the surf

We checked out the local surf on this first cool day of the season that came with the passing of Hurricane Sandy.  Blue, blue sky ...

 ... at the Juno Pier ...

 ... a few people on the beach; even a few daring at the water's edge ...

 double red flags at the lifeguard station ...

 Waves washing over the Jupiter Inlet pier ...

 But the surfers were out ...

Jubilee

Jubilee got a haircut the other day and is looking spruced up.  Those things that look like black ears are my shoes off to the side.

But she still didn't want to cooperate with a Halloween costume photo to be entered into the contest at our apartment in PA.  (This is a "Court Jester" costume that I made for Eric when he was about 4 years old.  Couldn't you tell?)

I think these photos are so bad that John is not going to enter her in the contest.

Voting Early

John and I voted on Saturday, the first day of early voting.  We had to wait in line about an hour and a half and were constantly barraged by the couple behind us - a retired dentist and his wife.  Besides telling us about all their vacations and exceptional children and grandchildren, they left no doubt that they were not voting the same way that we were.  Typical spoiled and scared rich Americans.  I tried to be tolerant and kind, but ended up looking ahead and trying to ignore them (especially since John was egging them on).

I was also dismayed at the complexity of our ballot.  Six pages of legal jujitsu of proposed amendments.  At least we had researched them beforehand and knew what they were and how we should vote.  Even the simple voting for President and Senators and Representatives was confusing.  No machines, these 6 pages had to be filled out by hand (connecting bars with a pen), and then fed into a scanner.

If English or Spanish were not my native language, I definitely would be overwhelmed with the verbiage.   I was overwhelmed.

lizards

We have a lot of lizards living with us in our Florida home these days, keeping Jubilee endlessly intrigued.  There was a red one out by the lamp yesterday, but he was too fast for a photo.

This one has caught a moth.

so sad ...

So sad ... That's John all packed up and headed back to PA this morning.  Actually this is good news because when he came home we were so confused about my medical situation we didn't know what was happening.  Now we have a plan (sort of) ... and feel much more hopeful about everything.  He had completely emptied the Cranberry Apartment before he left, so he had to take a bunch of stuff back.  We even cancelled our lease as of Nov. 1 - but maybe we can extend it.  Life goes on (as does this blog).

I've got him all set up with the Stephen King audiobook, "10-22-63" on his iPad and hope that makes his long drive go easier. 

Meanwhile, Jubilee and I have gone into monk/monastery-mode with the witch and cat out front.  We hope to be outta here by the first of November to catch the late autumn.

Food Shack

This is my FAVORITE restaurant around here - the Food Shack in Jupiter.  Every time I go there I am so happy with the food and simple atmosphere.  I don't know why I don't remember to go back more often.  Yesterday after my radiation treatment, John and I went over for an early dinner.  There is always a crowd at the regular dinner times and you have to wait out front, but if you get there early enough (like 3:30 in the afternoon!) it's perfect.  I love the way they crust the fresh fish with good stuff and then serve it over salad greens.  I had butternut and leek crusted halibut served over arugula.  Yum! 

I couldn't drink wine yesterday because of the port they put in, so I had a whole bottle of sparkling Italian water!

a Florida afternoon

I'm not sure if this is typical Florida October weather or not - but it is still quite warm, rainy sometime in the day, and muggy!   This afternoon after my daily "radiation" (I call it my afternoon zap), John and I ventured over to the Square Grouper for some local color (or something).  I'm not thrilled with the photos I get from my iPhone, but here they are ...

I don't know why, but the "island music" that they play at these sorts of places annoys me.

packed up, unpacked and packing up again

More photos of just how packed up John was when he came back from PA to Florida.  But, alas, we are in the packing up phase again and he is to set out for PA again on Saturday morning ...  I hope to be up there again in November.

(not sure what this photo of Jubilee is doing here).

a hiccup

Because of some rather dreadful medical test results, and the uncertainty following them, I've been rather discombobulated of late and not able to even thing about this blog.  But things are coming around, and it's time to update.

The confusion brought John back to Florida - the first time the Nissan had ever even set tire in the state, despite its Florida tag ...

All packed up, he even brought all the bikes home ...

 Jubilee is very happy to have him back.

 These were from the days when I couldn't walk because of the pain in my hip, but Jubilee and I have kept up our swimming every day ...

 You can't see me so well in this photo, but we are both swimming!  She matches me mostly lap for lap ...  3 sets of 12 up and back, I once figured it to be about 1/2 mile.  With the steroid that I'm taking now, I could do 5 times that length and not get tired.  I see why athletes take them for competitions, but I wonder just how I'm going to feel when I finally come down.

 And some local wildlife from across the street ...