The Adventures Continue

In addition to our one-year anniversary, there have been other firsts of late: Elizabeth participated in the canning of pears (And Sandy made more pepper jelly).

We went to two new restaurants: 1) Lin's Asian Cuisine, where beautiful vegetable carvings graced each plate and the world's coolest money-cat welcomed us in, and 2) Silver Sands at Harbor Docks, a great ramshackle joint on the water in Destin where the floors have been walked on so long the grain has risen. Good food both places, definitely Do Agains!

We survived our first Tropical Storm to make landfall within 20 miles of here: yowser, what a night!



We survived our first High Season: there has been a dramatic drop in the number of summer people--phew!

And (jaw-drop), finally our new dining room chairs arrived, having been dilly-dallying on a loading dock in Memphis for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow, when we host mahjongg with the local ladies, we'll test 'em out.

Are we Done Moving Yet?

On the one-year anniversary of our move to Beach-A-Rama (one year ago, weren't we stunned watching Frick and Frack make a hash of their packing job), we've made a list of what we miss most about Tuscaloosa.

1. It goes without saying that we miss our friends, but thanks to their generosity (and our good fortune to live at the beach) we get to see them pretty often and keep in touch with their lives.

2. Beyond that, we miss the CSA, the farmer's market, and the guy down the Tierce Patton Farm Road and his truck garden. Sunny Florida (or at least this very sandy part of it) has nothing much to offer in the way of produce, much less the truly gorgeous stuff to which we had grown accustomed.

3. We miss Scooter, tho what can be done about that?

But we're delighted that Squeaky has made such a great adjustment to the beach.

4. We miss Woodrow's (and Archibald's) and Taco Casa's tacos & sweet tea. But Oh Boy, are there some Great Restaurants here!

5. We miss the regular poker game, especially when it met at Wendy & Joel's house, where all manner of people were wont to drop in.

6. We miss Greenetrack Bingo and the proximity to the Silver Star--and for that matter Tunica--and the fact that we could split for the casinos whenever we wanted because Suni was ALWAYS available to catsit.

7. We miss the BuncoBabes--and having a neighborly connection with those women from around the lake.

Yet here we are in even closer touch with our neighbors--literally chatting whenever we want over the fence or on the beach walkover or in the middle of the street. It's kinda cool.

8. And natch we miss the lake itself, its constant change, reflections of it all moire-like on the great room ceiling.

9. And we miss the Focus on Senior Citizens Center, our introduction to tai chi, James (now gone, alas) and all the rest.

But here we've got Henry (and Ed) and Tai Chi as a martial art.

Turns out we can't even make this a top ten things because there's no number 10.

We celebrated our day all week long, playing bingo THREE times and eating our favorite dinner at Fat Clemenza's last night. In fact, we'll be eating it again tonite at home. Home!

Evidence

This blog has been remiss in that it failed to report that Tom & Jess gifted S w/a marvey new upgrade to the Wii, a Motion Plus sensor--and the suite of Wii Resort games that use it. One of the best BD prezzies ever! This bonus posting is designed not only to put that failure to rights, but to supply vindication! During the past couple of days, when S played table tennis, many of the in-game observers and some of her opponents have displayed bizarre facial features. When she reported this to T&J (who also have the game), their response, like that of her dear friend E, was that poor S must have gone 'round the bend. Well, c'mon, check this out:




Hope you caught the brief glimpse of Michael Jackson therein. Barack Obama has been appearing too, but we don't seem to have caught him on film. YET!

What follows is a slightly jerky taping of S taking on Bedroom Slipper Guy, filmed with her left hand as she played the game with her right. Note not only his "paddle," but the (eye)ball:

The Great Rearrange Continues

Since we're still without houseguests or most of our true neighbors (there are still PLENTY of summer people), we are continuing with our housekeeping chores. We took up all the carpet tiles in the living room, cycled out the grungiest and cycled in the cleanest, and sent two boxes of the dead back to the factory for recycling. In preparation for fall, if it ever comes, the Screen Queen came and repaired three of our screens, including the one into which Squeak had put a cat-sized hole. S moved on to the former laundry room (now the cat room), and attempted to at last put things where they might be useful and/or out of the way: this zone was where we stuffed things we didn't have a place for a year ago when we moved in and ever since we've been stuffing and stuffing.

Squeak, btw, has so far evaded the clutches of the jasmine, but she had a nasty set-to with a mean feral cat. We think that constant anxiety about letting her guard down with this beast on the prowl has made our poor kitten eschew the outdoor bathroom and return to her box. Oh, if only she had better aim! Part of the reorganization included moving the litter out of the specially-designed-for-it cupboard and away from the woodwork...

Mahjonng with Julie and Susan at Julie's condo was a major milestone: each of them seems to have become much less tentative and more imaginative in her play, and each of them won more than once. When the neighbors and the Canadians return this winter, we'll be ready to seriously rock and roll! Julie cooked up a feast: pork roast, green beans, yams, applesauce. We brought a bottle of wine and Suz brought brownies--scrumzo!

And Sunday's trip to the Bingo Castle yielded some nice surprises: S won a bingo and a half; E won a partial bingo; and S uncovered one of the $500 prizes on The Bingo Board. However, the Lotto tickets S bought at what looked to be the height of her streak have not yet netted us 23 million dollars. Which is why S has attempted to breathe new life into her greasiest t-shirts by tie-dying them a color that will hide some of the salsa and wine.

In an effort not to return to the amazingly crowded grocery store, where the checkout lines sometimes trail all the way back to the dairy section, we've been cooking down the larder at home. Most adventurous, perhaps, was S whomping up homemade ricotta; tastiest was E's batch of tomato sauce which has so far graced eggplant parmesan, stuffed peppers, cannelloni (homemade pasta, stuffed with the aforementioned ricotta), a quick noodle dinner--and is destined for tonight's fried eggplant. Which it might be time to macerate! Later, all.