Another Boring Day Of Sun, Sea, and Sand

Rich and Linda Holzheimer, at the Prawnbroker

Walking The Beach, Early Morning 

It's about 7:00 and I have been up for a half an hour.  The sky is just becoming visible, gray clouds on a pink canvas, and I can hear the breaking waves on the shore line. It was in the 80's yesterday, sunny all day but today should be perfect, the high JUST 76º.  

We did not hurry out to the beach yesterday, though I wish I had been out walking early, around 7:30, as the sun was awakening from the ocean.  I did get some pictures but it's a perfect time to walk the beach, before the heat begins. The dilemma is it's also nice to just relax for a couple of hours in the morning.  So we compromised, and around 9:00, Evie and I decided to walk to the Light House and back, along with hundreds of others, as it was a great morning and Sanibel is very busy, lots of tourists and such.  It took us close to an hour to get to the Lighthouse Point, walking leisurely, no power walking, admiring the sea birds, the other walkers, in no hurry.  It was cool on our way out, walking into the breeze.  The way back, however, was much warmer, the sun higher, the wind at our back, so we could not wait to finish our walk and jump in the sea.  The water, like yesterday, feels cold until you are in it for a ten or fifteen seconds, then it's glorious, the salty taste a reminder of our life in Hawaii in the late 1960's, when I would get up before sunrise to go surfing at the Ala Moana break.  Linda and Rich were at the beach when we returned from our walk, so we all relaxed, read, and swam, for a couple of hours.  They introduced us to their friends from New Jersey, Murph and his wife, Jill, who they have gotten to know over the years at the condo. Both are really fun, and Evie and Jill really hit it off, as they both love games and played the shell, game, like bean bag, on the beach, and are already playing Words With Friends on the computer.

Why Old Guys Ought To Wear Shirts!

We came back to the condo around 1:00, for tuna sandwiches, a favorite of Rich's, relaxed for an hour, then Rich and Evie went back down to the beac where Evie took another walk while Rich read.  Linda and I stayed at the condo, watching some basketball, avoiding the mid afternoon sun.  We went down around 3:30, sat with the Murphy's and swapped stories about our grandchildren, our lives.  He was an architect in the DC area, has been retired for quite a few years. I like this hour at the beach, the sun is not quite so powerful, and it's just great to sit in the shade, read a book, under a blue sky, listening to the waves.  I don't much enjoy sun bathing, and want to be either reading or walking or swimming.

The Happy Couples, Enjoying Dinner

We went up to shower around 5:00 because we were going out to dinner at the Prawnbroker, a restaurant we used to frequent with my parents twenty years ago.  We were meeting my cousin Jim, his wife Barb and her sister Mimi for dinner.  They relocated from Cleveland to Ft. Myers about ten years ago and seem to enjoy the Florida life.  Like any good restaurant this time of year, it was packed, but we were able to get a table within ten minutes, fortunately, and had a leisurely dinner, catching up with the Lange's, their children and grandchildren.  We had not seen them in quite a while so it was fun to have dinner with them.  We all ordered fish, what else at the Prawnbroker, Linda and Rich a grouper with a special sauce, Evie a great salmon, and me, a decent but not great sea bass.  It was, however, a fun night, great to be with family, enjoying food and conversation.

My Cousin Jim Lange, and His Wife, Barb

We stopped at the grocery store Publix, on the way home, to pick up chicken for tonight's dinner as we probably will eat in the next two nights because of the NCAA tournament games.  

On a sad note, my favorite Aunt Peggy, died yesterday in Willoughby, Ohio, at the age of ninety two, my mother's younger sister, the last of the Camplejohn's, a sad day for all of her family.  We will miss her cheerfulness, her obvious affection for all her family.  

Peggy Lange, December, 2013, Ninety Two Years Young