A Tortoise and a T-Shirt

My brother and I took a ride down to St. Augustine yesterday, on a silly mission inspired by one of my recent thrift shop visits. I had picked up a t-shirt in the Bradenton Goodwill from a place called Sunset Grille on Anastasia Island. We decided that since I had the shirt we should "legitimize" it by actually visiting the restaurant. So after dropping off his daughter at school and running some errands, off we went!

We passed the gopher tortoise above south of St. Augustine near the Matanzas Inlet. It was just poking along this driveway eating greenery out of the sea grass. We happened to look down the driveway as we passed and both of us exclaimed, "Tortoise!"

And here I am in front of the Sunset Grille modeling my new shirt. I'm not sure who buys a souvenir t-shirt and then goes to the restaurant it advertises, but I guarantee you I paid less than I would have there! We had grouper sandwiches ($27 each this time, a relative bargain) and explored the town a bit, but we barely got out of the car because, as you can see, we were threatened with a downpour at any minute.

We stopped by a Starbucks where the cashier entered my name into the computer as "Steeve," and the barista dutifully copied that spelling onto my cup. It's phonetically right, anyway.

Our errands also included stopping by the bank, which we have to do again today for reasons that are too boring to explain, and Publix, "where shopping is a pleasure." (An old company slogan, perhaps still in use and deservedly so.) My brother made some impressive steak filets last night, with brussels sprouts and salad. This afternoon, after seeing my older niece, I'll be driving back to Tampa for my flight out tomorrow.

Oh, and I called the billing center for that hospital in Coral Gables I mentioned yesterday -- the one that sent me a peculiar bill for an emergency room visit I never made. I looked them up online and called rather than using the number on the bill itself, in case it was a scam, and they asked me to verify the information printed on the bill -- my billing number, name and address, as well as my date of birth, which I gave since it's easily available anyway. The woman put me on hold, and then another woman came on the line, apologized, and let me off the hook right away. She said they'd identified the error that led to me receiving a bill and to disregard it. They also said they'd send another letter to make clear I don't owe any money.

The whole thing was very strange. But fingers crossed, it's been resolved.

Gloria Dei

This is the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on Anna Maria Island, a landmark since it was built in 1964. Unfortunately it was damaged in hurricanes Helene and Milton a couple of years ago, and sadly the church is now closed and the property is for sale. The building was designed by Victor Lundy, from the renowned Sarasota School of Architecture, but it looks like it's going the way of the dodo bird. An application has been filed to turn the entire site into houses.

Sue and I walked past it early yesterday morning, and we enjoyed the light from inside illuminating the stained glass clerestory windows and front door.

Apparently the city tried to acquire the property to preserve the church and surrounding green space. but it couldn't match the $10 million listing price, so private developers have won out.

Sad.

Yesterday was my last day on Anna Maria. As I mentioned, Sue and I walked early in the morning, and then I hit the road after breakfast to drive up to Jacksonville to visit my brother. I don't have any photos from that trip, because I stuck to the interstates and they just aren't very interesting. I stopped for a coffee in DeLand but otherwise kept the pedal to the metal.

In Jacksonville, my brother showed me that there's a Trump counterpart to the stickers that Biden-hating Republicans were plastering on gas pumps during his term. Excellent!

Oh, and speaking of politics, I got word from the local Supervisor of Elections that my ballot was received. So my vote is officially in.

Today we've got some errands to run and hopefully some time for fun in between. Among the things I need to look into is a very strange bill I received for an emergency room visit in Coral Gables on July 11 -- it's in my name, but clearly I was not in a hospital in Coral Gables on that day. (I don't think I've been to Coral Gables in at least 30 years.) I'm not sure whether it's identity theft or some other scam. The bill was initially for $1,400 but the hospital has supposedly written off all but $140, which they want me to pay. Sounds dubious! I thought I'd call the hospital and see if they know anything about it. Definitely one of the weirder pieces of mail I've ever received.

Hoofing It and Rescuing Aloes

This place is called "The Doctor's Office," because I think that's what it used to be. Now, obviously, it's a restaurant, and most doctors would probably not approve of the cocktails!

