Island and picked up Denise with her dog, Levi, then drove to Cocoa to George & Linda’s. George made dough balls to go fishing with his grandson, Ryan.  Their son, Neil, came over and we all went down to the lake.  Ryan, Neil, George, and Paul fished while Linda, Denise, and I went for a drive around the neighborhood.  It was cool with a brisk breeze blowing.

     No fish caught, we returned to the house and George grilled up some burgers and hot dogs.  After visiting, we returned to Merritt Island to drop off Denise, then back to the campground.  Sheba ran out of the door when we got back at 8 p.m. and it took a bit of effort to get her back inside because it was dark and we couldn’t see.

2021 Jan 8 (Fri) – We went out to pick up food for Bonnie.  The vet recommended that we only give her one protein source.  Rather than mixing up beef and chicken, we should only feed her chicken.  We also have to make sure her dry food is chicken as well as her treats.

      Next door was a WalMart.  We ran in to pick up a few things.  While at George & Linda’s the other day, I noted she was cooking with a Blue Diamond pan.  We got to talking about different kinds of pans.  I have been thinking about getting rid of my Teflon pans for a while.  So while we were at WalMart today, I picked up 3 new fry pans and a Dutch oven.  I also picked up a roasting pan and a small baking pan with rack.   After we came home, I spent time rearranging the cabinet and getting rid of the old pots and pans in favor of the new ones.

     The day was very windy today.  Sheba didn’t spend more than a few minutes outside before looking to come back in.  It was just too breezy.  She sure loves her new toy.  

 2021 Jan 7 (Thu) – We stayed around the campground for the day. Paul ran out briefly to pick up some hardware to fix the silverware drawer.  It was not working smoothly and he had to replace the hardware slide. The drawer works very nicely now.

     At 8:30 p.m., we went out to watch the Space-X launch.  It was delayed for a little bit but the rocket finally took off at 9:15 p.m.  It was so quiet but very bright.  The launch was successful and they were able to capture the booster rocket.

 2021 Jan 6 (Wed) – We went over to George & Linda’s for dinner tonight.  They grilled chicken and Brussel sprouts.  We enjoyed the food with margaritas.

     I pulled out the NY Caravan file today to see what actions I have to take. I contacted one campground to confirm our arrival.  After some discussion, the owner decided that they could not support our caravan.  We have too many large rigs.  It was with some disappointment I found another campground. The next one is $11 more per night. That will certainly put a dent in our budget.

 2021 Jan 5 (Tue) – We packed up and left KARS RV Park at 10:30 a.m. Since the drive was only 27 miles, we waited until near checkout time before leaving.  We had to stop and dump the tanks first.  It was a good day to leave as a bunch of Fish & Wildlife trucks pulled up in the field across from us this morning.  It looked like a manhunt was underway.  I called the office only to find out they are doing a controlled burn around the property today.

     It was 50 minutes to Patrick Space Force Base in Cocoa.  We checked in with the camp host.  She said we were lucky.  That someone just left a very nice spot (they have a first-come, first served policy for campsites).  The site looks out at the river without a camper in front of our site. It’s OK.  The camp host told us this is a historic stay.  They just changed the name from Patrick Air Force Base to Patrick Space Force Base last month.  It’s a nice campground but a little tight.  We have full hookups with 50 amp service.  

     We went out for dinner to Grill’s Seafood Restaurant.  It was right on the water and we sat out on the deck. It was enclosed in glass so it felt like the inside but with all the view of the outside.

2021 Jan 4 (Mon) – We took Bonnie to the vet this morning.  We might have inadvertently solved the problem on our own though.  Bonnie has been doing a lot of barking and appeared to be very hungry.  She has been suffering urine infections off and on for two years now.  She’s been through a variety of antibiotics but the UTI always returned.  We remembered a friend who used the same pro-digest we give Bonnie.  She said she stopped giving it to her dogs because they had renal issues.  We stopped giving all extra stuff to Bonnie – the pro-digest, multivitamin, glucosamine, and fish oil.  We’ve just been giving her the liver medicine and regular food.  She’s also been getting lots of extra treats. Interestingly, Bonnie has calmed down. She’s not doing the excessive barking or restless moving around.  Maybe the antibiotic she was on and the pro-digest disagreed with each other.

     At any rate, the vet’s office only allowed one of us in so Paul sat out in the car.  After hearing of Bonnie’s story, the vet recommended that we give her only one protein source.  We feed her Hill’s Science Diet (approved by the vet association) but mix it up between beef and chicken.  The vet said that a dog’s system has to do a reset every time the protein source changes. Her long standing issue with diarrhea could be related to the changes in protein.  She suggested we give her only one protein for three weeks and see how her system reacts.

     The vet took some blood and found that Bonnie’s thyroid level is low. So now she is on a thyroid medication. She needs to go back for a recheck in two weeks.  We’ll see about that.

     When we got back to the campground, we did the laundry.  There were two washers and two dryers in the laundry building when I looked in last week.  Today, there was only one washing machine.  We only did the whites.

     A Falcon 9 Space-X launch was planned to take place between 8:30 and 12:30 tonight.  We rode down to the waterfront, set out our chairs, and waited to see the launch. The sky was clear and the stars were so bright with no moon to fade out the stars.  It was so cold; in the 40s.  We waited 20 minutes, trying to find out online if the launch was going to be live streamed.  People finally started posting on Facebook that the launch was rescheduled for January 7. That was disappointing.  We are in such a perfect place to watch a launch, right across the river from the NASA launch site.

 2021 Jan 3 (Sun) – We drove over George & Linda’s this morning. She made hash with the leftover corn beef.  That and eggs with toast was scrumptious.  The mimosas were a nice touch.  Denise (George’s sister) and her little dog, Levi, joined us.  After our meal, we sat out on the patio around their fire pit and had a nice visit.

     On the way back to the campground, we stopped for lunch at Kelsey’s Pizzeria.  We’ve seen a number of them around and wanted to try them.  We couldn���t eat in their store.  They instructed us to go next door to Harry & Jack’s, a bar and grill. They had indoor and outdoor seating. None of the wait staff wore masks. There were 3 tables occupied near us when we sat next to the bar.  The first group left and the waitress haphazardly wiped the table but didn’t touch the seats.  The other two tables vacated and neither of them was wiped down at all.  We got our pizza.  It wasn’t New York.

     After lunch, I stopped in at Supercuts next door and got my hair cut. The woman did a terrible job.  The good thing about it is that my hair will grow back in.  

 2021 Jan 2 (Sat) – Another day in the campground.  The weather has turned cold.   We went over George & Linda’s for dinner.  She made reubens with corned beef and sauerkraut on rye bread.  It was so good.  We are invited over for breakfast tomorrow where Linda will make corned beef hash with the leftovers.  After dinner, we watched a movie with Liam Neeson.  It was awful.  It certainly wasn’t his usual genre as a kick-ass fighter.  I think the name of the movie was “The Other Man.”  Don’t watch it!

 2021 Jan 1 (Fri-New Year’s Day) -  We stayed in the campground all day.   Our church had a Zoom meeting at 1 p.m.  We would normally have a potluck meal on New Year’s Day but no one’s getting together in groups this year.  There were about 20 of us online.  It was confusing to me with everyone talking over each other.  But it was good to see all our friends.  The call lasted about an hour.

2020 Dec 31 (Thu-New Year’s Eve) – We met George & Linda at the pier by Doc’s Bait House near their old condo.  We were going for a boat ride on the Banana River and lunch down river.  Unfortunately, as soon as we got past the bridge, the wind was whipping up the water and waves were splashing over the boat, getting us all wet.  It was too rough to go boating so we returned to the dock and pulled the boat out of the water then followed George back to his shop. We met their dog and checked out their new Renegade Class C RV.  They bought it in July and it still smells new.  After putting away the boat, we went to Fishlips for lunch down by Port Canaveral.  The meal was good but pretty expensive.

     After lunch, Paul and I drove to Patrick Air Force base to check out the campground.  Most of the gates into the base are closed and you have to drive a couple of miles around the runway to get to the campground.  They are also pretty full but there are still a few empty spaces. We will look to move there next week.

