The photo shows what is left of the lunch, after I was reminded to take a photo:) The pieces are not large, as you can see.
Mine...
Waz'sOn Saturday afternoon, while Waz was out of town finishing a job with John Dorso, I ran down to the supermarket and while there I purchased (on a whim) another lotto ticket. Waz already had two tickets, so Im not sure what made me buy this one? When we went to check our tickets on Sunday, I had dropped Waz off at West Marine, and taken all the tickets up the mall to the Publix Supermarket to check for any winnings. Waz's tickets were duds, but the impulse purchase from Sat. afternoon was a winner. We were one of 12 winners at this level. This was the fourth win, and a couple of zeros more than that last one! Not enough to splurge on anything much, but it will be useful, nonetheless. You know it wasn't too significant because they paid me right out of the till. Anyway, it is always nice to get a windfall. The grand prize this week in the Powerball is $80 million, so of course we have tickets. It is too bad that we would have to pay taxes on any winnings, unlike in NZ where the winnings are tax free.
On Sunday, yesterday, we took a trip up the road to Lowes Garden Store....the results will speak for themselves...
In the first container are two plants of Basil, one of Dill, one of Mint and one of Chives. All are herbs I use in cooking. The mint will probably take over, as only mint can do, but never mind...I will have to trim the roots or something :)
The second container houses two patio tomato plants which should grow no larger than 12 inches, each. They will probably live on the fly deck, when we are under way, but for now, they are on the cockpit deck. I will keep you posted with their growth:) I am now a happy gardener!:)
We have made the decision to leave Charlotte Harbor, and our gracious hosts on Saturday 12th April, all going well. It is supposed to be cloudy with showers, over the weekend, so if it turns to rain, we wont be going anywhere. Perhaps we should have left this week...The weather has been glorious.
The dial in the car registered an outside temperature of 89F this afternoon, and it is 86F in the Salon, right now. I'm sitting on the cockpit deck writing this, as it is just too hot inside.
It was 82F just after midnight, last night, when I asked Waz to turn the aircon on in the bedroom. The fan had been going full blast, but it was just recirculating the hot air. We try not to use the aircon when we are off the dock, because that means we are using diesel to fire the generator. The aircon wont work without the generator! I have been trying to get used to just having a fan on full blast, but there are limits, it seems. Even Waz had the summer covers off, last night.
Waz has just turned the dock water off and we are emptying the boat water tank to clean it out. The water has been sitting around for a few months, and we need to get rid of it. We will refill it when he has 'dosed' it and all is clean.
Before we leave the dock, there is a routine we follow. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere, to date, and one rather gets out of the habit of doing certain things. I have not made lots of things a habit yet, as I haven't had enough continuous experience to do so. With that in mind, I am reviewing what I do know, and yes, getting somewhat anxious...again...about all the shallow water we still have to travel to get wherever we are going. I am rather hoping I can learn to relax and just let it all 'happen'...good luck on that one!!
We thought our car was supposed to be returned on Wednesday 9th April, but when we checked (fortunately) the rental agreement, it said the 8th! Bah! So, off we went to Avis to check it out for another day..why? Waz has to sit his Florida Driver's License in it at 8.30am, 9th April!
We also need the car to go all the way up Hwy 41 to Walmart and pick up our bicycles, when they tell us they have arrived. We were told that would be the 8th or 9th, so let's hope that information is correct.
In light of our Lottery win, we decided to eat breakfast out, this morning, so hoofed it to Jon Ski's Breakfast Restaurant....it seems that they are the only folks who get our orders consistently correct. We really aren't that hard to please, but Waz does like all the breakfast protein to be thoroughly DEAD before eating it. That means HARD poached eggs, DEAD bacon and anything else that might moo, cluck, snort etc. I ordered the Crab Cakes Benedict, per usual...no muffin, toast or hash browns, thanks. Yummy!!!
This is our last hurrah, for a bit. We are planning to anchor-out for most of the trip to the east coast, so we have at least 4/5 days where we may not be touching terra firma. Even then, we will not be moving into an anchorage unless we need to take on water and pump out and get more fresh food supplies.
Speaking of pump-outs...no more drama's for a while, thank goodness. Thursday 10th will be our last one with United Site Services. We have also ordered our Kiwi Diver, Mark, back some time this week to check the various orifices for barnacles etc, because we cannot have any inhabitants in the various in-takes and out-lets for the engines.
After breakfast (most satisfying), we tootled up the highway to the Library, where we visited, yet again, the Friends of the Library book shop. Here we perused the aisles for books worth reading, stayed a while looking at those we couldn't accommodate on the boat, and finally, at around 1.30pm, went out the door. This is where the sushi entered our consciousness. Right across from the Library driveway, is the Buffet House!
We took our sushi up the highway to Murdock Circle, where we turned into the Sun Trust parking lot and parked in the shade of a lovely Live Oak tree. We enjoyed our lunch with all the windows down and a nice breeze to boot! We continued on around Murdock Circle to Sam's Club where we had quite a long list of foodstuffs to purchase. The bill wasn't as bad as I thought it might be...one ALWAYS spends more at these bulk food establishments!!!...and we went back down the highway to the Publix Supermarket near home, for all the little things we didn't want in bulk, and came home.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about the trip to the German Butcher!! This was the very first stop after breakfast! How could we forget?
We had so enjoyed our Kielbasa last week, that we decided it would be the perfect food for easy cooking at the end of a long day on the move. They have no fillers and are made the traditional way! We bought 12 Kielbasa and 12 Italian Sausage, to put into the freezer. We also bought some gorgeous pork chops...one lot for the freezer and one lot for dinner tonight. I am going to caramelize the last of the fresh pineapple with some sweet onion to go with it. We also have fresh berries, for dessert! I had better get on with that, it is almost 6 pm. (later...pork chops were FANTASTIC! sorry..no photos...too hungry and didn't remember as Waz was still emptying the water tank and the faucet was open in the kitchen the entire time I was cooking....
The news is on, and none of it is good...not sure why we bother, but we have been enjoying the Netflix. Our latest movie, was Girl on a Bicycle...a French movie...so much fun:)
Now after 8pm. Just been next door to visit with Stef and one week old today Mia. She is more active and alert today and appears to be feeding well. She is so tiny...just under 6lbs! and I love watching new babies do weird things with their tongues and faces.:) I guess I am also grateful I don't have one! Too little sleep, too many 'things' cluttering up the house, etc....One could say I have entered the pre-Grandparent phase of my life. It is a good place to be:)
Well, time for a cuppa and put the feet up. The temp is down to 82F, and we only have the fan on at the moment.
I think I have said this before, but it has to be said again....There is a good reason that Southern Women keep their youthful skins...it is called HUMIDITY!!! Don't knock it until you try it...if you can tolerate the high heat and high % of water in the atmosphere.
Ok, that's it for now....Night, night.
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