How to fill time in retirement

 For the third year in the row, I have come up short on my Bucket List item to eat at a new restaurant every two weeks. I can blame the pandemic for 2020 and partially for 2021, but I have no good excuse for 2022. In 2019, I hit 26 new places, meeting the set goal, but I only had six and five the next two years. At least I went to seven this year, an increase. Let's just say I am trending in the right direction. I should mention that in 2022 that 80 new restaurants opened in Brevard County. I am currently adding these to my bucket list. Sadly, one of the new places is now one of the Closed places. El Rincon Latino , walking distance from my house, did not survive. The storefront has been removed and a trash bin sits full out front, but there is a sign above  the entrance with a new Latin place coming soon called Waterfalls . I have not seen any other publicity except for the sign. Since my last post on new places, I have been to three new ones for me. Chez Quan's Beachside Hig...

 Apologies to Sir Mix-a-lot, but living next to a busy port allows me the pleasure of seeing many boats, big and small. Even when my attention is to take photographs of a rocket launch, I have the tendency to be drawn to following the boats and ships at Port Canaveral. Here are a few photos I have taken in the last few weeks. While waiting for the SpaceX to launch a Falcon 9 rocket, two large ships passed each other. The ship on the right is owned by Victory Casino Cruises and was returning from its afternoon gambling run tour. The ship on the left was leaving the port for a 3 or 4 night cruise. Perspective makes the gambling boat look almost as big as the cruise ship. But no, as the ships get closer together, you can see that the gambling boat is just 4 decks while the RCL cruise ship is about 15 decks. Every cruise ships that leaves is escorted by the Brevard County Sheriff. I think it is related to Homeland security. This cruise ship was the Independence of the Seas. I have not ...

 The start of the holidays, when do they officially begin? When I was young, Thanksgiving and Christmas was separated by a whole month, but in this day and age, the holidays have become a blur. The candy aisle, which I try not to visit very often, seems to go from Easter candy directly to Halloween and immediately followed by Christmas candy canes. Family gatherings were always important but this year I was alone on Thanksgiving. I did not even make a turkey or a ham. I had a bologna sandwich, and even that was not turkey, as I have been having trouble finding that at the store. At least the TP has come back. I was somewhat depressed but I decided I needed to make my own happiness. And you know what, I found my Happy Place. Well, it actually was a sign in Cocoa Beach, behind a small restaurant or café. Every year I like to go to the Art Festival and have a few beers and listen to the local music. For a few years, my good friend Bobby Bicknell has joined me, but he was unable to mak...

  Today is Thanksgiving in 2022, and I am Thankful that my parents got together on this day 76 years ago, and got married. They would have four kids, and of course, saving the best one for last. The ceremony was at Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Middlebury Vermont. The Maid of Honor was my mom Stella's sister Lillian, known by me as Aunt Peasoup. The Best Man was dad Harold's younger brother Kenneth, known by me as Uncle Ken. The kid on the left was Ronny Shackett. mom's cousin and pseudo-brother. Not sure who the old man is next to Mom. Another shot of the wedding party on November 24, 1946. The three brothers were together before the wedding at the Provoncha home on Seymour Street. This is Ken, Maurice, and Harold. Apparently Uncle Moose is ready for the day with a bottle of liquor in his arm. This house has since burned down, but it was the home of Uncle Moose and his wife Aunt Peggy and their four kids: Marcia, Charlie, Joe, and Mary. In 1983, Thanksgiving also fel...