The Smell of Rainbows in the Morning

Palm Beach, Florida

I love the smell of rainbows in the morning. They have the sweet odor of an improbably lovely reality.

I have learned to make mojitos. It's a Cuban drink that translates to "a little wet".  To make two decent mojitos, take about 20 fresh mint leaves and add three tablespoons of white sugar and the juice of three limes. Crush the mint leaves to release the flavor. Put two or three ounces of white rum in each tall glass and split the mint mixture. Fill with ice cubes and club soda.

The dive trip in Palm Beach was a fizzle. I had bad chest pains and shortness of breath the night before in the hotel. It would have been inconsiderate to go on the dive the next day with the possibility of ruining the trip for 12 other divers by creating a medical emergency or a dead body 100 feet down in the Gulf Stream....

We heard some loud (and fairly good) music at a place called "Two Drunken Goats". It was a very racially mixed listener venue. When you look at what's going on in Ferguson, Missouri right now, it's good to see people with different skins enjoying music together somewhere in America...

Sunrise in Palm Beach.

We found a great place for breakfast in Palm Beach called Debra's. It seemed to be filled with fishermen.  I had the catfish and eggs.

Mrs. Phred enjoys a home-made mojito...

We will definitely be hitting the road Tuesday after seeing my oncologist Monday no matter what he has to say about the whole body positron emissions tomography (PET) scan (old age is not for sissies). Our first stop will be Ginnie Springs....I want to dive some caves (the Devil's Ear), do the cavern and float down the Santa Fe river....we should hit it in the ideal time after school has resumed but before Labor Day.

It's not bad here between reading, drinking mojitos and walking seven miles a day in the 95 degree heat to downtown Sarasota...

Summer's Almost Gone

Sarasota, Florida

The every day seven mile walk to downtown Sarasota in the plus 90F humidity drops my weight by three pounds so I never weigh in until after the bus ride back. I listen to the 679 tunes on my smart phone while walking. I can get though about forty of them in the 2-3 hour walk. Today I heard the Doors singing "Summer's Almost Gone"...both apropos and poignant.

Summer's almost gone

Almost gone

Yeah, it's almost gone

Where will we be

When the summer's gone?

Morning found us calmly unaware

Noon burn gold into our hair

At night, we swim the laughin' sea

When summer's gone

Where will we be?

Mrs/ Phred and I took a walk in the Myakka River State Park. She's not afraid of bears, snakes or gators, However, she really dislikes deer ticks so we had to stay on the paved road instead of the trails...

Maybe we'll go down to West Palm Beach this week and do some drift dives in the Gulf Stream....the hotel rates are looking good in the off season....Nothing thrills like floating along 100 feet down. You feel  like a you are a balloon looking at corals and exotic sea life....

There are some very strange bikes downtown.

One morning this week about 300 snowbirds dropped in to rest in Alligator Pond...they didn't seem at all nervous when I walked past....

The strange cancer on my head is back again. It started in 2007 and has now spread down to my neck. I've had radiation and about 9 surgeries to remove it, but it's a hardy little booger...Another new doctor Friday (an oncologist) and probably a PET scan (positron emission tomography) to see where else the slippery little bastard has gone. The thing is beginning to irritate me because it interferes with my travel plans....

These are my new chest waders from Amazon for the salmon fishing trip to Alaska next July.

Sometimes I fix Mrs Phred a little snack before dinner.

On being in the right place at the wrong time

Casperson Beach, Venice, Florida

Saturday I put the bike rack on the old Ford van and drive Mrs. Phred to Venice. We do the five miles on the Legacy trail to Casperson beach. The gulf water is very warm. I float in deep water for about an hour until we get caught in a thunderstorm and eat turkey sandwiches under the shelter of the bathhouse.

You pass the old airport on the legacy trail and watch the old aeroplanes floating in for a landing without thinking much about them. Later, on the beach, I worry a little about being struck by lightning and fail completely to consider aeroplanes falling out of the sky...

 On Sunday one of the planes lands on the beach and kills a man from Georgia and badly injures his nine year old daughter. Too bad the pilot didn't decide to land in the water instead of a crowded beach....

 We attend a free concert at the Van Wezel on Friday...good music...if we go again we'll go earlier and get a seat closer to the sound...

 After the concert I take Mrs. Phred downtown for Margaritas and Mahi-Mahi quesadillas....

 Chilling in one of the Sun & Fun hot tubs...nice to be out of the sun in July....In case you were wondering, the little mockingbirds hatched, grew up, and flew away in the standard 14 days...guess they have less to learn than human whelp....

Little Birds

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

If that mockingbird won't sing,
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring

The mockingbird mama built two nests in Mrs. Phred's bicycle basket so I destroyed them and then finally removed the basket. While we were gone she built a third nest in the sprocket and laid three blue specked eggs.

So now we're stuck here until the eggs hatch and the little birds fly away. Mockingbirds tend to build nests 3-10 feet off the ground. Once the eggs hatch they will attack you if you get too close. I figure about the middle of August....but a lot can go wrong....

Squirrels or cats could eat the eggs or the baby birds or even the adults....If you build a stupid nest, maybe it's best that you don't contribute to the gene pool?

Born to be wild....

There's a man who leads a life of danger....

Boat name is Ratty Bastard...Capacity 18 adults...

Wearing our new "Blow S**t Up!" shirts...

4th of July

Jason at rest.

Try anything once?

4th of July

 Mountain Home, Arkansas

 Fireflies...watermelon...blueberry pie 

Paul and Diane's family will begin arriving tomorrow for the big summer blowout. They don't do the 4th fireworks shows anymore because:

1. It scares the grandchildren.
2. When they set the woods on fire it's too hard to put out.

I have a watermelon chilling for the occasion. I'd also like to make three blueberry pies. There is a blueberry farm just up the road.

  
One Blueberry Pie

3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups blueberries
9 inch double crust pie pastry
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over blueberries.
3. Line pie dish with one pie crust. Pour berry mixture into the crust, and dot with butter. Cut remaining pastry into 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide strips, and make lattice top. Crimp and flute edges.
4. Bake pie on lower shelf of oven for about 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

 It's a pretty place. After listening us to us debate buying a house for nine years, they offered us their spare house for as long as we like to see how we like living in a house again...It's OK but after a few days we decide to stay mobile and avoid unnecessary entanglements and things like lawnmowers, leaf blowers and paint brushes for as long as possible...

The berry farm has onions and other produce...

A lot of deer in the neighborhood...the fireflies are very thick here in the early evening. My favorite species is the Photuris that kills other fireflies. The Photuris sucks out the juice from other fireflies to retrieve bad-tasting chemicals from their bodies, which it uses to protect itself from predators.