5 Years Ago Today

I got my apartment!  Amazing how the time flies!

My post from 5 years ago:    http://arichny.blogspot.com/2007/07/and-winner-is-i-hope.html

Neighborhood Walks in July

It's been a while since I've posted pictures of my walks around the neighbor and over to the Bay and to downtown.  So here's a few collages of my views as I walk.  I've been walking most mornings, and again in the evenings.  It gives me time to reflect and to plan my next caper.

On my walk last night, I was joining some people along the seawall to watch some dolphins playing about.  As I was walking away, heading back to the sidewalk . . . POW!  I walked right into a dead tree branch.  I was just happy that it didn't catch me in the eye!!!

Post Birthday Celebration at Disney

On Saturday Wayne and I headed over to Orlando to meet up with Adele and Gina for my post Birthday visit and celebration.  We had a fun day, starting out at the Polynesian Resort for a late morning refreshment, then took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom.  Of course, we had to check out the treats in the Confectionary on Main Street.  We were able to control ourselves and exited empty handed.

We had a leisurely time and decided on three rides:  The Haunted Mansion, Small World and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  While we were waiting in the line at the Thunder Mountain RR, surrounded by a tour group from Brazil.  If you've ever been in the midst of one of these tour groups, you are aware of how they sometimes break into a chant, clapping hands.  One of the cast members passed by us and noticed my "It's My Birthday" pin and wished me a 'Happy Birthday!'  About three seconds later, the tour group all started clapping and singing a Brazilian version of Happy Birthday to me!  How much fun!  I just kept smiling and waving, to acknowledge their salute.  For all I know, they could have been singing something derogatory about me!

It was such a hot day in the sun, and the crowds were getting a bit overwhelming, so we took the monorail over to the Polynesian.  The trip took us a lot longer than usual and we were delayed in the lobby of the Contemporary Resort because of a mechanical problem of the train in front of us on the line.  When we finally got to the Polynesian again, we decided to relax in the lounge with some refreshing drinks from the bar:  two Shirley Temples (for Wayne and me) and a pear martini and key lime martini for the girls.  Kidding . . .

We then headed over to Epcot.  Our first stop was Spaceship Earth.  Then we headed over to The Land for our dinner reservations at The Garden Grill restaurant, where we had plenty to eat, served family style.  And the waiter kept bringing more of whatever we wanted!  We were visited by Mickey and Pluto and Chip and Dale.  They were very entertaining!  After dinner, we headed over to the British pavilion, or as we like to call it, "Wee Britain" (Arrested Development fans would recognize this). We caught the last set of the British Invasion.  They do great covers of British bands from each decade.  Each set is a different decade.  I recorded Adele and Gina dancing along, but have been forbidden to post it.  :-)  It was a fun day!  Thank you Adele and Gina!!!

I Saw A Pig Flying Today

July Boat Outing

Although it was a late night on Saturday, we headed over to Indian Shores on Sunday morning to meet up with friends for a pontoon cruise.  It was the second one this year, the last being in January.  This time, however, we headed north to do the upper half of the inland waterway.  We spent a nice seven hours out on the water!  Kudos to Chase for putting it together!

We started with mimosas.  It was a beautiful day, with the showers remaining in the distance.

There were several small islands along the way.  We stopped at two of them. The one in the top collage, with the fallen tree, is One Tree Island.  Debby knocked that one tree over when she passed through several weeks ago.

It was a fun, but exhausting day in the sun!  And we got to sing Happy Birthday to Chase and eat cake!

Celebrating Greg's Birthday at Bern's in Tampa

Wayne and Howard and Greg have a tradition where they take each other out for their birthdays.  It was Greg's turn, and this time Bern's Steak House was the celebration location.  It's well known and many visiting 'dignitaries' dine there.  The outside of the building is very plain.  We parked in the lot across the street and headed over for our 9:00 PM dinner reservation.  I was warned that upon entering, one would think it looked like a bordello.  And, they were right!  The high ceiling in the foyer and the portraits on the walls reminded me of the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom.

