(Warm Weather – Pieces of a Dream)

Just a small post today.

Update. Richard got back safe and sound last night (after a five hour drive there and then back) around 9:00 pm from the record show near Birmingham. He was very happy with his purchases. He bought lots of records.

Saturday is Richard’s soccer game day. He can’t miss watching his England home town team Nottingham Forest so off I went to the gym. Did my treadmill and pilates. Home again and then we went out for groceries and Starbucks. Not extremely exciting, right?

It was warm and sunny so we immediately headed back to sit on the deck. Heavenly. Around 3:30 clouds filled the sky. No more sun. 😢 But still much better than the snow storm scheduled for PEI.❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️☃️

We are enjoying it here. Already thinking about coming again next year.

Bundle up PEI. Hope you bought your storm chips. 😉

Nite y’all 😴

(White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane)

“Rabbit rabbit rabbit” is a superstition found in Britain and North America where a person says or repeats the words “rabbit”, “rabbits” and/or “white rabbits” aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.

Richard introduced me to a variation of this superstition. For him it’s saying “white rabbits” first thing in the morning on the first day of the month but only in a month that has an “r” in it. Well March has an “r” but we both forgot to say it this morning.😩Time will tell. Lol.

I’m giving you two songs today. (In case you haven’t noticed I always give you a song tied to the posting title.)

(On My Own (Les Misérables) – Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil

Well today I was on my own.

Richard left around 5:30 this morning to drive to a record show near Birmingham. I decided to stay here. That way he could do his record hunting without worrying that I was bored and feeling he had to rush. Records, ones that I grew up calling 45’s but he calls 7 inch records, are a major, major interest of his and he’s extremely knowledgeable about them. He enjoys buying and selling them.

Without a car today there was no gym for me. I didn’t want to give up an exercise day so I found yoga and pilates videos on you tube to do in the living room.

This may sound a bit odd to you but I like to clean. So that’s what I did for another part of the day. I like getting it done all at once. Maybe it’s not so much the love of cleaning but that great feeling you get when you’re done. As Anne of Green Gables would say, “It gave me great satisfaction.”. Yes it did.

My next plan was to go for a nice, long bike ride.

I didn’t go.😢 I couldn’t remember the bike lock combination. Haha. Imagine that.

Of course I finally found it when it was too late to go. Bummer.

The saddest part of the day was that the neighbours knocked on my door to invite me to supper but I didn’t hear them. Shoot. That would have been so nice. They leave on Wednesday so we’ll have to get together before then.

I hope this post finds everyone well and enjoying an amazing life.

Nite y’all😴

(Succotash – Herbie Hancock)

I know I haven’t posted in a few days. Oops. Sorry. We’ve just had a few quiet days so there wasn’t much to share with you. Just going to the gym and then lazing around the house/deck reading and drinking tea. Super relaxing.

The other day we went for an early morning (6:30) beach walk. It was beautiful. What an amazing time of day. A perfect way to begin. Here we have a lot of herons, gulls, pelicans, and sandpipers on our beach. That morning the locals’ resident heron flew by us and landed oh so close to us. Unbelievable. Richard walked up to it thinking it would fly away and he’d get an inflight picture but the heron had other ideas. On the plus side Richard was able to walk right up to it to take this photo. How beautiful.

Last night we were invited to the neighbours for dinner. It’s been wonderful meeting them and sharing meals and engaging in lots of interesting discussions. They’re here for one more week so we plan on getting together again before they leave.

I’ve been looking for southern recipes. When I saw a recipe for succotash the first thing that came to mind was the cartoon character Sylvester the Cat and his trademark exclamation “Sufferin’ Succotash”. Funny how the mind works. Took that as a sign that I should make it.

Most kids love cartoons. I certainly did when I was a child. I especially love the old ones: Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes, Disney, and Merrie Melodies to name a few. As a kid they were funny. Getting older I appreciate them for all that they entail. When I was teaching elementary school music (37 years) I appreciated their incorporation of classical music. It was such a joy to share some of these with my students and observe their amazement and their enjoyment of them. There are so many wonderful cartoons. Here is just a small taste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5-fP4QpL0A&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1laz-7C2KM&feature=share

https://youtu.be/bYM84n-2Sas

https://youtu.be/wnYpUuMGLrM

https://youtu.be/qWJ-kGuOA_Q

Southern Recipe #8

Blackened Chicken with Succotash and Cornbread

When I chose to make the Succotash recipe I knew I couldn’t just have it alone. Since we like chicken I decided to have blackened chicken. Seemed more southern to me. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. Is it?

