Emergency room

The way were were going to spend New Years Eve has changed drastically.
Plan one involved some champagne and tasty snacks, watching a good movie or watching the new year ring in around the world. This would be shared with our son and his girlfriend as they were meant to be in Florida now. But getting snowed-in in Chicago meant they wouldn't be here.

Plan two switched to Doug's brother coming up to visit so we'd chill out at Dad's house and visit, swill beer, eat dinner...fun stuff.

The hospital really didn't figure into any plans. But, here we are. Doug and I were enjoying our time off, just doing pleasurable things like riding the bike, eating good food, walking, enjoying each other's company.....then we must have attracted the attention of jealous gods who decided we were having way too much enjoyment. As we walked through the Barnes and Noble bookstore he felt a numbness down his left arm, side and face. He called his doctor who urged us to go to the emergency room.

Our world took a devastating turn with fears of a stroke, a heart attack, both? The cliff's notes version of this is he spent a hellish 36 plus hours in bay 13 in the emergency room because they didn't have rooms available. Finally they got him a room and it's worlds different, blessedly quiet. He's had a Cat Scan, MRI, EKG and is now off to more tests. It's very frightening from my point of view to even imagine him not being in my life. We are thick as thieves and spend literally almost every hour of the day together. We never run out of things to talk about or tire of each other's company, even after 24 years of marriage.

From his point of view, my god, I can't even imagine the scenes that play out. When I was gravely ill in the past the mind plays out the inevitable scenarios of dying. The "what ifs' in our mind that we are unable to control and scare the hell out of you.

We want our snug, cozy life back. If it means meds, if it means a drastic change of diet, whatever it means we'll abide. I just want him home. I feel like a transparency, as part of me is faded off. And one of the worst things about it is I am powerless to make it right. I can't fix it. I'd trade places with him in a heart beat.
Please keep us in your thoughts.

Merry Christmas

Yesterday, Christmas Eve day, Doug and I had the most relaxing and fun time. He rode down highway 98 and we went through Panacea and all along the coast. We rode for 185 miles and the scenery was magnificent. Right along the water line were many houses, most on stilts - as if that actually helps during a storm surge, and many of them were for sale. Gorgeous and expensive beach homes sitting vacant. We saw acres and acres of tall skinny pine trees lining both sides of the rode between Medart and Carabelle; we saw fat pelicans and many gulls skimming the water near Angelo's Seafood restaurant; rode over a bridge that made you feel like you were flying above the blue gulf waters; saw boats bouncing about from their tethered ports on weathered wooden docks; had fun.

We only saw a few cars and a couple of motorcycles. But we didn't see that many people around the homes on the shoreline either and it was very quiet. Like a ghost town. After riding for a few hours we stopped at an old, old gas station that made you feel you'd hopped through a time portal to the 1950s. The gas pumps were very old and had dials on them I wish I'd gotten a picture of the place. We sat out front, sipping ginger ale and seven up, eating orange peanut butter crackers and hot tornadoes. Christmas eve at 3:30 in the afternoon, 65 degrees, sitting outside on bench next to my hubby with nary a soul or car in sight. I honestly couldn't think of any other place I'd rather have been at that moment. It was pure contentment.

This is Tristan's first Christmas away from us and I miss him. But I spoke with him he is having a good time in Indiana. It was 27 degrees when I called last night and I could hear him crunching around on the ice. Santa will have visited by the time he gets back so there will be a few surprises.

Dinner last night was fresh pasta tossed with a mixture of olive oil, thinly sliced mushrooms, minced garlic, thyme, parsley and the juice of freshly squeezed lemon. That went very well with Alice White chardonnay, French bread and butter followed by pumpkin pie.

Christmas day - we slept in, opened gifts and volunteered at Annie's Place in Tallahassee. Just serving food up to folks who either don't have any food, homeless or just want a meal. The woman that organizes this event is amazingly organized and obviously good hearted. I think we may do it next year too.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas.

St Marks Florida on a beautiful December day

Merry Christmas!

Looks like a deal for the them- they'll cook and eat it!






Today was a very good day all the way around. The weather was nice - 65 degrees with a clear blue sky - we had a fun motorcycle ride to St Marks and ate at a seafood restaurant right on the water. There were all sorts of birds hanging around on the dock, huge pelicans, sea gulls and a very bold brown bird that I'm afraid I don't know the name of...but he would slip through the netting and come inside the restaurant and steal food. It was hilarious! I tried to get a good picture of him scrounging off the tables but it came out a bit dark.

Doug and I had a fried grouper basket with homemade slaw and french fries. It was quite relaxing to sit and watch boats go by, watch birds come and go, landing on the floating dock. The ride out to St Marks was only about 40 minutes and it went by fast. Wonderful day for a ride. It makes me want my own bike but I have to say, it's fun being towed and being that close.

When Tristan returns from bitter cold of Indiana I'm hoping we can all ride out there this weekend. Here are some good snaps of the area.

I love this bike!!

This dock moves...it floats and you won't believe how close I came to dumping the camera in the water.

It's a bit hard to see the thieving bird but he's on the table, as bold as you please, lifting some leftover French fries. Look just under the BL in the photo and you'll see the bird's silhouette.





Don't we make a nice couple? I wish we thought to ask someone to get our picture together.

My lovely new scarf, pasta meal and shibas inus

My lovely new scarf - Cousin Char knitted this for me and I do appreciate it. The weirdness of the weather here has us using the heat for a week and kicking through frost in the mornings; this is followed up by weather such as we are enjoying now....75 degrees for a high (I think that is roughly 23 Celsius) and open windows at night.
But, when it has been cold this wonderful scarf has kept my neck warm when walking or riding on the back of Doug's bike.



Check out the detail and beauty of this scarf. Char is a knitting artist. (Please excuse messy table - dinner prep was starting when I opened the package last week.)

Fresh pasta last night - We had a homemade sauce that was easy to simmer up. A bit of olive oil in the frying pan, garlic, onions and green pepper; simmer low until veggies are soft. Add a can of tomato sauce, about a cup and half of chopped tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes.
Add basil, oregano, a bay leaf and about a half cup of red wine. Simmer this down for a bit while you make salad or steam veggies or whatever. Coupled with fresh pasta and loaf of bread with butter....nice comfort food.

A couple of snaps of the shibas that I like.

Seafood and wine

These past few months of indulging in glorious chocolate cake, pie, chili, breads, cheeses, beer and other highly caloric indulgences have resulted in a thicker waistline.
So, it's Scallops tonight. There is the need and desire to lose some of the weight I've put on these past few months which resulted in a shift in menu plans. Seafood is a great way to take in fewer calories but still have an enjoyable meal. Alas, where you save on calories you spend in dollars. Why is seafood so expensive when we live in Florida?
We couldn't get sea scallops which are much nicer in texture and taste. Our favorite seafood shop, Southern Seafood, had only three lonely fat sea scallops. But, in a pinch, the bay scallops work and they are less than half the price per pound.
Besides the difference in taste, they are smaller and if you dust with too much flour they tend to be mushy.

Saute several cloves of garlic in olive oil. Rinse the scallops and dry best you can, blotting with a paper towel. Dust delicately with flour, give it a good shake so it doesn't lump up. Toss the scallops around in the hot frying pan with garlic. Squirt in some lemon and sprinkle with dill. This can be on the table in about 10 minutes. Serve over any hot pasta. Last night we used fettucine.
A Spanish Albarino wine such as Nora is a wonderful combination. Could not get the Nora but Doug picked a nice Albarino that went pretty well.