St George weekend

Surgery scheduled for next week. That isn't the best thing going on to be sure.

But last weekend was fabulous and that is what I am thinking about this week.
We wanted to ride the bike to St. George Island but the rain was coming down too hard and the road conditions would have been dangerous. So we took the truck and that was fine too. We didn't drive the entire weekend anyway.

The Buccaneer hotel is old but the room we had was great. Because of the view of the gulf and walking distance to the Blue Parrot and BJ's Pizza and Subs. We had planned to eat at Eddie Teach's raw bar but never made it over. Maybe in a few months. It was also walking distance.

The Parrot had some nice calamari and Dos Equis. The squid was mostly rings, sadly I didn't see a tenacle. The beers were served in frosty heavy beer mugs. This was enjoyable at 5:30ish, lounging at a high table, watching the waves crash onto shore. We saw another pod of dolphins too.....playing in the water about a quarter mile out from shore.

By dinner time ( 7:30) the mosquitoes were so bad that we had to move inside. Lounging at a high table munching calamari earlier in the evening wasn't bad as far as the bugs went. Must be the breeze didn't keep the bloodsuckers off the open deck by nightfall. For dinner we enjoyed Margaritas and grilled yellow fin tuna. Got two slices of Key Lime pie to go as we were so full and couldn't eat it immediately after dinner.

Skipped eating at Harry A's because of all the negative reviews given this year. I guess when we went a year ago and had good service it was run by different management. Or we were lucky. But seventeen horrible reviews within a six month period leading up to our visit was enough to keep us away. Seafood is expensive enough and we didn't feel like paying for abuse and/or crappy service.

BJ's Pizza is very good. I am not a big one for eating the crust but this pizza had very good crust. The smell of it cooking will drive you wild. We just took it back to the room and bought some Hawaiian beer (Kona) from Cast Away Liquors across from the hotel. We ate pizza and watched the world series. Go Phillies!!

Saw a few hilarious campaign signs on the island. "Vote Often for Crofton" was a funny one. How many votes do you get on the island anyway? And our favorite - Vote for Pinki Jackel. What a cool name. Pinki Jackel. Also saw many feral cats roaming about the restaurants and hotels. They don't like people much and I sure did try and entice them to come to me. No way.

Check out my new ink. The photo is a bit blurry......

Lamb, Guild Wars and basal cell

Last night we ate late - about 8:30 p.m. which is late even for us. We got carried away looking at an online catalog for helmets, gloves, armor, etc. By the time Doug started the grill it was almost 8:00. But, here is our excellent dinner. Grilled lamb shoulder (I know Mary Margaret would be saying yuck), crescent rolls, peas and potatoes. It was a good meal even if we finished at 9:00 p.m.


Unfortunately we missed NCIS, one of my favorite shows. I was able to play Guild Wars for a bit and used a character I haven't played with in two months. Granuile Dunamase. What a cool name for a character. It's a combo of an Irish pirate queen (read about her on google) and one of our favorite places in Ireland - the Rock of Dunamase.

Granuaile sites:
http://www.legacyofthecauldron.com/Granuaile.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granuaile

Rotten news today. I had four of my stitches out on Tuesday and the other eight are scheduled out on Monday. The doctor called me today to say the cancer was deeper than they dug out. Soooo...this means another surgery. I don't know when they'll call to schedule it but it will be a MOHS procedure.

That sounds promising, right? I think so...now that I've had time to stew. First I was a bit down about it all. Especially since my nose was healing and I thought it was behind me. But, I'll have to go through that needle in the nose and the cutting again. Oh well...what can I do....at least it was caught early.

Other than that, all is well here at Squirrel Head Manor.

Sigh...it's Monday

The weekend was excellent. It went by so fast. On Saturday we rode a short distance to an old farmhouse where there was a fund raiser for the county humane society. There were tables with various crafts for sale such as quilts, photography, stained glass, jewelry, homemade baked goods and silent auction items. I bought a ticket for a quilt and put a bid in on a basket of goodies.
I am glad we rode the bike because we would never have met this other couple who were riding a 1985 Harley Davidson and an enduro. They arrived just as we were getting ready to leave. They are our ages and we talked for about an hour. That doesn't sound amazing but we don't socialize much at all and it was really nice to chat with these folks. Maybe we'll get together for a ride one weekend.

Doug took me riding to Bristol on Sunday. Tristan rode along with us too. Bristol is about 45 minutes to our west. Nice day for it and I'm glad I zipped in my rain liner. It was just cool enough. Wish there had been more curves. We planned to eat at place called Doobie Brothers BBQ but they were closed. The Apalachee restaurant was open and had excellent food. All home made and home style cooking. It wasn't expensive either.