I realize my recent Florida posts are a bit slap-dash and involve mostly pictures. That's partly because I'm writing quickly so I can get out the door with Sue, who gets up and goes walking early. I bet I've walked 30 miles in the time that I've spent here, and I feel better and look thinner.

Yesterday we were up very early and we took a trolley to the Longboat Key bridge, on the southern tip of Anna Maria Island. From there we walked north almost all the way to her house, which is midway up the island, so that's about five miles. It was beautiful seeing first the moonlight on the beach (above) and then the sunrise.

These were all taken with my phone. I don't lug the big camera on these walks.

My favorite thing about this mural, at the Anchor Bar, is the anglerfish at upper left and the fact that the artist turned a real light fixture on the exterior wall into his lure on his forehead.

We ended up back at the house and John made breakfast, and we relaxed a bit before I needed to head out and meet Dave's parents for lunch. (Despite looking skinnier I'm doing plenty of eating!)

I met up with them at the front of their retirement home, and we went to the Anna Maria Oyster Bar next door (where the chair above sits at the front entrance). I had a grouper sandwich. I remember when grouper sandwiches cost something like $10 -- I used to eat them a lot as a young reporter, when I was out and about and needed lunch. Now they're an insane $36. (And they've been even higher, depending on market prices.)

At least it was a good sandwich.

Dave's parents are fine and we had a good talk. At one point his mom asked me if Sue "had a family," and I was so obtuse I didn't immediately realize she meant children. I said, "Oh, yeah, she had a mother and a father, but they're both deceased, and now she has her husband and a dog." She clarified, "But does she have children?" and I realized what she was really saying. She must think I'm an idiot.

It's interesting -- many of my college friends do not have kids. That's partly because many of them are gay and I came of age at a time when gay people couldn't easily expect to have children -- but even among my journalism pals, many are childless. Journalism can be such an all-consuming career it's hard to accommodate children, I suppose, and I also think reporters -- with their stereotypical cynicism -- aren't always wired for parenthood. That's a huge generalization, obviously, but I've found it to be true in my life.

After lunch I went back to the Goodwill, because Sue and I needed a small flowerpot and I'd seen one there a few days before. I found this t-shirt on the rack and thought it was pretty funny. (But I didn't buy it -- it's way too small for me.) The rooster was gone.

We needed the flowerpot for Sue's Aloe Rescue Project™. Did I mention that we retrieved some dying aloe plants from the front of a demolished house next door? They were brown and struggling in a sandy planter, and no one was living there, so we stole adopted them. We potted them up and they're already looking much greener and happier.

One of them, however, had broken off at the stem, so we put it in some water to grow roots. I was skeptical it would work, but that aloe turned bright green within a matter of days and little nubs of roots emerged almost immediately. Yesterday we put it in the Goodwill flowerpot to continue its convalescence. Even here in Florida I'm rescuing plants!

Yesterday evening we went to a local happy hour with some of John and Sue's island friends, including a British couple from Cumbria, Gary and Debbie. They'd been traveling all over California before they came here, and I had a great time talking to them about England and English culture. Hopefully we offered each other a little of the security of home.

Today I'm off to Jacksonville to see my brother and his family. More time in the car!

And Back Again

This hotel in Vero Beach is so dramatic at night, with its avenue of illuminated palms and purple lighting, and by day it's the whitest, blandest-looking building you could imagine. You'd never know it was even the same place.

Sue and I were up early yesterday morning as usual. She went walking while I drove across the Indian River to find some coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. I joined her later in what we've been calling "downtown" Vero Beach, though whether or not the locals use that term I have no idea. We went to breakfast at a place called the Lemon Tree, though we could never remember the name so we amused ourselves by coming up with various alternatives: Lemon Cake, Lemon Bar, Lemon Seed, Lemonade's, Don Lemon's and Jack Lemmon's.

We spotted this little lizard in the boardwalk outside the Ocean Grill. At first I thought it was stuck, but no -- it was just surveying its domain. It popped out and skittered across the wood with no problem. Sue and I agreed it's a lizard unlike any other we'd seen and we puzzled over what type it could be. It's bigger and plumper than the anoles we usually see running around.

 According to Google it's a northern curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus), a Caribbean native that was intentionally released in the Palm Beach County area in the 1940s to control pests on sugar cane.

