Sunday, March 24, 2013 – Cocoa:

            After the heat of yesterday, the night was cool so it was good sleeping.  The temperature this morning is warm, but the sky is a little gray with some sunshine mixed in. 

            We are going out to brunch (lunch – dinner?) with the boat neighbors that have a sailboat here, so we have a light breakfast in anticipation of a large meal in the middle of the day.  We meet our friends at 12:30 p.m., and they drive us to an Italian restaurant in Cocoa Beach called Branos.  They serve a three-course meal with not one, not two, but three mimosas or glasses of champagne.  I am thinking that a nap will definitely be in order when we get “home.”  All this for the reasonable price of $15.00 per person.  Even though the restaurant was Italian, the waiter recommended the medallions of pork dish, so that’s what Bob and I ordered, and we weren’t disappointed!  It was delicious! There was a singer to entertain us, and we had a great time learning each other’s stories, and solving the problems of the world.

            After lunch, our friends asked us if we would like to visit the beach where they spend time almost each day, and so we drove the short way to the beach, and parked the car with intentions of maybe walking along the water after our midday feast.  But as we got out of the car, we looked skyward at an ever-darkening sky.  We took a quick walk, and then decided that we better head back to the car and our boats.  The sky got blacker and blacker (and I mean black), and we could see whitecaps everywhere on the water as the wind picked up as we drove back to the boats.

            Cocoa Beach is only a short drive from the Village of Cocoa, but as we pulled into the parking lot of the marina, we knew we would have to run fast as large rain drops started falling with big “plops”.  Fortunately, we just made it back to the boat in the “nick of time” as the skies opened up with thunder and lightning and a proper downpour, which lasted long enough to really clean off the boat.  The boat rocked around in the slip for a while, but eventually the rain stopped and the sun began to peek through the clouds again.

            I will admit we didn’t do much the rest of the day – well, we really didn’t get back to the boat until almost 4:00 p.m., and the day was practically over.  Tomorrow will be a busy day – getting the boat ready to leave for two weeks, laundry, and, of course, packing.  I guess the cat will figure something’s up and will not be too happy.

            I wonder if the TSA people at the airport will think she is a panther again?               

Saturday, March 23, 2013 – Cocoa:

            Wow!  It is hot today! 

            Woke up to the gentle patter of “rain on the roof”, which slowly gave way to sunshine, heat, and humidity!  No!  I’m not complaining!

            It was another lazy day, and we watched a few boats come into the marina, but, basically, we just played cards, read, and goofed off.  After making a breakfast and lunch of interesting “finds” in the refrigerator, Bob suggested we walk to this little store we saw around the corner and up the street.  It’s called the Florida Key Lime Pie Company, and I think they have stores in other locations as well as here in Cocoa.  It’s a pretty interesting little place though.  It’s decorated in lime green colors, and they have a steel drum band playing outside.  They serve Jamaican style food, which you order from an outside window, and then carry it upstairs to eat.  We didn’t order the food, but we did go inside intent on buying a key lime pie.

            Once inside, they offer you a “taste” of their “Key Lime Pie in a Cup”, and it is delicious.  They also have something called a “mushy” which is a cheesecake mushed up in a mason jar.  They have several different flavors such as “Girl Done Gat Me All Swirly,” “Mangolicious,” “Pelican Poop,” and I swear I am not making this up, but they have something called (which was near and dear to my heart) “Fell Off Me Bike and Crapped Me Pants!”  That seemed to be everyone’s favorite, because they were out of it.  We settled on “Chocolata,” a couple of Key Lime Pies in a Cup, and made tracks back to the boat!

            Once back and our desserts cooling nicely in the frig, we headed up to the fly bridge for some afternoon people watching, and while we were people watching, Bob happened to notice a manatee swimming out by the entrance to the location of our slip.  I tried to hurry and get the camera, but he or she swam away, I guess, in search of something tastier than what it found in the water near us.

The elusive manatee

Some fish swimming by the boat

            We had some shrimp and cocktail sauce that we took up to the fly bridge for dinner, and Miss Lucy decided to join us up there while we ate and people watched some more.  The clouds are filling up the sky and the breeze is hot, but the weatherman does not indicate any storms on the way.

            Tomorrow we are joining another boat neighbor for brunch at a local restaurant called Branos then we’ll see what other trouble we can get into.

Friday, March 22, 2013 – Cocoa:

            Nothing much happened today!  It was another beautiful, sunny day, cool in the morning, but it warmed up nicely in the afternoon.  I know I have complained about the temperature, but I will say that it has been beautiful sleeping weather.  We almost always need a blanket by morning, and even though there have been recent times that we have actually turned on the heat in the morning, by mid-morning it has usually warmed up a little.  Today it was warm enough to put on a short-sleeved shirt again, although as I write this I have put my sweatshirt back on.

