Clearwater Beach

Sunset at Clearwater Beach.

Bed 'N Biscuit A Success!

We have determined that Boxer and Sydney's stay at Bed 'N Biscuit was a success. We are mulling over the idea of introducing Peanut to Mila. Of course, Peanut presents her own issues of fence climbing and escape, so we'll tread carefully with her.

While on vacation, we did communicate with Mila and want to share with you some her descriptions of our dogs. They are priceless!

"They are taking to their boarding adventure with relish: arguing across the fence with some dogs they despise and giving friendly sniffs to others who are OK by their doggy standards. I marvel how they decide INSTANTLY whom to love and whom to display all their teeth to!"

"Your doggies are troopers! Miss Sydney has some likes and dislikes, and she gives the Dislikes a piece of her mind across the fence…. Then she goes to her favorites and does nicey-face at them. Boxer thinks all that girl stuff is plain silly and would rather watch the squirrels and coax them down from the trees with soulful eyes."

Spot on, Mila, spot on!

St. Augustine - Part Deux

Ah, the city of St. Augustine! We enjoyed a fun six days in this historic city. Here is one of many statues displayed in this historic town. It was taken in front of the Lightner Museum and no, we did not go inside...but we decided to act like a tourist and take its picture...we passed it many times as we walked to and from our lodgings.

For those of you familiar with St. Augustine, the first morning we breakfasted at The Bunnery Cafe, but then we found this bagel place. The owners were nice and the bagels and coffee rocked. They even let us bring Peanut! Super cool...

We went kayaking for the first time ever and we will certainly do it again. You can see downtown St. Augustine from here. If you want to kayak, go to Anastasia State Park. They've got an outfitter there that will set you up with everything you need. When we went they were cash only - and rental fees start at $20 for the first hour. We got quite the upper body workout.




Another view. We picked a lovely day to paddle.


When you go to Anastasia park you must stop by Island Joes for a fish taco, fish and chips, hamburger, etc. The food was good and the owners really nice. There's a small store next door in case you forgot something - lots of camping supplies and other stuff.


We enjoyed Anastasia so much that we decided on a whim to cycle there. We had to cross the Bridge of Lions. Nice views, eh? Lisa looks real smart wearing her Tilley.


The great thing about this vacation was that we didn't have television, internet or a stove. So, we were forced to get out and get out a lot - yes, every meal was eaten out. But, we loved it! We walked so many miles! And ate at some very good restaurants! This was definitely one of our most enjoyable and satisfying vacations. Thank you Terry and Tom for allowing us to stay at your place. You rock! And St. Augustine rocks!

Downtime in St. Augustine

We're enjoying some down time in St. Augustine. The house we're staying in is close to one hundred years old and situated perfectly. It's located in Lincolnville Historic District - "St. Augustine's most prominent historically black neighborhood." We are a 10-15 minute walk to downtown and the other more famous historic district.

The picture above was taken while dining at Caps restaurant. The food was good but the view was better. Earlier this evening we went to the famous O'Steens - known for their fried shrimp. Expecting a long wait we brought reading material - but had unknowingly timed it perfectly and had NO wait at all. The food was very good - I enjoyed my side dishes almost as much as my shrimp.


We've taken Peanut to the beach twice. This vacation is good for her, too. She gets our one-on-one attention. Hopefully, all these experiences will lessen her nuttiness.

The big dogs are at Bed 'N Biscuit. Mila, the owner, called to assure us that Boxer and Sydney were doing well. She knew their mamas were having a hard time saying goodbye.

Yesterday, we found a used book store and purchased a few good reads. It's now time for me to pick up my book and enjoy some quality quiet time.

Ciao.

Not Your Grandfather's Warehouse - A Dining Review

In the most unlikely of places we were pleasantly surprised to find a delightful new restaurant in downtown Gainesville. The Warehouse Restaurant& Lounge is located at 502 South Main Street. In this converted auto shop you will be treated to some very good food and ambience. While it looks upscale on the inside dressing up is not necessary. We were dressed casually as were most of the other patrons.

Let's get to the point. We started off with drinks. Mir enjoyed a nice glass of an Australian red and Lisa threw caution to the wind and ordered a Margarita.


We skipped appetizers because we noticed their dessert menu - cheesecake trumped calimari. Mir's entree was the "Grilled Filet of beef topped with crumbled blue cheese, mushroom fondue and a side of seared yukon gold potatoes." Lisa's entree consisted of "Grilled flank steak and snowcrab mac n'cheese made with penne and tossed in a white cheddar bechamel with tender chunks of snowcrab." Yummo! Our mouths are watering again as we type this. Mir said her filet was cooked to perfection. Lisa's meal was so good she cleaned her plate which was problematic as room for dessert might have become an issue. Fear not, dear reader, we both shared a raspberry key lime cheesecake. OMG! What a gastronomical experience.

The owner, Richard Yoh, stopped by to chat and thank us for coming. We thanked him for opening up a lovely eatery on our side of town.

Check out The Warehouse website. Directions are on the front page. FYI: they do accept major credit cards except for Discover.

Our rating: two thumbs up! We'll be back for sure. Why don't you give it a try?

Local Wildlife in the Area

One of our resident owls. Haven't seen any babies this year - but it sure is fun to watch and listen to the adults.


Using her phone, Miriam took this pic of an alligator while walking to work - she sees all kinds of wildlife there. This one looks big but was actually only about 4 feet long.


We encountered this weather rabbit during our walk around the duckpond. Forecast sounds pretty accurate don't you think?

Pedestrian Safety

We were thrilled this week to see that the city had erected pedestrian signs and painted the cross walks at the corner of NE 8th Avenue and NE 9th Street. Our neighborhood association had requested this be done and the city did it! Apparently, this intersection had been on the list to be improved - and we think our specific request and follow up may have sped things up. It looks great and will make it safer to walk the area.


