More Touring in the Vicinity.

Saturday, and we set out to go food shopping. A funny thing happened on the way....we got waylaid! How unusual!

Being hotter than Hell (again) and the air conditioning in the car was working it's head off at full blow, we just kept on going...Why not go to Darien, we said! Why not indeed!

On the way....we don't do this much, do we???....we took a right hand turn off the highway into a subdivision. Seriously, it is REALLY weird. You are driving along the highway and all you can see is Jungle. There is a turn off the road into a clearing with huge Live Oak trees, and beautifully spaced homes on large lots. It is a bit like being in fantasy land...truly! Like I have said before, it is a bit like going down the Rabbit Hole.

We slowly toured the subdivision...at a crawl, actually....until we came to a lovely vacant lot...marsh-side!!! which is everything here.

Yes, this could be anywhere in coastal Georgia!


This corner brick home had a green house AND an outside workshop. Waz is rather taken with the IDEA of this:) No pool, so I vetoed this particular home...but.....

...around the corner a little further, we came across this lovely shady lot fronting the marshes. I am looking back to our car, here. There is a well on this property we found...see that shrub to waz's right, that is growing right on top of the well head!  We have found lots of properties have irrigation wells.

 

A combination of tallll pines and huge Live Oaks, on this lovely lot. The Marsh is in the background.

Anyway, we toured the neighborhood, which was a solidly middleclass one, and enjoyed looking at the different styles...not so different really, but that largely depended on whether they had outdoor living areas. Nobody outside in this heat!:(

So, eventually, after our 3/4 hr mosey through the subdivision, we found a person emptying their mail box, and we had a wee chat with him. Turns out he works with the Customs and Immigration Dept. as  a Federal Agent. What an interesting and very intelligent fella! He was most amusing. (funny, but we met him again, today, coming out of Office Max!  Small towns!)

Back on the main highway (17) going north to Darien. We have fond memories of this little town that is the second town developed in Georgia.

We had borrowed the town dock for the weekend, last year, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Arriving in the middle of town....well, it consists of the highway and one cross road....we went in search of our favorite restaurant...to be disappointed that it is now a Cantina. The lady at the Coffee Shop told us they hadn't renewed their lease:(

As it happens, the coffee shop we sat in was not open last year, but there had been a sign on the door saying "Coming Soon", so we were very pleasantly surprised to find the shop open...one year, she said.


More tiki-touring around the area and we finally got bored looking at run down Victorian homes, and decided it was time to go home.

We came back to the boat via the Mall...which isn't what you would expect. Besides the major anchors there,...JC Penney and Sears, there is almost nothing in the middle. There is a cinema located on the outside of the mall (the entry is) but so little anywhere else. Depressing!

While we were out, the heat was shocking. I swear the heat index was well into the 100F+, and humid to boot.

Dinner was all the superfoods. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home...just a few hours late, but better late than never:)

Bought a rotisserie chicken...always useful when we are hungry!
Avocado, Asparagus, blueberries and a yummy cole slaw. Delish

While we were busy eating, the clouds were busy forming...Lightening was striking and the thunder rocked us.

 We watched that swath of rain come around to us...

 as the sun was going down...

 the rain didn't actually reach us, but the humidity was about 110% by now. argggghhhh!!

 I hate it when you cannot get cooler, even in the airconditioned comfort of the boat!

 The sunset was lovely, and I kept an eye on it through the window, popping out time and again to take yet another photo:)

I wont bore you with ALL the photos I took. We were happy that the bedroom was cool, when we finally went to bed. Cant sleep otherwise.

The Strangest Thing Happened this Morning...

...On the way to breakfast.

I came upstairs this morning, and Waz said..."Let's go out to Breakfast on the Island".  The Island is St Simon's Island where we had found a restaurant that serves Eggs Benedict. Well, not just any Eggs Bene, but CRAB CAKES Eggs Bene! woohoo!

One small problem. We never got there...to the restaurant, that is. By the time we got out the door, it was going on 10am! Yes, well, time flies when you are retired! We have so much to do, don't you know!!:)...like get up, have coffee, get dressed, open the fly deck windows to let what little airflow there is, to flow inside...water the plants (which, by the way, are going great guns since I started using a bucket to water them...they need MORE water! in this heat)..so...

We made the trip to The Island. It took a bit longer to get where we intended...well, as we never got there...but I digress yet again!...

