View from the St. Simons Lighthouse – August 29, 2009

Jaime and I had ridden our bikes to the village on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and we were wandering around the park when the urge to climb our lighthouse hit me.

Mind you, we have lived on the island for five years, and I had not yet done this, so I left my bike in Jaime’s care and literally sprinted up the 129 winding steps. After taking a number of pictures (including some aerial shots of the new swimming pool and miniature golf course), I made my way back down.

Amazingly, I wasn’t even breathing hard after this exertion. Feeling full of myself, I couldn’t help but comment to Jaime how all my tennis playing and bike riding must have contributed to strength and endurance. Well, let me tell you how I felt the next day (actually, the next four days). I could barely walk!!! I never realized there was a whole ‘nother set of thigh muscles lurking beneath the ones I used on a regular basis! Oh well, at least I got some good pictures.

Rattlesnake encounter – August 18, 2009

On a recent day trip to the beach at Fernandina, Jaime and I stopped to take some pictures of an interesting derelict building outside Kingsland, Georgia. When I stepped out of the truck, I almost stepped on the biggest rattlesnake I’ve ever seen!

Fortunately, (for me – not the snake) it was dead. Apparently, it had been run over by a car but managed to slither its way back up the roadbank before expiring. I discovered later, via the internet, that the Eastern diamondback rattler is the largest, most venomous snake in the Americas!

Jaime saved the rattle for a souvenir.

FionaFest 2009 – July 23-26

Land sakes! What have I gotten myself into? What started as a little gathering of fellow Sudokuists to welcome Fiona and family from France to Florida turned into one of the larger Sudokufests to date! Fiona, hubby Eric and children Scott and Carla were to spend nearly a month in Florida (first at DisneyWorld, then a few days at Daytona Beach and then a week or two on Florida’s Gulf Coast (Clearwater and Sarasota). Daytona seemed to be the easiest place to converge, so several of us descended on the area, tiaras and boas at the ready!

Sue and Harry (Oklahoma) and LynnDee (Jacksonville, FL) rented a condo in Ormond Beach; Fiona et famille stayed at a hotel in Daytona; and Kathy (Valrico, FL), Heidi (Kentucky), Mamacita (Pennsylvania), Debby (Michigan) and I rented a beach cottage in Ormond Beach (about 2 miles south of Sue and Harry’s digs). We dubbed ourselves the “cheeky chooks”, and I must say, the weekend was one of the biggest hen parties I ever attended (despite the fact that there were actually two husbands in tow).

Sue and Harry, who had arrived a day or so earlier, served lunch on Thursday, July 23rd at their condo for those of us arriving that day. That evening, the “cottagers” hosted a beach party picnic which was the official start of FionaFest. Canuk Greg (Canada) - who was unable to attend - bought wine for the event which we all enjoyed. Actually, the entire evening was enjoyable – UNTIL the keys to my rental car disappeared. I will not go into the details, but suffice it to say, hours later (after searching everywhere – including the garbage bins – and spending more than an hour on the phone with the car rental people and locksmiths) the keys mysteriously turned up in the large cooler – in the bag of leftover fried chicken. Say WHAT????

On Friday, we all congregated at a wonderful restaurant called “Inlet Harbor” on Ponce Inlet, south of Daytona for the official FionaFest luncheon. Linda (Minnesota) and Ceecee (Florida) joined up with us at lunch and hung out with us the rest of the day. The food was wonderful (I had a seared ahi tuna wrap that was more than I could manage in one sitting!), and the conversation flowed like wine! Everything we did all weekend turned into a photo op, so I don’t think anything happened that wasn’t duly recorded!!!

After lunch, we headed back to the cottage, and several of us spent some time at the beach. I should mention, at some point while we were all gathered at the cottage, the skies turned black, and we observed some intense winds blowing from all directions. We discovered the next day (when we purchased a newspaper) that a tornado had formed the day before directly over Ormond Beach, whizzed past us and touched down just south of Daytona, severely damaging 161 homes (only one person was injured, thank goodness!) We are assuming that the tornado was a result of all the hot air emanating from the cottage.

Friday night, we went to a great little restaurant (discovered earlier in the week by Sue and Harry) called Betty’s Café where several of us dined on fried lobster. Yummo!

On Saturday, Tami (Florida) her mom Bobbi (also a Florida Sudokuist) and Tami’s boys Dylan and Mitchell joined us for lunch at Lenny’s New York Pizza Place. What a find that restaurant was! The pizza was terrific, and Lenny put on quite a show for us! We spent the afternoon at the beach, then, by unanimous decision, went back to Betty’s Café for dinner!

On Sunday morning, most of us headed home. I took a meandering drive up Route A1A along the Florida coast, savoring the views and memories of a fun-filled weekend.

40th Anniversary Celebration! – June 19 and 20, 2009

Forty years of marriage. Yikes! It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since Jaime and I exchanged wedding vows on June 28, 1969. We were married in Chicago, honeymooned in Aspen, Colorado, then 6 months later moved East - living first in New York City; then Solebury (Bucks County), Pennsylvania; then Richmond, Virginia and – finally – St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Now I realize most folks wait for their 50th to celebrate on a large scale, but since we weren’t sure our marriage was going to last, we decided to make a big splash for our 40th! In any event, we rented the American Legion Hall for the party and hired a DJ to provide music. Jaime cooked his famous “pulled pork” on the grill, and I steamed some local shrimp and made several other dishes. Jaime and I had a blast, and we hope everyone else did, too!!!

We also treated our out-of-town guests to a seafood sampler dinner at Bonefish Grill the night before the party.

Ferry/Bike Ride to Fernandina Beach – May 30, 2009

It’s Saturday, 11 am, and friends Brenda and Phil and Jaime and I are boarding the “Bald Eagle” ferry with our bicycles in St. Marys, Georgia.

We are planning a day of biking at Fernandina Beach, Florida.

The ferry leaves on time,

and we enjoy a leisurely cruise across Cumberland Sound to the Amelia River, passing by Cumberland Island where wild horses can be seen along the shore, and arriving in Fernandina in time for lunch.

We enjoy a wonderful lunch at “29 East”, a restaurant Brenda and I discovered on a previous shopping trip to Fernandina, and then we pedal off for the day. After spending a couple of hours in Fort Clinch State Park where we discover an amazing seashell-strewn beach, a fishing pier,

and a gorgeous view of the marsh and lighthouse,

Brenda and Phil pose for a picture,

and so do Jaime and Jane

before heading down to the oceanfront to enjoy a libation at “Sandy Bottoms” restaurant.

The ride back to “downtown” Fernandina is mostly uphill, so we take our time but arrive with an hour to spare before our ferry takes us back to St. Marys. Our trip back is enhanced by a spectacular sunset!