KTgreen

I have been quite lax in posting my “somewhat weekly blog post”.

Two Fridays ago I had intended to write about canceling the Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival for 2020. But. I was waiting for the “official” word. I didn’t want to post anything before the Homosassa Civic Club members knew about it. That email went out that Friday morning, but by the time it went out, I had other things to do so didn’t post. And my heart was hurting.

And then last Friday I was just plain lazy. It’s hard to get that energy up sometimes. Or maybe I was just sad. I usually write on Thursday evening and couldn’t get up the motivation.

But. I’m back. I’m getting out a lot more and might have stuff to write about!

Anyhow. The festival. The main concern was the health of the volunteers. This festival is entirely run by volunteers. Last year we had almost 80. Meeting people face to face. Taking money. The chairperson (Terry) reached out to all the members of the committee. It was almost unanimous to cancel. Over 10,000 people come through our little community on festival weekend. It is a huge economic impact. The civic club will still be able to give out scholarships and donations to organizations plus support the learning center. A spring event is being planned if it is possible to hold a gathering safely.

On to the Park. So exciting. I am always amazed at the skill set of the people in our committee. And the energy! This week, the county came out and fixed and paved the road to Shelly’s Seafood. This is a county road. But the county didn’t seem to know that until committee members asked them to fix it. Having said that, the county has been great and reaching out to the members. Even had one of the head honchos attend our last meeting. They are incredibly supportive. Working on getting water and electric to the docks. And getting on the new sewage system.

I’m a bit more mobile now. Almost good on the crutches but still a bit wobbly at times. Five steps into and out of the house. Terry is very careful making sure I don’t tumble. I am up to managing those steps once a day. We’ve been headed out to our local eating spots a few times a week.

Over the past few weeks, we took the golf cart to…..

Wild Sassa for grouper cheeks fish tacos.

I LOVE fish tacos. If it’s on the menu. I order it. And these were YUM! Did you see that cool toothpick with the little shell? What a very cool extra touch!!!!! (and they have my favorite beverage Diet Dr. Pepper!)

Two Pops. My favorite breakfast place. We get the breakfast sandwich with bagel, egg, bacon, and cheddar cheese. Oh, yeah, we love lunch there too. Terry loves their pork sandwich and baked beans. I prefer the turkey sandwich. Had that a couple days ago. (do I ever cook?and they have Diet Dr. Pepper, Nectar of the Gods.) But. Terry picks up breakfast for us on Sunday mornings and we have Bloody Marys sitting by the pool. Well. We used to. It’s HOT and I’m in a splint! We tend to sit inside lately!

We went to NautiTimes. I had fish tacos, of course, and Terry had fries and chicken wings. Everything was GREAT! We were the only ones there and enjoying our meal when the entire Smith Clan with their six person golf cart showed up–neighbors and members of the civic club. So fun to see all of them and the kids and grandkids. Love being able to sit outside and chat with friends. The food was really good. This place is in the old Taz hotdog stand right beside the Old Homosassa Water Tower. Peeps. Go there. Support them. Love having a new place to go to!

Okay. We love the new place. But we also love those that have been here for the duration. Like the Old Mill. Terry picks up ribs on Fridays.

While we do try to not go beyond the Old Homosassa Water Tower, occasionally we do. We went last week to Two Guys. I love the eggplant Parmesan. It is so good. Terry gets the seafood linguine. But. We won’t be going back for a while. We wore our masks in and no one else had a mask on. Not like there are a lot of diners there at lunch. But. If I have my mask on. You need to have yours on. We will only be going there for pickup. Or not at all.

And on to that…..I am on the side that “this is not a hoax”. I wear my mask.

And so does the Museum Cafe. Went there yesterday for lunch. Sign on the door. Masks required. Had a wonderful lunch of Cuban sandwiches and black beans and yellow rice. Jim Anderson was on site. Terry said this was the BEST Cuban sandwich he’s had in a long time. Jim also gave us some of his guava desserts. Oh. Jim didn’t know that Terry doesn’t eat sweets so I got to eat BOTH slices. YUM. YUM. YUM.

Like I said. I believe in masks. I believe in science. We have meetings and 90% show up in masks. And 10% do not. I’m over it. Peeps. Respect me. Wear the freaking mask. If you don’t believe in the science. Don’t come to the meeting. Back in June after we could actually go to a hair stylist, I wore my mask and no one else did in the ENTIRE SALON. I was a very good customer. Very good tips. Because I appreciate good service. And now I will NEVER go back to that location.

