Krampus~we were in Key West a few weeks back. We took a walking pub crawl (not too expensive, you get 7 drinks and a t-shirt and a lot of interesting information about the place). They stopped us at Kermit's Key Lime Pie shop--everything there has key lime in it! I bought some dipping oils that are so flavorful. One is a jalapeno cilantro and the other chili chipotle. Very good on small chunks of bread.
Some people have a family or nice handbags, I have...fruit.
Sometimes I feel this way when I go to the city and insist I stop at a certain store that is out of my way to get a particular kind of yogurt, or yes, "the good grocery store" to get my fruit. Those items in particular come to mind. I can relate.
As you said, it's not as if you're spending a huge amount of money on some frivolous item. Good fruit is important!
This morning I went to put my lunch in my lunch bag. The tupperware felt lighter than when I packed it, and it looked like there was something whitish on my leftover shrimp creole from the outside. What? Sure enough, BF ate it last night (with Ranch - the whitish stuff) and I'm stuck with no time left to prep anything else and eating the same pork for lunch and for dinner today. I mentally recognize this is NBD. Emotionally, I'm irritated. I hosted book club last night so have stayed up late 2 nights in a row and my sleep-deprived brain can't handle this kind of curveball. Is it Friday yet?
Krampus, go to Blue Heaven for brunch. Also if you like cats, go on the Hemingway House tour so you can see the descendants of H's 6-toed cats. I can't recall any particularly good birding spots, but there are several forts and state parks that might be good areas to check. There are nesting colonies on some of the Dry Tortugas but it's much too early for the colonies to have formed. You can figure out the pub crawl on your own - Duval St is pretty obvious!
Megan . got some startling news last night. I knew my son was planning a vacation in Florida in a week or so. I now find the real purpose in going to Flarida is because he is planning to relocate to Florida. Jacksonville in particular. This seems to be a sudden and not well thought out decision, there is also a wife and baby included. I don't want to run my son's life but think this may not be the wisest choice for many reasons.
[There, you read it on the Internet - it must be true.]
We saw oodles of Roseate Spoonbill on the "Ding" Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. There are terrific birding guides to Florida published by the state that I've picked up at turnpike rest stops. Can't wait to read your report.
The son and DIL of my friend here are moving to Georgia. Apparently he got a good job offer, but it is hard to see them go. I think it would be worse with a child moving that far away.
DD's boyfriend is leaving next week for the Army. I don't know where his basic training is, but I wonder how DD will handle that. I don't expect her to come home until March 8th or 9th.
A neighbor who lives behind us showed up at our door last night with some mail that had mis-delivered to her. She felt it was important (the Welcome packet to UC Riverside for DS). He already knew about it, but it was nice of her to re-deliver it to us instead of having the post office do it. For years we got her mail and DS would ride his bike to deliver it to her. She was amazed at how tall he'd gotten!
All this talk about Key West has me dreaming of a tropical vacation! I think I may take a three-day weekend sometime soon just to have some time to relax. I've been hoarding my vacation time but I think I have enough that it's okay to use some of it. My only bird sighting to report today is a cardinal in our flowering pear tree.
Megan, I get annoyed when DH eats my food without permission too. It's perfectly reasonable to be mad at him for eating your food! But it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, so try not to let it ruin your day.
Allison, is your DS planning on going to UCR? I remember you said he got in to several places.
Bargoo, what is your DS's reason for moving? Is it for a job?
Our weather is supposed to warm up this weekend, so I'm thinking maybe we'll take the dog to a park for a nice long walk. He hasn't been on a car ride for a while so I'm sure he'd appreciate it.
[There, you read it on the Internet - it must be true.]
Does this mean that the piece of pecan pie I had Sunday counts as healthy nuts??
You guys are killing me with jealousy! I have cabin fever so bad and it's just unrelentingly cold and miserable here. I woke up to the temps being .8 F. I NEED A VACATION TO SOMEPLACE WARM!!!
Allison, is your DS planning on going to UCR? I remember you said he got in to several places.
No. I'd prefer he didn't go there. I'm hoping that this admission spurs the other UC schools to follow suit. He's applied to UC Davis, UCLA and UC Berkeley (which is his dream school). So far he's been accepted at four schools (two CSU, one UC and I think Cal Poly Pomona). I've heard good things about Cal Poly but the neighbor said she heard it was a big party school. I doubt I'll have trouble with him getting into the party mentality--he's too focused.
So DD wants to go to Stanford and DS wants Berkeley. They're too far apart for the two of them to share an apartment. My dream would be for DD to go to Claremont Graduate University and DS to go to Cal Poly Pomona. I could probably get them to share an apartment if that were the case. I'm not sure they want to do that, but I could try! It would sure save my pocketbook!
Krampus-- we went to the Keys last summer. You totally need to go here: http://www.garbosgrillkw.com/
It is an amazing food truck!
We actually had to go twice because they weren't open the first time. We drove back again just to go there (we weren't staying in Key West) and it was totally worth it!
We also went to Hemingway House. Dh and I loved it. I love cats and dh loves history so we were both happy.
Megan-- I would be extremely annoyed! My dh got a mug out of the cabinet the other day for coffee-- and I asked if he could use a different mug-- he looked at me like I was crazy. But that is the mug I use for my egg mugs in the morning and I would have had to run the dishwasher for my mug. Not crazy, right?