            After breakfast we took our coffee up on the fly bridge, and after that we did some stuff on the computer.  I made some spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight – we still have a couple of things in the freezer (like a pound of shrimp) that I have to do something with, but most of our “provisions” are dwindling down so we won’t have to deal with leftover food when we fly home.

            We ate lunch up on the fly bridge, and Missy Mouser graced us with her presence up there.  She actually jumped up on the settee, curled up and went to sleep (after making sure that there were no prehistoric creatures intent on having her for lunch lurking around).  We read, played crossword puzzles, napped, and people watched.  This is a tough life!

            Bob tried to get us tickets for the performance of Jesus Christ Superstar at the local theater, but, sadly, NONE were available.  I’m sure it would have been a good performance, too, as the Christmas Carol we saw in December was fantastic!

            …and that was about it for the day – maybe there will be something tomorrow.

Thursday, March 21, 2013 – Cocoa:

            The sun was shining brilliantly when we got up this morning and that was a bad omen because it meant that I would have to ride that horrible, uncomfortable bike to the store again today.  I couldn’t even use the excuse that I couldn’t go because I had to clean the boat because I had already done that yesterday.  So after breakfast, as I was cleaning up, I heard the sound of Bob getting the bikes off the fly bridge and onto the dock.  Yikes…

            As these are folding bikes, you have to adjust them from time to time, and Bob’s seat had slid down to the lowest position on the bike so that when he rode he really looked like Bozo the Clown as he had to pedal with his knees stuck out to the side.  I kept telling him to raise his seat, and he finally did that this morning so he no longer looks like Bozo the Clown, but I still look like that old guy on Laugh-In who tottered around on his tricycle until he fell off. 

            So off we went…

            It was cold again this morning with a north wind blowing like crazy.  I had on long pants, socks, and a sweatshirt, and I was still cool.  It was ok going to the store, but on the way back we were riding into the wind, which made it even harder to pedal.  Of course, when we got to the store, we had to buy more stuff like cat food and coffee in addition to replacing the lost pastry and cookies, so we came home with another “load” of groceries even though we are flying home on Tuesday.

            Finally, we get back to the boat, and the bikes are again stowed on the fly bridge.

            …and I swear I will never, ever, get on that thing again!

            Well, nothing exciting happened for the rest of the day except I think it got colder so we actually turned the heat on in the boat!  We have nothing special planned for tomorrow, but as we are getting closer to flying home, maybe something will turn up that we will have to do.

            I know it will have nothing to do whatsoever with riding those bikes!

I swear I will never, never, ever, ever ride this thing again!

            

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 – Cocoa:

            I don’t know if the Sea Gods were taking pity on me or showing their displeasure at my saying “never say never,” but thankfully, we couldn’t ride our bikes to the grocery store because the sky was dark gray with huge, puffy white and black clouds over a black horizon, and it was pouring rain!  We even had thunder and some lightning.  The weather actually made for a great day of being able to do nothing but be extremely lazy!

            We tried to take advantage of the lazy part, but there were breaks in the weather that allowed us to do things like wash all the cat towels.  I believe we have mentioned before that we had the brilliant idea to cover all the settees and chairs with towels when we weren’t in residence and at night to protect them from kitty cat hair, “etc.,” and it was time to put them in the washing machine.  So that was one accomplishment. 

            We were going out to dinner with some boat neighbors, so we straightened up the boat.  I finished reading a book (Love in the Time of Cholera), which was an excellent book but not an easy read. 

            We discovered another boat neighbor who lives on an old wooden Grand Banks Alaskan who lives near Annapolis!  Bob chatted with him for a long time, but he is moving here so not interested in joining our Grand Banks club. 

            I have to marvel at Missy Mouser again.  She doesn’t seem to mind anyone coming over and visiting us anymore, and last night she came right up to our neighbors when they came over, and then she decided to play “Lions of the Serengeti,” and charge and leap all over the boat running inside and outside at full speed.  What a character!  Our neighbors also have a cat on their boat, and we spent a lot of time swapping cat stories.  For some reason (maybe all her recent playful activity) Lucy has become a monster-eating machine, and I realize I am going to have to buy more cat food when we “ride” to the grocery store.  I can just imagine the consequences if I ran out of her favorite cat food!

            After drinks and an h’or d’oeuvre last night, we walked over to the Black Tulip Restaurant here in Cocoa.  It was a fabulous restaurant, and we had a great meal, and some interesting conversation.  We weren’t always on the same page, but you learn to listen to other people’s opinions and ideas without being judgmental and try to understand “where they are coming from.”  It’s an interesting exercise in broadmindedness and tolerance, and if more people in the world tried it, we might all get along better.

            Oh dear, I think it is going to be sunny tomorrow, and I will have to get back on that horrible bike.  I’ll let you know!