Mini Me Goes to the Pub

Sunrise out my front door - over the Bay

The British Expats of Tampa Bay celebrated St George's Day at Jack's London Grill.  Mini Me joined in an evening of roast, Yorkshire Pudding, and a sorry excuse for Spotted Dick, capped with a Sing Along.

Back on the beach ...

Yes, despite common misconception (and Island Time), I do get up in the mornings!

On the 20th we went up to Clearwater Beach to be 'Sand Ambassadors' at the 3rd Annual Sand Festival using the 'sugar sands' of the beach.  Halfway through our shift a massive thunderstorm cell blew in from the Gulf with 50-65 mph winds, strong enough to close the Skyway Bridge which transverses the mouth of Tampa Bay. Motorists had to find a new (and much longer) way home.

It looked like pictures of a hurricane outside our large white tent covering the sand sculptures. Poor mini me, whilst prepared for rain in her Ziploc wet weather gear, she

Mini Me's raingear
(yes a ziplock baggie!)

was a bit frightened to be in the large shaking tent during the storm which blew large umbrellas and crowd crusher gates across the sand. Worse still as the tent was closed up, we couldn't see if anything lethal was blowing towards us.

Clearwater Beach Explained:
seen on a guy seeking
 leggy blonds!

The sculptures were created with 1,000 tons of sand from the beach which took 3 days to move to a large mound, a day to water the pile down and ten days for ten master sand sculptors to build their creations.  No molds are used; it is just water, compaction and sand sculpting skill.

The boaters are out the following day, with a black military looking helicopter dive bombing the jet skiers & the beach just outside our window- quite a sight.  Like the sight of the the osprey with the wrack in his talons flying to the nest, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture either the bird or the dive bombing helicopter.

To top off the 'different' lifestyle in Florida, Tampa residents are in an uproar about a proposed CSI style Body Farm.  And no I don't think this is the sort of body they mean . . .

PS.  It's time for the Blueberry Festival this weekend in Plant City (home of the Strawberry Festival).

Bobcat fishing for Shark: No Joke

From Sarasota Patch

20 jet skiers careen past on whining machines making an awful racket, hubby has started talking to himself on DIY projects, and mini me had her first false turtle sighting of the season almost accosting some Canadian fishermen for turtle harassment - no turtles, but they caught a beautiful but barbed spotted eagle ray (yes a stingray!); it is eaten in Asia, but they threw it back carefully.  All the upsides of living on the beach?

The snowbirds have started heading north - and I am missing my pool buddy . . . but life on the beach continues ...

Here you go - click here to see a bobcat with a shark on the beach (on the east coast a bit south of us)!  Now if the bobcat had met the stingray, I am not sure what would have happened . . .

and try out this (not far north of us) or this amazing video for size if you like manatees.

Odd  Muscovy duck

But here on our beach, we have ...

• a foot, 
• an aspiring windsurfer
• a turkey duck  (Muscovy)
•  some very large (10 stories?) fluffy clouds!

Speculation abounds, as one recent night out on the beach Bics (cigarette lighters) clicked sending points of light out to sea (sending signals??) and helicopters buzzed overhead with search lights directed at the breakers - was it a search for a shipwreck, lost person or perhaps a boat smuggling drugs or other cargo? With our stellar news reporting here (read atrocious, ie British irony in mini me's writing) we'll never know. But never a dull night on Mad Beach!

It's hit 90F/32C here and would be toasty, except the humidity is 90% - so a bit 'close' as the Brits would say.  Awaiting the predicted T-storms, which have been passing us by recently.

Along with a little roof repair (ie re-construction) - it is all improving in Mad Beach.  Now off to dinner with a local supper club!

Roof repairs &
a little disruption
in the car park
(AE=parking lot)

aspiring windsurfer practicing kite control on beach
before hitting the sea

Big foot coming for mini me!

Huge fluffy clouds looming over the Bay, but no rain

CB - what would 'processing' do for this picture??

Storm & a Tea Cup

Easter Weekend on the beach is . . .

Easter on the beach
Even the para-sail is smiling

• Drifting in the Gulf Waters - bliss (see previous post)
• Sheriff patrolling beach in his golf buggy
• Autogyro buzzing the sun worshipers down below
  
• Handstands on sand dune off the coast (mini me thought they were drowning when only feet were visible!)
• Helicopter sightseers checking out our beach
• Blossoming of the Cross at our outdoor Easter service
• Great dinner out with friends

Mini me is planning an Oxford-Cambridge boat race party next weekend utilising our Slingbox (thank you BJE!) and serving cucumber sandwiches (no crusts!).

Storm over St Pete Beach
as pictured on Facebook

Did you know the British apparently don't know how to make tea according to the latest research study?!?  Need to make a Brit a cup of tea? Read here.

And speaking of storms in a tea cup - here's a real humdinger of a storm front rolling through end of March.

