Dophins out my Window!!

We had heard, and mini me looked regularly, but hadn't spotted any dolphins until today.  And yes we saw 3 dolphins headed North swimming past our patch of beach as we munched our lunch on our balcony today.  Hurrah!  Below is a pretty good shot of what we saw:



Perhaps these 3 took the words of a local quilting shop to heart and are heading north to cooler climes this summer.  April did pass in the blink of an eye for us -- The following notice on a quilting website says it all about living in Florida:

"We are heading into May.  The month of April passed in the blink of an eye.  Everyday we're saying, "Good-bye" to our northern winter friends and preparing for the heat and humidity of summer in Florida.  At any rate, it's the time now to stay inside and enjoy the cool comfort of our air-conditioners and SEW!  Some very conscientious people are already sewing Christmas gifts!"

Feels like we are living south of the equator and the seasons are reversed - Ah the life of a Floridian!  They "do it differently in Florida" as we are often told.



Mini Me Goes in Search of Crafting Friends & Turtles

Hubby checking he could reach the ceiling

Mini Me decided to take a break from the beach (awaiting knitted bathers from CB!) and planning renovations -- shopping for step stools with life sized me and hubby at Walmart just about did her in!  Spotting a WoodCraft Store (selling electric wood shop tools/machines) on the way hubby mused that must be the male equivalent of a Quilting Store.

So off mini me went on Saturday scouting out a local Needlecrafting Group at the St Petersburg Library -- meeting a new Amigurumi friend (yes that is piglet) before getting lost in a yarn basket ...


The group ranges from teenagers to Grandmas sitting in the Children's area complete with rocking chair and an 'observer' who we tried to coax into knitting again. Knitting seemed to be big with the group, so mini-me has also discovered several quilting groups - and potentially a weaving group - in the area to explore along with a women's group at the local church.  Still missing her book club though.



Conversation centred on teaching the youngsters how to ride the local bus, university including coursera.com (free on-line university courses highly recommended by the twins) and using a cro or afghan hook.  "Crochet on the double"  is a new one on mini me - always more to learn!  Mini me now features in the group's Facebook blog too (Mad Yarnigan).

 

 

Back at the beach, life sized me realises this lifestyle may require a new lighter casual wardrobe and attitude as the temperatures hit 30+ degrees and the a/c kicks in automatically.  With a large number of snowbirds here, people keep asking us when we are leaving - meaning heading 'back home up North', and they are amazed to learn we plan to stay through the summer.  

Our view onto the beach  (UK 3rd floor, the ground being labelled P for parking and pool) brings an ever changing scene.   Beach joggers, shell hunters, bicyclists (yes on the beach*), swimmers, paragliders, jet skiers, boats of all descriptions, fisherman, plus helicopters -- with bi-planes and sea birds that fly by very close at eye level.  Playful pelicans swoop, soar, glide and dive for fish headlong into the sea - often in pairs - and pop up again tipping their heads back to swallow their catch whole.  At night we have blinking lights from ships into Tampa Bay and Egmont Key lighthouse.  And always the chattering seagulls. Humm, do you think I could get a rod and go catch my own dinner?

 

* Life sized me thinks biking to work on the beach would even beat her old walking to work commute  along the Thames path, so a new ambition is formed.  Plus it would avoid the traffic and crazy Florida drivers!!

 

Life-sized me has been getting creative with one-pot meals given that our merger goods are still on the high seas and going into storage this end until the renovations are completed.  Off to cook dinner (note everything here supersized including the onions, apples, watermelons and cleaning product bottles) and take the 'before renovation' pictures of our condo. 

 

About those green and loggerhead turtles nesting on the beach .... discovered today our sliding doors are designed to meet the 'Turtle Code' . . . now just to find a turtle --

 
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True Floridian

Must get the screens redone!

Just so you don't think it is all sun and fun here on the Gulf Coast of Florida, we do get our raw and murky days; mini me thought the London weather was chasing her!  The gentle lapping sea, begins to have real waves and mother nature turns up the volume of the waves crashing onto the beach.  This doesn't stop the beach walkers nor the need to 'sweep' and rake the sand every morning.  The beach chairs are also put out whatever the weather.  And of course the sea turns interesting colours.



Mini Me swamped by choice

Murky weather allows life-sized me to get on with planning the condo renovation and visiting the neighbours to see what they have done.  Mini me helps putting the 'mood board' together, whilst hubby installs the 'London hotline' phone -- yes you can call our new London phone number and it rings here!