I didn't want to disturb the ambiance of the red lighting scheme, so I did not use a flash.  I believe the beauty shows through.  :-)


Now, I like steak, and this place is noted for it's steaks,  (Be sure to check out the menu on the above link), but I don't crave steak very much at all.  So, I ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Angels  ( jumbo shrimp stuffed with lump crab, prosciutto wrap, sweet potato fries and tomato balsamic sauce.)  It was to die for!

Our waiter, Davor, was attentive, funny, and entertaining.  He asked if it was the first visit for any of us.  Since it was for me, he suggested we take the kitchen and wine cellar tour after dinner, and then head upstairs to the dessert room.  He suggested a scoop of the macadamia ice cream, his favorite.

Davor ( in picture to the left) brought us to the kitchen where we met our kitchen guide.  On a usual night there are just under a hundred workers in the kitchen!  They cook up to 200 steaks at a time.  After our kitchen tour, we were turned over to the wine guide for a tour of the wine cellar.  That was amazing!  There are 100,000 bottles in this cellar, and another offsite cellar with hundreds of thousands more bottles!

After answering a bazillion questions from an inquisitive Wayne, our guide turned us loose to head upstairs to the dessert room.  It was around midnight now.  The dessert room was amazing!  There are seating areas in booths, set around in a dimly lit labyrinth, the booths representing wine barrels with windows.  I selected the 'Malted Chocolate Cake, pictured to the left.  I was surprised that it contained three different items! ( Valrhona chocolate creme, chocolate cake, malted marshmallow creme icing, mini chocolate malt, and malted chocolate mousse. )

Wayne selected the Trio of Liquid Center Cakes.  ( Mini dark chocolate cake, dulce de leche center with banana caramel ice cream. Mini chocolate cake, praline hazelnut center with Caramélia crunch ice cream. Mini chocolate cake, white chocolate center paired with vanilla bean ice cream. )  Howard selected one scoop of the macadamia (chocolate) ice cream, but ended up eating half of our desserts!  Greg was too full, but our waiter brought a small whipped cream tart with a candle!)

It was a most interesting and fun and filling outing!

Weekend in Mount Dora

My birthday was last Tuesday.  Last week Wayne suggested we celebrate my birthday on the upcoming weekend.  He had asked me what I would like to do to celebrate, and I couldn't really think of anything in particular that I would like to do.  On Friday night Wayne mentioned that maybe we should take a trip to Mount Dora.  A couple friends have been there and spoke highly of it, being quaint, like a New England location.  My early thoughts questioned a "mount" in Florida!  At first I was hesitant, complaining about spending so much time in the car (I thought it was 3 hours away) for a day trip.  Wayne said that if we wanted, we could find a place up there to stay overnight.  When I woke on Saturday morning, I agreed that it would be nice to go there as a change of pace.  And Wayne said that in living in Florida for 26 years, he has yet to visit the downtown.  After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, we were on our way!

We arrived in Mt. Dora just after 11:00 AM.  It was about a 2 hour drive, and mostly all highway.  We were taken with how quaint and hilly (relatively speaking!) the area is.  There are lots of shops, cafes, restaurants and all free parking!  Lots of antique shops too.   Except for the palm trees, it's a pocket of some place else besides Florida.  We enjoyed exploring the town at a leisurely pace, stopping for smoothies and wandering the downtown streets and shops.

Found a nice Lucy collection in one of the shops.  Also hit the cupcake shop:  root beer and chocolate mousse.  YUM!

We took a longer walk over to this antique mall to check it out.  Lots of stuff, but not all that appealing. As we headed back and arrived in the downtown area again, Wayne commented that he could go for cookies and milk.  I would be happy just to get something cool and refreshing to drink, sitting in the shade!  As we passed one bakery, I mentioned that they had cookies there.  Wayne seemed to ignore that comment.  He said he normally doesn't drink milk, but was wishing for some.  He said he'd like to get off his feet for a while, so suggested we get in the car and explore the area beyond the downtown.  We drove back to the highway where we came in.  I asked where he was headed, and he joked that he was tired and wanted to head back to St. Pete.  As we drove by this side road, Lake Ola Drive, he said he had wanted to turn there.  So, we did a u-ey and turned down Ola drive.  I figured maybe he wanted to see that lake.  We drove for a minute or two, then he turned around and started heading back out.  Then he stopped and turned around again.  He saw a bed and breakfast with a for sale sign, so I assumed he wanted to check it out just for fun.  When we pulled up and parked, he said to bring my things.  He surprised me with reservations at the Cinnamon Inn!  So nice!  We were greeted by Kathy and Carole (Mom).  Both had worked for phone companies in the past, so there were plenty of phone motif objects around!  They are super nice, and when we were brought up to our room, Kathy brought a carafe of milk to go with the dish of freshly baked cookies on the dresser!  So now I know why Wayne could go for cookies and milk!  She also brought up a bottle of wine for my birthday celebration!  I was completely surprised!