     We returned to the campground and spent a quiet night watching TV.  We turned in at 9 p.m.  How’s that for celebrating the new year?  I think we are officially “old fogies.”

 2020 Dec 30 (Wed) – We ran some errands today – picked up groceries and got some propane.  George & Linda drove over to the campground and we chatted for about an hour then drove to Denise’s house.  We picked her up and drove to Carrabba’s for an early dinner.  We all sat out on the patio and enjoyed margaritas and a good meal.

 2020 Dec 29 (Tue) – We packed up and left Mayport Naval Station at 9:30 a.m.  It was 160 miles south to Merritt Island where we are camped at the NASA owned property KARS RV Park.  We have been here twice before.  It is pretty full now; almost every campsite is occupied.  We have a site way in back behind the storage area nowhere near the water. They continue to improve the campground.

2020 Dec 28 (Mon) – We drove into St. Augustine for lunch. Our meal was at the Florida Cracker in the old historic town.  St. Augustine was settled in 1565 and is said to be the oldest city in the United States. It has been under six flags over the years – Spain, Italy, France, England, Colonial America, and the U.S. (I think).  It is an interesting tour.  There were many people out and about, too many without masks.  Traffic coming into town was all backed up.  We walked around for a while then left.  We stopped at the post office on the way back to mail off a package and got fuel for tomorrow’s move.

 2020 Dec 27 (Sun) – We dialed into the virtual service at our church this morning.  It appears that the minister contracted the coronavirus and was quarantined for two weeks. That must be why they stopped having in-person services last week.

     We took down our Christmas decorations today.  I thought we were leaving tomorrow, Monday, but we are leaving on December 29.  That’s actually on Tuesday.

 2020 Dec 26 (Sat) – We drove into town and had lunch at North Beach Fish Camp.  It was a seafood place.  I had a cod dish and Paul enjoyed crab claws.  On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Publix to pick up a few groceries.

     The weather is pretty cold today.  The temperatures have dropped into the thirties and there is a freeze warning for the area tonight.  We’ll have to remember to disconnect the hose before going to bed.  At least the wind has died down.

     The vet called to say that Bonnie’s urine sample had come back normal.  The antibiotic has done its job.

2020 Dec 25 (Fri – Christmas Day) – It was very cold this morning but warmed quickly to the 50s.  The wind was blowing strongly.  Last night’s storm left many homes without electric and the news showed streets and homes where trees fell onto them.  It was a very destructive storm.

     We went to the Oasis Galley on base at 3 p.m. for a holiday meal.  It was supposed to be $9.20 per person but the guy just waved us through when we arrived.  I don’t know if it was because he was having problems with the register or that it was almost time to close the mess hall (dinner was being served from 1 to 4 p.m.  At any rate, we got a great meal for free.  There was salad, shrimp cocktail, turkey, dressing, steak, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, corn, kale, green beans, biscuits, eggnog, coffee, tea, and a variety of pies.  We brought our pumpkin pie back to the trailer and had it later with coffee.  

 2020 Dec 24 (Thu) – We dropped a urine sample from Bonnie off at the vet’s office this morning.  Then we went to breakfast at Another Broken Egg.  They have such good and unusual selections.  We both enjoyed our meal very much.  We sat out on the patio with a lot of other people.  

      After breakfast (more like brunch), we drove to General RV to pick up our new loungers.  The shipment never came in so we bought the floor sample.  The saleslady we dealt with was out today.  The person we dealt with today must have thought we were really stupid.  She said they never had new furniture to order and we were always going to get the floor sample.  Then she said the saleslady we first dealt with (Brandi) tried to order it but it wasn’t available.  I then asked for a discount on the cost of the furniture since we had to take used furniture rather than get it new.  She tried to tell us that the sample was only on the floor for 4 days.  We sat in it over a week ago so that wasn’t true. Brandi had told us it was out for several weeks.  In addition, the floor sample was still sitting on the floor.  It was not sanitized and packed up for us.  The woman tried to mumble that she couldn’t have sanitized it earlier because people would have still sat on it.  Paul told her no one could sit on it if it was disassembled and she tried to tell him they would have.  It was one of the most aggravating hours we have ever spent. The woman was either incompetent or an out-and-out liar.  At any rate, we waited while they sanitized and took the furniture apart (2 chairs with a center console).  She refused to give us any plastic to wrap up the furniture so it wouldn’t get dirty in back of the truck.  We did get a refund of almost $200.

                                               the old furniture

                                                   the new furniture

      Paul then drove into downtown Jacksonville.  Since it was Christmas eve, he figured a lot of the stores and offices would be closed.  He was right. It reminded me of when we went to Phoenix and arrived on a weekend.  It was like a ghost town.  We stopped at the St. Johns River Riverwalk and strolled along the waterfront.  There were a few people out but not many.

      The day started out very nice but turned nasty late in the afternoon.  Severe thunderstorms rolled through and there were warnings of tornadoes in the county.  The temperatures dropped drastically and the prediction was for iguanas falling out of trees tomorrow (lol. Temps are supposed to be freezing)

 2020 Dec 23 (Wed) – We did some laundry today.  Since the machines are free, we are taking advantage of the benefit.  Someone got annoyed we weren’t right there when our wash finished and they took our laundry out.  They put it on top of the dryers.  We put our stuff in the dryers and made sure to come back before it was done.

     We went out for lunch at Cracker Barrel today.  The food was good and they were doing a brisk business.  It’s hard to believe there’s a pandemic out there. After lunch, we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some Bailey’s Irish Cream.  It’s for Christmas day.

 2020 Dec 22 (Tue) – The day was cold and blustery.  We stayed in all day.

 2020 Dec 21 (Mon) – We ran some errands today.  Went food shopping at WalMart, picked up dog food at PetCo, got some fuel at a very sloooooooow pump (took a half hour to fill the gas tank), and dropped off an envelope at the post office.

     At sunset, we drove over to the southeast side of the base to see the Christmas Star.  Not since 1600 (400 years ago) has Saturn and Jupiter been aligned next to each other. They are so close that they look like a big star in the sky.  This great conjunction is referred to as the Christmas Star.  I think it’s because it’s happening during Christmas week.  We saw nothing.  Maybe it was hidden behind some low clouds on the horizon.  We’ll try again tomorrow night.

     I volunteered to put together a cookbook for SMART as a fundraiser. Paul was looking through our church cookbook one day and brought up the suggestion that we should do it for our travel club.  I pitched the suggestion, went through lots of questions and hesitations, and finally got the go ahead today.  Hope I don’t regret the offer.

2020 Dec 19&20 (Sat & Sun) – We stayed in the campground this weekend.  We dialed into the church for a virtual service on Sunday morning.  We had some initial trouble getting the live broadcast but it turned out to be a problem at their end, not ours.

 2020 Dec 18 (Fri) – We ran out to get propane this morning. The weather has been cold (it was 37 degrees this morning) and the heat has been running almost constantly.  We ran out of propane two nights ago (luckily, we have a second tank to switch to when one goes empty).  The place we first stopped at was out of order and we struggled to find another place.  The refill was finally achieved.

     Karen called today.  She is a travel agent and we are working with to arrange a cruise to Australia in 2022. We have tentatively decided on a Holland America 15-day cruise to Australia/New Zealand in January 2022. We also spoke with her about arranging a campervan trip around Australia following the cruise.  We plan to take two months to travel around Australia after the cruise.  She’s looking into it.

     We returned to the campground and hunkered down for the day. I sure hope it gets warmer soon. This is Florida!!!!

 2020 Dec 17 (Thu) – We drove into St. Augustine this afternoon. It took us over a half hour to find a parking space.  We finally wound up parking in a church parking lot for $10.  Then we walked into town and came upon the Lightner Museum. It is in the former Alcazar Hotel which was built from Henry Flagler in 1888.  One half of the 5-story building houses government offices and the other half features the museum collection.  The building was stunning and the hotel must have been amazing! The collections were from the 1800 and 1900s.  There were pottery, crystal, and glass artifacts; furniture; paintings; sculptures; and more.  A stuffed lion was on display that was a gift to Winston Churchill.  The lion was placed in the London Zoo and sired over 40 cubs before being stuffed.  I don’t know how it wound up in a museum in Florida.