So my hair is kinda out of control.

My daughter and family lives in DC. They wear MASKS ALL THE TIME. And their numbers are not going out the roof. If we would wear masks, we could stop this. Unfortunately, so many of my friends believe that it is a hoax.

Makes me sad.

I do not want to die from a virus that we can stop by wearing masks.

omg. I was feeling sad there and almost forgot the DOG OF THE WEEK!

SJ.

Or maybe the name is ES JAY!

You can meet her at NautiTimes. Right by the water tower. Do it. Sit outside. Enjoy life.

Meet SJ.

Have a great weekend.

So I sit in my temporary and very comfortable confinement looking out on the beautiful view of the Chaz and contemplate. And then 100 vultures show up and pick on some undefined piece of death.

I was just happy they weren’t here for me.

Yet.

OMG! So much has gone on this week.

Terry is constantly on the phone with all the park stuff. Stuff. Does that sound official?

Anyhow. He sent an email out to all the Homosassa Civic Club members that we were having a clean up day at the Old Homosassa Heritage Park for yesterday. A lot of our members are snow birds so weren’t available. And a large part of our members are over 70. Saying all that….there were more than 25 members that showed up.

And our future museum and the falling down shed were all cleaned out by noon. Woo hoo! Okay. You know I’m a wee bit crippled so I wasn’t there. Love seeing our community come together and make a HUGE difference!

Besides the very visible clean up day, lots of stuff is going on behind the scenes.

So much stuff!

I will try to keep you updated. But SO MUCH STUFF!

It’s very exciting that so many peeps want to get involved! Right?

Okay. So Thursday afternoon I got a text saying that a friend heard that the Seafood Festival was canceled. True? False? She was sitting at Seagrass and the whole bar said that the festival was canceled.

Not yet. There are a lot of things to consider. 46 years. The festival brings not only money into the civic club but into all the bars and restaurants. Even the Baptist church because they charge for parking.

But. The festival is completely run by volunteers. Most of our volunteers are over 60. Are they willing to run the risk?

Yikes. Meeting next week. I’m torn. Open to suggestions.

What should we do with this new world?

I haven’t posted here for most of July. Cause I’ve been kind of down and out. Took a spill, messed up my knee, had to have surgery. That was my July.

Wondering what malady August will bring? Oh yeah, a tropical storm is on its way!

July wasn’t all bad. The Homosassa Civic Club finally completed the purchase of the “Old Homosassa Heritage Park and Working Waterfront”. After five years of ups and downs, the “Access to the River” committee finally came across the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfront Grant, applied and received it. The park was purchased on July 7th. Have to give a shout out to Senator Wilton Simpson for directing us to the Florida Community Trust and the grant. In case you didn’t see the article in the paper or on FB, the park is located at the former Locklar property. Shelly’s Seafood, Wild Sassa, and numerous boat slips are located there. All will remain. The property will be a working waterfront in “perpetuity”.

The committee is now making plans for improvements. None of the boat slips have electric or water so getting that installed is a priority. Plus a clean up day is planned to get the property into better shape. A long term goal is to get the property off of the three septic tanks and onto the new sewage system that is being installed in Old Homosassa. Eventually the 80 year old cracker house on the property will be a museum. How cool is that?

Over the past five years we have witnessed a lot of changes in Old Homosassa. We officially became a legal golf cart community. The water tower is back to being a proud symbol of the heritage of our community. We have beautiful wide sidewalks from Old Homosassa all the way to US 19. (Eventually there will be sidewalks on 19, too.) Florida Cracker is upgrading Riverside. Crumps Landing is hopping on the other side of the river. MacRae’s has a food trailer, Wild Sassa is a busy weekend place and Two Pops is our favorite deli. NautiTime Seafood n Wing Shak has moved into the old hotdog place and is having a soft opening tomorrow. And finally we have “Access to the River” park. Things are good.

And back to my personal dilemma, besides being stuck with a walker for the next two months (because older people do better with walkers than crutches), I am sentenced to a life time of supportive shoes. So sneakers and dresses (because I can’t get shorts over my splint) are my new fashion statement. Getting down the steps is scary but I am out and about now.

Maybe I’ll see you!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy