Progress on the House

While I dont always write about it, we are constantly doing work on the house. Some projects are quick, while others take much longer than they should. Our flooring project started in October, and the final pieces werent installed until mid January. The door project started early December, but with re-orders, isnt complete until mid February.

The project we are looking forward to is the yard. In search of fruit trees, we wer pointed to Jene's Tropicals in St. Petersburg. Mark was in fruit-tree heaven. I had to remind him that our yard is only so big, so he settled on a Florida Haas avacado, Meyers Lemon, dwarf mango that grows to only 9 ft high. All are planted and we're gazing longingly each morning at the baby fruits on the Lemon tree. Mark is armed with organic insecticides to keep the avocado blooms free of mites and the mango leaves a tropical green. He also planted his vegetable seeds in his makeshift greenhouse until he can plant in the ground. Counting the weeks until we can harvest!

Kites

While running errands, we ended up at St. Petersburg beach and found... a kite festival! The winds were perfect, but the fog (yes, we have fog in Florida)dampened the colorfulness. Or did the fog add a bit of mystery about what was in the sky?

The excursion included a stop at Ted Peters Smoked Fish restaurant . We could smell the smokey scent in the air and decided we needed to stop. Sitting at the bar, with busy Pasedena Ave behind us, I had the feeling the city has grown around this place. The waitresses darted in and out of the kitchen via a swinging door that required a synchronized dance developed over years of repetitive steps.

Mark and I shared a smoked mackerel, warm german potato salad and manhattan clam chowder. Nix on the chowder, but the fish and potato salad were sooo tasty. And those choreographed waitresses made us feel like regulars, as did the interesting clientel. I had tastings from our 'neighbors' dishes and our waitress brought us a sample of their smoked fish spread. I hear their hamburgers are the best. May require another stop.

Birthdays

Each of us has a unique celebration day, our birthday. While the mother should be fested, we seem to focus on ourselves. It can be a personal celebration or one that brings friends and family together. But in the end, its about YOU.

Our daily lives are often lost in the throws of masses. The office group, the neighborhood group, the group of people standing in line at Target, the church group, the classroom of students, the drivers on the freeway. Celebrating a birthday gives us a chance to be recognized as an individual personality, one who has a presence, one who makes a difference - usually to those who are celebrating with you.

New Years seems to be the day during the year when people reflect on their lives and determine what changes they want to make. For me, its my birthday. Maybe because it gives me an additional week or so, but more likely because it is My day to decide.

I have a theory 'Theory by O'Leary' that the longer the celebration, the better the year will be. The Theory has been consistently proven...at least in my memory if not factually. So, if you haven't sent my birthday wishes, you have all year to do it... and the Longer you take, the better my year will be! Yes, there is convoluted logic there - but isn't that life?!

New Year 2008

Happy New Year!
We celebrated with everyone in Lakeland, watched football and ate chile. What a way to celebrate the first day of the year.
On the drive back to Dunedin, we watched a sunset that played out like a series of watercolor paintings. A beautiful close to the first day of the year.