Where do all the frogs come from after a rain - it's like they magically appear. Where do they live when it's not raining? Anyway, this one showed up on our banister. Take care, Mr. Frog.

This and That

Yesterday our neighbor, Mandy, stopped by to chat. While she was here our neighbors across the street called to see if they could check out our remodel and take some measurements. They're also getting some plans drawn up in anticipation of their own remodelling. So, they came over and we had a grand time viewing their new plans and talking about the remodel, etc., etc. Suddenly, hanging down from our fence was the notice below:


We had monopolized Mandy for so long that Thomas was handing out flyers trying to find her. Of course we invited him over too and had a grand time. Let me report that our new porch was plenty big enough for all of us. Can't wait til it's finished. Please hurry, Mr. Contractor.

Natura Pet Sold to Proctor & Gamble - Ugh!

Well, friends, we will be looking for a new dog food. Natura Pet, which makes several different pet foods including California Natural that we feed to our dogs, has been sold to Proctor & Gamble. The song, "Another One Bites the Dust" comes to mind. I can guarantee you that even though Natura Pet says, "we will continue to deliver the high quality products that have earned consumers’ trust", the food ingredients and formulation will change and become another big box dog food that's crap. I believe you are what you eat. That goes for our pets, too. Yes, it's more expensive but they're worth it. Period.

An Alternative to Coke Products?

Looking for an alternative to the typical soft drink? Trying to avoid HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)? A co-worker, Andrew, turned us on to this brand. The ingredients are much better than what you'll find in Coke or something similar. The ginger ale even has Vitamin C.

We don't drink much soda but when we do we're now reaching for one of these. There are a bunch of different flavors. Check them out at Ward's.

Congratulations Graduates!

Everyone in Gainesville knows this weekend was graduation weekend. Our neighbor and friend, Mandy, who has been toiling to obtain her nursing degree invited us to her pinning ceremony on Friday. I could not attend, but Mir did. Mir said it was one of the nicer ceremonies she's attended. We are just proud to see Mandy reach an important goal in her life. Next up is studying for boards. Not to be outdone, her housemate Thomas graduated in Nuclear Engineering and is head to MIT for graduate school. Way to go both of you!

A New Favorite Beer

We were at Ward's and Mir saw this beer and thought it sounded interesting. So, we bought a six-pack to try and this has become one of our new favorite beers. Lisa is a beer snob and very rarely drinks American made beer but this one she likes. It's made in Mississippi of all places. So, next time you're at Ward's pick it up and try it.

Art for Art's Sake

You Dirty Dogs! Arrrgh!

The Grass is as High as an Elephant's Eye

It's not often we allow our grass to grow to this state. Even Mr. Contractor mentioned the height of the lawn. We think he doesn't want it to distract from the beauty of the addition. Not to worry - we mowed Saturday and it looks pretty good right now.

Went to a fun party yesterday - there was food, live music and nice people. Sort of restores your faith in humanity. A nice way to spend a Saturday evening. Thanks Terry and Tom - we had a really nice time!

All dogs were bathed today! The cleanliness won't last long, especially since the backyard is a sand pit and likely to stay that way until the remodel is finished and we can throw some $$$ at it.

Another Basketball Season Complete

It's hard to believe that the college basketball season is officially over. We attended the UF Women's Basketball End Of Year Banquet yesterday evening. As usual, it was very enjoyable. Coach Butler and her staff handed out awards to the players and we said a final goodbye to the fabulous five seniors.

I'm optimistic about next year. The undersclassmen seem to have a close relationship. Together they said their goodbyes to the seniors in a very special way. I really like how this group works together. And I think there's going to be some good team leadership next year.

Here's to the UF women's basketball team! Go Gators!

Here Comes the Sun...

Like many, we attended the Spring Arts Festival on Saturday. We timed it so we arrived just as the Orange and Blue game was starting. Worked great - never felt claustrophobic.

The art was nice - we tended to gravitate towards art that made us smile or laugh. We considered purchasing a couple of pieces but then decided to wait until the remodel was complete.


As we headed home we walked through the Thomas Center gardens and encountered some live music. We sat for a few minutes and listened to some "jazz" (some tunes were, some weren't). We then strolled over to the kids area and saw some really neat art created by some talented young people. We were impressed. The art exhibitor for the children indicated that the kids - even as young as 6 - priced their own work. That explained the $500 price tag on one of the pieces.


We also noticed that the bas-relief and sculptures had been recently painted - and beautifully I might add. The turtle above is one example.


In the evening, we took Boxer for a walk and were surprised to still hear music coming from the Thomas Center. We headed that way and sat for a few minutes listening to a fantastic band - GruvTherapy.

What a great day!

An aside: Why the title "Here Comes the Sun"? In high school a group of us had to film a movie for our humanities class. We decided to film the Spring Arts Festival and set the theme music to "Here Comes the Sun". So, whenever I hear that song, I think of the festival...and vice versa. In fact, I'm humming it right now.

Ciao baby!

Azaleas are Beautiful!

Happy Spring!

Hard Work and Its Rewards

It's that time of year when we bring out the mower and other yard tools. It was very warm this weekend and perfect for working in the yard. We cleaned it up and got back that curb appeal we love so dear. And when you work hard the rewards are great.

After sprucing the yard, I mixed up some gourmet hamburgers and sauteed some onions and mushrooms.


Mir concocted her delicious strawberry colada and grilled the burgers. What a gastronomical delight!


Rock on!

It's Great To Be .... A Middle Sister!

I recently had a birthday and my younger sister sent me this birthday gift! It's so cool because I am a middle sister! I love it! And you know what? I am so cool!


Thanks, Julie Poolie!