     At 5 p.m. we went to dinner at Harry’s Seafood Grill.  It was a New Orleans style restaurant.  The waiter was very animated and made the meal enjoyable. He said he was originally from Queens and worked in Melville.  I had rice and beans with sausage and Paul had a scampi dish.

     We walked down to the marina and took the Night of Lights boat tour. It was a boring ride back and forth in front of lighted store fronts in the freezing cold.  The captain was absolutely silent.  Most tours of this kind would have had a dialogue about the area. He should have described some of the landmarks or talked about the history of the marina or told the story about St. Augustine.  Aside from his mandatory safety briefing (which was 75% unintelligible), he said nothing during the entire ride.  We were supposed to get complimentary coffee or tea but they didn’t have that either. We didn’t think the boat tour was worth the expense.

 2020 Dec 16 (Wed) – It rained for most of the day today.  It was cool and miserable.  I called the office today and was able to extend here at Mayport for another 3 nights until January 1st.  Hopefully, that will be all we need to take care of Bonnie’s issue.

2020 Dec 15 (Tue) – We went food shopping at Winn Dixie to get groceries for the week.  Then we went to Bono’s Pit BBQ.  We bought a rack of ribs and brought it back for dinner.  Yesterday and today have been blustery and the temperatures have been in the low 50s in the morning.  The wind was blowing so hard today that you had to be sure to hold the door when you got out of the car or the RV.  There were white caps and big splashing waves out in the river.  We swear that the winds were gusting to 50 mph.

 2020 Dec 14 (Mon) – We went furniture shopping today.  After wandering through several stores, we finally arrived at General RV and paid for two lounge chairs.  The clerk said she thought she could get it in by Friday, Monday at the latest.  If it doesn’t come in, then they will give us the floor sample.  We have to call on Friday so they’ll have time to sanitize the floor sample if it doesn’t look like the new chairs will come in on time.

     After paying for the chairs, we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. Yuck!  They no longer have the taco salad.  Now it’s bowls.  I got a chicken quesadilla and Paul got chalupas.  My meal was very skimpy and too spicy.  I won’t get that again!

     The vet called to say that Bonnie has a bacterial infection and needs to go on antibiotics.  We turned around and drove to his office to get the medication.  After ten days, we have to give another urine sample.  The time period will be close to when we are scheduled to leave.  Since we don’t have a reservation for the next campground, I called the office at Mayport to see if we could extend for a few days.  The clerk said they have no vacancies.  We have to call back every day to check on availability.  Ugh.

 2020 Dec 13 (Sun) – We went to lunch at Seaglass, a restaurant on base.  We were the only two diners in the place.  It looks like it would be really nice on a Friday night with folks gathered around the bar and socializing.  That won’t happen for a while, if ever again.  I had avocado toast and Paul had chorizo hash.  It was good.  We returned to the campground and let the animals play outside.  Sheba is fascinated with the geckos crawling on the palm trees.

 2020 Dec 12 (Sat) – The day was rainy and overcast.  We just hung around the campground all day.

 2020 Dec 11 (Fri) – We went out for lunch today at Colhane’s Irish Pub.  The food was very good.  I had my usual – shepherd pie and Paul enjoyed potato soup and a salad.  He’s down to 208 lbs.  His goal is in sight and he’s very focused.  We came back and let the fur babies have time outside.

     The vet called today.  Aside from slightly elevated liver enzymes, he really doesn’t see anything in Bonnie’s bloodwork to indicate a problem.  He is going to do a culture on the urine sample we left.  He’ll call back in a couple of days.

 2020 Dec 10 (Thu) – Paul offered to take me out for breakfast this morning.  That’s very funny since he lost his credit card and we had to invalidate it.  Now, I’m the only one with a credit card. After the breakfast that he treated me to (that I paid for), we went to Winn Dixie for groceries (I splurged on a lottery ticket), then to PetCo for dog food, and last to the post office to mail off a letter.

     On the way back, we drove into the Village of Mayport.  It is a small fishing village with a ferry port.  There weren’t many businesses at all.  When we got back on base, we drove around the docks looking at all the big Navy ships.  There were about a dozen ships tied up to the piers.

     We took Bonnie to the vet this afternoon. In the last two or three months, she has started this kind of barking routine.  She gives a bark, waits about ten seconds, then barks again.  She keeps this up until we are moved to do something. It’s either feed her, walk her, or pet her.  She goes out for a walk about every 1-1/2 to 2 hours and has a bowel movement almost time. That’s many more than she used to have (which was two – one following breakfast and one following dinner).  The doc took blood and promised to call us tomorrow.

2020 Dec 9 (Wed) – We stayed in today and spent the time putting up and decorating our Christmas tree.  The season is here!

 2020 Dec 8 (Tue) – We went to the post office to mail off the claim form to New York.  It will be interesting to see how much is due to my mother (who passed away in 2009). My sister, Susan, had filled out a claim in 2010 for money due to my mother.  The five of us each wound up getting $20 (she was due $100).  This time around will probably be $2.50 each. Mom didn’t have much to her name when she died.  I can’t imagine what this money is from.

     We stopped for lunch at the Hangar Bay Café.  It was a small place run by an African American retired Navy guy with an Asian wife.  The menu had a lot of ramen on it.  Paul got pork ramen and I ordered fried chicken.  The food was good.  The gentleman didn’t want to talk about his service.  Even though there was an 11x13 picture of him in dress uniform on the wall, he kept avoiding my questions about his time in the Navy.

     The commissary and PX are both off-post.  We stopped in there to get a few things.  You have to show ID at the register at the commissary and at the entrance at the PX to ensure you are military.  When we got back to the base, we drove around the housing area.  There is a second campground (called Osprey Cove) on base.  It is not on the water but cloistered among spreading trees with lots of Spanish moss. It is very lovely and intended for long-term stays.

 2020 Dec 7 (Mon) – We packed up and left Kings Bay Subbase at 11 a.m. It was much later than we normally move out but the drive was only an hour to the next campground.  We ran out to the post office before we left so I could mail another registered letter to a lawyer used to sell Travis & Sam’s house. We’ve had serious issues with him and have had to make a formal complaint to the Judicial Review Board.

     We arrived at Mayport Naval Station, Pelican Roost RV Park a little after noon.  They gave us the option of choosing one of several sites.  We elected to take a space at the end of the aisle on a curve. We can get a somewhat obscure look at the ocean.  We stayed here last December.  The ships sail right past the campground on their way out of and into the port.  They blow their horns to say hello and goodbye.

     We went out to the bank to get a paper notarized. I was cruising around the internet and put in Unclaimed Funds in New York State.  Surprise, surprise!  My mother’s name came up.  The website doesn’t tell how much is owed, just there is some money due.  I printed out the form and filled in the required information.  I will mail it out tomorrow.

[mimisworlds]

Vietcong

There was a sweetness to her at first but like a sour patch and opposite actually. Sweet sour gone. Not gone yet but on the outs. She is fighting vietcong for my birthday this year. Liberation and forcing morals. I am the one who ran away to Canada. The pussy draftee who couldn't leave mama's arms and face death and fight for this. Let someone else do it. I'm the sissy who fled. She was strong and never let me forget it. She was in the jungle fighting off the people in the trees with green face paint and weapons. She was in the tank. I was drinking coffee in Montreal. Granted asylum. She was gone and brave. When she returns from the jungle with PTSD and sleeping with a handgun under her pillow, I'll be reminded that I was the pussy who fled to Montreal.

I actually was a mother in the jungle. I had 5 babies and my husband left me there. I was quasi-anorexic,  couldn't eat if I wanted my babies to survive. They had names. I gave them rice and milk. I had water occasionally. We lived and we had a home. I had 5 babies and no husband and a shotgun in case an American tried to take my babies. I didn't know what the war was about. I just knew it existed. I knew that my jungle was being torn apart and there were guns and mines and I got less food and couldn't leave my house without fear of being shot. I knew that if an American saw me I would be dead on the spot and my babies would be too, and my husband, my dear love, would come home to nothing when he eventually came back. He left and I haven't heard a thing. I live with the babies now and they have names and I feed them rice and milk and I don't know what's happening outside my home. We are camouflaged and I know English so I can say whatever they want me to. I'm on their side. I've killed my kind for them. I swear. Look at my babies. Look at them.

