I love not working. I can write as long as I want in the morning. I can go see the sunrise, and walk after, or not. I can just putz around the house, I can run an errand if I want. My time is my own and it’s wonderful. This morning, I ran to Walmart, and picked up some prescriptions. I made an appt with an endocrinologist not far from here. Then I came home, wrote a little, and then continued putting up stuff on my walls, straightening out some closets and shelves. Organizing, making it mine, but not under any pressure. No timetable. Time barely exists for me any more. It’s awesome.

This morning I was checking out at Walmart, the checker was a young nice looking black man. When he saw my necklace, which is a shell lariat I made a couple years ago, he just stared at it, and complemented me on it. I told him I made it, and he showed me a pendant he had on that he had wrapped. He asked what kind of wire to use, and asked me if I sell my stuff. Asked me if I made my earrings (Yes, I did.). I looked at his pendant, it was pretty cool. He said after, “I never let anyone touch this, but you were supposed to, I’m sure.” Which was such a complement! I said, “Well, I’m a reiki master, lets hope it was pure good energy.” He smiled and said, “that’s why you were supposed to touch it.”

What a lovely encounter, especially for Walmart! Kinda made my morning!

I don’t really know what I need for furniture besides a kitchen table and a tv stand. Maybe a cabinet to display my collection of Lenox China shells, and fishes, and flowers and birds. Once I get all the empty boxes out of here, and the ones I’m not opening yet, like Christmas stuff, put away, then I can see what I need, and where.

I’m going out to open mic night at the Mangia Cafe. My friend Pat, and her friend Beth, who used to sing the blues professionally, are both going to sing tonight. I’ve not heard Beth sing yet, but the word is that she’s fabulous. She introduced Pat to Beth Hart, who introduced her to me, and now I’m a huge fan. I’ll be the clapper, again tonight. 🙂 It’s such a laid back atmosphere. Not much drinking goes on, they are really more of a vegetarian restaurant, but they have this great outdoor space. They have a few wines and beers, IPA’s. I love balmy tropical nights. All I need is someone to share them with, lol. Besides my girlfriends, lol.

Here’s hopin’. Maybe tonight, who knows?

Love and light.

A stiff, damp, southwesterly breeze, is pointing the sterns of the boats at me, alone at the end of the fishing pier, save a couple fishermen on the other end. 

The sky is turning pinks and golds again, dotted with gray clouds, shaded pink where they face the rising sun. Thunderheads appear to be building offshore again, but here the sky is blue, with gray clouds around me but not over me. 

I love that the horizon here is almost as large as the horizon when you’re offshore. 

I close my eyes and chant So Hum silently for a few minutes, my face to the dawn. “I Am”.  I need to remember. Then, I say thank you to the powers that be, that I am here, at this place in my life.  That I was given the strength and help I needed to follow this dream. 

I open my eyes. The sky is glowing pink. The flag on the flag pole next to me is clanking as the wind picks up. 

The boat closest to me flies  French flag on its stern, although the U S flag flies on the mast. It was apparently big news in his small town. The name of the boat is supposedly “LOL” though there is no name on its transom. 
People seem to come here and anchor out for a few days at a time.  Why not?  It’s a lovely town, there’s a dinghy dock at the dance hall. 

Just as the sun breaks over the horizon, one of the gray clouds sneaks up behind me and a tropical downpour begins. I wait for a few moments after the first drops fall, to see if it will actually rain. The rain becomes consistent so I make my way back down the pier, getting pretty soaked. But it felt good, refreshing.  As I get into my car, it stops, of course. 

Time to go back home. 

Love and light everyone.

Gulf Drive. Beach Blvd. Gulf of Mexico Drive. Tangerine Avenue. 

Names of the streets here. Lined with palms, with old oaks hanging Spanish miss for a canopy, with hibiscus and bougainvillea. 

It still feels exotic.  It still feels like I’m visiting, and I’ll have to go back to the chilly autumn and frigid winters of New England. 

Every morning, every night, for short but intense moments, the sky turns into glowing pinks, oranges and golds. Every day, without fail. So far. 