...because I took the left hand turn instead of going straight head, which would have meant we ended up in the Historic District  half an hour early.

Instead we took that half hour to look at things we had missed last time we visited....mainly the trees overhanging the road...gorgeous, and so grateful for the shade and cooler temps underneath them.

Finally, we arrived at the Del Sur bakery and coffee shop. This wasn't our intention, but somehow we came back???? We ordered two of their lovely lattes and he had a ham and cheese croissant and I ordered a blueberry bagel with plain cream cheese. Delish, and probably the best bagel I have ever eaten. It didn't sit like a rock in the pit of my stomach! We still felt a little hungry, but decided to wait for lunch, whenever that might be. Breakfast was relatively inexpensive, so we felt ok about ordering lunch somewhere.
In the meantime, we decided to go local. This meant looking for a beach and the ocean.
The water was too deep and not enough beach were available to walk along at the first place we found, but we did go to the top of the step and take in the view. Those are granite boulders that have been placed there by the county to curb the receding beach in front of the houses along the bay.

We wondered how this white convolvulus survived the extreme heat on the hot white sand??

 Left the car in the small parking space before climbing over the hot white sand dunes to the long Atlantic beach.

 We had to literally run across the sand without our shoes on. Ok,,we could have put our shoes ON, and we did on the return, but I hate wearing wet and sandy shoes/sandals.

 The distortion in this photo is indicative of the extreme heat, yesterday. We were told this morning, that it was 97F at noon! it sure felt like it out of the onshore breeze and if we stood still for too long.

 This little egret was being very successful in his fishing in the warm (hot really) shallow pools.

 Waz made it to the shore line long before me!

 Colorful child's play just abandoned. No kids in sight!

We had driven past the huge public parking lot, some beach exits back, and this is obviously where all those folks were.

Otherwise, the beach was empty of souls. We were glad to walk for a mile or more up and back, and enjoyed walking in the shallows to keep cool. Next time we will plan better and have our swim suits in the car at the ready.

If we lived here, we would be out there every morning having a swim, I think...around 6am, tho!

Of course we found a Realty book with lots of homes for sale and set the GPS to the different addresses and did lots of discovering on the island by way of the homes for sale. We went places most people wouldn't know exist.

This lovely beach-side home was literally a stones throw from where we parked the car. There is a golf cart sized lane in front of the house that runs along between the front row and second tier homes

These luxury condos are right behind the shops in Historic St Simons

We went ot of our way to find this home for sale. It looked like mother nature had taken over, rather, but the huge trees were necessary, in the heat.

 This place we came across by accident...mostly because I couldn't turn around, so we just went around the road a bit to find a turn around place. She is empty and I was brave enough (or stupid) to go and read what the paper attached to the front door said. Waz just tried phoning the realtor! lol.

 The home has a large swimming pool out back, which looked very inviting to us.


This scene is typical for the Island. These HUGE Live Oaks grow everywhere and shade everything. Because the place is so tropical, plants and trees grow huge. Mother nature appeared to have taken back what was hers, in places, so overgrown was the foliage.

I don't normally like blousy pink in this kind of profusion, but this crepe Myrtle is stunning. Such huge heads!

 Fabulous!

By 12.30 we were hungry again, so we stopped off at Del Sur, the Restaurant. These eateries are owned by the same folks, who are Argentinian. We were not impressed by the food, in particular. The service, while friendly and smiling, was lacking any kind of professionalism. The food was put together by a Grill Cook (she says disparagingly!)...I know this because the tomatoes still had their cores in (salad) and the lemons still had pips in them. I ordered the Calamari appetizer, which was ok, but the pomodoro sauce was way too spicy. You don't want to drown the delicate flavor of the calamari, in my opinion.
Waz ordered the chicken sandwich (which he usually does) with Steak Fries. Chunky fries served with ketchup.:( They might have been a bit more original , for the price.

We wont be back! We tried the Crab Shack down the road first, but they were closed until 5pm, so it looks like we will need to go back there towards dinner time:)

More house hunting after lunch, and then we just got plain tired of driving around the island, and came back to the boat. Waz got the idea that we should go out to see a house he likes the idea of, north of here, so we did that after a dinner of Cauliflower /mushroom risotto with Tonkatsu (pork in panko and shallow fried).