The sweet sour girl came to my home and stripped me. She was in her truck and pulled up and stripped me. Forcefully opened my door, and stripped me. Searched every crevice of me and of them. Checking to see if we were hiding something. I don't know why. I don't have anything. I promise. My husband is coming home soon.

I shouldn't have said that.

I was taken and tied up outside my home. I was naked. My eldest child, 3 years old, held my youngest, 2 weeks, and wept for me. I smiled and said it'll be ok sweetie. She said something in English I couldn't make out. She drove off and I ran. I ran deep into the jungle. I know this jungle well. I know everyone here and they know me and I am loved. My babies will be safe if I run to my neighbors and ask her to take them. That's what I'll do. Hands tied I ran and my babies will be ok if I get there before the truck comes back. I told her what had happened and she cut me loose and ran over. I didn't hear a truck or anything so she should be ok. I hid in her home. She had a bigger home than me and she had a larger seating area in the back. Her husband did well. Mine didn't. I don't know where he is. I pulled on one of her skirts that was on her bed and a plain shirt.

I waited beneath her small framed bed, something my family doesn't have. I heard my baby crying and I never heard a truck. She got them and it's ok. I see my eldest first and hop up from underneath. She got my babies and now we have to stay here until they leave. I lit a cigarette she had been keeping in her skirt pocket and wept. But I am safe. The soldier will find me here but nothing is in my home except my shotgun and a book my father gave me. It was the Secret Garden. Nothing that will seem out of the ordinary or peculiar. I guess the book but she can't think it's anything.

My husband died 3 hours after the lady came knocking and tied me up. He was getting me food. He did not fight nor did he wish to. He hated my shotgun, in fact he replaced the real bullets I found with rubber ones. Horrific to think about. Pacifist even in the times of war. I don't know if they linked me to him. They could've I guess, from the few pictures I have of us from our various excursions to the cities.

We used to be city folk. Before 5 children. Now we are here. In the city I could eat and eat and get fat even, if I pleased, but rarely would I indulge in such a thing. I saw movies and experienced more life than any of these people. Now I am smoking her last cigarette as a possible war criminal because if my husband was caught with anything other than groceries I am a link and I ran. They could kill me, my babies, and my neighbor for this. They in fact will.

"Maybe I turn myself in? Run home and you take them. They will be alive and have no ties to me you can say I am a pig or a traitor and you are on their side and go to the city and keep them." I wept and realized I don't want to be without my babies but if they're alive that is all that matters.

"No sweetheart sit here. We will figure it out." She rubber my back and whimpered. She knew she would die for me. Why for me? I am loved in the jungle but never thought of myself as someone worth dying for. I would die for people, they don't die for me.

I began to hear trucks and sirens and sounds of babies crying and mothers screaming and husbands being yanked from the trees. They're looking for me. The war criminal. That little draftee turned me in. My husband would die for me. I would die for him. He died for me and my babies and now we are alone and they are yanking husbands from the trees because that draftee got angry that she couldn't pull me naked to her camp and shoot me in front of all the hot soldiers.

The Americans were sexy, the men at least. The draftee at my door was beautiful but I am not gay.

I'm sure I would've been used as an asset. There's one soldier I have spied on through my little bush and he is who I would love if I didn't love my husband. He had cropped hair and was thin and had on all green and was wearing glasses. He was drinking out of his canteen and weeping. Away from the boys. Quiet place to cry for the sexy soldier missing his mama I guess. We made eye contact and he smiled. He put down his gun and walked over. "Hello ma'am. Sorry to bother you. I won't hurt you, but can I bother you for some food? Anything ya got. I'm aching for a home cooked meal. It's ok I won't turn you in or nothing. You don't seem to be a commie. You look like city folk." He gave me his hand and helped me up from my crouched position. I gathered that he asked me for food and said he didn't want to hurt me. I nodded and took him inside my home.

My babies were babbling and the eldest was sleeping. He went over to one of the girls, my chubbiest, and picked her up. "Hey mama you're a cutie!" He pinched her cheeks and tickled her belly, she loved him. The male attention my husband seemed to lack when it came to raising babies, made her giggle and feel safe. I pulled out some of the cooked rice and chicken and egg I had and made him a bowl. We still had our city bowls. We're not jungle people.

"Ok sir. The food. We had it for lunch, still warm." I smiled and gave him the bowl. I was going to eat it for dinner, but this man needs a meal. He seemed delighted.

"Oh my gosh, you are an angel. Thank you so much miss." He grabbed my hand and kissed it. His glasses fogged from my warmth I suppose. I felt something for him that I knew was what I was missing with my husband. Some sort of kindness and affection. Two bodies that are able to move smoothly with each other, a shared consciousness. I had that with the soldier I feel. The way we moved. He naturally picked up my baby while I made him food. The kiss. The eyes, his glasses the way he held me. It felt good. He ate his food rapidly and I watched him. He was messy. He had my baby on his lap and bounced her on his leg. I offered to take her because of how fat she was, but he said no. A gentleman. My husband was a sissy.

He then asked what I thought about the war. I told him I didn't know. I said I came from the city. We moved before the war started because my husband lost his job. We had no family. I was pregnant with twins and we had a baby at home. I didn't know what was happening. I knew the government was being bad, I knew they weren't being normal. He nodded. He said he didn't get it either, just saw his birthday on the television and passed the health test. He looked upset. I rubbed his hand and then his back and kissed him. I wasn't a whore but this man was an exception.

If you marry for love, good for you. I married so my mother would stop bringing boys to dinners and making me hold their hands and listen to their stories.

"Thank you so much for the food sweetheart. I hope we can meet again at some point. That would be nice. I hate this situation. Maybe I'll come back here to hide out. I gotta get back to camp. They'll think I died. Maybe that wouldn't be too bad. If I died and this was heaven." He handed me back my fat baby and kissed me again. "You really are beautiful. I hope your husband finds a job." He winked and hugged me and my baby and kissed her fat head. He left and I whimpered and squealed and rocked my baby in my arms and she was still heavy but she had his essence on her. I loved her little fat head and him. His smell lingered in the room and I wanted to capture it. He smelled ripe but sweet.

I know this is the man she would've killed me to impress. Fucking whore. I would be naked and naturally he would want me over her. I have boobs and a brain and a pretty face. I am not her asset. She doesn't get to shoot me in front of him.

I held my fat baby and heard the truck. She was looking for me. I knew she was. At that point the news of my husbands death hadn't reached me. I heard the truck stop outside. I took my babies and shoved them under the bed. I quickly put up my hair and put on a hat and tried to seem like someone else. She walked in. Gun in hand. Nothing like my soldier. She smelled bad. Long hair. A woman. Women shouldn't be at war.

"Ma'am. Please sit." She ordered my neighbor. I sat too but she kicked my foot. "Strip."

I did.

She pointed the gun at my head and kicked me down. "Get up." I got up. She pushed me back down and dragged me outside. I could hear my babies whimper. She tied me up against a stump. I heard more trucks. I began to weep. I looked at the truck and saw him. The soldier. My soldier. He got out of the truck and patted the draftee woman on the back. We did meet again.

"This her?" He smiled. "Hot, she got anything on her?"

"No sir, found her husband in the city. She's city folk. He's a commie. We had him killed."

"Nice work." He poked my boob with his machine gun. He smiled at me. I was crying. My husband was killed by this whore and now my soldier is poking me and saying she did well. I'm doing well.

"Shoot her?" she asked. She gave the soldier "the eyes" the ones where you know she wants to fuck him. She wants to choke him out.

"I don't know. Maybe we make a woman outta her. A good woman." He sneered.

"You wanna fuck this whore? She's a fag probably. Naked while another woman is in the house."

"Doesn't mean she can't fuck well." He poked my boob again. He came up and grabbed me. She pulled up her gun. He was grabbing at my boobs and punching my stomach and holding my crotch with his dirty fingers. She looked me in the eye. She shot him. He slumped over on me. She walked over to me. She grabbed my hair and used it to pull up my chin.