Old fishermen cast their lines into the water from the fishing pier. Sometimes fish jump and splash. Sometimes seabirds come to rest on the rails next to the poles. Not sure if the fishermen even care if they catch anything, though I suppose some do. Methinks they are here like me, to watch the day unfold from the beginning. 

At dusk, many people come here, or so I’ve been told. I have not. The morning is my time. To watch the shadows lift, to smell the salt air, to listen to the sea birds, to watch the boats swing lazily on their hooks, to witness the short but glorious moments of absolute beauty when the sun makes its ascent over the horizon. 

Sunrise to the west over St. Pete Beach

Sunrise to the north over my little town. 

To think about my life, where it’s been, where it’s going and to give thanks. So grateful my life turned out this way. 

Love and light. 

I put up a post on FB about the giant cockroaches palmetto bugs. I have had countless responses from my friends in the south telling me how to deal with them. Boric acid, traps, sprays, powders, keep the drains closed, leave the light on, keep shoes by the bed.

And also a lot of stories about screaming so loud people came running.

Hopefully I made some progress today about keeping them out. They look like something from Men in Black.

I am better tonight than I was in the middle of the day. Because of….people. My friend came over and helped me hang a few of my paintings, and then her friend who I’ve met before came over and we had a good old gab session. They are going out tonight to the VFW to sing. They wanted me to go, and I would have loved to go. What a good place to meet men! LOL. But I needed a shower, and I’m beat. I told them next time I’ll go, I’m just way too tired to go anywhere. I am sure I’ll sleep well tonight.

And I found what seems to be a good handyman to put up my mailbox, and fix my gutter, and my fence, and he’s gonna give me a price on the window replacement. That was a relief. He said I can have a mailbox by Friday. I hope he isn’t all talk. It’s been really hard to find a handyman like him.

So when I think about it, I am just trying to make sure I eat what’s good for me. Not feeling like eating junk. I have lost a few lbs since I got here, always a good thing. I wanted to be down 10 more lbs when I moved here. I’m hoping it’s happening now, since it didn’t before I moved.

I have noticed that I’m eating better here. I tend to forget about eating when I’m working on the house, so when I do eat I’m usually starved, and so try to eat healthy, balanced. I’ve lost a few lbs since I’ve been here. I had wanted to lose 10 lbs before I got here, maybe I’m gonna lose them now. Tomorrow I’m going to do laundry and hang out by my sister’s pool, and see if I can’t get a little bit of a tan so I look like I belong here.

So…Onward. Got a lot of stuff done today. It feels so good to have my stuff up on the walls. Feels more and more like home every day. Can’t wait til everything is in it’s place.

Love and light.

Feeling overwhelmed today. Like, what the hell were I thinking to take on this project alone?

I missed sunrise this morning. Because my friend Pat called early, to tell me some news she had. I was happy for her, even if I think she’s latched onto a dream that most likely isn’t real. It makes her happy, so I just hope for the best for her.

I took my car to get fixed, because it’s been making a loud noise since I got to Florida. The garage guy thought I needed a whole new muffler, from the catalytic converter back. But he said, “I’m gonna send you somewhere else, where they can do it cheaper and better, it’s a muffler place run by a couple guys I know who do good work, and they’re close by.” He called them for me, and I went over, sick, thinking it was going to cost me a few $100 bucks. And I just had the muffler replaced in CT a couple years ago.

When I got to the muffler place they put it on the lift and turns out it was just a rusted out flange between the muffler and exhaust pipe. The muffler and pipes were ok. He replaced it in about 15 minutes for $60. Awesome! One problem solved relatively cheap.

While I was waiting for the garage to diagnose the problem, I called a handyman I found on Craig’s list, and made an appointment for him to come by later this afternoon and give me a price on putting up my mailbox, and fixing my gutter, and maybe straightening out my fence which is leaning over after the recent hurricane.

Then I went to home depot for Roach stuff. Lots to choose from down here. Then I went to look at their sheds, because I need one badly for my mower, garden tools, etc. They had one, for $599, which seemed like a good price. Except it’s $79 to deliver it, and they won’t put it up, nor recommend anyone to put it up. So that’s probably another couple hundred bucks. And, how do I find someone to put it up for me? It shouldn’t be so complicated. It sucks being a single retired woman.

