Friday

Another beautiful day on Honeymoon Island. We took a bike ride out to the island this morning, parked our bikes, and walked all the way back to bridge and back to the Island. It was 81-84 degrees with a 6 mph breeze. We have now become regulars on the causeway. The regulars recognize each other as we pass and exchange greetings. One regular stopped John in Publix the other day and said she hadn't been able to walk and missed him!

It was a good 6-mile walk and 12 mile bike ride. We were home in time for lunch.

Another gay flag in the neighborhood celebrating Gay Pride Month in June.

After lunch, we hit the Pinellas Trail and headed to the edge of Clearwater. We passed this chalk message in downtown Dunedin:

"If you think a mask makes it hard to breathe, imagine being black in America."

We could use a whole lot more empathy and imagination.

We enjoyed the shade on the trail to Clearwater. The moss hanging from the trees is so Florida. The shade helped because the temperature got up to 95 degrees on our ride, with just a light wind.

We stopped at the new Stirling Park as we rounded the corner towards home on Palm Blvd and rode our bikes through the trails. You can see the St. Andrews Condominiums that border the new park. The paths are nice and there are several ponds and lots of wildlife. I think this new use of space is going to be very popular. The location is perfect, right off the Pinellas Trail.

The Parks and Recreation folks are still adding benches, signage, and clearing brush.

This shot is of the old driving range and putting green left over from the previous iteration of the park when it was a Par-3 course. The city decided to leave this part of the park for this use. They did refurbish the tees and the building that houses the folks to run the place and public facilities. We haven't checked that out yet, but will soon. I included the picture because the shot is taken from the Pinellas Trail and this is where we've been bringing Dee Dee for her evening constitutional. The trail is always interesting--for humans and dogs, and it keeps us from having to always walk in our neighborhood.

We got up at 5:30 a.m. and were out the door at 5:38 headed to the causeway to walk Dee Dee. Towards the end of the walk, the sun was beginning to rise.

This is the only decent picture I could get when we first arrived. It's hard to get a good picture in low light. Apologies for my husband's head that's floating into view.

We finally dragged the legacy grill from the previous owner to the curb. It looks better in the picture than it really is. It's all rusted and gross. I can't imagine eating anything off of it. The way things work in our neighborhood is if you have anything that you want to get rid off, stick on the curb on Friday and someone will drive by and pick it up. If not, then the city will cart it off on Tuesday with the regular garbage pick up. This is a great system. It keeps debris out of the landfill, and what looks like trash to one person is a keeper for someone else. We have acquired three pieces of furniture this way, so we know how it works.

I couldn't stand looking at this hulk of a grill one minute longer.

Dee Dee Report:

She had a good day, as you can tell because we left her alone to walk and ride. She is functioning, sleeping, eating, wagging her tail, and generally interested and alert. Her mind is in remarkable condition; it's too bad that her body is failing her. The vet never called about her stool sample, so I guess that means it wasn't blood. I'll give them a call tomorrow to follow up.

Dee Dee and I get to spend most of the day together tomorrow as John crosses Florida to attend his brother's beach wedding near Ponce Inlet.

23.48 miles biking

7.7 miles walking