Heaven help me! 🙏🏼 I decided to try cornbread again. This time from scratch. 🙀 In my first venture with cornbread I made it from a mix and it was a total disaster. 😝 I should have know better. Mixes are not usually the best.

The meal was delicious and we’ll definitely have it again when we get back home.

I hope everyone has had an amazing week.

Nite y’all 😴

(Festival Time – Maxi Priest)

No gym today. Guess I need to take a break once in a while.

Another foggy morning but off we went to the Orange Beach Seafood Festival and Car Show. Now this may sound a bit bizarre to you as neither of us eat seafood nor are we car fanatics but there were lots of arts and crafts vendors. Plus it was held at The Wharf and we really like it there. An added bonus was the lack of fog. It was sunny and hot. We arrived just as it opened and the parking lot was almost full. We weren’t expecting it to be so crowded so early. Guess it’s a popular festival.

Our first stop was The Southern Grind, a fun coffee/gift shop.

Richard had coffee and I had a chai latte. It was the best chai latte I’ve had in a long time. 😋

Then off to view the vendors. What was cool was they had stages at both ends of the street with non-stop live entertainment. It wasn’t bad either. Here’s a few pictures. What an amazing fish, right?

There were so many vendors, all selling handmade items. The variety of talents that people have always astounds me. What creative minds. They produced items I could never have imagined. Granted, a lot was not my taste, but that doesn’t stop me from admiring their talents or the beauty of their work.

I was very well behaved and bought nada. Good girl. Richard made two great purchases: a double wind spinner for his back yard and a small painting done on an old board. Two very nice pieces.

For lunch we decided to return to The Southern Grind as the outdoor food trucks didn’t appeal to us.

Our sandwiches were delicious. Richard’s was a gourmet grilled cheese and bacon and mine a chicken salad with grapes and walnuts. I’ll have to try making it when I get home.

We left after lunch and enjoyed the sunny afternoon on the deck.

Wonderful day!

Nite y’all 😴

(Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – The Beatles)

What a foggy day! Lately we’ve had a lot of them. So off to the gym we went:treadmill, lower body strengthening, and yoga.

Now for the part of the day that we’ve been anticipating. We headed to LuLu’s for a late lunch.

https://lulubuffett.com/gulf-shores/

Lucy Anne Buffett, also known by her childhood nickname LuLu, and the official “Crazy Sista” of the Buffett clan, is the little sister of singer Jimmy Buffett. Lucy was born in Mobile, Alabama and says the song that best describes her is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

She owns the above LuLu’s restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores, Alabama where it’s become a well-known coastal destination. Continuing to grow and thrive, there are now two LuLu’s locations, the second in Destin, Florida and a third on in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

When we arrived at LuLu’s in Gulf Shores there was quite a crowd and we had a fifteen minute wait for a table, which wasn’t bad as there are a lot of walking boardwalks. Part of the wait, I believe, was because they don’t have all the tables available this time of year. That’s totally understandable.

As we hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 6:45 we decided to splurge and share an appetizer and a dessert plus our own entrees. We had quite a wait for our food and then, disappointingly, our starter arrived at the same time as our main meals. On the table was a big bucket with cutlery and a roll of brown paper towels to use for serviettes. That makes it much easier for waitresses. These bottles were also on the table. We did not try them.

Our appetizer was the Onion Ring Basket (way more onion rings than we could eat – they were huge rings with a nice, light batter). I ordered a Caesar Salad with Blackened Chicken while Richard chose the Jerk Chicken Sandwich (Grilled Chicken Breast marinated in LuLu’s own Southern Jerk Seasoning topped with Grilled Pineapple and Swiss Cheese and served with Honey Mustard). My salad was very good but I’ve never had a salad with so much added chicken. If I’d know it was going to be so large I’d either have ordered the smaller salad or omitted the chicken. I couldn’t eat the full salad. Richard said his sandwich was very good and he really liked the accompanying fries. Now reading about LuLu’s online everyone said you had to have their Key Lime Pie as it was the best on the coast. That’s the dessert we shared. It was very good. I’m not sure I’d call it the best I’ve ever had but it was tasty.

I’d have to say that the service was not very good. The waitress never came back to our table after delivering our food and drinks; not even to ask how things were going or if I wanted more water. The next time we saw her was when she came with our bill. What? I must have had a questioning facial expression as she then asked if we wanted dessert. Yes we did. So she brought it plus more to drink and then back again with our new bill. She said she had been very busy. Hmmmmmmm.

Something I loved was this giant open air sandbox for kids.

I could see it from where I was sitting in the restaurant. Kids would walk by and then play in the sand with the buckets. Cool idea. What a great way to entertain the kids.