Big excitement of the week is .... there is a way to move the washer & dryer out of the kitchen into a new hallway cupboard - no small feat in a building with concrete floors, walls and ceilings; we may have found a builder to work with us and a car to purchase.  Plus !! -- Happily, early this morning life-size me and hubby obtained our Florida drivers licenses, a requirement soon after one moves to the state.  Interestingly this is not only important for driving (and purchasing a car), but serves as a general proof of residence and allows one to do things like get a library card.  Did I mention the sunrise is also beautiful?

 

Still hard to believe we are here 3 weeks now -- I love:

- the sun on the waves and the ever changing colours of the sea

- sound of birds - sea birds out the front and land birds out the back

- tropical flowering plants, the bottle brush only knee-high in our London garden, here grows as a small tree

- drawbridge which crosses the Intercoastal waterway linking the barrier island where we live to the peninsula (which is like the thumb of a mitten looking at the shape of the state of Florida) 

- 'camping' in the flat and realising you don't need much stuff to live pretty well

 

and we still miss the BBC!  But oh do I love those lovely playful pelicans!

 

Life sized me has noticed the people here work on 'beach time' -- ie arriving about 20 minutes after the agreed time.  Of course if you are looking at the beach and have a sunset like this even on a murky day -- who cares!  We've just cleaned and resealed the patio, so will be back out on it soon.

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Adjustments!

The sun has returned, the ocean sparkles and mini me has spent the morning investigating local health insurance - this makes one really appreciate the NHS.

Friends asked mini me  what she would miss in the UK, so decided to log some observations whilst enjoying lunch in St Petersburg munching by the restaurant's fountain - note the Mexican themed  metal figures in the background.

It is Wednesday the 16th April and we arrived two weeks ago today!

Loving about Florida

• Sound of the surf from the condo (although volume control is mother nature exclusively)
• Watching pelicans dive and swallow their catch
• Searching for dolphins - neighbours report daily sightings so need to keep looking
• Eating al fresco almost all the time  - hence no need for coat or jacket or electric under blanket
• Being able to track the moon through the night sky over the Gulf ocean
• Blinking of the lighthouses - reminds us of North Foreland we see in Broadstairs
• Sea breezes - life sized me's hair has gone a bit curlier
• Beach life - always something to see on the beach - the walkers start about 7:30 am with the beach cleaner (see previous post) and the beach cabana men -- and carry on until dark - some even venture out with a torch or flashlight

Missing about London

• The BBC especially the BBC news and the Sunday Times
• Walking everywhere or taking the tube
• Choice of fresh ready meals for a quick supper (its all frozen pasta & pizza in Florida)
• Range of good restaurants
• Friends
• Need I say again -- the BBC and even ITV!!

Things even a native born citizen cannot explain

• Baggers at grocery and putting each item in separate very thin plastic bag and hence double bagging everything - what a stockpile I already have!
• Drivers going very fast and erratic, but moving very slow once reach the destination
• Pedestrians and cyclists who think there are no cars - beware of them!
• Inane chit-chat -- very, very folksy conversations of no substance repeated every time you meet
• Sheer quantity of prepared & bakery goods and junk food in the grocery stores
• Apparent choice (exhausting) but lack of real differentiation and hence no real choice
• Restaurant portion sizes

We had some excitement with lots of helicopters over the sea -- not the usual coast guard variety, so I think there were military manoeuvres one evening - all quiet in the local news, so who knows.

Mini me is assisting life sized me in planning our renovations -- having once been surprised by the lack of closets, & small sizes in the UK, I now find myself surprised at the non-availability of some typical UK building materials -- and the general response to my requests being 'you don't want that' or worse 'why would you want that??' which I translate to mean of the contractors "I don't know/don't carry that and cannot be bothered to find out..."

So all taking a bit longer than life-size one would like, but then what's new there??  Mini me will try and keep her calm and on the beach!  Happy Easter everyone.

 

PS. Yes, it does get grey and cloudy here and even rains.  Windy with weather warnings too. Mini me was beginning to think she had over packed with some long sleeved shirts & sweaters, but they have come in useful this week.

Lunar Eclipse & Sand in the Eye

 

Having noticed the fabulous beach view of the moon, mini me decided to wake herself at 3 am on Tuesday the 15 April to see the 'blood red' full lunar eclipse (something seems appropriate here in the name blood red and the 15 April being US income tax filing due date).


