Texas Trip, Day 1……

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This is the road trip we have to take to Houston to handle one part of my father’s estate. It’s a tight time of year to go, but there aren’t any better “windows” so I spent all last week trying to either complete extra tasks or arrange for them to hold until next week. Anyway, the itinerary is we departed yesterday and will arrive in Houston mid-afternoon or so. We take care of that piece of business Tuesday and head to Louisiana Wednesday to see my brother and his wife, then start back Thursday or Friday depending on a couple of factors.

The advantage to traveling on Sunday was skipping the big city traffic of not having to leave at 6:00 a.m. to miss Miami traffic and avoiding Orlando and Tallahassee traffic. There were some slow-downs on I-75 after leaving the turnpike, but nothing too bad. There were also stretches of rain in the same way. Not too prolonged and not too much of an impediment. With it being daylight savings time and crossing into Central time zone, Hubby felt like pushing on to Mobile. While we prefer to stay somewhere with a restaurant, when the industry moved away from that with Hampton Inns, Expresses, etc., that’s more difficult to find. The cluster of choices at this particular I-10 exit only has one motel next to a restaurant and it wasn’t one of our preferred brands. There was a Ruby Tuesdays a little over a mile away and since they closed the one we had in Homestead, that seemed a reasonable choice. Their salad bar is still good and I enjoyed one of the chicken dishes while Hubby had their bourbon glazed salmon. As I think I’ve mentioned in other posts, when we are on long road trip it’s strictly a fast food close to a gas station choice for lunches. Anyway, it was an 11-hour day and that used to be easier in our younger years. That puts us about seven hours for today.

Went Diving Finally……

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I’m a day later than planned posting because things finally came together for me to do an afternoon dive yesterday. That makes three months in a row I missed and almost four. As I have explained, I often miss out Jan and Feb. March was difficult this year for several reasons; however, conditions were the best they have been in days with basically flat seas and no surge. Hubby was teaching four students who he will finish up today. I don’t recall where they were from, but they were all pleasant and seemed to be having a good time. Conditions underwater were nice even though visibility was a bit better on the first dive. Although there was nothing really special on the first dive, there were enough of “the usual suspects” to enjoy and I did find them a large trunk fish like the one in the photo.

On the second dive I found an arrow crab which I haven’t seen in ages. I wasn’t close enough to the students to get them back to see it and Hubby had them at a coral cluster where there were two anemones almost touching. That is unusual to have two so close together. Not long after, I spotted a medium size Southern stingray nestled into the sand. We were careful enough not to disturb it into swimming away and everyone got a good look. I did see all three types of angel fish on that dive, too with a queen angel making an appearance as I was finishing up my dive. The water temperature is headed in the right direction at 77 degrees. I was a little ambitious in wearing my 1 mil suit instead of the 3 mil though. I did have to do few loops swimming faster to take the chill off.

Of Cars and Trucks…..

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A recent conversation reminded me of one of those amusing aspects when I was in the advanced stage of pregnancy. My first husband and I were solidly with him as a General Motors guy and me as Ford with Dodge close second. Now I actually had one of the first RX-7’s brought into Clarksville, TN when we married. That was because many of us singles had sports cars and while I would have gone for another Mustang; being a “first” with the RX-7 was too hard to resist. Anyway, my husband had a Corvette and I don’t recall how many he’d had prior to that. The point is a distinct lack of cargo space in either car and we did buy a house. With a house you have to do things and my husband was quite handy. That means hauling stuff like bags of mulch, etc., Being newly wed I surprised him when I sacrificed my RX-7 and swapped it out for a Chevy Silverado truck for him. While I didn’t derive any particular pleasure in driving the Corvette, he had it for the weekends.

As I think I’ve posted in the past, I became unexpectedly pregnant early in the marriage and that was all fine and good. I never had any sort of physical problems – no morning sickness or anything serious.  I did deal with the  minor issues like I couldn’t eat certain foods due to getting heartburn more easily. Anyone who is familiar with a Corvette knows it sits low and in the last part of my pregnancy my belly was of course much bigger and, I “carried the baby high”. (Note: wives’ tale said that meant it was a boy and that did turn out to be true). So, trying to get into and out of the Corvette became extremely difficult. Not that climbing in and out of the truck was much better, however, there was a handle on the door and the running board. So here I am at eight months pregnant now driving a big truck while my husband had his Corvette back. In truth, we knew we would need a family car (that was before they had extended cabs options to allow for a “back seat” in trucks). Not long before son made his appearance, my husband decided he did like having a truck and traded out the Corvette for a Buick Electra.

New Market in Town…..