That’s about all for today. Back home to read and relax.

Nite y’all 😴

(Key Lime Pie – Kenny Chesney)

What a foggy day! Had to have the lights on when driving to the gym this morning. Regular Thursday routine: treadmill, Pilates, and upper body strengthening.

Then to Publix for groceries where we discovered (thanks to our grocery bagger) that you can refill your empty gallon water bottles for $.35. Wish we’d discovered this earlier. We’ve been going through approx. one gallon bottle a day at $.85 a bottle. From now on we’ll be refilling. Last stop was Starbucks for Richard’s coffee and my matcha green tea latte.

I know people usually associate key lime pie with Florida but it seems to be on every menu here in Gulf Shores. While grocery shopping this morning we bought these key limes in the grocery store.

This afternoon, for some communing with nature, Richard went to the Nature Centre in Gulf State Park.

https://www.alapark.com/Gulf-State-Park-Nature-Center

This little fellow was just walking around on the floor without any warning notices that it was there. Richard backed onto it. What a shock that must have been – for both of them. Apparently he was the third person today to step on it. Poor turtle.

Since I’m not as much of a naturist as Richard is I stayed home and used that time to make this week’s recipe.

Back home in PEI I’ve only made it with regular limes as I’ve never seen key limes there. Therefore my recipe for this week is Key Lime Pie made with actual key limes.

Southern Recipe #7

Key Lime Pie

The consensus: it was very good – not too sweet. I’ll take it.

Nite y’all 😴

(All You Need is Love – The Beatles)

Cool and rainy today. Did my normal morning routine – Pilates, treadmill, and strength training. Then off to Starbucks.

For a change of pace we decided to go to the movies. It was an added bonus when we got there to discover they had a Tuesday special, every seat was $5. I do love a deal.

The movie we saw was Green Book. Great movie.

“Dr Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. In need of a driver and protection, Shirley recruits Tony Lip, a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx. Despite their differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation.“

I really enjoyed it. This movie touches several very difficult social issues set within the southern US, in 1962, with racism the most obvious, but even with these tense issues for me it is a feel good movie.

I think I especially appreciated it as since I’m wintering in Alabama I have been reading Alabama books/authors. Two I’ve just finished were Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks with James Haskins as a contributor and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. These were two interesting, informative, and often disturbing novels. It’s horrendous that life was actually like this and worrisome that some people still harbour these archaic racist sentiments. When will we ever learn. Hopefully soon.

For an after movie treat we stopped for ice cream.

https://mattshomemadeicecream.com/

Now for those close to me I know you’ll find this hard to imagine but this was my first ice cream cone down here. I know. Unbelievable! I am trying to be good.

Richard is so adventurous. Lol. He had vanilla. I, on the other hand, had creole praline. Yum yum yum (but only a single scoop)

We saw this sign on their wall. Isn’t it great?

I would amend the sign to read All you need is Love and maybe a lot of Ice Cream. But that’s me and my love of ice cream.

A little reading, a little chili thanks to Richard’s culinary skills, and some tea and tv. What more could we wish for. It’s been an amazing day.

Nite y’all 😴

(Amazing Grace – Aretha Franklin)

Today, for the first time, I saw this quote on the wall of the yoga studio, Make Today Amazing. It really registered with me. We should all try to make every day amazing. Amazing can mean many things. Merriam-Webster gives us this definition: causing astonishment, great wonder, or surprise. But does it have to only apply to those huge feelings? Can we not find amazement in even the smallest of happenings? A sunrise or sunset, a child’s laugh, a brilliant smile, a kind gesture etc. Can not any of these and many more make your day or someone else’s amazing? Think about it. Tomorrow, how can you make your day and some else’s amazing?

We did our gym and yoga today plus Starbucks and then a quiet afternoon reading at home as it was cooler today. Richard made a tasty veggie stir fry for supper and we had a glass of Chardonnay with it.

Now let me tell you about the wine.

Friends had mentioned that down here we might find good wines from $3.50-$6.00. I have to say I was more than a little sceptical. We’ve been looking and buying but hadn’t found anything under $6. That was until we went to Dollar General. Shock!Dollar General sells wine? Really? Yup. No you’re eyes are not deceiving you. That’s right. $3.50. We had to buy it.

Now, to be honest, it’s been on our shelf for several weeks. Getting the nerve to try it I guess. So today was the day. I was totally prepared. (We had a bottle of a white wine we liked already chilling in the fridge as a back up.) Here’ our $3.50 wine and glasses.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

We liked it.

