Get Me the Mopine - Channelling Aunt Mary

Aunt Mary had a method for eating ice cream.  I can just hear her now, explaining to Aunt Madeline, the proper way to eat a half gallon of ice cream.

First you place a mopine on your lap.  Then, you begin by scooping the ice cream from around the edges because it's softer there.  Doing it this way will prevent your lips from getting cold and numb and cause you to bite them.  Aunt Madeline complained that this always happened to her.

So, tonight, in homage to Aunt Mary, I got my mopine, my half gallon of Publix' Santa's White Christmas premium ice cream and began.  Think I need an intervention?

But, nota bene:  I have been eating small dishes each night this week, so I'm only finishing off the bottom.  So there!

Thanksgiving - The Day After - Chillaxin' Friday

It was a very relaxing Thanksgiving!  I Skyped with Ruby and Joe and Joy and Gina (visiting for school break) in the morning before heading down to Bradenton to spend the day with Linda and Louie and Sandy and Mike.  Ruby was ready for a nap, but she waved to me and pointed out various parts of her head as Daddy asked her.  She has grown so much since I visited in September.

Louie and Linda prepared a delicious Thanksgiving meal!  We had a fun time with the feast, went a little comatose afterwards, then revived enough to play 'Shut The Box'.  I was the big loser.  But it was lots of fun!  We got to Skype with Mia, with Ruby and family, and with Andrea, Iz and Ray and the Twinkies, Gabriella and Lucas.  I'm glad that technology provides the opportunity to be in the same room with loved ones who are far away!
Side note:  I didn't really watch too much of the Macy's parade, but of what I did see, my favorite moment was when Matt was introducing the number from 'Nice Work If You Can Get It', saying "S. Wonderful".  Dolt.
Now to clean my apartment to prepare the way for the Christmas decorations.

November Morphs - Fall Moves Closer to Winter

November is flying by.  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is in 2 days.  As a wise sage once said, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper.  The closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes."  In addition to my ushering at The Palladium and The Mahaffey, friends and neighbors, John and Mark asked me if I'd like to volunteer at the annual Florida Craftsmens street craft fair.  I worked at the beer truck for three hours on Sunday.  We couldn't sell beer until 11:00 AM, but I was surprised that once we started selling, we seemed to be selling a lot more than the soda truck on the other side of the street!  We sold four types of craft beers from the Cigar City Brewing, in Ybor City in Tampa.

That "Joey Brooklyn's" window sells 'New York style' pizza, which came highly recommended.  So on Saturday, I decided to give it a try.  It was very good.  Two large slices (one with pepperoni and one with meatball) and soda, for just over $6, which included the tax.  Although the pizza was good, I was thinking back to the amazing pizza I had with Joe and Joy and Ruby at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn when I went up there in May.  

After I got off duty, I walked towards the Bay.  I liked the angles as I was passing the Signature condominiums, so I snapped a few pictures.  Although the architecture is interesting, it's not a building I would like to live in.  Floor to ceiling windows is far too open for me, although I imagine the view is spectacular.

On Monday morning I met up with Otto and we went to see the Titanic Artifacts Exhibition at the Mahaffey.  It is such an amazing and tragic story and to view the items salvaged from the bottom of the ocean is tremendously moving.  On entering the exhibit, we were issued boarding passes and we 'became' the passenger whose name is on the back side.  I was 'Richard' and was in the 1st Class accommodations.  Otto was a 3rd Class passenger.  On the wall next to the exit were the names of all the passengers, those that survived and those that perished.  We learned our fate.  Fortunately, we both survived.

I snapped some pictures of the preparations being made for the holiday celebrations coming up in December.  The third row of pictures above are of a couple of the seating areas for the Chillounge event that was held on Saturday night.  It's a big to do, with lots of food and entertainment in the park.  The bottom two pictures were taken in the Granada Terrace neighborhood, just north of where I live in the Old Northeast.  I am still enjoying walking in shorts and a tee shirt!

Couldn't Resist a Two for One!

Today is my Uncle Tony's 88th birthday.  Every time I pass the Saint Anthony's Friary downtown on one of my walks and I see this statue of Saint Anthony, I think of Uncle Tony and Aunt Gloria.  I remember once, they misplaced something and put a statue of Saint Anthony upside down in their backyard.  It was supposed to help them find whatever it was that was missing.  I remember Aunt Gloria yelling out the window, as poor Saint Anthony was out there in the rain, "and you're staying out there in the rain until we find it!"  I think it may have been the car keys?  Anyhow, Happy Birthday Uncle Tony!

And afterwards, I stopped into the Starbucks downtown to get a holiday latte.  I had forgotten that there is a buy one, get one free promo going on each afternoon for several days.  So, I had an eggnog latte and a caramel brulee latte all by my lonesome.  I hear that there are no calories in a BOGO.

Welcome November

I've been logging up quite a lot of miles with my walks.  I walked 120 miles in the month of October.  And so far in November, I have walked 20 miles.  I have this neat app that keeps track of my miles, calories burned, speed and displays my walk on a map.  And, it links into my music, so I can walk with a beat.  I took the top two photos earlier this past week.  The line is to catch the speech President Clinton was giving at the Coliseum.  That cup is a peppermint mocha latte.  Thought I would get into the spirit of the season, what with the temperature being in the low 70s that day.

All of the other pictures were taken on my 7.3 mile walk this afternoon.  I hesitate taking too many pictures, since I have about 16,500 on my Mac now.  And I have been deleting a bunch.