Saint Patrick's Day

 In the past, I would spend this particular day with friends behind Meg O'Malley's in downtown Melbourne. But because of the pandemic, last year's celebration was canceled and this year the party was held this past Saturday and I did not attend. Megs is still renovating and not open but they sponsored the street party. There is a Parade in Melbourne this coming Saturday and I plan to take pictures. I did go out yesterday and drank a few cans of Guinness. My friend Jim cut one of the cans in half so we could see the Nitrogen canister which we found out was just a round plastic ball.

This day has usually been a special day in my life. When growing up in Middlebury VT, I attended St. Mary's Catholic School for grades 1 to 6. Each year on St. Paddy's day we would have a pageant, each class would perform either an Irish dance or song, and all the parents and family were invited.

My first day at ENSCO was on March 17, 1980. Each year when drinking green beer, I was also celebrating another year at the fine company I spent 34 years with. There were Spring Training games with the Marlins, Expos and Nationals, where one team or both would have special uniforms, with green hats or lettering. I still own a few of those hats.

Before drinking my Irish beers yesterday, I took a 45 minute walk on the beach. I had brought my camera but there were not too much interesting wild life. One of the condos did have a bird on the roof, you can see it on the right side of the left peak. A second picture has been cropped a little closer.

Thank God I have a Zoom lens so I could see that it was an osprey eating a fish...

One of the Disney ships was to the North, but it was a little farther out than normal so it appeared below the horizon...

Normally I take pictures of the Willets as they run in the surf, it was nice to see this one resting comfortably in the sand. Look at the size of that beak! They use that to grab sand fleas from below the sand.

A jet was flying South toward Miami or maybe the Caribbean...or maybe South America, or Cuba...

I tried to get a picture of the large flock of Brown Pelicans flying toward me but decided to catch the crowd, larger than normal for a Tuesday, that was behind the Crowne Plaza. You can see the V above the crane.

I mentioned the sand fleas earlier. They really are not fleas but actually a crab, specifically a mole crab that grow to about an inch long. They make good bait when surf fishing as not just the birds like that willet eats them, but many types of fish too. A man had a sand flea catcher and was getting quite a few. He was showing the tourists how it was done. I asked if I could take a picture of his catch. He said yes...

BTW, they are also know as Sand Crab, Beach Flea, Sand Bugs or a Sand Fiddler. Whatever you call it, the pompano, redfish, sheepshead, and other fish love it.

The Hilton and Radisson had crowds behind them. I guess it is Spring Break.

Behind the Hilton, someone had dropped (or thrown) some human food that the seagulls were very excited about. I caught this photo as they flew around me. I usually try to get by quickly since the turds of a seagull is hard to get out of a camera lens...

I got back to Lou's Blues for my normal beers on Tuesday. There is a group of six, and this was the first time since last March that we were all together. Most of us have just two or three beers and then we leave before the five o'clock crowd moves in.

As Mac and I were last to leave, two New Yorker retirees stopped us to ask where there might be a place with live music. Being Tuesday, they are not many choices but Mac sent them to Squid Lips in Melbourne, on the Indian River. I know my nephews all like it and other people I know. I stopped last Friday on my way back home for this lovely sandwich called the Buffalo Shrimp Wrap.

I did not want any more beer so I had a Corona Light. The sandwich has fried shrimp coated with a key lime habanero sauce wrapped together with blue cheese slaw. Those are kettle chips.

Squid Lips recently started having live music every day again. This was the guy last Friday...

I mentioned the two New Yorkers. One retired as a data communication expert with the Electricians Union of New York. The other just retired after 33 years as a subway driver in NYC. He said he only hit and killed one person in all those years, and it was on his second day on the job! He said most drivers have more than one. What a life! I just hoped that they drove over the Eau Gallie Causeway and not try to drive under it...

Happy St. Paddy's Day!