I never imagined a $3.50 wine could taste this good. Lesson learned. Thanks Bob and Diane for sharing this amazing info with us.

Nite y’all😴

(Dolphins – Fred Neil)

Yesterday was great. I did my morning gym routine while Richard stayed home to watch his soccer game. Then we headed to the Coastal Alabama Farmer’s and Fisherman’s Market in Foley.

http://coastalalabamamarket.com/home

Summerside and Charlottetown should be very proud of themselves. Their markets are far superior to this one. We left without any purchases. That never happens when we go to the PEI farmer’s markets. Cheers PEI.

A tasty stop at Starbucks, then groceries, and back home.

Onto the deck to read. What a super surprise to watch three dolphins swimming about 50 metres off shore. A true delight. We’d heard they were around here so it was really wonderful to finally see them so close.

Today, Sunday, was even better. We went to Craft Farms for breakfast. What a wonderful buffet. Love those omelet bars. One of the things Richard tried was the biscuits and gravy. He said they were delicious but I gave them a pass. They didn’t appeal to me. But I did try their cinnamon rolls which they claim to be the best. Now they were yummy. Here’s a few pictures for you golfers out there.

https://www.craftfarms.com/index.php

https://www.craftfarms.com/clubhouse-tour/

https://www.craftfarms.com/cotton-creek-bar-grill/

I’m not a golfer but there were certainly lots of golfers there. It was a beautiful place.

Right after this we went home as today’s forecast was sunny and 24C. I didn’t want to miss one second. We went for a beautiful beach walk and then onto our deck. How wonderful to see the dolphins again.

We were invited next door for wine so to go with this I made Lower Alabama Caviar.

Southern Recipe #6

Lower Alabama Caviar

It was a nice, light appetizer made with black eyed peas, green, yellow, red chopped peppers, and quartered cherry tomatoes with an olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette.

It was enjoyed by all.

(I’m So Tired – The Beatles)

I love shopping but after a day of it I am so tired. More about that in a bit.

Yesterday I told you I was headed to the theatre last night. Apparently the local snowbirds have a community theatre group and put on a production each year. This year’s was “Jack of Diamonds”.

How wonderful to have a reason to get dressed up. After a month of leggings, jeans, gym clothes, and bathing suits it was so exciting to put on makeup, a nice dress, and fancy heels (a Christmas present – Manolo Blahnik – thanks Kathryn and Scott ❤️). Off we went. Who was overdressed? Me me me. But I didn’t care. I felt great.

In the lobby, prior to the show, a woman started talking to me. She was quite a character. Asked me how old I thought she was. I generously said 73. Quite loudly she informed me that she was 85 and that they come down every winter from Michigan. She kept talking about men-husbands and how you can’t live with them or without them but that she’d keep hers. I felt bad for her husband as he was right there but he certainly must be used to it as he didn’t seem bothered at all by her behaviour.

When we took our seats the lady next to me was chatty. Those who know me know that I am not. (So now tonight I’ve had two chatter bugs.) That’s ok. I can talk if I have to. This second woman comes to this theatre production every year. Has two dogs. Comes for three weeks each year from St. Louis, Missouri. Told me a lot more but you don’t want to hear it.

Now on with the show.

Oh me, oh my.

I’ve been to many community theatre productions over the years, some good and some not so good, but I always try to remember that they’re amateurs who love the theatre and are doing this for the sheer joy of performing. This show was really hard to watch. Enough said. I’m sure you understand. What made it even worse was that my chatty lady next to me was loving it, laughing incessantly, and then staring at me as I wasn’t laughing. Literally every time she laughed she stared at me. I was feeling very self conscious. I didn’t find it funny (oh my what a script) but now felt compelled to laugh to cease her stares. Thank goodness for intermission. Richard and I decided to get some fresh air and didn’t return. I know that’s bad but I’d had enough.

Now for today and why I’m so tired.

Richard went to Mobile to search for records at a record store there. I had him drop me off at Tanger Outlet Mall and spent six hours shopping. What a day. Spent my first two hours at T. J. Max. Nice clothes and great prices. Lots of designer clothes too. Bought a few things. Great start to the day. This is a huge outlet mall. I did a lot of walking. Visited quite a few stores. I spent a great deal of time in the Kate Spade store. How could I not. 70% off with an additional 20% off on top of that. I did well. By the time Richard came back I was toast. Maybe go back again near the end of March. We’ll see.

Off to Sunliner Diner for Fish & Chips and then home.

Doesn’t it always feel wonderful to get into your comfy clothes? Such a feeling of utter relaxation. Ahhhhhhh. Now for some tea and TV. 🥰

Nite y’all 😴