Checking In Before Checking Out

Incredibly, but not too unpredictably, my computer has decided it wants to stay in Florida longer than I will, by needing to go to the Mac Doctor. So I'm using my brother's computer to try and catch up a little bit.

Yesterday was rainy and gloomy. Jonny said we were going on a mission and that always means something good with him. It was.

Christmas meant heading to his buddy Robert's place, a person and a place I've seen on facebook but not in real life. Real life is always better. He has a yard full of orchids and bonsai plants, even a producing macadamia nut tree (now I have to plant one at home!), along with a bonus secret path in the backyard that goes to a lake. Yes.

Inside were friends and family and luckily, there wasn't a test at the end of the day, since I was calling two woman each other's name most of the day until someone finally corrected me. Oops!

We've hit the Swap Shop, Tark's, Outdoor World, Jimbo's on the Intercoastal and that's what I can remember off the top of my head. Loading the photos up in any sort of order is proving beyond my meager PC abilities, so That is How That Goes.

We ate a Real Real Big Shrimp (the label said so). It was incredibly delicious, better than lobster tail, very close to blue crab claw meat.

At the Swap Shop there is a sort of Fun Fair thing going on. The man who owns it is crazy like a fox and has the imagination and means to have created this place - a race car museum, the rides he bought from Pirate World when it closed down, acres of stuff. Much, much stuff. Overwhelming amounts of stuff.

How many water driven ferris wheels have you seen? Those really are water buckets and that's how that rolls!

The churra lady. Want sweet? She's got sweet.

Every body has one. Some want more. 

What's for dinner?

 In contrast, Robert's world is tranquillo.

The bridge leading to the secret woods and lake (I'd show you photos of the secret woods and lake but then it wouldn't be secret anymore. Plus, I can't find the photos)

 There was more food than a small country could have eaten. One entree was Jonny's duck, done in the set it and forget it. Except no one could forget it...it was like watching television with a really great finish.

Happy duck guy

Robert got a sawzall from Jonny. Jonny got special kerosene filled jugs from Robert for a very cool kerosene heater that was a swap shop find. I'm thinking I should hang out here more. 

Bill, Martha and Queenie, some of the funnier, tough and full of in your face courage I've met in a long time. Candy, one of Robert's dogs, lies in wait for one of us to drop something delicious. 

One of Queenie's paintings. I asked if it was a self-portrait, she wasn't saying. 

Jeanne, Joyce and Jonny at the seriously food laden table.

Robert, Queenie and Robert's sister Susan, with Coco the dog

Yesterday's rainy day tour included Outdoor World but I was on cameras not happening World. It's a very crazy place full of much lust and not just mine. There was (and this is true), a man curled up on the floor in front of some outdoor piece of equipment, his gaze so intense that when we almost stepped on him he merely glanced at us a second and said 'Sorry' turning back to whatever it was in rapt desire. We decided he was staging a lie-in until he got permission to buy it. That was weird.

Much less weird was Tark's. A local joint in business since the 60's with a 'it is what it is' attitude that works well for me.

Keep shuckin', dude, this place isn't going to be empty anytime soon.

We got the sort of sampler plate - oysters, clams, shrimp and conch salad. We were this far along when I remembered to take a photo. That last clam didn't stay there long.

There was one last stop as Jonny pointed over the bridge to a very established looking joint on the intercoastal, Jimbo's Sandbar. It felt like old Florida, which means it felt like home. No condos, no docks, no tourists. A hidden gem. Again.

I could put in a lot of links and more order but it's time to head out the door for the next Adventure, I think that is going to include Knott's Berry World, where I've never been and I'll try to be good and not ask about pesticides and GMO's. I'll try. 

Thanks to my bro for helping me get the photos in. I'm going to get away from the computer right NOW.

Have a sense the specialness Saturday. Do something scenically inclined.