So, as the sun  was about 20 degrees above the horizon, we took off with the GPS telling us where to go. We found the home, and lo and behold, someone had turned the hose on in the pool, and now it was overflowing. We called the realtor and volunteered to turn it off. ...how convenient! This meant we had to park and go take a look around....as you do! We weren't sorry. We now have an appointment with the realtor to take a look at the INSIDE of the house, at 2pm. :) We cant buy just now, but we can look.

The home fronts onto the gorgeous marshes and has HUGE potential on the outside with 1.77 acres with HUGE trees and a 25 x 25 ft workshop, and separate two car garage.  The only drawback to the house is...well, one of the many drawbacks to the house....is that there is over 4,000 sq. ft! aiee! Who needs that kind of acreage in a home?? not I!

Nothing like talking to the neighbors to get the scuttlebutt! They are usually very forthcoming, when it comes to gossiping about the neighbors, and the folks we spoke to last night gave us the history of the house as they know it! Interesting!

Well, that wasn't the end of the house hunting for the day. While we were out, Waz decided we needed to go and find another one he had on THE LIST. We finally found it down some rabbit hole near the local airport. This is a place you would not know existed...we twisted and turned around old growth trees on an unpaved road. Pretty place, if it wasn't so sinister looking in the near dark. I had full lights on, by this time:) We decided that was too much money for our liking, and wayyyy too far out in the wops.

Well, at least the rest of the evening was uneventful!

We had sat up top on the fly deck to have our dinner, and out back in the comfy chairs to have the dessert of mango and fresh berries..yum! before Waz wanted to go house hunting in the near dark. That end of the day cooling off is lovely, until the insects start their feasts.

Today is hot...we have been told to expect temps in the 100's. It is hard to know what to do with the self when it is that hot. Stay inside in the airconditioing? bah! Too confining! Now you know why we go out and about in the car...it is COOOOOOL!

Anyway...I am off to get some lunch and prepare a shopping list. We are almost out of fresh produce and the farmers market is on all day, across the way.

Ciao for now.

Visit to El Doctore in JAX

We seem to make it a habit to visit Daddy Cate's Café for breakfast before we set off on a long day or trip...and why not! They make a great Latte/flat white and croissantwich, as I have said several times.

And we were off to Jacksonville, otherwise known as JAX almost on the dot of 9am.
 My appointment with the Hand Specialist was at 10.30am. We arrived (thank goodness for GPS!) at 9.30, and decided to visit a Chase Bank we had found in the area. Chase does not have a single bank in Georgia. We also had time to visit the Memorial Park, opposite. What a lovely place, in this suburb known as Riverside/Avalon. It is literally on the St John's River.

An American Eagle on each side  of  the Winged Victory statue on a world with cherubs bottoms ..well, Im not really sure how to describe it!

 St John's River out thar!

 We got to talking to some of the fisher folk who live close by.

That park visit took us to the time we needed to get to the Office and fill in the requisite paperwork, as you do as a new patient.
This Docs. office has the paperwork on a tablet that you just check the boxes on...made my job very easy as I have trouble hand writing, and you cant read Waz's.

All ID etc were given to the receptionist along with my CD full of x-rays. The board in the office said that there was going to be a one hour wait from the time we checked in. Don't go anywhere, in other words. We didn't.
The wait wasn't too bad and I got in there under the hour. It was hotter than hell outside, so we didn't mind staying in. We had parked the car under a tree, so at least there would be a little cool in the car..ya think? No such luck. It was just as hot as if it had been out in the sun!..so much for THAT theory.

Anyhoo....My hand Dr heard the WHOLE story of the right arm/wrist and why I thought I needed (and my NZ specialist had recommended ASAP) a Carpel Tunnel surgery.  Dr turned the hand over, compared with the left one, admired the surgery of his NZ colleague, and said that he hadn't done any of that, being that it was relatively NEW...News for him, my NZ specialist had studied the procedure in Louisville, Kentucky some 8-10 yrs ago. This didn't exactly give me a HUGE amount of confidence in the man, even though he has multiple letters after his name.

He wanted me to try cortisone injections into both the base of my very arthritic thumb and the carpel Tunnel. He put two vials into each place...apparently injecting into a bone or joint is different from injecting cortisone into muscle, which can degenerate fast. So...he did the injections and put plasters over the tiny pin holes, as I tend to be a bleeder!    It made me look like I had cut my wrists! ha!

Sheesh..I forgot to take a photo!!!:)

So..we left with no return date in mind and it wasn't required...just when I need to visit because the pain has returned. Next time I think we will prepare for surgery of the carpel tunnel or the arthritic thumb, which he said he can do very successfully.

