How to fill time in retirement

 It was a Thursday, April 25, and my niece Lori's husband James had posted this famous exchange from the movie Miss Congeniality . The pageant Emcee, played by William Shatner, was asking a contestant: Stan Fields : Miss Rhode Island, please describe your idea of a perfect date. Cheryl "Rhode Island" : That's a tough one. I'd have to say April 25th. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket. Well, that post alone made me drop my day's chores list and see if it truly was a perfect date. About 9 AM, I headed out from home to buy a new pair of "flip-flops". My Rainbow pair was wearing out so I headed to Ron Jon's Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach. The perfect store to start my perfect date. I had seen an ad for the brand Olukai and checked them out, choosing the style Ohana - Dark Java. No photos as they were on my feet in the parking lot. Since I was this far North and I had my camera, I decided the perfect thing to do would...

 Reading has continued in 2024 with five more books read. A book of short stories, a book of poetry, a guide to the Galaxy, a book of mystery and suspense, and a non-fiction book about BONK. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger This book was published in 1953. This book has been on my shelf for a very long time. I think I may got it from my dad's collection after he died but I am not sure. I finally decided to read it.  It was a good read but most of the short stories were almost like glimpses of a scene from a bigger story, with no beginning or ending. I think because Salinger was the writer in the book I just read, Shoeless Joe , it made me want to see what he could do. I think I read The Catcher in the Rye in HS, so this is my second book by Salinger. I give the book a 2.0 (Good). Dearly by Margaret Atwood A new poetry book by Atwood published in 2020. This was a book recommended for me by Goodreads . I am a fan of her novels but this is the first poetry book I have read in ...

 I have written multiple times about my interest of connections. Sometimes it is a place, or a person or even a time or event. Whether is is Who, What, Where, When or Why, I always find the connections of interest. Maybe it is a Math thing for me. Recently, a random trip on Easter Sunday to the Wetlands along Canal 54 North of Fellsmere started me on an interesting connection. It started on a road in the middle of no where... I was walking along this road taking pictures of birds and other wildlife like alligators. It was a beautiful day and I realized I was almost in Sebastian, so I decided to head over to Captain Hiram's for a quick bite of food and maybe a beer or two.  The view from my barstool at about 11:30 AM. Being Easter, they had an Easter egg hunt earlier in the day and there were scheduled bands playing all day and into the evening. As I was eating my big plateful of mussels and drinking a Landshark draft with lime, the band started to play. They were really good a...

 In 2024, I have been reading more books than menus and I am behind my dining bucket goal for the year. But recently I visited two new places in Brevard. Both of these establishments are in buildings that have been previous restaurants that were popular. But places close, even the ones doing well, and new places try their hand at the business of serving food, drinks and maybe entertainment. Gere is my first impression of Gettin Crabby and Marker 99 . The Gettin Crabby Crab House is located on US1 in Palm Bay. For many years it was Ozzie's Crab House, which previously was in Grant when I moved to Florida back in 1979. That's right, on June 1, I will have lived in Florida for 45 years. The new place is in just the small house, located between Palm Bat Road and Port Malabar Road, on the river side of US1. I always like to take a picture of the menu. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of crab and seafood on the menu. It was mid afternoon and I had just finished a photo walk at the Tu...