"Fucking whore fag." She stepped back, put up her gun. She shot me 5 times. I could hear my babies crying. My neighbor screaming. Everyone felt something and I felt the heat of the bullets and my heart stopping. I don't know what a commie is. I didn't die because of that. I died because a man wanted to fuck me and not her. I died because she was angry. I died for her sins. I died because she was horny and wanted someone who wanted me. I died because someone wanted to rape me and not her. I died because of jealousy.

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I was a mother with 5 babies alone in the Vietnamese jungle where the American forces were closing in on the Viet Cong. I died for jealousy and my husband died for his belief in Vietnam and the Vietnamese people to be different. I heard he was the leader. He loved me and maybe I loved him. She was the draftee who had PTSD and was upset that the man she wanted to marry raped me and not her. I died for that. It's worth dying for. I didn't suffer from PTSD because I was dead. In my last moments I thought about how she would feel in 40 years. How she would feel about killing a mother. I bet fine. She would marry someone more attractive than him. Someone who would want to rape her.

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She went for Vietnam for my birthday and I was the one who fled to Canada. The pussy. The mommy's girl. I would never understand her pain.

[mingi-bubu]

Watch “Fallen Angels” with Me!

“Fallen Angels” is a 1995 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai.  It was the second film released at the beginning of his comeback, so to speak, in the film world.  In an interview Wong said that this film and “Chungking Express” (1994) are just two halves of a longer three hour film.

If you’re under the age of 18 i don’t recommend watching this film as there is like a lot of mature themes

Content warnings for the film: flashing lights, graphic depictions of violence, smoking, guns, blood, sexual content around 17:00 and goes on for a few minutes until about 19:30 and again from like 40:00 to about 44:30, self surgery at about 33:00 until 35:00

it starts out in black and white with two of the main players in the film

i loved the title scrolling across the screen like that omg

that dumpling looks so good omg

fax machines i love it omg

why the fuck is that marker so thick

oooohhh thats a lot of money

love how the filming of that scene was so hazy feeling honestly

the diner looks cool tbh

such a shame things are about to occur :/

the background music lowkey pops off

those are fun curtains

was shooting the fishtank necessary sir?

mans really said fuck y’all’s mahjong game

he just walks out like everything is fine???  im weak

aklsdfalksdjf this part really does express the regrets you have when you run into old classmates lmaooooo

oh my god im so weak at this man trying to not be racist

akdljfasld i love this so much he’s such a pig 

i’ve always wanted to go to a wedding

proceeds to yeet the invite out of the window

mee too

i miss when my bangs looked like hers

why is she smelling his sheets

lmao she stole some change from him ajdkfsd

i miss when we as a society wore gaudy as fuck jewelry and no one blinked an eye

we also should bring back jukeboxes

but anyways shes the gal that cleans his apartment and sends him his plans for the next uhhhhhhh whats the word

the next hit and shes in love with this idea of him she has from going thru his trash and cleaning up after him and everything

not a fan of this song i gotta say

and now shes masturbating on his bed

alright then kiddos

shes just j chillin there i wonder if he knows

ayyyyyy takeshi kaneshiro!!!  the reason i watched this film in the first place

ho chi moo in this film and he was a prisoner in this film but in cke he was an officer i think

love the duality of man

this pig shop is always the weirdest part to me

and this film is rather odd in general

man is just gonna dance on and massage a dead pig huh?  that’s what we’re doing now

this whole shop business is so odd

but we do get a shot of his arms so i will not argue

the ice cream truck part is my favorite ok like its terrible what’s going on but it’s my favorite part

of this sectioin at least

man has 3 cones in his hand im so weak

im screaming the entire family came to get ice cream adjflsdk

“ha anyone in hong kong ever died from too much ice cream?  i dont want to be the first”

how are they so chill with just letting him drive around

his dad doesnt like ice cream but he’ll eat it anyway

why is he locking his dad in the bathroom

and hes asleep

its such an odd film you guys

a girl is going to meet some guy’s friends tomorrow

assassin man looks good with sunglasses

welp those guys’re dead

that little girl is going to need some serious theraphy

oh time to get philosophical

debt collection time

shoot off in the chicken store

mans is fast

oh theres another kid whos going to need therapy

i really hate that im attracted to him after all of that

oh he wanted to meet to talk about his decision for something but didnt show up

inch resting

i wonder how long they have been partners for

they say a long time but what does that mean

ok yeah he definitely probably knows what shes done in his bed

he wants to quit assassining

bartenders are literally god’s work

he’s telling her he’s stopping through a song

incredible

this is the exact opposite of friends when ross wanted his song to be played on the radio for rachel ldksfjalksd

MCDO LETS GO

aldskfjslkdjf i love her so much omg

i want to have her confidence and zest for life akldjfalskdj

shes definitely on something

hes having fun tho i suppose

so that’s good for him

but she’s batshit sir

and now she’s sobbing

be careful of who you go home with

and that’s not blonde ma’am

the angle of that kiss was really weird jesus christ

oop she’s going solo again and sobbing afterwards

she’s gonna order a hit on him right?

like that’s obviously the next step

she’s also got a run in her tights,,,

its just not her night y’all

is that spike from buffy?

oooof that’s gotta hurt she’s definitely the ex or something of that guy

blondie???  the same not blonde that assassin was hooking up with?

everyone in this film is in need of some sort of counseling

“The night’s full of weirdos.”

love that she just drags him around and he goes with it

beat the shit out of a (very ugly) sex doll and then dimsum

and all mayhem breaks loose

don’t ever name yourself blondie is all im understanding from that part

if your name is blondie it’s on sight apparently

dude seriously do not fall in love with the lady hung up on her ex or whoever he is

how does she literally not notice him being a creepy creep

i do not understand

oh well

i guess shes just so done with everything she’l accept it

he dyed his hair blond dude

“It’s actually Taiwanese with a Russian accent”

takeshi looks good with this hair style

charlie is the name of his wild girl

she really needs to get over this johnny guy

still tho we get to see his arms

he was too optimistic apparently

and his hair is even blonder than before

and now its all black again

i feel like for this scene wkw just told tkk to go batshit

ooooooohhhh the boys finally meet

i dont event think the grill is on

ooooh a song is playing

its the 1818 song

it was nice to see the boys interact for a few scenes

her dress is nice

hmmm i wonder if this still has something to do with close borders of something

maybe it’s just bc hes so far from home

sato-san is just a-snoozin’ while tkk fucks around with the camera

lets hope he doesnt fuck up and delete the video

man gets hold of a video camera once and says im going to go ham and record everything i see

hes filming him and his dad snoozing

this part tho is really cute though that like his dad is watching it

oooooohhhh keep walking sis keep walking

so assassin is still with curly gal

??

shes also just tearing apart a toilet roll

yeah iguess they’re still together

wowowwowo the old doritos logo im shook

i forgot about this scene tbh

she sure is enjoying the rain

i do think its interesting the contrasting relationship of him and the two girls

she bit him

dont get involved with these kinds of people

love that hes just stianding ther

and nevermind theyre making out in the doorway and now he’s gone

i so wish that i could understand the relationships in this movie

who he gon’ mcmurder now i wonder

also the hk police must be backed up with all of the murder that’s been going on

ooop she just ordered an ad for a friend

im assuming she’s putting a hit out on him

i too sit and stare at bubbles and fish

oh he’s not making it out of this one is he

alas

i like that he has his own theme music tho that’s fun for him

rip to those mahjong guys again

he need to skrrrrt

and hes dead

:/

i hate that his last thoughts are paralleled to his first ones

back to tkk

did his dad die?

yeah yeah he did

this part is sad

he’s watching the video he made with his dad’s chair set up as if he watching too

:(

oh he’s taken a seat in the chair now

oh this part is really sad wh

i do feel like crying thank you for asking

im too soft for this

literally this guy is like the adult version of the cabbage merchant from atla

oh charlie’s grown up and calmed down thats good for her

it’s only been a few months in terms of the movie

i wonder if that guy was johnny

and we’re back to lady hitmaker

love that shes just quietly eating her ramen and smoking her cigarette as a fight breaks out behind her

oh lmaoooooo it was tkk

who’s all covered in blood now

a tissue?

you think a tissue is going to help

it did not

i want ramen

oh he got cleaned up

motorcycle time babey

how is he smoking at the same time what

the song is so tonally different compared to the rest of the film along with the last scenes of the movie too

“the road wasnt long and i know i’d be getting off soon but in that moment i felt warmth”

there are definitely probably really good well written analyses over the film and i need to find them

anyway, we’ve reached the end of the film!

very weird, very artsy, very entertaining

i probably should’ve watched Chungking Express first but you know

live and learn

anyway i like this film a lot and probably watch it like at least once a year since i first saw it

i hope you enjoyed it if you watched along and i hope that my timestamps re: sexual content were helpful

nothing really graphic happened, i know, but still like it can make some people uncomfy

if you want to tell me what you thought of the film, shoot me an ask or dm me!  i’d love to talk about it

have a good rest of your day!!!

stay safe and stay healthy <3333

[asaricciardi-blog]

A Story About Tom the Sheep

Once there was a sheep named Tom.

