Procrastination Revisited

 In June of 2015, one of my first posts was about not letting procrastination become part of my retirement. It was an idle dream, and I have been putting off writing a follow up to my failure. But then I realized that I am a damn good procrastinator, and I should be proud of that. The pandemic has dampened my social activity and my writing of Blog posts. I have kept busy with the simple pleasures. Eating, drinking, reading, photography, walking, etc. But I am getting older and that bucket list is only getting longer...

First, today is October 11, 2021, and it would have been the 99th Birthday for my dad Harold. Born in 1922, I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. The first photo he would have been 14, I think that is when he won the State Spelling Bee.

The second photo would have been nearer 1991, the year he passed away. He was always proud of his garden and tomatoes, but I guess he also found the time to gourd himself.

Thirty years since he died, and I think of him often. Next year I may throw a party to celebrate his 100th Birthday.

Eating

I am still trying to maintain my pleasure in going to new restaurants, but that has been on hold for a long time. There a few new places I have been but mostly I go to places I know and that have outside seating. One of my favorites in the Rising Tide in Port Canaveral. They have a nice deck and they open the windows to the bar.

They do not open until 4 pm most days but they open for brunch on Sundays. Recently I tried the CAPE CANAVERAL OMELET:

Lightly broken eggs, spiced royal red shrimp, baby spinach, corn salsa, Hollandaise sauce, home fries; Choice of Texas toast, wheat toast or biscuit

Drinking

Rising Tide was having an Oktoberfest with a variety of German beers including Marzens, wheat beer, and Dunkels. That is a Dunkel with my omelet.

There are lots of local breweries around. I like Hell n' Blazes in downtown Melbourne because they now serve food. I want to visit others from Vero Beach to Titusville.

I mentioned to my cousin Jim that I would like to restart my quest to find the best Bloody Mary in the world. There are 31 in my current spreadsheet. The quest started in 2002 at the Airport Bar in Hayden Colorado. They had a sign saying "The World's Best Bloody Mary." It was GREAT!!

The Bloody Mary in the photo is currently #8 in my list. Served as a complimentary drink on a weekend at Preacher's Bar in Cape Canaveral. I took my friend Jim Middlebrooks there for a second one and I ranked it #16. I can explain the difference but I won't, I can do that later...

Reading

I am still reading from my list but at a slower pace. I read about 36 books in 2020. I have only about 11 this year. I did buy, on a visit to Barnes & Noble, this book of William Shakespeare's plays. It cost me $6.99. There are 39 plays and I plan to read them all.

The first play I read was Romeo & Juliet. I am sure I read it in High School. Great  play!

The second play I read was Julius Caesar. Again, read in High school. Another Great play!

The third play was Hamlet. Much longer than the previous two but one of my favorites. I am kind of bias by the Gilligan's Island version, the musical. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

I just started Macbeth!

Photography

One of my favorite pastimes. There are a few subjects that I have more than enough pictures of but I keep taking them, waiting for the great shot. Here are some of the subject areas.

Launches

Well, I do live on the Space Coast and NASA is just a short drive away. SpaceX is sending lots of launches including civilians in space. I took this photo a few months ago...

Lighthouses

New subject area. I have always liked lighthouses. This is the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse located on the Space Force Station. I was able to join a group, thanks to Winnie & Ralph for the invite.

I am thinking of making a list of more lighthouses to visit and photograph.

Brevard Zoo

One of my favorite places to take pictures is the Brevard Zoo. Since I learned that I can enter as a member 30 minutes before the general public, I have been enjoying the watching the feeding and morning entry of the animals. Here is a Cheetah enjoying a nice big bone. It was funny, it would lick it like a lollipop.

Jetty Park

This is a cross between a walk and taking pictures. There is a great variety of wildlife both in and around the water. Like this Little Blue Heron...

There is also lots of manmade things like cruise ships, fishing boats, cargo ships, and other boats. This is a ride just off the beach. Looks like fun!

Sports

I use to take more pictures of sports when I was a season ticket holder for both the Washington Nationals and the Orlando Magic. I have been to Saint Petersburg to see the Rays play a few times. In all, I have ticket stubs for 268 professional baseball games, most being Spring Training.

This is a photo of the last year (2016) that the Nats played at Space Coast Stadium. The manager is giving a high five to a player that just scores. The manager is Dusty Baker, leading the Houston Astros now, playing in the current playoffs. The player is Trea Turner, a star now with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Walking

Walking on the beach is a luxury, sometimes I bring my camera and sometimes not.

Etc.

I still maintain a bird feeder, with a few squirrels that drive me crazy. One of the birds that visited recently.

A joke about the squirrels...

I lost my cat last year and I have not replaced her. I am trying to take better care of myself so I can do some more travel. 

I mentioned travel. My bucket list includes visiting all 50 states and visiting every MLB park. When the Nats left locally, I kind of was mad at baseball. Maybe I can join these two goals as one. Maybe later...