There are four rooms in the Inn, named after Carole and her three sisters.  We had Hilda's room, which is the only one with a jacuzzi!

After relaxing for a while and polishing off our milk and cookies, oh, and then the wine, we headed back to downtown Mount Dora for dinner at the Palm Tree Grille.  Italian, what else!  We both had the Chicken and Shrimp Vesuvio.  After dinner we walked around the downtown area again. We were surprised to see all these people milling around various shops and cafes, chatting away with a wine glass in their hand and nibbling on various snacks.  We went into one of the kitchen goods shops to check it out.  It appears that several times a month, they have these wine tastings.  For $15 you get unlimited wine and snacks at several locations.  The sleepy little town came alive!  There was music coming from different restaurants and cafes.  And, on the lake front in front of the Lakeside Inn, there was a jazz concert going on, with pieces from the 20s and 30s.

We had a wonderful breakfast at the Cinnamon Inn on Sunday morning:  fresh baked cinnamon bun, OJ, coffee, baked quiche, fresh fruit and biscuits!  That was enough for the day!  After bidding adieu to Kathy and Mom, we headed back to downtown.  We strolled around again, remarking how sleepy the town is; hardly see anyone out around their homes.  As the morning became afternoon, we saw more people on the streets.

As soon as the Operation Deep Freeze shop opened, we headed in for the frozen custard flavor of the day, chocolate malted milk.  Heaven!  On our way out, we stopped at Renningers Antique Market and Farmers Market     Nice thing was that it was inside and air conditioned!  The antiques part was amazing . . . mostly all top notch stuff.  And there was an antique auto show going on and at one point they were driving around the outside of the building, so everyone had to stop and watch!  We then checked out the farmers and flea market area.  Much of that was outside, with trailers and small buildings arranged on shaded lanes.  It was a bit hot to do too much of that!  Plus, a lot of the stuff was not appealing to either of us!  I mean, would you buy meat and fish at a place like that?  Just sayin'.

It was a beautiful weekend and lots of fun to visit Mount Dora.  It's a nice place to go for a change of pace or escape.  Not sure it would be a regular visit though.  If you like quaint and quiet, this is the place.  Hmmm?  Quiet or sleepy?

When I'm 64

YIKES!  I remember first hearing this song when I was 19!

My Three Daughters - Summer Visit

I recently had all three of my daughters for a visit.  It's always a fun time, but always goes way too fast! We went to The Garden in downtown St. Pete, for dinner before heading to Muvico at BayWalk to see The Avengers.  The girls had seen it, but I hadn't.  What a fun movie!

Our dinner at The Garden was very peculiar.  Gina and I had eaten there a few years ago, and the food was delicious!  However, there was some problem going on in the kitchen this night.  We all ordered fries with your sandwich, but when the waitress brought out our dishes, she apologized and said there were no fries, so we had potato salad instead.  We were a bit miffed, thinking she should have told us that beforehand.  Secondly, my grilled cheese sandwich was to have bacon and roasted tomatoes also.  The one pic above shows the first sandwich I received, cheese only.  Conspicuously missing, was Mia's plate.  She had ordered the chicken souvlaki sandwich, minus the tomatoes and onion.  A few minutes later, the waitress appeared and said that another waitress had taken Mia's dish by mistake, and Mia's sandwich would have the tomatoes and onions.  At that point, we said, wait a minute!  Is there a problem in the kitchen???  We could see how flustered she was.  She said it was like this all afternoon.  We asked to speak to the manager.  So the manager offered to make things right.  She gave us a free appetizer (we chose the caprice salad) to tide us over until we all got our dishes.  When we finally got all of the right stuff, it was delicious!!!  Adele had the Maryland Crab Cake sandwich ("the best in town", and it was!), and Gina had the Crispy Chicken Ranch Wrap.  Our waitress was so nice, despite her being so frazzled with the goings on there . . . she gave us a free dessert!  We chose the flourless chocolate cake.  YUM!