Tom was raised like a dog — like a pet.

He came when called and enjoyed scratches and belly rubs. He had great spunk, personality and was much loved all around.

What a sweet, happy sheep was Tom. Tom followed his people wherever they went and was a great help on the farm.

Tom didn’t have his manly bits, if you know what I mean, so he was used as a teaser sheep.

Put Tom in with the ewes and in a few months — wham-o! Everyone’s ovulating in sync. Tom heads home and a “real” ram replaces him. Ram does his job, if you know what I mean, and lo and behold — spring lambs.

Lovely story right? I would love to have a Tom sheep trotting in my kitchen. (Forget the fact that I don’t have a kitchen because I’ve been nomading for two years.)

Two years ago in Argentina, I met Oscar the lamb. He was just 6 months old and a fan of dog food. Dog food is very, very bad for sheep by the way. It causes all sorts of itchy, raw, terrible skin reactions.

Oscar was the lone sheep on a horse ranch I was volunteering on. I really loved Oscar. He was a funny lamb, very enthusiastic, very chatty, very attached to people. Not in the least bit concerned with the 10+ dogs on the property yapping at him through honeycombed fences.

Oscar was just so content to munch his clover.

Sheep are simple creatures, but I guess when given enough attention and human interaction, as opposed to a constant flock mentality, they can turn out right smart like.

Like Tom.

But one day, Tom wasn’t so smart.

Tom was keeping a flock company on the day the big truck came to escort the sheep to the slaughterhouse.

Tom was just happy to be part of the group. Go where they go. Do what they do. Tom jumped onto the truck.

Nobody noticed he was missing until it was too late.

I hate this story.

I never met Tom but I feel immeasurably sad all the same. Our Kiwi host family (we were volunteering on a Scottish Highland cattle hobby farm) knew the couple who raised Tom, and they were all very distraught for weeks after this tragic accident.

It’s rather like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, isn’t it?

It makes me wonder though — why it is so tragic for Tom but not the other sheep?

We think and rightly so, “Well, Tom’s different. Tom’s loved. Tom’s smart. Like a dog, and we wouldn’t eat a dog.”

Maybe all sheep could be loved.

Maybe all sheep could be smart.

Tom was only different because he was pulled apart for a different way of life and so he learned a different way of being.

I know sheep are raised for food and milk and wool and it’s all a cycle of life and healthy and normal. Seemingly healthy if raised and slaughtered humanely that is.

Few people do the humane part and the sheep farms I’ve seen out east in Colorado near where I grew up, are very depressing and completely disgusting.

Anyway, I have these nagging thoughts about the cycle of life.

Just because something has been a cycle, does that mean it must stay a cycle?

We are, after all, evolving.

I am not a vegetarian, but I think about vegetarianism often.

I don’t have full answers and won’t be putting away my steak knife just yet.

Here’s what I’m wrestling with:

If I — or we as a collective whole of evolving people with new options available for nutrition that weren’t a good option ever before in history — if we have the option to be meat free…shouldn’t we be?

If we can healthily and readily be come vegetarians and choose not to kill, is that not a higher road?

I am playing the devil’s advocate in a way. I have arguments for and against that question.

I am trying to confront both the discomfort I feel at watching life and breath taken from an innocent, defenseless animal and the desire to consume a fragrantly roasted leg of lamb that was marinated in wine and rosemary, olive oil and sea salt.

We eat living things to live. I know.

It’s been happening for millions of years and I get that some animals cannot survive as herbivores. They will continue to be predators it seems, at least until prey is scarce, and then they will die off, or they will evolve to be able to survive on plants, nuts, or other forms of food.

But humans actually can survive and thrive on a vegetarian and even vegan diet.

Not necessarily in all areas of the world of course. Veganism seems to be another form of white privilege. However, I am a proponent for eating close to the earth and at times that means to eat — meat.

In Greenland, whale and seal and narwhal are common fare.

You just can’t grow much in the way of green things up there, and the fat in the sea animals is full of good nutrients and essential vitamins and trace minerals. Those people should continue to eat sea life especially because it is part of the native history, heritage, and culture.

It would be absurd to endanger narwhals anymore though and ship them around the world for consumption.

So it’s a dilemma. And I have not yet found peace with it in my soul.

I do think the U.S. consumes an inordinate and unnecessary amount of meat.

That people are obsessed with, say, bacon because it has become a sort of identity and source of pride.

“You’re a real woman if you like bacon! More men will want to date you!”

Seriously? Where did this message come from?

Bacon band-aids. Bacon Christmas ornaments. Bacon wrapped bacon.

Advertising makes us obsessive.

Hey, don’t get me wrong. I like bacon. But I don’t eat it every day. I don’t even eat it every week.

And this is where I think we as a nation, as a people, as humans, can and must show more restraint and moderation.

Too many of us are way out of sync with the way the world works.

Chicken comes in a package at a grocery store. We never see the feathers. We never even see the dirt or the poop on the eggs that were most definitely there at one point.

We live separated from nature, animals, and this cycle of birth and death.

We all too readily avoid death at any cost.

We don’t confront the uncomfortable.

This is not a strength, but a deficit. It is unfortunate.

We have made meat-eating an identity and I think that’s dangerous.

We should not take so much pride in this. We should respect the life we consume.

If we had more awareness of what it takes to raise and kill an animal, we would not eat so much of it.

But it is very easy to forget this in a supermarket.

The older I get, the more sensitive I feel about life. All life.

I don’t kill spiders. I don’t take pleasure in crushing ants. I’m sad for the pigeons swept up in car wheels.

I didn’t use to be this way. I didn’t use to think about these creatures. I lived from a gut reaction. I suppose I lived with little awareness and in response to patterns I learned from my family, community, and world at large.

In the end, I still struggle with eating meat and yet I still eat meat because I’m not sure foregoing meat is actually the answer or the answer I am looking for.

Maybe I am simply looking for more respect of life, more awareness of how connected we are to each other, and more self-control/awareness when it comes to how we treat our bodies and the bodies of creatures around us.

The meat industry is not a pretty business. It is not sustainable and it is not kind.

Eat local. Buy from farmers you trust, from farms you’ve visited. That’s a pretty good practice when possible.

I challenge you to think about how many times you eat animal products in a week. I bet you think it’s not a meal unless there is a meat protein. That’s propaganda. That’s false advertising. You don’t need to eat meat to get enough protein in your diet.

So why not cut back a bit? Get creative in vegetarian meal planning. For some reason, people think eating vegetarian means it’s boring and there’s no flavor. My god…use some spices people!

At home, I mainly eat vegetarian meals and never think twice about it. I haven’t reached a place where I want to impose my diet on other people though. I will eat anything anyone puts in front of me when I am a guest in their home, and I will eat it in gratitude.

I remember the night our New Zealand hosts cooked up corned beef from one of their highland cattle. It was incredible. Absolutely delicious. I was so thankful for that meal. It was hard though because I’d bonded with those cattle, but I also knew they had a good, good life and their lives were not taken in vain. The family ate from their organic garden 90% of the time.

