Heating up

Time for a quick update.  For you picture junkies, sorry, no pics on this post.

A mostly quiet week, mainly because of the unseasonably cool temps (I know, I'm not complaining, I'm sensitive to what family / friends are enduring back home, etc.)

Yesterday we drove down to Tampa / St. Pete's to visit a local icon; Haslam's Books.  This place has been around for decades, and sells new and used books as well as some extremely valuable old books.  The latter are kept in locked wooden cabinets, with glass front, and its not unusual to see price tags of several thousands of $'s!  Our purchases were considerably more modest, needless to say.

On our way to this mecca, we stopped at Gander Mtn., a sporting goods retailer along the lines of Basspro.  Picked up some 20lb test braided fishing line, and then of course had to buy a reel to put it on, heh heh...  What really caught my eye was the store's flyer.  These are similar in every way to those we get at home from Basspro, except that the first 4 pages were devoted to, get this, all types and caliber's of handguns!  What a great country!  The right to bear arms and all that good stuff.

Today, despite forecast highs of only 9C, I waited for the tide to come in before heading out to sea for another attempt to catch fish.  The wind had died down some, but still, by the time I got out to the Gulf was glad I'd taken along my down vest and windbreaker.  Did some gunkholing along the coast just to the north of where our river exits into the Gulf, and found another osprey nest.  Could hear them clearly, but failed to spot them.  Spotted large numbers of large fish including snapper and jacks, but they were not interested in what I had to offer.  The crabs, on the other hand, devoured my shrimp with much enthusiasm.  Skunked again!

Tonight we went out for dinner; our first dinner out since arriving here more than 2 weeks ago.  The Bonefish Grill (for a chain restaurant, one of the best), but the lineup suggested we fall back to plan B.  This was a local (Weeki Wachee Gardens) Italian place.  There always seemed to be a lot of cars in the parking lot, and, as we discovered, for good reason.  The place is called La Bella Napoli, and we enjoyed some of the best Italian food ever! Karen had the Osso Bucco, with a pork shank.  It was gustatory heaven!  I opted for the linguine with a tomato / conch sauce.  For the life of me I can't recall the name of the dish and I couldn't find the menu on line.  Suffice to say it was outstanding!!!

Tomorrow calls for temps in the low 20's, so I will head out for some more fishing, while Karen enjoys her book poolside.

Gotta say, if you have to work almost 50 years to get to enjoy this lifestyle, its worth every minute!