While I was in the parking lot I called my dr back in CT and asked them to renew a prescription that was out of refills.

Came back home, had some lunch. Yogurt and a banana. Not real hungry. Stomach actually feeling upset. I was manhandling a big box that had big paintings in it, and it ended up banging into my big toenail that has fungi-nail, as a result of an accident when I was when I was a teenager. And the whole nail ripped off again. I just lost my other big toe nail about a month ago. So now, I have no big toe nails. Cripes. ffppppppppppppppppp

I’m trying to hang pictures. Just the family pictures. I know which wall I want to use. I laid them out on my bed. I need a couple of frames. So I’m tempted to go out to Family Dollar and get the frames I need so I can get them done.

I was looking at my stats on WP. I seem to be having a good day, more hits than normal, though not a ton. Anyway, there’s a stat that shows what people are reading. Not who’s reading it, just what was read. I don’t understand how people find old posts, over a year old in some cases, and why they would want to read them. I mean, who wants to read about someone’s heartbreak that’s a year old? Geezus. And how did they even find it? It just seems so random. But then again, the blogs can be found by just searching for certain terms. Still…idk. Sometimes I want to take the old ones down because they are old, old news. But then again, they recorded history for me, snapshots in time. So I leave them up. Just wish I understood.

Maybe that’s part of the overwhelmed-ness. Seeing what people are reading stirs up old stuff that I’d rather leave sleeping, and makes me miss my friends and my son. I’ve been alone for a long time, I am ok being alone most of the time. But this is hard, day after day, the life I lived just not existing any more. Plus I slept crappy last night, woke up a lot.

I’ll get through it. I am a survivor. I have no safety net, except my own center. Still, I wish I had a shoulder to lean on sometimes. I guess I just need to give it some time. I’ve only been here a week. Once I get done moving in, I can get involved in some community things and meet people.

I’m going to my sisters out on the island tomorrow to do my laundry, sweep up any bugs in her house, etc. I think I will just hang by her pool and read. I need an afternoon off from this. It’s cooled down this week some, it’s under 90, and a little drier. It will be nice by her pool Maybe I’ll spend the night there.

Then later this week I have to go price up a washer and dryer for my house.

Lists, lists, lists. My life for weeks now has been lists of things to do. Onward, the list isn’t getting any smaller while I write this. But I do feel better.

Love and light, everyone.Ov

I guess I never should have said I hadn’t seen one of those giant cockroaches alive in my last blog. These are also known as palmetto bugs. That’s way too nice a name for them. I suppose it just makes them easier to deal with if you think you are dealing with a “palmetto bug” and not a giant frigging cockroach. Last night I went to bed, and after about 10 minutes I realized I hadn’t brought a glass of water with me. So…I went back into the kitchen, turned on the light, and there was one on my kitchen floor.

WWWWW! Creepy!! It was heading quickly to the crack between the wall and my gas stove to hide. That is probably where it came in too.

I’m not sure what to do about it. Last night, I went back to bed, knowing it was in the kitchen, and knowing I had nothing here to deal with it. I don’t know if the “Roach Motel” is effective on these

Egiant suckers. This morning I sprayed ant killer in that corner, not that I expect that to work, lol. But it was all I had, lol. I felt the need to do something! I’ll have to get some advice from locals. I know they are common. I found dead ones on the floor of my sisters house when I stayed there. I’ll give her a call, and I’ll ask my friend Pat down here. Geezus they are f’n creepy though.

My sister gave me some sage advice when I was headed down here, and that was “Don’t get freaked out by the bugs in Florida. That’s just Florida.” So, I am trying to remember.

Another issue I’m having with bugs is that every time I open my laptop, these teeny little things like gnats but smaller by a lot, fly onto my screen and hike around on it. It’s one at a time, not a lot. I don’t see them flying, they just seem to materialize on the screen. I have a paper towel next to the laptop so I can just wipe them off. This has only started up in the last 2 days. But it is really annoying too! WTH?

It is bug city here. I’m guessing I’ll need a pest control guy. More money. I need to get a job.

Love and light, all.