Sunday

After the storms passed through yesterday, the air today was fresh and clear. The high temperature was 76 degrees.

Gorgeous day. We relaxed and did domestic chores.

It has been windy with breezes between 20 and 25 mph this morning, 11 this afternoon. I think Jeff should have come to Florida to go sailing!

You can tell how strong the wind is blowing by looking at the palm trees, which got their name based on the shape they take when the wind is blowing. The fronds look like an open hand.

Saturday

We rode our bikes to the causeway to walk this morning. The skies were overcast, the temperature was 73 degrees, and the breeze was blowing at about 6 mph.  Close to ideal walking weather. The picture above is John’s version of the scene. He has a great eye.

My picture is above. ugh.

We made it home with about 15 minutes to spare. It’s been raining off and on since lunch, a soft, drizzling rain accompanied with thunder and lightning.

I burned (copied) a few more CDs to our computer so that we can transfer them to our phone. We have about 10 more to do. Then we can donate them to the library. 

I advertised my bike trainer three different times over the last year, reducing the price each time. I finally set it out on the curb when I couldn’t sell it for $25.

Our de cluttering project continues.

Toby’s did not like going out in the rain.

Friday

We have a bazillion magnolia blossoms. Each one leaves dozens of petals on the ground.

Inside is the little cone I have to look forward to later.

Peace lily 

Frangipani 

Gardenias

Bird of Paradise 

Easter lily 

It rained last night and this morning, not heavy but better than nothing.

 I got to wear my new raincoat for the second time on our early morning walk. In the late afternoon, we drove Toby to Highlander Park to walk. 

It was overcast and 83 degrees.

The sun came out after lunch, so I took advantage and rode my bike to Weaver Park to exercise.

John’s fixing beans and rice for dinner. Our new placemats arrived today. I saw the box and forgot what I ordered. I guess that means we didn’t really need them that much. Our table lacks a protective finish, so water and oils get absorbed, which may not matter with a distressed finished? IDK.

Thursday

We treated ourselves to a Bambino’s pasta special for lunch. We took Toby to Stirling Park to walk and then crossed over Alt.19 to pick up our lunch. We got spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread for $10 each. We were so stuffed that we had oatmeal for dinner (with strawberries and blueberries).

It’s been partly cloudy most of the day. We are supposed to get rain after 9:00 pm. The walk this morning on the causeway was breezy and comfortable with all the cloud cover.

It was 75 degrees. The water was clear.

The high temperature today was 85 degrees.

Toby waiting patiently for his last walk. Late this afternoon, we went in the golf cart to Highlander Park and rode around in the golf cart before returning home.

Some Canadian geese are still hanging around waiting for it to warm up at home before returning.

Wednesday

We had a beautiful day today with temperatures in the mid 80s this afternoon and mid 70s this morning. As we passed this house this morning, the lady opened her front door and yelled, “Good morning, Toby!”

There will be a 5k run on the Pinellas Trail May 6, starting at the Hale Senior Center. We made a midday golf cart run to Highlander Park for a shaded Toby walk.

Goofy picture from yesterday.

This morning, after Toby’s walk, I rode my bike to Weaver Park for yoga and weight lifting.

Afterwards, I rode to Nature’s Food Patch to survey their prepared food selection. We thought that might make a good lunch outing. I was amazed at their prices. $10 for a small box of cereal. $48 for a 5 lb. bag of blueberries. $3.50 for one avocado. I’d like to support them, but . . .

Toby is patiently waiting for his food.

Our house alarm (vintage, 1991) went off this evening for an unknown reason. It’s a whole house alarm, radio, intercom, doorbell system wired into four different rooms. We cut all the wires we could find, but it was still dinging. Luckily, there is a volume control. We’ll call an electrician to see about having the whole system removed. We were going to wait until our kitchen renovation so that we could have all the work done at the same time.

Tuesday

We had a good walk on the causeway today, but first we drove to Ace Hardware to buy a plunger. We’ve needed one from time to time. Now, we’re ready.

The air was clear today, about 60% humidity and 70-75 degrees on our morning walk. The high temperature today was 82 degrees. That’s Clearwater in the distance.

I think we’re back to normal now. Yesterday, we were out of it. I didn’t make it to the gym.

When we were at Ace Hardware this morning, a clerk said: “I see you guys on the causeway all the time. Aren’t y’all supposed to be there now?” We laughed and told her we were on our way. It’s amazing how often we hear that. We hardly ever recognize them, but then people look different dressed up as opposed to sweating on the causeway.

We went downtown in the golf cart after lunch and walked around.

It was very comfortable in the shade at Pioneer Park.

We took Toby to the ice cream store without getting him ice cream so that he won’t think that he gets ice cream every time we go downtown.

He adjusted his expectations, as you can see.

The city has stripped, stained, and shellacked all the downtown benches (and painted the arms).

They look nice.

DeSantis has now expanded the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to include all grades in the public school system. No discussion, acknowledgment, or instruction having to do with gays or transgender students allowed. Teachers can be fired for discussing or even acknowledging they have a gay spouse or child. Children of gay parents can’t discuss their families. In addition, he has mandated that school boards remove any books on the subject from libraries. His goal is to erase us and our history because he thinks it will help him win Republican primaries with conservative voters. He’s punishing Disney, an ally of the gay community, for the same reason. And he’s limiting the discussion of racism in the curriculum. For example, schools can talk about the bus boycott but they can’t mention that Rosa Parks was black because it makes her sympathetic and may make a white student feel bad. The administration is removing diversity programs from the universities, calling those programs racist.   

DeSantis says that “Florida is where woke goes to die.” It’s such a stupid thing to say and so unAmerican. Being “woke” means being educated and aware of different people’s experiences. It’s about developing empathy for those who are different from you. It’s an acknowledgment that even though we were all created equal, some of us have been held back, overlooked, or discriminated against. Some of us were born poor, with dark skin, mental illnesses, physical handicaps, addictive personalities, gay, short, left-handed, or any number of differences from the norm. Those differences don’t make us less than, and acknowledging them doesn’t take anything away from those who are normal, whatever that is.

So when I saw the sign above outside the local bookstore, I thought about all the evil things DeSantis is doing. A good country makes room for everyone’s story.

We stopped by Highlander Park for a walk.

Not happy on the way home without ice cream.

We had an awesome chicken salad. John found a package of cooked chicken breast strips at Publix that were BOGO for an easy protein-rich dinner.