Looks like we've hit our usual three week mark. Time for another post.
We're really not sure where the time goes these days. All we know is that it is going... fast!
One good part of that is that the snowflakes are heading back north.
The roads in our usually quiet town are returning to their rather sleepy condition (comparatively speaking, of course, this IS still FLA) and our retirement community will become a wonderful ghost town. Not that we really noticed any of them were here other than more cars in the lot and a few more hello's now and then, in passing.
The weather is warming up. The evenings and mornings no longer have a chill on them. The wind, however, is still wonderfully oceanic.
Did we mention that our landlord bought herself another condo across the road?
Well, she did but she didn't like the furniture that it came with and she missed the stuff she had at this place. We were not as fond of the stuff here as she was. So, the other day we did a switch and now we have a whole new bedroom set, new dining room table and we let every piece of art and decoration go that we could so that things are getting closer to our preference for minimalistic design.
We did keep this awesome painting by an artist in Quito, Ecuador though. When we rented the place the landlord told us she had some stuff she really liked under the bed. We never looked at it. When we pulled them all out she decided she didn't want this one. It quickly found a new home over our new dining room table.
We've really been enjoying the bikes but would like to say that the phrase "it's like riding a bicycle" probably did not refer to small foldables with 18.5" wheels. We are still getting the hang of the unique balance issues with these but all in all they are a complete blast! And as the weather begins to warm, it sure is nice to have that motor to relieve us and generate a solid breeze.
The other day we rode the bicycles from our place to the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is a beautifully constructed boardwalk along the St. Lucie River. There are a few sections that jut out into the water like this one right in front of Downtown. We sat here for a snack and enjoyed watching the terns fish and the dolphins surfacing.
One of these days, when we both have Sunday off, we'll head downtown for the morning's fresh market and follow it up with their free concert offering.
Let's see. What other tidbits have we for you?
Our oregano and basil are thriving on the back porch.
The basil has actually started to bloom.
It gave Nicole her first macro work in a good long while.
We haven't been doing many beach clean-ups lately. But we have walked now and then.
The other day Nicole found another 'soldier' for her flotsam army. Compared to the others he'd be more in the colossal range.
But certainly a fire-fighter will come in handy during any upcoming battles.
That black nut on the left is also our first Candlenut which was equally exciting.
We are both only working part time but things have been busy at our respective work places.
Darlene is wracking up the free snacks and pizza hut personal pizzas for her great work in selling Target Red Cards. Nicole has been enjoying her time at the Home Depot Service Desk. There is a lot to learn but it appears she's doing o.k. as she received her first Homer Award the other day.
All of this excellent customer service has these two introverts quite wiped out though and our days off lately have been utilized to binge on Call the Midwife episodes and doing quiet things around the condo.
One day, Darlene was working with the plants on the back porch and felt something in the dirt of one of them. It was a statue of some sort. When she pulled it out she thought she had just saved Jesus from certain death! When we asked our landlord about it she laughed and said she thought her friend from Australia had put it there for some reason and she couldn't remember why.
We didn't think much more of it and figured we had another 'soldier' for the army.
Then Nicole started doing some research about why someone would bury Jesus upside down in a plant and discovered that this was not Jesus after all. It was his "step-father" St. Joseph (aka Mary's husband).
St. Joseph is thought of as the patron saint of workers. Apparently, there is a very old Catholic tradition of burying a St Joseph statue upside down to expedite selling property. It even goes so far as to say that the deeper you bury him (in other words, the harder you make him work to get out) the faster your house will sell! Something about that just doesn't seem right.
Nonetheless, in addition to being the patron saint of selling homes, Joseph is also the saint of:
- (Against) hesitation and doubt
- Fighting communism
- Enjoying a happy death (because Joseph is said to have died in the arms of Mary and Jesus)
- Many countries, including Canada, Mexico, Austria and Vietnam
- Expectant mothers
- Immigrants and travelers
* We like that last one.... travelers. Perhaps he will have to come with us when we next hit the road.
....... Happy Trails .......