3/21

Home again, just in time to buy a new furnace and maybe a generator.  Also just in time to mourn the loss by my Villanova Wildcats.

3/13

Suit cases are packed and in the car.  Tomorrow we will relax and have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.  Then we hit the road Sun AM, heading to Greenville, then Ashevillie.

We had no internet connection for 4 days this week.  Harbor Communications stopped by this AM and installed a modem.  What a joke that company is, but the owner of our condo says that their "competition" is no better..

3/5

Our winter vacation will soon end.  We leave on 3/15 and head to Greenville SC on the way to the Biltmore, which has an exhibit on Downtown Abbey.  J is a big fan.  We stayed at the Biltmore a few years ago, and wanted to do so again - until we heard that 2 nights would cost us over $1,000.  No thanks.  After a tour of Ashville, we head to Nashville.

Yesterday and the day before were perfect days in paradise.  It stopped raining, the sun returned, and temp rose into the 70s.  One day I spent an hour or two on the balcony, reading and smoking what will probably be my last cigar before A2 thaws out so I can sit on the deck..  Yesterday we ate at Lulu's (Jimmy B's crazy sista), and I asked about a bushwacker, which every place down here has on the menu, but I have never tried.  The waitress sent us to Pirate's Cove, which  she said is a hangout for restaurant and bar workers.  It's in the middle of nowhere and you have to be really thirsty and/or want to hide.  But it is a beautiful setting on a body of water large enough for tugs pushing barges to traverse.  Sometimes I watch the Food channel program Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and yesterday I wondered why they have never visited this place.  Rustic?  Too kind.  Dump is more like it.  But people were friendly and the bushwacker (ice cream drink with rum and ???) was tasty.  One was enough.

2/24

J loves live theater and discovered a few years ago that senior citizens, aka snow birds, take over the local civic theater in Jan and Feb for a production,  and donate the profits to the locals. This year was Sunshine Boys, and they sold out.  This year J became involved in some behind-the-scenes activities and the group asked her to audition for a part in next year's production. She was nervous, but she got a part.  Rehearsals begin in Jan, and performances in Feb.  She will have a role in Take A Number, Darling.

2/17

Last parade of the season is due here around 2:30.  Temp in the 30s, with wind.  J is all bundled up and down by the street.  I will watch from the 5th floor.

2/13

You may have heard that J became a grandma on Wed.

Tonight was the first Orange Beach Mardi Gras parade of the season.  Nice little parade with all the usual bands, floats, horsemen, fire engines, and police cars - led by the Colors.  Temp was in the 40s, but no precip or wind.  I pulled a chair to the walk way outside our front door on the 5th floor.  Nice view.  Another parade tomorrow at 5:30 - same weather.  The last parade is Tuesday, with a 70% chance of rain.

2/8

Dropped J off at the "Pensacola Intergalactic Airport"  ( That's what the sign said.  I am not that clever).  On the way, we passed the local Catholic church with 2 police cars out front ready to direct traffic.  A few miles down the road was the FloraBama Bar, with a police car out front and a large sign inviting us to "Worship of the Water".  The parking lot was packed, but we declined the opportunity.

After breakfast, I picked up a cigar.  Temp ar noon was mid-60s.  Another perfect day in Paradise.