Whilst the moon appeared more blood orange to mini me, it was worth the effort to be beach-side in the middle of the night -- perhaps a 'practice' for the loggerhead turtle hatching later in the year?

www.weather.aol.com

Tuesday morning saw a definite change of weather with the gentle waves turning into something akin to surfing breakers.  The wind blowing in from the west at first pushed the waves into the shoreline at a northeast angle, but by late afternoon at more of a southeast angle, both distinctly different from the normal 'straight on' gentle waves.  Whipping winds created sand swirls and blew the sand into the eyes - one distinct disadvantage of being beachside today.  Next came thunder and rainstorms. 

By Tuesday night the temperatures dipped into the 50s C (or 12-13C for British born mini-me) bringing in a fresh breeze great for sleeping.

And now as I write this Wed morning, breakers are calm, the joggers are back on the beach and the beach cleaning patrol is running up and down the beach.

Culture Shock and Nesting

Coming into the end of week two at the beach, mini me is setting about making her condo a home.

First things first, she decides that Dahlia project must really progress as it is to be a wall quilt in the guest bedroom.

And of course there are builders to meet and decisions to be made -- trade-offs of desires, costs and the physical limitations of the building - concrete slab beach condo construction means moving things around is impossible as you would have to drill through concrete floors and ceilings.  So life sized me is coming to grips with the choices to be made ... looking at kitchens is the most fun ---

while hubby is doing the practical maintenance chores --- The tenants left a bit of a mess -- and a number of things need fixing and new parts in the short-term, including our hurricane shutters before "the season" starts 1 June.  Mini me is busy learning the evacuation route.

We have started talking to contractors -- they seem to do most of the talking -- very non-specific and "loosey goosey"  and all contradict each other about what can be done -- giving mini me a life sized headache trying to figure out the options and especially the best design of the kitchen space.  Would like to see a bit more creativity in them and of course there are differences in European/British and American design!

And of course mini me has to keep up this blog (whilst hubby is keeping  paper diary) -- and an eye on the beach activities outside her window.  Have noticed a trend to bicycle along the wet/hard sand area of the beach.  Life sized me is feeling a bit disoriented  and missing her friends and London activities  but then there is always the sun and beach .  Mini me has opted to try to stay with British blog and spelling to ease the transition.

Mini Me Moves to the Beach

Readers Note:  Mini Me was knitted as a 'so long' gift by the Quirkies - life sized me's London quilting group.  The Quirkies challenge was to tell the story of moving to the beach.

As I start to write, it is day 12 in our new beach town and mini me has finally decided to start her blog.  Getting the last items packed, the house ready for letting and to the airport was all a bit of a push.  Much went into the loft with the help of our friend Michael, but even more went to friends, charity and the London pavement method of giving to passing strangers.  We also blessed the bin men with a lot of trash and paper recycling.  Life-sized me even gave away her professional books - oh my!  We were blessed with lots of going away parties, drop-ins etc and plenty of flowers and food post ankle op - so lovely of all our friends.  The last weeks passed in a blur!

One last look at an early April garden coming into bloom and we're off .... a bit later in the evening than originally planned ...





and after a night's sleep at the airport hotel and breakfast into the airport with a little assistance for life sized me -- much needed after the ankle surgery to repair torn ligaments.

The plane journey is a  hazy memory and then next we knew we were having breakfast on the beach!!  The first few days were very tactical sorting out safety deposit boxes, getting the keys to our condo -- and beginning to think of  how we wanted to live in it and what renovations are needed.   We decided to 'camp out' in the condo to get a good feel for it -- but we have only 3 suitcases of clothes with us ... so a bit of Googling to compare the offers and a little real-life shopping was required.  Following our first lunch -- without any furniture -- and having our priorities right, we began by buying a patio table and chairs for our balcony overlooking the sea. Hee Hee.

 

Mini me's life sized husband assembled the table and reminded me we also need a bed and perhaps some dishes including a coffee maker !!  Now mini me and life sized me are all set for a good night's rest.

 

 

So time for a bit of fun - mini me took the trolley bus off to Clearwater Beach to experience

the Sugar Sand Festival (yup the sand here is very fine and very white -- like sugar according to Dr Beach who has made a living out of rating beaches for some 30 years - now there's a job for you!) 

 

Cannot complain about the views nor the sights out our window ... always something to see including the beach patrol (below) and daily cleaning of the beach with a buggy pulling a sand sifter/litter picker.  Must be time to move in on Saturday morning. Sunday was a day of rest and beach walking - not far as the ankle still finds sand a bit difficult.

 Time to publish as we are now at day 13.