We checked out of our motel and got on the road about 11 a.m. and I drove us back across the center of Florida, on a more southerly route this time through Ft. Pierce, Okeechobee County and Sebring. That part of the state is largely empty, at least of human development, though of course there are owls and panthers and hawks and bobcats and who knows what else skulking around in the woods and swamps.

This flag-waving barber shop was somewhere outside Ft. Pierce. Maybe Miami is the barber's nickname?

We rolled into Anna Maria around 3 p.m., by which time Sue's husband John and dog Finnegan were here. We ate carry-out pasta last night and today I'm off to visit Dave's parents at their retirement home in Bradenton.

Cross-Florida Odyssey

Sue and I walked past this Circle K on Anna Maria Island yesterday morning. "Wow, that is the reddest gas station I've ever seen," I said. "It's like being inside a toaster oven, or maybe an Ed Ruscha painting."

Our long morning walk also took us through a nature preserve, where we said hello to a well-bronzed woman named Wanda June who Sue often meets walking the trails there. ("No animals today!" Wanda June reported.) We popped into a little cafe where I had french toast with mango butter, and then headed back to Sue's house to get tidied up for our road trip. We were on the road by 10 a.m., headed clear across the state.

We took State Road 64 into the heart of rural Florida, where gigantic chickens guard driveway entrances (and pull double-duty as signposts).

We rolled through Wauchula...

...and into Avon Park, which I last visited a few years ago. My great-grandparents lived in this town, and we checked out their old house (which is still standing and occupied, but looks like a wreck these days) and the quaint downtown.

I was sorry to see that the Diving Girl Diner is no more, nor is the western wear store where the actual diving girl motel sign used to be displayed in the window. (See my earlier post to better understand all that.)

Sue and I ate this time in a little Cuban cafe on Main Street called Sophie's. I had a Cuban sandwich with rice and beans and a cafe con leche. Then we popped into an antique shop next door where I found a fantastic glass vase shaped like an owl, made of Murano glass. I couldn't pass it up. I'll share a photo of it once I get it back to London, since right now it's heavily shrouded in bubble wrap.

I asked the woman running the antique store about the diving girl. She assured me that "someone in town has it." Sue and I laughed later because it all seemed rather conspiratorial, like she didn't want to reveal its whereabouts.

We got back in the car and kept driving and driving eastward on State Road 60 to our final destination -- Vero Beach.

Years ago, Dave and I planned a Florida trip that was going to include a night in Vero at a fun-looking little boutique motel. We wound up cancelling the trip at the last minute, and ever since I've had a lingering desire to see what we missed. So Sue and I made the pilgrimage, and this is where we're staying -- South Beach Place, about a block from the ocean. It's a great '50s building of small apartment suites, with a pool and snazzy mid-century decorations. My Murano owl would fit in well here. (But they can't have it.)

And this is where we had dinner last night, at a table near the plate glass windows overlooking the ocean. When Sue and I drove this coastline about 27 years ago (!), we stopped at the Ocean Grill and had lunch at the bar. This time, we had a proper meal and it was one of the best seafood dinners I've ever had -- pompano with broccoli and a baked potato, and key lime pie for dessert. Simple but wonderful. We both left very happy (but felt the restaurant has gone a bit overboard with its Halloween decorations).

Today we're road tripping again in the opposite direction, but both happy with our overnight cross-Florida adventure. As Sue said, "We had our toes in the water on both sides of the state on the same day!"

Cleaning Fish and Fulfilling Promises

Sue and I sat at an outdoor bar in Cortez yesterday, overlooking a dock that's home to a charter fishing boat. When the boat pulled in after a morning on the water, several older people got off, followed by tubs of fish. The guys in the photos above cleaned the fish right on the dock, throwing the heads in the water and other scraps back into a bucket. The filets they kept on the table until they bagged them up and handed them to the customer.

Here are two guys with their catch. Looks like they did OK out there!

Anyway, we were amused watching the fish-cleaners, because they were quickly surrounded by waterbirds including pelicans, egrets and a bossy heron. The pelicans ate most of the fish heads, and every once in a while the guys would throw a scrap to the heron. The egrets were too timid and never seemed to get anything, though we were cheering them on.