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Homestead has another first with a Sprouts Farmers Market that opened a few weeks ago. I made a quick pass through there trying to line up an interview for the paper. The very nice manager referred me to their Corporate PR department who hasn’t answered back. I’m not sure why one advertising and then doesn’t want free publicity in the local paper, but they are based out of Phoenix. (https://sprouts.com)

My impression was of a smaller Fresh Market which we almost always stop at when we go up to Total Wine near The Falls. The fresh meat, seafood, and produce all looked good. They had some nice prepared meals and I found cornichons in the condiment aisle. If we still needed coffee, they had bins of beans, too (we now use the Black Rifle Coffee Club delivery as I have posted about before) and they do have a bakery. Hubby went today instead of going to Publix to check them out. He got salmon and swordfish for dinner tonight plus some other items, but they don’t carry many of the things we usually buy. So, we will treat them in the same way as Fresh Market which will be go there for special occasion stuff (or something like the cornichons). It’s certainly much closer and I’m happy for that. While we do buy organic at times, it’s primarily if we need something specific and organic in that item is all that’s available at the moment. However, for my friends who do care about buying organic Sprouts makes for a good option. I don’t know for sure they have a larger selection than the big Publix although they might.

It is a brand new store laid out well and the staff certainly seems friendly. We’ll see how they do as community partners.

Tricky Weather….

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My hopes for going diving yesterday had already been disrupted because I had to schedule a meeting instead. The weather was going to be a bit tricky anyway and sure enough, they had to cancel the trip. I felt badly for everyone who could have gone and much of yesterday afternoon it did look as if we were going to get rain . We didn’t, but apparently the front simply slowed down as we’ve been having rain for a while now, to include thunder.

Hubby had decided it wasn’t going to rain and put water in the pool yesterday so I’m not sure if we caused it. We had a breakfast event this morning and after we returned, he got his gear together to head for the Everglades hoping for lightning shots and birds. I think I have explained before I do have a level of concern with the whole photographing lightning even though he does have some pretty spectacular shots. He did take a workshop where they emphasized all the safety measures to take. I don’t quite get the fascination, but he’s by no means the only one in the Camera Club who enjoys it. They do have a app for their phones that provides distance and I guess direction for lightning that’s within ten miles. (I think that’s how it’s set.) It all seems a bit odd to me, but I also think when he did his last camera lens upgrade, he may have gotten one that does better in the rain. It does do better in low light since he has to shoot nighttime events and I may be only imagining the rain part. Ah well, here’s hoping it passes before I leave. I do keep an umbrella in the vehicle as everything from light drizzle to torrential downpours are known to happen when they say, “isolated, scattered showers”.

Talk About Long Friendships…..

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BFF may be a fairly recent term, but many Babyboomers have at least one friendship they can date back to decades. It may have started in elementary/middle/high school or like one friend of mine when we met at Fort McClellan going through WAC (Woman’s Army Corps) training. In some places, it can go back to simply being raised as neighbors.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman contacted the paper and said her mother and another woman have been friends for a long time and both are coming up on their 100th birthdays. Oh yes, that’s the kind of community story we always love to share.

The editor was hoping we could get both women together, but that was going to be difficult so Hubby and I arranged to go see the mother and daughter that called and then go over about fifteen minutes away to see the other mom and daughter. Both women were in remarkably good shape and the first one had her pack of cigarettes on the table. Interestingly both originally came from Ohio, and met their respective husbands in college. The friendship began in 1954 and is going strong. They don’t see each other as much today with it being more difficult to get around. Over the years, they both lost their husbands and each a son. There are, however, the surviving children and lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The second woman lives on what is basically a “family complex” of 40 acres and when they have their Sunday dinners, 20-25 are usually involved. As we were leaving there, her daughter confided her mother insisted on putting her pack of cigarettes out of sight for the interview; that coffee and cigarettes were still her daily habit.

This is a really long link and I’ve given the important points, but the photos are nice. You probably have to cut and paste since I don’t know if a link shows up when I publish the post: http://www.southdadenewsleader.com/news/best-friends-celebrate-100-together/article_b8f3eaac-b6c1-11ec-b309-c3f81eddbdea.html

 

 

Intriguing Presentation……

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As I have mentioned before, writing for the local paper means I meet people I would probably not otherwise. Sometimes things come into me although more often to the editor first. In this case, it was both as I am now on several email notification lists.

College of the Florida Key (CFK) is in adjoining Monroe County, headquartered not surprisingly in Key West. The Upper Keys campus was previously smallish and in August last year they opened a new facility in Key Largo with greatly increased capabilities. Hubby did the photos and I wrote the story although I didn’t have the chance to actually go to the Center. The recent press release and note from the editor to look into the story was about a VIP Lecture series in it’s 8th year and for the first time, a presentation was to be held at the Key Largo Facility. The topic was “The Discovery, Early Mapping, and Charting of the Florida Keys and the Gulf Stream.” I contacted the initial individual because I wanted to engage with the gentleman who was doing the presentation for more background than was provided in the press release. We connected and his is a fascinating story, only part of which I had room for in the article. (http://www.southdadenewsleader.com/eedition/page-a03/page_d371bbf1-3af1-5861-99b7-4068df76a1af.html)

Hubby and I decided to attend if our schedules worked and they did, so we went down Tuesday night. In swapping emails and a phone conversation with the gentleman, we were able to spend about five minutes with him prior to the presentation. There were obvious connections among most of the almost full crowd, and he said for the first time, some of his family members, to include his 97-year-old mother were in the audience. Things did start a bit late and the Q&A was running over which meant there was a lot of enthusiasm in the room. We slipped out at 8:20 as we wanted a nice dinner, plus the drive up would put us home about 10:00. Buzzard’s Roost was the closest and a standard place for us.

