Dinner and great entertainment

Today was a pretty low-key day for us.  We slept in until noonish - what a wonderful luxury!  Then we went shopping around town and finally out to an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Original Oyster House.

While eating our meal, David looked out the window and noticed two kayakers paddling our way.  We watched them as they came closer and closer to the restaurant.  We were casually talking about how funny it would be if one of them tipped a kayak over.  Then the guy capsized his kayak right in front of us!  We couldn't help but giggle like school kids as he thrashed around in the water and watched his kayak sink.  Soon everyone in the restaurant was standing up to better view the spectacle.

The lady kayaker tied her boyfriend/husband's sunken kayak onto hers and then started paddling over to the guy who was floating on his life jacket.

He was just hanging out enjoying the water while she worked away towing a kayak full of water along.

Then he started swimming and abandoned his life jacket.  Apparently he told her to come back and fetch it so he could swim to shore.

He splashed around quite a bit while she returned to rescue his life jacket - all the while still towing his sunken kayak around.  David casually asked me what I thought the guy would do if he yelled, "Gator!" out the window.  I think the poor guy would have drowned himself.  By this time I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face.  Half the restaurant was, too.  Not to mention all the photos people were taking of the couple.

After the girl captured the life jacket, she had to turn around yet again - this time to give her poor guy a break.  He had exhausted himself splashing about in the water and didn't make much headway.   Being the good woman that she apparently is, she then paddled herself with all her gear, towed a sunken kayak full of water, and her boyfriend/hubby to shore!  What a workout that must have been!

By the time we finished our meal - and dessert - the couple had finally reached shore.  They managed to unload all the water from his kayak and paddle off into the sunset.  Sigh.  I just love happy endings!

Date number two

David took the day off today so we had the whole house and day to ourselves.  We started the day off by sleeping in until after 10.  What luxury!  Then we got up, got dressed, and drove over to Pensacola for the day.

Once we arrived in Pensacola, we went straight to the boat show.  It was interesting looking at all the different boats.  There were pontoon boats, ski boats, fishing boats, yachts.  You name it and they had it.  We enjoyed window shopping so to speak.  Then we went to McGuire's Irish Pub for an early dinner.

It was a really interesting restaurant.

Inside there are signed dollar bills everywhere you look.  I read plaque on the wall that there are over 900,000 dollar bills inside the restaurant.  Wow! 

The food was excellent.  David ordered a corned beef sandwich and I got a burger.  The burger was so big I had enough for three meals.  We finished our meal with some Irish bread pudding.  It was delicious!  Then we headed home for the evening.  What another fun day!

Our romantic date night

Grace went to Queenie's house for the weekend.  Grace was excited and so was David and I.  We figured this might be our last chance for a weekend alone for a while.  So we took full advantage of it.

We started off by going fishing.  What can I say?  Seeing David in his fishing hat and pulling his cart makes me go all giddy inside.  I just love to watch him fish.

And he's quite the talented fisherman.

How many men do you know who can catch two fish with one line?

And then we watched as the sun began to set.

The sky glowed with a rainbow of colors.

And slowly, so very slowly, it dipped below the horizon.

Still we watched until it was completely gone from the sky.

And then we went home and watched a movie.  It was wonderful.  Just the two of us, watching the sunset together, me watching David fish, able to watch scary movies and not worry about a two year old running in. 

Pier adventures

Today I just wasn't up to going to the gym with David and Grace, so I decided to walk to the pier to watch the sunset.

It looked like it was going to be pretty spectacular, but I had no idea what was in store for me.

It was just me there at the pier - no one else. 

I looked around and noticed that the alligators were back.  They had been missing all winter long. 

Then I heard something big moving fast in the brush behind me.  And a really loud squeal.  It sounded like a stuck pig.  It was very loud and high-pitched and somewhat spooky like an animal dying.  It was coming from behind me in the rushes.  Then I heard a loud CHOMP! and CRACK! like bones being crunched.  Then the squeal abrubtly cut off and I noticed the gator in the water running into the brush almost like he was planning to share a snack.  It was more than a little unnerving.  I raced halfway up the pier and climbed onto a bench and looked into the brush to see what was eating and what was being eaten.  Then directly in front of me, I see some of the rushes move and hear something small running through making a sharp trilling noise.

I looked down and then I noticed this little guy.  He was running around frantically and making this shrill crying/warbling noise.  I surmised then that it was his mother that was eaten by a gator.  I felt so bad for the little fellow that I was tempted to get him and take him home.  But there's no way I could climb down to the ground from where I was and who knows if he had rabies or something.  Still, my heart went out to him.  I hope he found his family or some close relatives to live with.  It was heart-wrenching to watch him run around so lost and frantically calling for help.

Soon he disappeared back into the brush, still calling for his mother.  I headed home a little saddened but also a little excited.  It just goes to show that you never know what to expect when you go out to our pier.  Who needs Animal Planet when you have stuff like this happen in your backyard?

My first lemon blosssom

My lemon tree has finally produced its first lemon blossom!

It's beautiful and oh so fragrant!  Oh my goodness, the aroma is so incredible!  For such a small blossom, it has an amazingly powerful and heady scent.  It's a little like honeysuckle but with a slight citrus undertone.  It smells crisp and clean but delicately sweet at the same time.  It's such a wonderful fragrance that I just want to bottle it up and pour it out everywhere!  It's ambrosia to my nostrils. 

I love it so much so that I am seriously considering buying a dozen more lemon trees and covering both balconies with them and putting one in every room of our house.  Except then we wouldn't have any room to sit or enjoy our sunsets, so I guess that idea is on hold for now.  But if we ever buy a house with a yard here in the South, then we'll have a whole lemon grove - just for its exquisite, enticiting, heavenly aroma alone...

I'm absolutely giddy over that one blossom and there are many more on their way.  I can hardly wait!

A family treasure gets a face lift

This is Grace's desk.

She calls it her "boo tare" (blue chair).

As you can image, it's quite an old desk.  In fact, I remember playing on it when I was a little girl.

After a half hour of sanding (using an electric sander, of course), two cans of red enamel spray paint, a warm sunny day outside, a painter's mask (remember I'm pregnant folks, and didn't want to chance harming the baby.  So yes, I wore the silly looking painter's mask while painting outdoors for all the neighbors to see), and a lot of patience while waiting for the paint to dry, Grace's favorite "boo" (blue) chair is now a bright and cheerful red. 

When Grace first saw it, she said, "Oh my boo tare!  What happen to my boo tare?"  (Oh my blue chair!  What happened to my blue chair?)  Uh-oh.  My heart plummetted to my stomach as I told her I painted it for her.  Then she said, "Oh it's boo-full, Momma!  I yub it!"  (Oh, it's beautiful, Momma!  I love it!)  Whew!  For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to buy some blue paint and start all over again.  Thankfully she loves it and so do I.

Happy Anniversary Pappy and Mammee!

Today is David's parent's 41st anniversary!  Happy anniversary!  We love you dearly and wish we could be there to celebrate with you! We can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

For some reason, Grace has been calling Mammee (correct pronunciation "Ma-mee") "Mimi."  We're still working on her getting it right.  I think it will help a lot once we make it Charlotte for a nice long visit...