Laughs & Warm Memories

 

It was great to have TW and AJ here for most of the day going through six totes of photos and albums.  We laughed and teased and puzzled over who might be who in the oldest ones.  I'm taking a bin of empty picture frames to St. Vincent de Paul, each of us has a bin of photos to keep, we sorted out some for Aunt B and some for Uncle W & Aunt G, and I've got this bunch to scan in so we each get a copy.  It took a lot longer than any of us thought it would but I'm so glad that we did it today.  Six more boxes out of the basement.  Yippee!

 



The sky looked cold this morning, pretty but cold, when I opened the curtains.  Look at how frozen the birdbath is.  Trust me, the heater's on 24/7 so you know it's cold out there.







 


It was a busy bird day today.  My favorite shot is this one of a stack of mourning doves on the platform feeder and its crook.  



 




But this one of the Downy Woodpecker peeking through the seed wreath is good too.


I was going to take a picture of my supper cheeseburger at Joe Rouer's in Duval but when I checked on Google Maps around 4:15 to see how long it'd take me to get there it said it was closed so I called. Yep.  Closed until Tuesday.  Dang.  So I called and texted JJ, and when I didn't hear from him in a few minutes I hopped in the car and started driving toward Joe's (it's a 20 mile drive so I figured he'd call before I got there and he did).  I was just past UWGB (about 10 miles) when my phone rang.  "It's closed."  "Yeah, I know, we're there.  Where are you?"  "Just coming up to Gravel Pit Road." (they live on Gravel Pit Road) "Okay, turn on Gravel Pit and go to New Franken. We'll meet you at the Stein."  So I did (thanks, Google Maps) and we did.  I had a cheeseburger but it was a pale substitute for a Joe Rouer's burger.  *sigh*  However it was lovely to sit in a country tavern eating burgers and drinking root beer with some of our first diving friends catching up on what's going on with them and sharing my own adventures.  

After I got home I pretty much flopped on the couch but did manage to cast on and knit a few rounds on the new and improved Keltic Beanie.  Even with just 3 rounds of ribbing knitted I can already tell that it's going to be much closer to the correct size.  Thanks heavens.  I don't think the yarn could have stood another frogging and reknitting, parts of it are already looking a little frazzled.  (it's not very tightly plied so it's a bit more fragile than regular yarn)

26 January--Tropical Obsession. 
      Like a ball of molten glass, the sun sank into the west behind the ocean-hugging silhouette of Klein Bonaire, the small, uninhabited island a half-mile offshore. All up and down the leeward shore of the main island ice cubes tinkled against glass as resort guests, snowbirds, and permanent residents alike settled into patio chairs to celebrate the survival of another day. Rum paired with pineapple and guava juices swirled in sweaty glasses and rinsed the persistent taste of salt from the parched tongues. One hand trembled as it lifted crystal to lips, the glass chattered against perfect teeth, the villa behind her reproachful in its silence. Nola stood bathed in the reddened rays of the dying sun wondering where Jack had gone and when he would return. The sound of tires on the crushed coral drive erased the minute wrinkle that had begun to grow between her brows. She set her glass down on a palm leaf coaster and smoothed a hand over her hair before levering a smile up from the depths of her emergency bag of tricks and turning to walk through the darkening rooms. She left light in her wake, one lamp in each room, as she made her way to the front door.

Sorry that all these novel pieces are so out of order but that's the way they show up in the file.  I'll sort them out into the correct order once I finish The Seaview.  (I'm getting there.)  The weather guessers are predicting that it will start snowing tomorrow evening and continue into Monday morning and we're supposed to get somewhere upwards of 9 inches of snow.  Yee-haw!  Guess I'll go to the Y sooner rather than later tomorrow.  Time to hit the hay.  It was a lot more tiring going through all those pictures than I thought it'd be.  I'm bushed.
--Barbara