August Weekend

Friday night we decided to watch the opening ceremony from the Beijing Olympics. One of my co-workers was talking about her family ordering Chinese and watching it. Wayne had already planned on making calzones, so we Marco Polo'd instead!

I must admit it was an amazing show! The jello shooters were good too.

On Saturday we took a ride up to Safety Harbor which is located at the top of Tampa Bay. It is a cute little town, very picturesque. We went to Philippe Park and walked around there.

This looks like a firehouse to me!

Philippe Park reminded me of Thatcher Park in Albany . . . the stone steps and walls, and the wooden railings along the path and the picnic pavilions had that same flavor.
Plus . . . it was hilly! Yes! There is some land which isn't flat!

Saturday night Wayne made linguine with arugula and shrimp and lemon. We had pineapple coconut smoothies to wash it down.

For dessert: watermelon pie.

On Sunday we swam in the pool for a while then went to see Mamma Mia at the movie theater. It was a fun movie, especially if you like ABBA!

I'm So Bad . . .

Last Saturday Wayne and I went to John's Pass for ice cream. Well, we had gone to the Wagon Wheel Flea Market in Pinellas Park to check it out, and after fighting off all those fleas (naturally, I had to get a greasy funnel cake), we headed over to the beaches with the idea of getting some ice cream. There's this wine store, Vino Florida, in the John's Pass Village. I had never gone in, thinking it was only wine, but I found out that there are other things there too; gifts, ice cream, frozen wine drinks, jellies, jams, hot sauces, candy, etc. I picked up some key lime jelly and a jar of creamy coconut spread.

Now, what to put it on. I tried it on some plain pita chips. Not bad. Hmmmm? I wonder? I went browsing the aisles at the NE Publix earlier tonight and grabbed a box of chocolate graham crackers. Mmm Mmm, good!!!

Oink! Oink!

Sarasota

Sunday afternoon we decided to take a ride down to Sarasota. It was my first time going there. On the way down we made a brief stop at the Prime Outlets. Didn't find a single bargain. I bought a glass container to store leftover coffee in the refrig.

Our first stop in Sarasota was St Armands Circle where there are tons of shops and restaurants. It's nice that there are no meters and parking is free. We walked around for a while and then had lunch at Hemingway's. For some reason, Hemingway's was decorated for Christmas. Go figure. We ate out on the porch; was very comfortable with the breeze and the ceiling fans. We could see some dark clouds north of us and saw a couple of lightning bolts and heard some thunder, but luckily, we had sunshine all day!

I ordered the Char-Grilled Chicken, Sliced Pear & Brie Ciabatta ("set atop a bed of arugala with carmelized Vidalia onions, plum tomato and stone ground musta-maise.") Wayne ordered the Cuban Pork Panini ("Hot pressed pit ham and roast pork with melted swiss, dill pickles and chipotle mustard.") Then we swithed one half of each. Both were delicious!

Afterwards we walked to Lido Beach. The water looked beautiful!

Coconut palms . . . I thought I was in Hawaii for a minute!

This was on the way into downtown Sarasota.

The building on the left was an old Kress 5 and 10 cent store.

This was the library . . . interesting architecture!

We walked around a lot and guess where we ended up? A place called "Jolly" for gelato!

After the gelato, it was back over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge back to St Pete.