Easter Memory……

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I don’t recall if I posted about this before; if so, it’s been a while. I’m sure I have mentioned in the past that I don’t eat eggs. There’s no allergy involved; I simply don’t like them. I know I ate them as a kid because all kids do and I don’t know when I determined I didn’t like them.Anyway, I grew up with the tradition of dying Easter eggs although we didn’t go in for the extra decorating. And as is tradition, leftover eggs that didn’t get inadvertently stepped on were later consumed in some form or the other.

Moving forward to when son was old enough to get into the egg hunting mode, I may or may not have gone the traditional route once, but maybe not as he was not a boiled egg eater (strictly scrambled) and there wasn’t anyone else to eat them. Plastic Easter eggs filled with different candies were the perfect choice not to mention easy to pack away and be re-used at least a couple of times. The memory jogged though was one Easter when we were at my parents. The eggs had been carefully hidden in the front yard and as son was again the only “hunter” it was merely a matter of remembering how many had been hidden and where in case he needed a little assistance. My parents and I went onto the driveway, me with my mug of coffee, son with his Easter basket, and “Papaw” ready to assist in the hunt. Son was either four or five years old and as he prepared to step onto the grass, he turned to me and Mother and said, “Mom, you and Granny stay here. Papaw and I will get the eggs because this is man’s work.”

Daddy did look slightly chagrined as I tried to keep a straight face. All the eggs were found fairly quickly.

Aromas of Slow Cooking….

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I have posted before about we enjoy our Instapot, although I don’t actually use it. This is like when we had the bread machine and it was Hubby who could manage it. We haven’t tried the Instapot in the slow cooker mode as we have a nice slow cooker that we don’t want to feel neglected. It’s been a while since we did a roast and Sunday was the day. One of the advantages of Instapot is you can sear, then cook all in the same pot. With a slow cooker, that’s still a two-pot action and with a 3-pound-plus roast, you do have to be careful with the turning to ensure all parts of it are seared. Once you make everything happen though, it does take a few hours for the aroma to kick in. At that point, you now have another few hours until it’s ready to eat. In the case where you set it up to have the dish cook while you are out of the house and to be greeted with this wonderful smell, that’s both comforting and practical. When you’re in the house during the process though, waiting for enough time to elapse can bring on the urge for eating. That of course applies with any long-cooking dish no matter the technique used. The difference between being in the slow cooker and say a stove top situation it does seem to be easier to taste – and hmm, a little bit later maybe I should taste again. After all, maybe the seasoning isn’t quite right yet and another spoonful is needed. The one other thing about either the Instapot or slow cooker is I always add in too much liquid, especially if I will be out of the house. I envision a ruined meal no matter how often I read the recipe that calls for less liquid. On the other hand, having extra delicious sauce means it can be the base for a soup.

“Lost a Week”…..

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Or so it seems since I haven’t posted. Things have obviously not slowed down at all and at least some of it has been for fun. Not for diving unfortunately and if Mother Nature doesn’t let up on the wind, I might not make it out in March. I am keeping fingers crossed though. That’s what happened as I saved today hoping to go. Hubby had to take his student to Jules and they did have something special – a sea horse! I haven’t seen many in all the time I’ve been diving and never one around here. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some hammerheads have been hanging around in different spots. None on the more popular reefs yet so we’ll see if they head on their journey or other people have a chance to spot them. Our bud Richie Kohler and Katy were in  last week doing all really deep which is why I didn’t go with them. They did come up last Saturday along with some of their friends – one of whom we also know and two of our friends joined in. Richie had fond memories of the Redland Hotel and wanted to enjoy it again. There were nine of us which worked out pretty well other than running late for a couple of reasons. Anyway, the food was excellent and great conversation, plus the “extra” couple we met have the potential to be future companions.

On an entirely different subject, I’m making at least some headway with my father’s estate in the sense of gathering information and getting various instructions. There are certain aspects that cannot be done electronically and thus extra time will be required. I really hope to have everything done by my birthday in August – or at least have everything that involves others done. His taxes for last year and the estate taxes will mostly involve me and the lady I’ll be working with. The woman who did his taxes in 2020 is seasonal and she has referred me to one of the only staff who is year-round.