Sunday Funday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sundays for us are usually relaxing, quiet days, spent watching golf or football, reading and maybe cooking something for an early dinner. Yesterday, we headed out bright and early for a round of golf with some friends who are headed back to Michigan for the summer. It was a fun time on the course, but bittersweet, since we won't see them until our daughter's wedding in August.

After golf, my husband and I headed to downtown Venice for one of the bigger festivals; The Venice Seafood and Music Festival. There was live music, and a long row with any kind of fresh seafood you could want. It was very hard to choose, but I went with blackened grouper and my husband chose jambalaya. Delicious. The margarita tasted really good as well, since it was the first of those hot and humid Florida days we experience all summer long.

Not wanting to go home quite yet, we set off to find an out of the way place we had heard about that sells orange soft serve ice cream. It actually is very close to our house, just down a road we hadn't been on before. There is an orange grove attached and the cute store has a walk up window for ice cream sales. I had the vanilla and orange flavor and my husband had pineapple and orange. It lived up to its billing and I think we will be back and it will also be a great place to take out of town guests to experience a bit of old Florida.

Happy Monday!

 

May Book Club - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

 

 

 

What a charming book! This book is not one that I had heard anything about, but when I read the synopsis, I was immediately hooked. Harold Fry is an ordinary man who unexpectedly begins walking ( in boat shoes) from one end of England to the other. He believes that by walking to visit his old friend Queenie, who is in hospice, that she will stay alive, as long as it takes him to get to her. He meets many people along the way who each teach him something important and becomes an "Everyman" hero to the country. We also learn in bits and pieces the history of his marriage and how his wife Maureen comes to realize that she took him for granted and begins to miss him, much to her shock. There is a point in the book where the reader finally learns what lead to Harold and Maureens' painful life and this pilgrimage and it is quite shocking. Of course, the book nerd in me, couldn't help but compare this book to Pilgrim's Progress and I was transported right back to English Lit class.

And, much to my delight, there was wine and cheese served at book club! We sat around a small table, discussed the book and then stayed to chat even longer. It definitely broke the ice a bit more and I feel like I'm really getting to know these ladies. It was a very nice night of books and conversation.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

An Active Monday

 

 

 

 

 

It's a lifestyle at this point. Yes, being active is good for my health, but it has become something I love. I love the way I feel and I love exploring new places.

Mondays are my yoga days, right here in my neighborhood. I only have to walk the three blocks to the clubhouse, yoga mat in hand and I'm ready to begin. We are a small, but committed group (I'm the one with the green mat) and the instructor is really good. I really feel it, in all my muscles, usually the next day. We do a lot of core work and I believe it is so important for someone my age to stay strong and flexible. I'm slowly, but surely, building up my time on planks. I also go to yoga on the beach, but that is really more about the beautiful location, than getting much benefit from the practice.

It was such a beautiful night, still warm and breezy, so I grabbed my puppy, jumped in the car and drove the short distance to the beach. We walked on a path around a small lake on one side and the gulf on the other, shimmering in the pre sunset light. So peaceful.

A good day for both body and mind.

Happy Tuesday!