So...we ventured out into the heat and drove back to the shopping center we had visited before, and went into a Zoe's Kitchen... WOW! The food was fresh and fantastic. As a side we ordered a fresh fruit salad....and YES! It was as fresh as they make them. 

Fortified (it was now almost 2pm), we drove around the very old and pretty suburb of Riverside, looking at the Victorians and other, and marveling at all the bridges crossing rivers.

Jacksonville, FL is one of the largest cities in area, in the USA. It is HUGE. We asked people why there was nobody out and about in central city, and the answer was "Because people stay in their own suburbs and shop or work because the city is so large, that unless there is a reason to enter the city center, they stay away. The Landing, down on the St Johns River was deserted!

These new apartments in the Riverside area are still under construction. Ratheer fun!

Jax center

Nice reflections in some of the office windows

The Landings waterfront (St John's River)  statues of runners.

 Waterfront deserted!

A couple of water police and fire boats went swiftly up the river with sirens and lights blaring and flashing. It appeared there was a boat sinking.

One of the occupants was sitting on the front of the boat..see above, and the other was in the back...water was washing over the back, but they finally got themselves organized and the water was pumped out.

Of course with all the commotion we had to go and rubberneck with the rest of them:)

Ok..the GPS got us on our way home. We had decided to go via St Mary's. People had told us about the small town....the second town to be inhabited in the continental USA, after St Augustine. It is VERY small, unlike St Augustine.

I would say this little church is elevated for a good reason! St Mary's is right on the river and marshes. King tides, not to mention Hurricanes et al...

 One of the antebellum homes on a prominent street corner. Antebellum means it was Pre-civil war.

 Jack Sparrow was standing on the front lawn of this Victorian B&B

Isnt she grand!

 Looking out towards Amelia Island on the right, and to the left is Fernandina and further left (way out of sight is Cumberland Island.

This Sea Otter was busy burying into the muddy bank of the river and coming back out with food, which it then used its 'hands' to manipulate to eat. It was about 4-5ft long, tip to tail. Fascinating to watch. It didn't care that we were nearby and watching it closely.

Of course there was a fudge/ice-cream shop nearby on the deserted main street...was it Monday perhaps??

Do you  remember me telling you in a previous post about the Victorian homes in Brunswick that we met a couple sitting on the porch of their home and they directed us to the Yellow Deli??

Well, this fabulous large vessel (120ft I believe) is for sale, and it is owned by the religious community who own and run the Yellow Deli, we had been told. She is for sale for $2.99 mil.

I had to take some detailed photos, of course. Someone has spent a lot of time doing her up!

The landing platform was open slightly to  ventilate the inside.

WE loved the hardware on this old boat. Apparently she has been involved in a lot of Tall Ship gatherings. She was sailed over from Australia.

We were hotter than we thought possible, and needed to escape to the air conditioned comfort of our vehicle. We were a bit disappointed by St Mary's to be truthful. We decided to go home. 4pm!

Always nice to get home, and by 4pm, my wrist was hurting to the point of pain, and the pain had travelled up my arm to the elbow and beyond to my shoulder and neck. The Dr hadn't told me any of the side effects of Cortisone (4 vials!) so I wasn't prepared for this.  By 6pm, I was in desperate need of pain relief. I have since learned that it can take 24 - 48 hrs for the good effects to kick in. bah! I wish the Dr had told me. I will remember to ask more questions next time. Usually I am accused of asking too many questions, so I kind of held back.

Waz has spent part of today (Tuesday) down in the engine room painting. We have gone for a couple of saunters out in the heat...slowly walking the docks and visiting with various other boaters in the shade. The heat didn't abate somewhat until well past 7pm. 5pm, it was supposed to be 96F!

I have been watering the tomato plants and herbs with a bucket of water, each day. They are thriving with that much water and we have flowers on the tomatoes!!:)

We hate spending so much time inside in the air conditioning, but there really are few other options. We could go up to the Yacht Club library, but it is a 1/4 mile away...doesn't sound like much, but in this kind of heat it is miles!:(

We experienced bugs, tonight, sitting out on the aft fly deck with our ice-cream. Ok..we are having an ice-cream jag! peanut butter cup and vanilla!:) with fresh raspberries or strawberries. Very yummy!

We are contemplating a visit to Savannah, next. Will let you know:)

Ciao for now. Time to start another book. I am motoring through them in this heat!