The next weekend the family cooked up some sausages from their pigs who use to walk the orchards but had been in the freezer for a few months by the time I arrived.

Pigs are pretty smart too you know. People keep them for pets. What makes it OK to eat some animals and not others?

Now that is another can of worms for another blog.

In the meantime, let’s be uncomfortable together.

It’s OK to consider and discuss these things. But let’s take identity out of the issue for once. And by that I mean the stereotypes and judgments we place on what “kind of person” a vegetarian is, or a vegan is, or a meat-eater is.

And instead, let’s just talk about what being a good caretaker of the earth is.

Cheers,

Aša Ricciardi

[jezzula]

Always and Forever: Part One

Summary: Jen comes up with a plan to get out of her dangerous home life, and keep an eye on her big brother in the process.

I’m trying to keep this close to canon time-wise and event-wise. Bear with me for historic inaccuracies :) Also keep reading with an American Southern accent for the Turner fam, and canon accent for Peggy.

Characters: Jennifer Turner (reader, OFC), Anthony and Ethan Turner (older brothers of reader, OFCs), unnamed father (OFC), Agent Peggy Carter

Pairings: None this chapter

TW: Implied past physical abuse (no description except that there’s bruising), implied past and current emotional abuse (minimal description), threat of abuse, swearing, mention of slaughtering farm animals (no graphic details), that’s it I think? Let me know if there’s more!

A/N: Sorry for the slow build up, Bucky is coming soon! Single lines between scene changes. Italics indicate thought blurbs.

Anthony stops arguin' with Pa at some point and the next thing I know, he's pullin' me away from Ethan, layin' me on his chest in my bed.

He's strokin' my hair as he whispers calming words into my ear.

"It'll be ok Jenny. I'll go serve while you and Ethan keep savin' money. I'll send any money I get back to y'all, and then when I come home, we can leave and stay up in New York, just like we planned. It'll just take a bit longer maybe than we thought. But we can git it done."

I feel drained. I know he's just saying these things to try and calm me down. I think he believes them.  I ain't nearly as optimistic. I'm scared 'cause with Ethan at school and work all the time, and Anthony gone, it'll just be me and Ma and Pa at home by ourselves.

And that is the worst thing I can imagine at this point.

It's been two days since Anthony told the family that he was leaving. I still can't believe it's real. I refuse to accept this as my fate. I know what will happen to me if Anthony leaves and I'm stuck at home by myself all day. Even the thought of it gives me the shivers.

Our farm is a ways out of town, bout a mile back off the main road. We have some livestock, but our claim to fame are the peach trees. There's a little bench out in the middle of the orchard, where I would do my homework and read in the summers.

It's real peaceful, with a breeze rustlin through the leaves. It sounds like a whisper of better times to come. The wind carries hope and ideas for the future on it. I get some of my best thinkin done out there in the trees.

I go out there today to get away from the noise. Pa and Anthony are fighting again, Ethan is gone, and I just can't stand to listen to it anymore. I come out, seeking asylum from the shitstorm inside.

I've got to get out of here. Ethan will be fine, he can move in with his friend at school. But I have to go.

An idea strikes, quick as lightning. I don't have much time, Anthony is going to town today for more check in procedure. But he said he wasn’t leavin til one. I can make it. I rush back to the house almost trippin' over myself in the process.

I slowly ease open the door on the back porch, tryin' not to be noticed. Pa and Anthony are still goin at it in the livin room. 

I can make it upstairs if I go through the kitchen.

I'm halfway up the stairs, trying to drown out the voices when I hear my name. I pause, listening quietly....

".... and that little bitch. What the hell am I 'sposed to do with her? She don't work, she don't do shit but piss me off. Hell, at least if you're here, you can keep her occupied so I don't have to look at her ugly mug mopin around the damn house all day."

I feel like I can hear Anthony's muscles tensing, hands clenching into fists. I can feel his fury rollin out the room in waves. When he speaks, his voice is unnaturally quiet for the situation,

"You will not lay a hand on her when I'm gone. She's gonna write to me every week, and if she misses a week I will desert, swim my ass back here, and beat the everlovin shit out of you until she begs me to stop. I don't even want you talkin to her. And if I find out that any harm came to her, I will put you down like the scum dog you are."

My heart lifts hearin his words. But the threat may not be enough to keep my father at bay. Though if I can get my plan to work, it won't be an issue.

I'm able to get my shoes from my room and get back outside, unnoticed. I run over to Anthony’s truck and scramble into the bed of it, hiding under a tarp. No sooner am I buried under the cover than Anthony comes stompin’ out of the house, cigarette dangling out of his mouth. He starts the truck and we jolt off down the lonely dirt road. 

It takes about a half hour to get to town, and Anthony parks the car soon after we arrive. I hear his door slam and I wait a few minutes before poppin’ my head up over the edge of the truck bed. I glance around, makin sure its safe to clamber out onto the ground.

Where in the heck is the Army enlistment tent? 

I look around, spying the tell-tale green canvas just a ways down Main Street. I approach cautiously, suddenly feeling very nervous. I can feel the intensity of wartime in the air. People are scared, especially those who remember the last war. 

I’ve always been real sensitive to the feelings of other things. I’ve known my daddy was an evil man since I was a little girl. I’ve always sensed just how protective my brothers are over me. And whenever Pa killed a pig or even a chicken, I could almost feel its pain in myself. 

That’s why I’m scared now. Because the only way for a girl to get in the Army is to be a nurse. But I can’t do that. I can’t be around that much pain and sufferin’ all the time, I’ll explode. But if I can hold on long enough to just get transferred out of here, it’ll be worth it.

I arrive at the tent, slowly looking around, trying to find the nurses station so I can add my name to the list of recruits.

“Are you lost dear?”

A strange female voice speaks, startling me. I whip around and look at her. She is taller than me, with short rich chocolate brown hair. Her red painted lips tilt up a bit at the ends, making her porcelain face feel warm and inviting. Her deep brown eyes bore into mine, making me feel like she’s reading my thoughts, seeing into my soul.

“Are you alright darling?” She speaks again, shaking me out of my stupor. 

“Oh, um, yes ma’am,” I stutter, suddenly feeling very small in front of this impressive looking woman. “I’m just tryin to find the uh, um, the nurses station.”

“Really?” She lifts her eye brows in slight disbelief. “Well I can take you there dear not to worry. My name is Peggy Carter.”

Feedback please? Criticism is dope, just keep it gentle cuz I’m new :)

Again, these are blogs who have asked to be tagged or that I think would like this story. Please let me know if you do or don’t want to be tagged!

Tags: @mar-gega @nikisthetrick @drarryfetish @hellkat2 @thatawkwardtinyperson @captain-ameba @kyaracrazy @kit-kat-coffeeworld @itshiddleskittles @bovaria @caplanbuckybarnes @sebbys-girl @jamesoldier

[bknodel]

Knodel’s 2017 in Pictures . . .

Decided to start with our classic, annual “Bowser Family Picture”.  Enjoy the pictures and comments.  (Disclaimer: all comments are from Brad and do not necessarily reflect the feelings and/or opinions of the other family members.)

January was a bit crazy with close to a meter of snow falling and almost a week off school for all of us - one of the perks of a being a 2-teacher family.

Just because we couldn’t drive 10 minutes on the treacherous roads to go to school it didn’t mean we couldn’t drive 2 hours to Whistler to go skiing! :) 

(Note: the road to Whistler from our house goes right past our school)

Few things make you feel as old as getting together with friends from your “young married” days and seeing how your toddlers have changed.

Adam has really enjoyed being part of the MEI drumline. It has provided him some neat opportunities like playing downtown for the BC Lions’ awards banquet.

Applying for scholarships seemed to take up much of our Spring. This was part of a project Lynden put together for a Dogwood Scholarship . . . which he got!

Who’s the best mouse catcher in the our house? (insert comment here about the garbage disposal in the background)

Lynden spent the first half of his Spring Break in Mexico with a service team from MEI. He really enjoyed his experience and it helped to reaffirm his love for other cultures.

The rest of the family met him in San Diego where we boarded a ship for a week-long cruise down the west coast of Mexico.