Another possible storm in a tea cup involves our new City Hall - but I think all will be well.  Quite a difference hey?!?

Old City Hall

New City Hall

Mini Me has taken her volunteering a step further and is now managing websites and Facebook pages (even learnt about Gravatars!) for a couple of organisations. Please encourage her step into the 21st century and 'like' and/or 'follow' her sites - you might even find her picture on one of these:

treasureislandhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/TIhistoricalsoceity

www.facebook.com/seaturtletrackers?_rdr

Florida License Plates (Tags/Number Plates)
First we don't have front plates which means in a number of places back in parking is a no-no which can result in a ticket -- yes we know back in parking is safer, but hey "This is Florida ..."

Second, we have not only personalised/vanity numbers, but specialty plates in many colours/designs to numerous to count.  Mini Me started a photo collection of these, but dropped it when realising that the road rage here is high and someone might take issue to their plate being photographed - not worth the hassle for even you, my blog readers.  You can view samples here.

To get an idea of the variety of plates on offer, click for a brochure.  Protecting sea turtles, dolphins, Florida panthers and manatees are all in the top 6 - hurrah!  Rattlesnakes and bears don't feature in the top 120 list thank goodness says mini me! There are plates for university alumni, military veterans, and all sorts of causes, for example:

• Choose Life
• Protect Wild Dolphins
• Salutes Firefighters
• American Red Cross
• Challenger Columbia
• Go Fishing
• Animal Friend
• Jacksonville University
• End Brest Cancer
• Stop Child Abuse

Here's what is says about the brochure . ..
This brochure includes graphics for all Florida license plates. We recommend a high speed internet connection to view this brochure because the file is very large (4MB) and may be too big for users with dial-up connections [who has a dial-up connection these days - guess the gov't of FL is behind the times].

... which brings me to note: internet speeds here in the US seem much slower than the UK; what a pain!!!!

Early morning of 4th April we had a partial lunar eclipse.  Apparently mini me told hubby she saw the moon at 5:30 am but has no recollection of saying or seeing such a thing. Here's hubby's pictures.

1 Year in: Our Giant Living TV Screen

Me & Neighbour Bobbing at Sea

We arrived in Mad Beach a year ago today!  

Our resident great blue heron has returned to help celebrate our anniversary.  He seems to be a 'reverse snowbird' or is that a sunbird?

Little did we know that the view from our condo balcony is like having a giant TV screen in front of us; always on, sometimes more active & interesting than others, but never not broadcasting even in the dead of night.  It is fascinating to watch the wind, wave and sand action as well as all the critter (including human) activity.  It all helps to make Florida a more enjoyable place; some things are easier to explain in a blog than others (see blog posts of 17 & 22 November 2014). For those who have followed this blog, I hope you have had a little sense of our beach.

View of our our giant TV screen!

The dolphins have been out frolicking - not sure if the leaps, tail slaps, and splashes (visible 1/2 mile away as well as near shore) are playful, fighting or mating!! Walking along the beach at sunset on the 25th March we were treated to a real delight, playful cormorants body surfing whilst fishing for dinner.

Water only up to knees out there

Now out to the sandbar that has formed just offshore to feel live sand dollars under our feet and see what shells might be lurking there.  Some shells that should be on our beach apparently get hung-up on the sandbar.

Local friends say I am tanning a nice brown and my hair is being bleached by the sun; so all those beach clean-ups have a side benefit!

Comfort Zone indicator

The purchase of the month is a magnetic doorstop which holds the [condo] regulation metal front door firmly open.  Now this might not sound exciting to you . . . but to mini me who enjoys a breeze but doesn't want to get decapitated in the door, this is pretty thrilling stuff.  We get a wonderful cross breezed from the ocean right through the flat and out the front door - very cooling, but also blows all our papers about and our front door slams shut.  So you get the picture -- and why a magnetic door stop might bring joy.

We also have a new barometer/thermometer/hygrometer (humidity) and mini me must laugh that at the top of the 'comfortable scale' (ie 24C/74F degrees and up to 70% humidity) life size me feels chilly!

Meanwhile, we are hanging wall decorations and finally making progress on that dahlia quilt! Not to mention all the volunteering which has resulted in 6 volunteer T-shirts (what else in Florida on the beach) in 12 months! The day-glow yellow one is especially useful as are the new high visibility suspenders (lots of vehicle-pedestrian accidents here).

Trying to stay visible & safe!

Smiles Required, Shoes Optional!  We have just signed up to be 'Sand Ambassadors' and have been promised a 'Sandtastic' time volunteering in April. Yup, some ideas don't translate well off the beach . . . C'est la vie and here comes another (#7) free shirt!

We're off to a Turtle Nesting Workshop - yes you heard correctly.  It is Easter weekend, Happy Easter everyone!

Look like fun?  He flies out of the water and through the air, but usually crash lands!

Close to shore . . . 

. . . and into the air