Sue and I took a long walk around the island in the morning -- about six miles. (Sue, as I think I mentioned, is a great walker.)

Then, after the stop in Cortez, we ran some fun errands. We went back to a thrift store to pick up a t-shirt for my upstairs neighbors in London. They'd told me their daughter is learning the trumpet (!) and when Sue and I were at the shop on Saturday, I'd seen a shirt that said "I DESTROY SILENCE" with a picture of a trumpet. I sent them a photo of the shirt and my neighbor said, "Buy it!" So I went back for it.

I also picked up a great shirt for myself featuring a bunch of angry sharks, which I somehow missed on our previous visit. Here it is along with a promised picture of the tiger shirt I mentioned in Friday's post.

Here's another promised picture that I finally downloaded off my phone -- a better shot of Pinky II. I laughed at the way she's obscuring my face. (She's very hard to photograph -- she's super-wiggly.) Doesn't she have a weirdly long neck? I told my stepsister she's like a cross between a chihuahua and a llama.

Another photo from my phone -- an inspirational note from my Starbucks barista. What's funny is, she wrote this on my cup Friday morning, before my stepsister and I had to go to the bank and do legal stuff. So I appreciated the boost!

I know this post is kind of a mishmash, but I'd been meaning to use all those photos and didn't have a chance until now. The Octopus light above is from our walk yesterday morning. Don't you love that? Wouldn't really fit in London, though.

Today Sue and I are off on a special birthday road trip (her birthday is tomorrow). We've got a long drive ahead of us! I know it seems crazy to leave a paradise like Anna Maria Island but we thought a little change of scenery might be interesting, and it's just for one night. Stay tuned!

Thrifting at the Beach

Here I am on Anna Maria Island, where the water is clear and the beach morning glories grow in profusion. Surely it's one of the prettiest places on the planet, at least when there are no hurricanes.

I left my family's house north of Tampa bright and early yesterday morning and had a pleasant drive down. Visiting at this time of year is ideal because the winter tourist season hasn't started yet and the roads are still passable.

I had a happy rendezvous with my college friend Sue, who was out on her routine morning walk -- Sue walks miles for exercise -- and we explored a waterfront wildlife preserve, watching fiddler crabs scurry in the mud below the boardwalk. It's great to see Sue, one of my oldest friends, and one of those people who I can pick up with right away as if I last saw her the day before. We went to breakfast on Manatee Beach, where this was our view:

Not too shabby, right?!

Then we headed out on some errands that included adventures in thrift stores. We discovered a really nice Goodwill used-book store on Longboat Key (where I bought nothing because I don't need to be schlepping around more books, but Sue got some great finds).

Then we went to the big Goodwill store in Bradenton, possibly my favorite Goodwill on the planet, where I found this fantastic rooster. If I were closer to Lloyd I'd have bought it for Mary Moon (who is probably relieved I didn't). I wish I'd put something next to it for scale because it was quite large. I did buy myself a little ceramic bowl, a slightly lumpy and misshapen handmade project with goldfish painted on it and signed "Izzy R." I love it.

Then we headed to another thrift store -- a bust -- and then up into central Bradenton where we had a drink at a fantastic bar and pizza restaurant on the roof of a downtown hotel.

As we were leaving, we got into an elevator with two young guys, one of whom was saying to his friend, "It was a choice between..." and then trailed off, waiting for a more private moment. Sue said half-jokingly, "I want to know what the choice was!" and I said, "Me too!" So the guy proceeded to tell us a remarkably sordid ten-minute story involving an encounter with a stripper, the choice being whether to get involved with her or not -- which was not at all what we expected! Be careful what you ask in elevators.

I never knew this restaurant existed, so it was a nice find, the elevator conversation notwithstanding. Maybe I'll take Dave and his parents there one of these days. It overlooks the marina and the three bridges that carry US 41 and the railroad across the Manatee River.

The Sunshine Skyway (which I'd driven over that morning) and even downtown St. Petersburg (not in the photo above) were visible on the horizon, beyond the waterfront houses of Palmetto.

Last night we had a light dinner at Sue's and this morning we're going to head out for a long walk. I know I am way behind on my comment-answering, but I swear I am reading and appreciating them all!