Some New Friends

One of the fears about moving to a new place is not knowing anyone and feeling isolated and alone. I have been very fortunate. St. Pete seems to have a lot of friendly people, especially if they know that you've just moved here. It seems that they go out of the way to help you feel comfortable and at home.

I've been trying to balance the unpacking (long since done), cleaning and arranging, and job hunting, with some relaxation. The beaches are a pleasant and short drive from my apartment in Old NE. In less than 20 minutes I can be on Treasure Island. Within about 30 minutes, I have my chair and umbrella up and am spreading on the sun block!

A lot of people will say hello if you're sitting there alone. And just ask someone to take your picture and it opens up the conversation. And making one new friend seems to lead to making even more new friends.

I met Otto (in the red tank top) on the beach the other day. He was off today, so asked if I wanted to go to the beach and lunch today. I spent the morning online doing some more job hunting, and then joined Otto at the beach and we then went for a late lunch at Philthy Phil's on St Pete Beach. Later around dinner time I got a call from Otto saying that a couple of his friends had called to see if he wanted to meet for a drink. He wanted to know if I was interested in going along to meet his friends. I jumped at the chance! We met at Otto's place, a few minutes from where I live, and from there went out. I met Denny (black tank) and Ron (navy tank). They moved here last April from Michigan. Really nice guys. We had a nice time talking and laughing. Turns out, Danny was a chef and is cooking a dinner this Saturday night, and I got an invite! And those who know me know I LOVE to eat! [Update March 2011: I learned last night that Denny had passed away from cancer, just after Christmas 2010.]

Otto has a home in the "Historic Kenwood" section of St Pete. He showed me photos of his house when he bought it and I could see what it looks like today. It's amazing what he had done. I asked if it was ok if I took a few pictures of his garden. There is a bamboo planting that is at least 20 feet tall, some white giant bird of paradise plants like the one in my yard here. There are several bamboo water fountains around the garden. It's a beautiful patch of earth!















The bottom part of the bamboo planting.