After the movie, we headed over to Paciugo for gelato!  Always a must on a visit!  Mia wanted to try the beignets at the Cajun restaurant a couple doors down from Paciugo, so we bought an order, ate two of them and brought the third back to the apartment where Mia finished it off!

The next morning, we headed over to Sunset Beach.  It was a beautiful day and the water was wonderful, not too hot yet; the type when you don't want to get out!

After we got back from the beach, we cleaned ourselves up.  We had tickets to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field downtown.  To simplify getting in and out, we decided to forego the parking lots around the stadium and the bottleneck after the game.  Instead, I parked in a parking garage downtown for $5.  We walked a block over to Meze for dinner.  We were in the mood for some shawarma, after seeing that last scene after the credits in The Avengers.  We enjoyed it tremendously!  Then we went to Le macaroon for some dessert before heading a block over to catch the free shuttle over to the stadium.  After a brief 4 minute ride, we were at the gate!

The desserts were excellent!  Our first time there!  You can tell by the logos on the girls' t-shirts, who they were rooting for.  The Rays won 4-3.  Boo!  Hoo!  :-)  But we had fun!

On their last day here, we went to Three Birds Tavern, several blocks from my apartment, for lunch.  Oh, my!  Another winning lunch!  We started off with a large order of sweet potato fries.  Adele had the Tavern salad with chicken, Mia had the Chicken and Cheese sandwich, I had a salad with roasted tomato dressing and roasted beet risotto and Gina had the Muffaletta.  For dessert we shared a Chunky Monkey Bread Pudding (a most definite repeat!) and the pina colada cheese cake.

After lunch, we headed over for a quick stop at Mazzaro's.  I got some lupini beans, and the girls picked up some pasta for their mom.  The visit was so much fun!  I wish it was for longer!

Happy First Birthday, Ruby!

It's hard to believe that Ruby is one year old!  We Skyped in the afternoon and Ruby opened my card and gift.  It was so cute to "be there" with her!  Oh, the marvels of technology!  Joe put together a beautiful video of Ruby's first year!  Click here to see it!

She was having fun with the balloons.  I hope she handles the first "POP!" when it happens!

G-Pa loves you Ruby!

Ruby enjoying the sprinkler on the 4th of July!

St. Pete Pride 2012

We began the day with the pancake breakfast hosted by Una Voce Men's Chorale.  From there we headed over to Central Avenue, the site of the Promenade and Street Festival.

It was a hot, sunny day, but loads of fun!  Earlier on Friday, Mia had painted her toenails, and had left the bottle on the coffee table.  When Wayne saw the bottle on Friday night, he commented, "You know what we have to do."  And we painted our toenails to match Mia's.  We caught up with one of the ladies from my former workplace who also had her nails painted, so we had to form a square.

The parade went on for about two hours.  It was the 10th Anniversary of St. Pete Pride and the crowd was estimated as the biggest yet, at 100,000!  Alec Mapa was walking with the Macy's contingent.  That's him below, drinking a bottle of water.  The biggest disappointment was that the flag that normally ends the parade did not make it up from Wilton Manors.  It was always a site to see it stretched for blocks as parade goers joined in holding it up.  :-(

After we left the parade site, we headed over to Fresh Market to pick up some vittles for lunch.  It was fun walking in with our beads and Pride apparel.  We were surprised at how many positive comments we received throughout the store!  Such a friendly place!

We headed back to my apartment to enjoy our lunch.  We then headed down to the Flamingo Resort for the after party.  What a hoot!  Jammed packed!  Mia stayed behind and napped for a couple of hours.  During her visit, she became hooked on 'Once Upon a Time' and watched the entire first season sandwiched between all the activities!

MIA:  a 300 yard rainbow flag . . .
[Pics from previous years.]

All in all, it was a super fun celebration!  Ulysses and I phoned into the radio show (WRPI - Homo Radio) to report on the festivities on Sunday morning.  Now, till next year . . . !