Looking through the slats of my partially closed venetian blinds, I see the sunrise begin. The sky turns golden in the east. The only clouds in the sky this morning are over Tampa Bay, off to the east, and in a matter of moments, they change from bright golden white to a rosy gold, as the sun begins to make its way above the earth here. It’s a peaceful, soothing way to begin the day, watching the spectacle that is a Florida sunrise.

Next week we will be doing our sound healing at the beach, in the full moon on Wednesday. The full moon is really Tuesday, but we chose to do it Wednesday, when it will still be 99.45% full, because a local yoga instructor is doing a yoga class on the beach in the full moon on Tuesday, and because there is an open mic that we and most of our friends like to go to on Tuesday night.

I made a FB event for our sound bath.  I always make one for our sessions at the yoga studio, but generally with very little response. This one, a free sound healing at the beach, has had a lot of response, over 200 people! So I am very excited that we might have a good crowd. Last time we did the sound bath, the crowd was not a crowd, is was just a couple people. However, we did a really great job performing. We all walked out just feeling good about it. Since we generally just used those sessions as practice, that’s all we could ask of it. I felt so good, not at our performance per se, but because of the effects, the good, happy, fulfilled way I felt that I told Dan and my friend Lynn who plays with us that I would be happy to do it for free just to feel like that. We’ve been practicing a lot, practicing playing off of each other, etc. Got a few new instruments and tools. I’m really looking forward to playing at the beach for more than a few people.

In other news, Dan and I are going on a cruise in December from Tampa to the Western Caribbean. We are very excited! Dan’s never been on one, and I have only been on one, and it was 10 years ago. 7 nights, and 4 stops. We’re going with our bff’s from CT. They’re flying down here and we’ll all drive over to the port. I expect it to really be fun. Two days at sea, and a day each in Costa Maya, Roatan Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel. I’ve wanted to snorkel in Belize since I was certified in scuba 42 years ago, lol. Not scuba diving any longer, but the snorkeling is supposed to be some of the best in the world. Other than that, we haven’t made a lot of plans except to relax in the sun and enjoy ourselves. I’m really looking forward to the days at sea.

We hosted our first real get together at my house a couple weeks back. We had 6 or 7 people over for pulled pork and baked beans. One of my besties here brought her home-made mac and cheese. The women were part of our writers group, and all the men are musicians. It turned out well, I think everyone had a good time. We laughed a lot, like “My face/stomach hurts from laughing” kind of stuff. It was good! We’ve made so many good friends here. The vibe is so laid back, and accepting. I am so happy this is where I landed for retirement.

My writer’s group is coming on Sunday, so I need to get the house picked up a little. Today I’m going to sit for an artists guild over on Treasure Island, which is one of the St. Pete beaches. I will get paid $40 to sit for 2 hours so they can practice their portraiture. I guess every 20 min I will get a 10 minute break.

My sis just got back down here for the winter, so we made a lunch date for a couple weeks from now. Looking forward to seeing her.

So, it’s been busy. I have a feeling that after the holidays, I will just want to collapse, but it’s nice to be busy. It helps to keep my mind sharp. I get a little mushy when I don’t have a focus. Kind of how when I worked I was “on” all the time, because I had to be. Don’t have to do it for work, now I do it for the things I have passion for.

Seems like nice way to live.

Love and light to all.