Gasparilla Pirate Fest 2012

This year was the first time I attended any of the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest events.  Alan and Phil hosted lunch for us and we walked over to Bayshore Blvd. to watch the parade.  I'm thinking maybe it would be nice to go to the invasion brunch sometime to catch that event next year.  All of these boats invade Tampa and take over the city.  Wonderful.

Cody was right in the middle with us!

A lovely Florida winter scene . . .

Ye Motley Crewe

Phil relaxes on his perch.

 

Wayne perched for a ring side view.

I do love palm trees.  I saw this different variety as we were leaving.

Some have asked me, isn't Florida a crazy place to live?  My reply is that all places are crazy, Florida is just a different kind of crazy.  Here we are, celebrating pirates. And this summer, we get to celebrate Republicans.  Heaven help us.

Beginning Life as a Full Retiree

This has been my first full week of absolute workless retirement!  I have been taking things slowly.  Getting out of bed when I felt like it.  Eating when I was hungry.  Making no appointments or scheduling anything!  Only one thing I wanted to do was to make sure I took at least one good walk a day.






I have been taking a different route each day, to keep things more interesting.  Work and exhaustion was my excuse for not exercising.  It's good to be moving again!






I've never seen this marker on 9th Ave N before.

This gazebo is in Round Lake Park.

I saw these colorful homes nearby.

This morning I went on my walk with my friend Dave.  Although there was a fine mist in the air, it cleared up shortly after we set out.  This is a couple blocks from my apartment, as we were finishing up our walk.