Some of my stitches come out tomorrow - I can't wait. The swelling has gone down a bit but the bandage I need to keep on my nose is driving me mad. It's just annoying. Oh, and I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten comments about Doug popping me on the nose. Reminds you of the joke, What do you tell a woman with two blacks eyes? Nothing she hasn't been told twice before. Haha

Tonight I made mustard pork chops with cider and cream. Side of gnocchi and some peas and cheap PBR to wash it down. Kinda like pub grub.

Tristan has his trip to Indiana all arranged now. He'll fly up after his Fall classes end and stay through Christmas. It will be our first Christmas without him and that will be strange.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I am reading a good book from the library called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The book is a series of letters to and from Miss Juliet Ashton. She is a writer from a London newspaper. The exhange of letters is from Juliet, her publisher, her dear friend in Scotland (publisher's sister), and a group of people from the island of Guernsey.

The letters begin in January 1946. The details of Juliet's life as a writer during the war and her interaction with with people in the Isle of Guernsey are the focus. It's just after the WW II and people are recovering, physically and mentally. A man in Guernsey wrote to Juliet because he came across a book about Charles Lamb and the book once belonged to Juliet. He found her name and address in it. All the correspondence is interesting and you want to know everything about what happened to these people in Guernsey and how they fared after the German occupation for five years. As I write this it doesn't sound exciting but I am truely engaged with this book.

New jacket and nose update

First, the nose story. Being the little cancer farm that I am, and also being as I've been without any nasty malignancy for seven years and ten months....basil cell carcinoma decided to reveal itself, rearing it's tiny head. On my nose.
The biopsy wasn't that bad, in spite of the needle to the nose. Well. When I went back to the doctor to have the cancerous part cut away I did know it would be a deeper cut. I also knew it would take longer. But the experience was a bit different than I thought it would be.

While I fully appreciate anesthesia and numbness (particularly when I was awake during proceeding) the needle jabs in the nose were more protracted and certainly hurt more. The lidocaine didn't agree with me as well this time around and I had lots of swelling.

The bandages required to cover the wound were so thick and raised that I am trying to keep my glasses on and drive back to work without looking through the bifocal part. This left me to lean my head down, as they told me not too, and try and see through the top part. See evidence below. Also see swollen face and drunken-looking relief. Note I said "drunken looking" as I couldn't take in any alcohol as I was nauseous. Clearly this isn't me at my best.


Much better now and the swelling has gone down quite a bit. My nose may end up with a stunning lighting bolt scar and I’ll just say I survived a Voltemort attack along with Harry Potter.

Oh, my new jacket arrived in today's mail. It's a pretty burgundy colored Joe Rocket armored jacket. The armor is in the arms and elbows and also a strip along the spine. It came with a liner in case it rains and it fits like it was made for me. Typically if I get a package I wait awhile before opening it but I tore into this one. Can't wait to try it out this weekend.

St George Island trip

Doug and Tina outside the Blue Parrot



Tristan and Katie

Doug has been wanting to take me along on rides so I went helmet shopping. Over the course of a few weeks we looked at a couple of local shops, tried to get a helmet to fit; I got mad, or discouraged, because none I tried seemed to fit correctly. Or they didn't have my size.
One guy told me I needed to buy new glasses or get contact lens! That irritated me...but I have a low threshold for poor customer service. Oh, the customer service story....I'm standing in front of shelves of helmets trying to decide which one to try and a salesperson comes out and asks, Do you need any help?
I state (the obvious) I'm looking for a helmet. He says, There you go, pointing at the shelves which I am already, clearly, looking at..thank you so much.

No luck until I got to the Harley Davidson dealership where I had the best customer service. Long story short, I have a nice modular helmet that fits well and will protect my hard head and jaw if I take a tumble.

Our first ride was just a test to see if Doug could tow me Ok and it went very well. We rode into Quincy and then through Attapulgus Georgia before heading home. It was a blast...soooo much fun. The next day we went to St. George Island with Tristan and his friend Katie. After a lunch of crab cake sandwiches and fries we walked around a bit and then headed home. Here is a shot of the beach as seen from the covered deck of the Blue Parrot. Also a snap of a Century Plant.



While we were sitting on the covered deck of the Blue Parrot restaurant Doug spotted a large pod of dolphins. Couldn't get a picture but there must have been three groups with seven dolphins in each. The were close to the shoreline, bobbing up and down. Shiny dark fins cutting across the water...it was really cool.

The ride home was both fun and punishing. Doug ordered a new seat for his Sportster, one which will be more comfortable for long rides. It would be great to get a larger touring bike but that will have to wait until we can save a bit. In the meantime, it's been quite a bit of fun riding.

Tomorrow we are planning a short trip to Bristol or Chattahoochee and getting lunch.