A Quiet Rainy Summer.......

Oh my has it ever been raining in the south. Atlanta has had a soggy several mths and little Sarasota has certainly had its share of rain as well. Our rainy season is suppose to be Aug-Sep...but this year it started back in June and continued fiercely in July. Let's just say, I can't remember the last time I needed to add water to the swimming pool!! Has been a bit frustrating since I finally got the bike rack I'd been hunting. But whenever we try to load the bikes and go anywhere the rain comes.....ahhhhh....it has to stop sometime.

Has made for some movie weekends, but not just the ordinary type. Attended 3 showings at the Historic Asolo Theatre on The Ringling property. Two of the movies were black and white about war time and were made back in the 1940's... So Proudly We Hail, about the Army Nurses who fought side by side with men of Bataan and Corregidor, the other was Destination Tokyo which was a realistic account of a submarine mission into Tokyo Bay...both were very cool. Then on a lighter side, we saw The Greatest Show on Earth, in color, about the circus...which is of course all about Ringling and Sarasota since all of that started here. One of the neatest things about this movie is that sitting in the audience watching with us were 3 folks that had actually been in the movie. Two of them were trapeze artist and one was an animal trainer working with the elephants...this film was made 50yrs ago...they looked great and it was very interesting to hear them speak.
Have gone on a few weekend day excursions....a trip down to Captiva Island....great biking and some good food. This is old Florida at its best...laid back.
Discovered a few new Sarasota restaurants during Restaurant Week....always a good week to indulge! And found a country club that does a fairly nice Sunday Brunch....but still have some others to check out.
Then a Saturday trip up to the St. Pete area for some education and riding on their "rails to trails". They have miles of really good bike trails that used to be RR tracks. Explored Honeymoon Island, though we were not impressed and didn't stay but about an hour on the island, still was a good day and made for a fun and some what educational afternoon.
Finally made it to a Publix Apron cooking school class...it was all about seafood...mussels/clams/lobster and shrimp with wines for each course, it was wonderful. A drive up to Fort DeSoto Park was another educational day...LOVE this park. It's laid out well, the piers are great, good parking, they have fresh water spigots and showers in many places, good restrooms, lots of picnic areas, awesome bike trails and exploring the fort is great. Will for sure return to this park. There is a ferry that goes over to Egmont Key where you can explore the fort there and do some good snorkeling... something to do on another weekend.
Some beaching and bike riding around home have about topped off the summer. Most bike rides are an adventure, the other afternoon we saw a baby alligator crossing the street in the neighborhood, wow...not something you normally see, a few weeks ago it was wild black pigs...a big mama and a much smaller piglet....very cute, but something I'd never seen before.
Karen and Kathy came down for a weekend....that was a blast. This time I showed them the Venice area and we had a great lunch at Sharky's on The Pier. We cooked and laughed and had a wonderful time.
Made a few trips back to ATL....one w/e was to help babysit my great-nephews so their parents could attend and be in a friends' wedding....wow...was that a busy 2 days. Then all 20 of us gathered at Mom's for a much overdue family photo...that was great. Then we spent the day swimming and hanging out, also much overdue...it was a wonderful time.
I continue my RV search....I have a specific rig I'm looking for that will make it easier for me while I am still working fulltime...so that narrows my search, thus making it a little more difficult, but I'll find it one day.
I fell in love with the Phaeton 40 QKH model. With some modifications I can have a REAL work area and won't have to work off my dining table...it will take some looking to find this particular model, especially since I want a 2011 or 2012 model...can't afford the 2013 or 2014....so the search continues, but at least I now know what I'm really looking for.

Next week...a trip to Arknsas to see The Ozark Mtns...not been to that part of the country so looking forward to that....stay tuned.