4 Years in St Pete!

Four years ago tonight I flew into Tampa.  I left New York, where I was born and lived all my life, to begin a new chapter in Florida.  I had a nice welcome, double rainbows over Tampa as the plane was landing. It was exciting and a bit scary at the same time.  The 'X' marks the spot where my apartment is located.

Time goes so quickly.  Dr. Ray asked me in our phone conversation earlier this week, if I still considered Albany "home".   Since my first day in Tampa Bay, I have always felt comfortable here.  This is my home now for this part of my life.   Other than my college years, Albany and Colonie were always home.  But those chapters have ended and new ones have begun.  I'm looking forward to more adventures . . . stay tuned.

Afternoon at The Dali

 Another day off today, my scheduled travel day back from Boston to Tampa Bay.  Almost a year ago I went on a hard hat tour of the soon to open Dali Museum.  I bought an annual membership.  I finally took advantage and spent a couple of hours at the museum this afternoon.

All of these ribbons were hanging from this tree in front of the museum.

I walked around the front of the building before going inside, trying to get some interesting angles.

The curving glass areas provide some really interesting shots.

Looking up from the first floor.

Stairway to heaven . . .

 View from the third floor.

 The cafe area on the first floor.

Looking north towards downtown St Pete.

Ah, l'amour!

It's raining inside the Rolls.

Shazam! I'm Such a Geek!

Since my trip up to the Boston area was cancelled this past weekend because of Irene, I was off today and am off tomorrow.  I decided to get myself up and out of my apartment.  I first dropped off some plastic bottles and papers and cardboard to the recycle center at Crescent Lake Park.  From there, I headed down to the downtown Starbucks to get an iced coffee and to relax and read my book club selection for next month.  It's a collection of short stories by Andrew Holleran, "In September, the Light Changes".

While I was stirring in some Splenda and half and half into my iced coffee, I picked up one of the free iTunes download cards that are always on display.  This one sounded interesting:  Shazam, by Encore.  So tonight, I saw the card sitting next to my iMac and figured I might as well listen to it and see if I like it enough to download.

Well, silly me!  It isn't a song, it's an App.  There's no fool like an old fool.  So, naturally, I downloaded it to my iPad.  I tested it out on some of the more obscure songs in my iTunes library and "SHAZAM!"  it matched the songs!  And, in Googling images, I found a plethora of Shazam pics!

I'm wondering if this one inspired the name of the app?  Trying to do a bit of research about the character and it's a bit confusing.  Seems it's a boy who turns into Captain Marvel by yelling, "Shazam!"  Looks like over the years a movie project has come and gone several times.

So, in addition to Googling I can now Shazam.  Dangerous!

Flamingo Spotting / Favorite Jogger Spotting

Spotted this flamingo sporting Mickey Mouse ears on the antenna of my VW this morning.  Thanks Gina!  I love it!

And spotted our famous jogger on my way to Starbucks this morning, just before noon.  N.B.  weather:  high 80s with humidity around 80%

Re-Booked!

All booked for trip up to Wellesley in two weeks.  That is, as long as Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince or Whitney don't interfere!

Fortunately, Gina has arrangements for her arrival in Boston tonight.  Thank you Nancy!

Grounded!

My flights into Philadelphia and Boston cancelled.  So far, Gina may be still a go to land in Boston around 10 pm.  Uh! Oh! moment:  I have one of her suitcases that I was bringing up with me.

Into The Eye of the Storm

*SIGH*  This is a satellite image of Irene taken tonight.  Fortunately, it's not going to hit Florida.  And on the Gulf side, impact is minimal if any.  Tonight on my way back from picking up a few things at Publix, I paused to look at the magnificent sky, dusk blue with white billowy clouds backlight by the setting sun.  While I was in Publix, I received a couple of recorded calls from Southwest Air concerning my flights scheduled for this Saturday.

I'm flying out of Tampa just before noon on Saturday to head up to Massachusetts to meet up with Gina and get her settled to begin her junior year.  I have a layover in Philly mid afternoon.  According to this latest projected path and timing, I think I may not have trouble getting in and out of Philly.  SWA offers a no charge opportunity to switch, but only other flights that day are thru BWI, which is slightly further south.  Don't think that will work!

Looks like it's not going to be a nice sunny weekend like last year!

We have seats reserved on a bus on Monday to head down to NYC to visit Joe and Joy and to meet Ruby.  Now I'm thinking that may not happen.  :-(  Super disappointment ahead if that happens.

Thanks to Mark M for this photo.  This is the sky I was talking about in the first paragraph.

Summer Double Feature Two Two Thumbs Up!!

Today was my day off and I didn't want to fill it up with "things I need to get done."  So after ironing some shirts, I headed downtown to the BayWalk Muvico theaters.  The weather has been pretty much typical summer stock . . . sunny with isolated and scattered showers, mostly in the afternoon.  I figured I would live dangerously and tempt the fates with a walk.

My first feature was "The Help".  I've heard lots of good things about it.  It was excellent.  Laughs and tears in a story of a not too distant past.

The Help stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny - three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.  From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed - even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times. --(C) DreamWorks


Although not a big part, Sissy Spacek was great!

Thumbs up!

For my second feature, I wanted to escape with something more "frivolous" so I chose [spoiler alert] "Midnight in Paris".  I've heard good things about this movie and I do like most of Woody Allen's films, but this was far from "frivolous"!  I loved it!  
Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.

I think this is one of his best films.

I was intrigued by this film and the way it brought you back and forth through time.  Some really great lines too!


Oh, and on my way home I stopped at the Lucky Dill for a falafel wrap.


And as luck would have it, I am safe and dry in my apartment as the thunder is booming outside!