How to fill time in retirement

Marguerite Secoy Provoncha Holdman.  Mother, wife, sister-in-law, step-mother, and, for my whole life, simply Aunt Peggy. When I found out she had died last month, I felt very sad, and upset that I had not seen her on my last visit to Vermont in 2017. She was the last of my father's generation for his family, leaving us at 90 years old. I still have my Aunt Rae on my mother's side, who just turned 83. And there is cousin Ruth who will be 95 this October, daughter of my paternal grandmother's sister Eliza.  The more I learn about my family, the more I lose them. There are too many questions I should have asked when I was younger. Back then though, I was lacking the curiosity I have now of family affairs. My instigator for seeing Aunt Peggy on my Vermont visits was usually my brother John, but he was having his own health issues on my last visit. It was important for me to see him, and as we all know, there is never enough time to see all the people you want to...

It was a day with it not raining so I decided to go out for lunch. On my way to downtown Melbourne, where I was going to stop at one of my regular lunch places, I saw that the Nomad Cafe's parking lot was not full like it normally is. I decided to give the place a try after years of not stopping in. It is located on the corner of Harbour City Blvd (US 1) and New Haven Avenue. It definitely is a converted gas station and I had heard only great things, but I just never got there. Today that changed! They have a small outdoor patio for dining, and two rooms inside including a small bar with about six seats.  There was a hostess who asked if I wanted to sit inside or out, and I said inside. My table would be next to the door on the right in the previous picture, which was an emergency exit only. The hostess handed me a menu and I took my seat... From their web page: We’re a casual cafe with a tremendous passion for all things fresh and local. Our revolving menu allows us...

Yesterday, I knocked off my to-do list quickly and I usually treat myself to some excursion to waste the rest of the day. I had friends who had just visited a pick-your-own blueberry farm located in Mims, a small town north of Titusville. It was a beautiful day with puffy white clouds under a deep blue sky. So I took my camera along. Normally, going that far North means getting on I-95 to save time, but I was on an excursion, and who knows, maybe I would get lucky. So I drove up US-1, heading North, hitting traffic lights and local traffic in Rockledge, Cocoa (not Cocoa Beach which is a separate city), Port St. John, and finally Titusville. In Titusville, I stopped at the marina on the north side because I had read that duplicates of the Nina and Pinta were there. I was excited, having stopped at this place two years ago to see the beautiful Hawaiian Hokolea. Seeing two young Spanish beauties was stirring my blood but I guess I should have read the article closer, as they were n...

It was such a beautiful day I decided to drive to Port Canaveral to take some photos. It was very windy and not too much wildlife was out. I decided I would head over to Merritt Island and maybe hit the bird sanctuary over there. As I started to cross over the causeway (SR 528 aka Beachline formerly Beeline) I remembered there was a small restaurant I wanted to visit at Harbortown Marina. Here is a map... I found the place and parked in the large parking lot provided. There were a few other vessels parked nearby... The entrance was very Florida like with large palm trees and the building painted an island yellow, like a pineapple or banana... The place is called the Island Dockside Grill and is located right on the water at the marina... There is a large dining area inside, a large screened in patio, a small two-sided bar, and a few chairs out the bar door (to the left of the lady in pink) and a picnic table. This outside area is located next to a large pool, whi...

On April 30, four years ago, I had my retirement party at the ENSCO office on Wickham Road. It is too bad that time moves so quickly as you get older, but I can still get a lot done in three days. Here is a photo journey presentation of my last weekend in April of 2018. It started off on Friday when I wanted to get some lunch. I was planning to stop at the sushi place in Palm Bay, but only if there were more than three cars in the parking lot. I hate uncrowded places. There were only three so I traveled by and thought about stopping at Malabar Mo's but it was too crowded. I ended up stopping at a new place, it had been a while on that quest, called Rib City in the tiny town of Grant Florida. There were lots of old railroad decor inside and out. The entrance... The back garden area... The bar and my bartender...  They did have the Dragon Point IPA on tap from the local Intracoastal Brewery which I ordered. Here are a few other scenes in the restaurant from my ba...