Attendance has been a problem at the Tropicana, Even with the Rays making it to the playoffs. The word got out this morning, that 20,000 free tickets were going to be given out to tonight's game against the Orioles starting at 4:45pm. We were on it! Found a free parking space on the street and went. Since we had a couple of hours before the game started, we 'leisurely' walked around and got something to eat.
You can see here as we were walking towards the Trop, a storm was a brewin'
Mia? Are you in there?
Joe, Steve, Pete and Michael
And me!
Every time I see cotton candy I think of Adele, Mia and Gina!
Hey! Where's my peanuts and Cracker Jacks?
This is Jeff Niemann. I see him every now and then at the neighborhood Panera.
We were sitting in left field behind Carl Crawford.
Good crowd for a Wednesday night! 20,000 free tickets can't hurt!
Saturday night was another O&A Outing. Pete, Joe, Steve and I first went to Primi Urban Cafe for dinner. It was superb! Didn't take any pictures of our main courses, but did get a picture of my dessert . . . crème brûlée!
It was yummy. Can you tell?
After dinner we walked over to the American Stage Theatre a couple blocks away. The show was funny, 2 actors playing a dozen roles with a lot of quick wardrobe changes. Afterwards we met in a private area and had sweets from City Street Sweets in Tampa. Plus we each got to take a huge candy apple home!
I had all I could do to not take a bite out of it when I snapped this picture!
And afterwards we met up with Alan and Phil at the Queens Head Eurobar and Restaurant It turned out to be a beautiful night with a full moon. We lounged on one of the outdoor 'beds' and chatted while having a glass of wine while the dj kept playing the tunes and the fire boy kept twirling those balls of fire.
In reading Sean's blog post today at Idle Eyes and a Dormy he mentions that today marks 4 years that he has been blogging. I checked my first post and realized that today marks 4 years for me too! I have Gavin (over at Why Oh Why? to thank for introducing me to blogging. It all started as we were walking to the Palace to see Kathy Griffin and he took out his camera and snapped some photos of the First Church in Albany to post. That was it!
Sometimes I feel creative and post and other times I think, "Why bother?" Sometimes it seems more therapeutic for me whether anyone reads it or not. And I do like to take photos, so sometimes it's more a travelogue. It's hard to believe that it's only been 4 years, and it also seems like a lifetime ago that I started. Light years have passed. And some things haven't changed at all. How much longer I will blog is a good question. Only time will tell.
I usually drive down 1st Street North on my way home from work. Many times when I'm driving home for lunch, I'd see this woman jogging up 1st Street. Even in 90+ degree weather she's dressed as you see her here; sweats, jacket, backpack. It's a slow paced jog. One day, Pete was driving behind me at the same time and he saw her too. Now Pete and Joe are seeing her all the time. Thanks to Joe and his cell for snapping this picture moments ago and warning me that she's heading my way! It's around 86 degrees right now. I'm going to wait for her at the curb with a cup of cool water. [As she passes, I'll drink it.]
On Wednesday night I went to the Outings & Adventures Sunset / Full Moon Kayaking. More pictures and a descriptive narrative are posted here.
The weather appeared threatening, but held off for us until we were all back at Sweetwater Kayaks.
The first and last time I ever was in a kayak was back in the early 70s on Glimmerglass Lake in NY. My friend Gary went once before, ages ago. We decided to do the tandem and save us both embarrassment!
There were about 30 of us in the group. We were out on the water for about an hour and a half, then gathered at the Banana Boat for pizza. Definitely worth a repeat performance!
On Sunday I went on a hard hat preview tour of the new Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg. The museum itself is a work of surreal art! So many people had registered for the tour with the Outings & Adventures group, (click here for description and pictures) that we were split over 3 tour groups.
I was on the first tour, at 11:00 am. We started off with a fruit smoothie and panini from Tropical Smoothie. This shot is from the back, or west side.
My tour group.
Here . . . let me zoom in . . .
Too butch???
This is a shot that I think Robert may have taken earlier when he previewed the museum when setting up the tour. No photography was allowed on the tour. (I didn't think to ask if we could do sound recording. I guess that wouldn't have had the same effect though.) :-)
After the tour I went across the street on the east side, to take some pictures from the road leading to the Albert Whitted Airport.
In this shot, you can see the Mahaffey Theatre to the right of the Dali. The area in between is being developed into a plaza. Although not the same, the view from the Dali reminded me of the Lincoln Center plaza. I think the glass facade and the columns on the Mahaffey and the new columns and roof on the east side of the parking garage in the middle seemed to bring the image of Lincoln Center to my mind.
This view extends further to the north, with the Mahaffey Theatre on the left and several of the condos in downtown St Pete on the right.
I enjoyed watching this sailboat on the left in the picture. It was sailing around in the South Yacht Basin between Demens Landing (where I saw Hair last spring ) and the airport.
I like this shot with the Al Lang Stadium as a backdrop.
A wider shot
And the Vinoy, way in the distance in the center to the right of that tall palm.
Barbara and Robert with this guy who sorta has that Dali look. And I mean Salvador, not Parton.
We started the day, Wednesday, September 15, with a nice walk. It was such a beautiful morning, a breeze and lower humidity. Fall is in the air! We first headed up towards Coffee Pot Bayou.
This is the zodiac "altar" in the Granada Terrace neighborhood.
Following in her younger sisters' footsteps! :-)
We walked along Coffee Pot Bayou all the way up to 30th Ave N and then back down again to Tampa Bay to Vinoy Park and into downtown. This is the small North Shore Beach on the Bay.
Stranded with all the others from the Minnow.
We walked through the Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum. There are various palms from all over the globe.
"It's Pod People!!!"
"I was at the premiere!""
Honey, I shrunk Adele!
Notice the "spikes' along the palm stem.
We had read where the new bakery at the Cassis in Oasis had just opened, so we thought we'd check it out. There wasn't a large selection, so we opted for something else. Scroll down a couple pictures . . .
A pause to refresh at the Market Place across from the Museum of Fine Arts on Beach Drive.
This is what we opted for . . . what else???
In front of the Chihuly sculpture at the Morean Arts Center at 400 Beach Drive.
Along Beach Drive heading back to the apartment. The Vinoy is in the background.
This Bed & Breakfast was on the Christmas Candlelight Tour last December.
We relaxed briefly at the apartment and then got ready to continue our tour down the beaches. We headed back to Treasure Island and then down through St. Pete Beach, past the Don Cesare to Pass-a-Grille Beach.
These were a couple of flies on the wall on the side street where we parked.
The Hurricane restaurant is on Beach Drive across from the beach.
Looking south towards our umbrella and chairs.
What a life!
Before laying on her towel and catching 40 winks!
We found this unbroken shell with a critter inside!
Hello there! This critter got us hungry for seafood! As if!
After we left the beach we drove back to the apartment, passing the Tropicana. Go Rays! They beat the Yankees that night!
We went to the Bonefish Grill restaurant for dinner. Thought I had left my camera back home, but we saw it on the floor in the back of the car when we left! Could have had some nice shots of our "Dinner for Two" seafood platter! Had Bang Bang Shrimp for the appetizer too.