Getting on the ship was interesting . . . We did the honest thing by checking the box admitting that Adam had been up puking the night prior, only to be told to fill out the form again; this time checking the box stating that no one in our party has been sick in the previous 24 hours.

First stop . . . Cabo San Lucas!

We would have been ok if the ship would have remained moored in the Cabo Bay for the whole 7 days . . . Amazing scenery and weather.

We ended up enjoying the ports much more than we were expecting.  It was fun introducing Adam to a culture very different than ours.

Although I took this picture, Lynden gets the credit for setting it up and handing me his camera and showing me which button to push.

We spent Easter in Portland.  Hard to believe I grew up there and had never been to Voodoo doughnuts. Although it was our first time there, I don’t think the same can be said for the lady next to Jodi ;)

I was thankful to have Lynden as my assistant coach for my 14U club team this year. As you can see, he took his role very seriously!

It amazes me that I get to live so close to beauty like this! (If you think I am referring to the fields of flowers, you’d be wrong) 

I was asked to drive the bus for Lynden’s club volleyball team on a trip to Spokane Washington. And while it is obvious why I pulled the bus over for a photo here . . .

. . . this stop is a little harder to explain!

I was thankful for the opportunity to watch Lynden play his last volleyball match of his high school career . . . and possibly his last game ever. It was actually more emotional for both of us than we thought it would be.

Meanwhile, Jodi and her mom went over to Victoria to watch Adam perform in the Victoria Day parade. 

The real reason our family separated on this weekend was so Lynden wouldn’t make fun of Adam in this outfit . . .

Jodi was able to connect with a few of her best friends from high school at her reunion. I always wondered what girls did when they went to the washroom in groups. Now I know - they take selfies!

This picture is to show that I am thankful that at least one member of my family likes to fish with me :)

In May, we said goodbye to Jodi’s grandma . . . 

While it was sad, it was nice to celebrate a life well lived with Jodi’s family. 

In June, I had the opportunity to attend a volleyball conference with other MEI coaches in Las Vegas.  While I can’t think of a much worse place to live, we had a blast and learned a lot about a sport we all love.  I wish I could tell you more about our trip but what happens in Vegas . . . 

Having a son graduate was a new adventure for us - One that included surprises like early morning kidnappings by girls!

We are very proud of the young man Lynden has become in spite of our imperfect parenting. We are very thankful to all those who have helped us guide him through his teenage years.

He has a great group of friends and it was very fun to watch him thoroughly enjoy his grade 12 year. 

He even found someone willing to be his date for the prom! :)

I love this picture . . . perhaps because it reminds me so much of my high school experience . . . except for all the girls. 

Our grad gift to Lynden was a new camera. Photography has become a real passion of his and we have enjoyed seeing him enjoy a much nicer camera than what he had.

For sure, one of the highlights this year was watching Planet of the Apes on opening night with one of the stars of the film - the one and only Rick Ball! I’m sure the other folks in the theatre were wondering why we all were cheering every time he came on the screen. (That’s him on the far right.)

Adam wanted to have a girl-boy party for his 13th birthday.  We said ok as long as they stay on this web tower the entire time . . .

Jodi decided to join 2 other moms for a 3-day road trip with all the kids (which I thought was a fantastic idea!)  Unfortunately, for everyone, the stomach flu started making its way through the gang and Jodi was back home the next morning.

As mentioned, it has been fun watching Lynden become proficient with his new camera.  This is him up Mt. Baker in early July. 

I’m telling you . . . It is very impressive what he can do with his new camera! ;)

Lynden and I were prevented from completing that hike in July because of snow so we went back later in the summer with the whole family.  Adam might look like he is happy in this picture but, I assure you, he is not!

Me: “I need a haircut. Adam, want to cut my hair?”

Adam: “Of course I do!”

Couldn’t resist the photo-op on our way to Oregon.

Always a good time to be had at Detroit Lake with my family. My dad may be the only captain who wears holeys.

Lynden was working and was not able to come . . . so, we adopted adam’s friend Sam for the week :)

Although I insisted on taking a hiking selfie with Jodi on every hike we did, this was the only one she let me put in this year - likely because she likes how grey my beard looks in this shot. 

We even dragged Sam up the mountain behind the lake (actually I think we were holding him back. This was nothing compared to Everest - which he actually did last year.)

We finally got Adam all set up with his own watercraft . . .

Adam spent a week of his summer picking berries and he was able to save enough money to buy his phone.

Then it was off to Vancouver Island.

Different year . . . different vehicle . . . same sick packing job! 

My highlight of the trip was bass fishing one night from a kayak.  Lynden came along as my personal photographer.

It was nice to get away as a family and really connect with each other ;)

Adam: Dad, can Lynden and I use the kayaks for a bit?

Me: Sure

Lynden (on his phone after 2.5 hours): Hi Dad. We are at the lighthouse (seen in the top left of the photo!) but it’s ok . . . there is a nice lady who lives here and she is giving us food and water.”  

It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission I guess . . .

Nice of me to let Adam hold my fish! (The truth is that my brother-in-law @marklafleche caught this “pig” just after dark as we were rowing back to the truck.) 

We found this hike a short drive from where we have been staying on the Island for years. Very cool hike - at least when the water level is very low.

A “pig” in “mud”

We then drove across the Island to the West Coast to stay in “our” beehive cabin.

Here we are all tucked in the hive. 

It looks like we don’t eat much ;)

On our way from the east side to the west side, we stopped at one of our favourite places on the Island. Adam was all about the Parkour . . . which gave his mother a heart attack.

While Lynden gave his mom nightmares by leaning off the sides of rocks in order to get that perfect waterfall pic.

Hiking the rugged West Coast!

Taking the rugged selfie!

I like to include one artistic shot each year taken on my iPhone. . . 

Our boys are never happier than when they are on a beach.

Don’t let Lynden know that this is not actually surfing . . .

I just had to include this picture of Lynden because he looks so happy and we are going to really miss him when we put him on a plane in a few days . . . 

I took this picture of our boys in the back of an ambulance to send to Jodi just after they had both eaten almond chicken at a Chinese restaurant that contained peanuts :(

Only one son to send to school this September . . .

The other one was off to work at a chicken farm! He worked 4 days with the chickens and 1 day doing odd jobs like this.

Once again this year, I went with the boys volleyball teams to work at a camp in Hope for the weekend.

It was awesome to hear some of the volleyball alumni speak into the lives of the younger players.  We had to pretend we were around a campfire because of the fire ban.

Adam was in grade 8 this year which meant he got to go to grade 8 camp! At the last minute, they realized they were short male leaders and I was asked to go along. Which was a good thing as I was able to teach them some valuable life lessons like . . . you should never stand in a canoe ;)

We now officially have 3 adults in our home as Lynden turned 18 this Fall. As nice as it is to get a new laptop for school, he was also given 2 books that Jodi has been faithfully writing in each month since he was born. He is very lucky to have a mom who took the time to document the first 18 years of his life!

In October, I was able to experience my first true “redneck” weekend. All the male staff at my school (all 4 of us) headed north for several hours to enjoy a couple days of camo, quads, guns and grunting.

I took a break from coaching at the high school and coached my first team at our middle school.  It was a lot of fun to be able to coach Adam and his friends to several podium finishes.

We spent a week of the Christmas break in Oregon with my family. Lynden and I spent the better part of 2 days chasing waterfalls and taking selfies with our tongues out.

We decided to drive to the coast one day with my parents.  Not only did we find sunshine, we also found a super cool beach with a waterfall!

The beach is called “hug point” so I used it as a excuse to get this gorgeous lady to hug me.

. . . meanwhile, Lynden practiced his levitation skills.

And here is one more picture of Lynden . . . Did I mention that we are going to miss him?

Thanks for looking through our Year in Pictures - We wish you all the best in 2018.

Here are some of our best videos from our year . . .

This is what happened in Vegas after finding out we were at the wrong venue for the David Copperfield show and it was about to start in a casino down the street.

Back by popular demand - Another Rick Ball fishing video! (You may recognize him from such films as, “Planet of the Apes”.)

I find this hilarious! 

The craziest thing we saw in Mexico . . .

This is Lynden and his friends being led in the grad parade by Adam and his friends.