Bargoo-- my dh lived in Jacksonville-- went to high school there-- he still talks very fondly about it. We had to drive hours out of our way on a trip to Florida so he could reminisce about his youth.
Allison-- does your ds have top choices? I know he is waiting on other decisions.
My dd has started the process of applying for teaching positions for next year. She wants to move to the Houston area. We are praying that she has her choice of opportunities (or at least one!).
Warm vacations.... dh and I are going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean the end of March. I can't wait.... gotta get my weight back down though.
I worked all of January to get below my red line. I was finally under it by one pound. We went to Napa for 24 hours and I gained 4 pounds. Was an angel yesterday hoping to flush out some of it, and I'm down .4. Sigh..... going to keep on flooding myself today. I was so itchy yesterday that I bruised myself scratching-- I really think it was puffiness from sodium.
I've never seen a harlequin duck, just by lack of luck. While living Upstate this past winter, I'd drive up to Oswego Harbor on Lake Ontario with my late father's Swarovski spotting scope and look at three kinds of scoters, two kinds of mergansers, loons, grebes, flocks of oldsquaws which made the weirdest keening noise, common goldeneyes and buffleheads -- and a stoic, motionless Snowy Owl who'd sit on nearby buildings or the breakwall, looking like a whitewashed post that a lot of cars had backed into over the years. I do not miss those leaden Upstate winter skies and the constant threat of plans despoiled by lake effect squalls.
I feel fed up with winter, too, though it's been a relatively mild one down here. I'll be visiting friends in Santa Fe for the long Presidents Day weekend.
One of my cousins owns rental properties in Key West and Miami. He says I could stay at one of his places off-season, but I've never gone. Probably because he's not my favorite: Looks like Rod Stewart, regularly gets mistaken for him at airports & clubs, and really enjoys the resemblance being remarked on. This also means half-open shirts & gold chains ... you get the picture.
Thanks everyone for the Key West suggestions! We were already planning on Hemingway House, Garbo's Grill, Blue Heaven, and Kermit's Key Lime Pie store. Pub crawl probably will be a "pass" since my life in Troy is practically a pub crawl as it is. I'm so excited for the warmth...
Weight is still up up up, I'm going shopping w/my roommate tonight (after the gym) for new outfits for our vacations (she's going to LA when I'm in FL) and I have this STUPID inner dialogue saying "you don't deserve new clothes, you're all puffy" - how dumb is that, jeez.
Jen are you in P-burgh up north with the huge Walmart? It's almost 10 degrees warmer down here in the Capital Region...I'm so done with this winter business, too!
saef - Your cousin sounds like a pretty great character. Open shirts and gold chains - oh my! Enjoy Santa Fe - I hear it's a paradise for artistic-minded individuals who like good food
michele - Hang in there. We are in the same boat it seems - I didn't think about sodium causing itchiness but I was really itchy yesterday, too...
alinnell - Oh my gosh college. If I had kids I'd encourage them to wait tables and pay for their own school - good thing I don't have any, heh. I hope DD will be OK with the huge transition w/her boyfriend - how long have they been together?
paperclippy - Did you say FLOWERING pear tree? Wow! Is it really warm in IN?
Megan1982 - I like cats far better than I like people or even key lime pie, I will definitely do what you recommend! Sorry BF ate your food, I get IRATE when that happens too.
bargoo - I hope your son visits and realizes he may be acting rashly - that is a huge life change!
Krampus, LOL, no, the flowering pear tree isn't flowering at the moment. It's just called a "flowering pear" because it doesn't actually produce any fruit, only flowers and leaves. Right now it is totally bare, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see the cardinal in it!
Krampus - I live in Watertown - right off Lake Ontario 30 miles south of Canada. We're staying in your neck of the woods this weekend as we'll be staying with relatives in Niskayuna!
Saef - have you ever been to Montezuma Wildlife Refuge up here? You can see a TON of different waterfowl especially during the migration seasons! We love it there!
Saef - have you ever been to Montezuma Wildlife Refuge up here? You can see a TON of different waterfowl especially during the migration seasons! We love it there!
Jen, yes, my father began taking me there on Sunday drives back in the 1970s. It's one of the reasons we have a nice spotting scope, because you can set it up easily on the gravel drive around the main pool, and also at the different lookout stations, particularly on East Road, Armitage Road and Mays Point. One of the heartening things about visiting Montezuma is that, during my lifetime, I've seen osprey and bald eagle become so common on the refuge that sightings are pretty much guaranteed on every visit. When I was a child tagging along with my father, these encounters were more unusual and highly prized, as DDT residue in their eggshells had decimated both populations. That was one of the attractions of the refuge, because these birds still could be seen there. Researchers at Montezuma were just starting the eagle hacking project back then, trying to get them to nest in the habitat.
Sigh. When I am an old woman, I hope that I don't reminisce fondly about the days when certain birds were formerly common, until climate change took its toll ...
I think I may take a three-day weekend sometime soon just to have some time to relax. I've been hoarding my vacation time but I think I have enough that it's okay to use some of it. My only bird sighting to report today is a cardinal in our flowering pear tree.
