Soon as Halloween goes by, I feel like I’m already late for Christmas. Especially if I’ve stopped at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. Those places are crazy with the holiday deco!
But I’ll keep procrastinating and enjoying our wonderful weather. This weekend is the 18th Annual Blues and BBQ Fest in Old Homosassa at the Museum Cafe. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate with the music program at Homosassa Elementary being the beneficiary. We’ll be there!
Next weekend is the Homosassa Seafood Festival. The street to our house shuts down on Friday so we have to take a scary detour to get in and out. And 10 million other people are trying to get in and out, too. So if we can’t get somewhere on our bikes, we’re staying home!
And we have a new restaurant opening on Monday, The Starting Gate. It looks all shiny and ready to go! How about those colors!
Wednesday night we usually go to the Shed to meet with our neighbors over community issues. Just kidding, we just go to have cheap beer. The local dragon boat team sometimes trains while we’re there and we cheer them on.
And here’s a couple of pictures of butterflies that are still hanging out in our backyard.
First wanted to give out a shout-out to Michelle….
I handed out cucumbers to my friends as souvenirs from our trip to North Dakota. Mine went into salads. Michelle turned hers into pickles. I stopped by one day to drop a kid off or pick one up and she was charring red peppers on the top of her shiny gas range. I was like, “who does that?” The answer is Michelle. She shows up with jars of homemade lo-cal strawberry and blueberry jams. (We return our clean jars to her with the hopes that they’ll be refilled). And while she’s doing the creating she’s also taking pictures and then writes for this blog. And she has a 14-year-old son and a husband that works out of the house. Busy busy busy!
My friend Donna sent me a link to a fun blog. Bluebird Flies The blog is about a young couple and their 7-year-old daughter that sold everything and are spending a year in Europe. I think that is so cool! I would never have been that brave! And the husband’s mother, Sherry, happens to be a friend of ours! Even more cool!
Thought I’d spread the word that we have a new bicycle shop in Crystal River, Surreys, Sycles, & Stuff. It’s at the former Lenco Bicycle shop on 19, just north of the Home Depot and across from the airport. Fred Crawford is the owner and just re-opened the store. Stop by and say hi!
And going along with bicycles, the 19th Annual Rails to Trails Bike Ride is Sunday, October 6th. Terry and I are registered to ride, first time for us! September 14th is the last day to register and be guaranteed a commemorative shirt. But it’s not too late, you can register online.
Scalloping season is almost over but there’s still plenty to do on the Homosassa River. The 31st Annual River Raft Race is September 21st and some of the local venues are holding an International Ethnic Festival from September 23 thru October 20.
Okay, that’s it. There should be a DIY up tomorrow!
We had a wonderful long summer holiday weekend. Jes and Andrew started the fun when they arrived on Friday morning from Brooklyn. As usual when they visit, we had a cook-out for our extended family so everyone could visit with the happy newlyweds! (And how long does the newlywed status last? Until they get their wedding photos? After they send out their thank you cards? Or is there some other arbitrary date?)
2nd Annual Cornhole TournamentAndrew’s ready to play!Everyone over the age of 7 participated.Winners and runner-upsWinners! Yvonne and Andy!Lots of water fun for the kidsJack’s on the hunt!William battling with Kendall and AddyIf you look closely, there’s a child hiding behind that tree waiting to ambush Jes.Think William really would have rather gone kayaking.Michelle and Jon. Michelle brought these decadent chocolate cupcakes with some kind of wonderful filling and topped with peanut butter frosting. And the Watermelon Granita that she posted about last week. Good Stuff! Which put some of us right to sleep!Kendall, Addy, and Kathryn
Our boat went out twice– one morning for scalloping and another for swimming in the spring at Homosassa.
Dressed for ScallopingWe finally had to tell Jes we were going to leave her behind if she didn’t get out of the water. Just like when she was a little kid!Scallop BootyYou catch em, you gotta clean em! And later, when we remember that they are still in the fridge, you have to cook em!
We hit a few of the local restaurants—wings at The Shed and fish baskets at The Yardarm.
Wings at the ShedWe ate at home on several occasions, too.
When I realized that I had crashed my website, Jes and Andrew went to the Crystal River Archaeological State Park and the Ft. Island Gulf Beach Park. They didn’t want to hear me cry.
One afternoon I mentioned that I could tell that Fall was almost here–which made my NY visitors chuckle. They wanted to know how I came up with that conclusion when it was 91 degrees at that moment. I had a few reasons. First, while mowing the yard last week, I was also mulching up leaves that were falling from our many trees. Second, the sun isn’t getting up quite as early so our morning walks are moving later. And lastly, the mornings are a wee bit cooler–today I almost had to put a shirt with sleeves on for our walk!
And yesterday my statement was vindicated. In the Citrus Chronicle Sports Section, Kevin Mimms column– Path Less Traveled, was headlined Fall’s around the corner. Even he thinks Fall is on the way! And if it’s in the newspaper–its got to be true!
So now that the “cooler” weather has arrived, Terry and I will be doing some “top down” road trips. Michelle suggested a few months ago that I start a new series of posts featuring our drives and destinations so we gotta do it! If you see us scoping out places in our little red convertible, stop and say hi!
