Florida Adventure, April - May 2010

There follows a complete and accurate account of Anne and Bill's excellent excursion from Matawan to Florida and points in between. The writer has not relied on what small amount of memory remains to him, but has written notes of the trip contemporaneous with their happening, or something like that.

April 30, 2020, Pembroke Pines, FL


  Every time I come to Florida I think it is the perfect place to live. We used the pool at the complex today, a beautiful day. Not many people at the pool in the early afternoon before school lets out. Not that many after school lets out either. Of course, I'm thinking how nice Florida is while sitting on Pete and Roxanne's screened (roof and three walls) patio looking at the accordion type metal hurricane shutters on each window and the 12' patio doors. I haven't experienced the Sunshine State during earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes or volcanic eruptions, so I can't speak to its pleasantness during these events, but there is something exotic about the palm trees all about.

At dinner tonight on the patio, we were learning (trying to learn) Spanish from Santos and Jorge, Roxanne's parents. Anthony was chiming in frequently with various words. We have been here in November and now in April and in both months the weather has been seductive. The cares and concerns I seem to feel at home in New Jersey seem to fade from my mind. Why is that? My life is still my life and nothing has really changed except the geography.

The ride down here wasn't as arduous as I had supposed. [The return trip proved more tiring.] We spent the first night with Anne's sister, Peggy and her husband, Greg in Annandale, VA. The second night in Florence, NC and the third night in St. Augustine. The longest part of the trip, in my mind, was between St. Augustine and Pembroke Pines. That was about 5 1/2 hours driving time plus a little more for rest stops. [As I learned, this was as nothing compared to the nine and ten hours days on the way home.] I think that was because on the first two days we got started in the morning. In St. Augustine we started the morning with a half hour walk on the beach. We then toured Our Lady of La Leche shrine, the Fountain of Youth and the Castille de San Marco National Historic Site with 1,000 color coded elementary school children. Each group had on a different color tee shirt, the varieties of which were amazing. We got on the road about 1:30 p.m., so I was already getting tired by the time we started out.

I drank from the Fountain of Youth a cupful of the fable water, but as yet I cannot perceive any retardation of the aging process.

Friday Night at the Cigar Store


Peter likes his cigars and Roxanne has bought him some very nice ones and found out that there was going to be a man rolling cigars at his favorite shop starting at 6:30 p.m. We didn't get there until close to 9:00 p.m. and I though they would be closed. Not so. When we arrived the son of the owners was outside and greeted Peter with a hearty handshake and embrace. He remembered me also from  our visit in November and greeted me warmly also. I didn't get a hug from him, but I did get a hug from his mother who also remembered me. I didn't even buy anything the last time.

In addition to selling cigars, they have a selection of fine wines and this night, as in November, they were offering a free wine tasting. They had a representative of the distributor pouring and explaining the fine points of the varieties offered. She poured enough in our large glasses for a fair taste of each wine and was ready with another selection as soon as we were ready. When she left, around 9:30 or 10:00, the owner lady took over and filled our glasses half full. I bought two bottles of wine and Pete bought several cigars. They gave him several extras as well. The people there know and respect what Peter has done in Haiti. I think he is also a good customer. I would be too if I smoked cigars. I don't remember a store where I was treated so nicely. We left about 10:30 p.m.

First Communion - May 1, 2010


St. Maximilian Church is large and is usually filled when we have been there. Although there was a First Communion Mass in the morning and two more on May 15th, the Mass at 1:00 p.m. was filled to capacity with people standing all along the sides and in the rear of the church. The children (and therefore us) had to be there at noon. The Mass lasted one and a half hours, so it was a lengthly time.

Alex announced in the morning that he didn't want to make his First Communion and kept saying it until his mother and father told him that he was getting dressed. We never know what Alex may do, so after he got dressed, he wanted to practice receiving communion so Anthony acted as the priest and pretended to to give give communion to Alex who dutifully bowed, said Amen and then pretended to spit out the host.

During the homily, the pastor asked for second and third grade volunteers to come up to answer a few questions. Alex wanted to go, but Roxanne discouraged him. The questions were "What is your name?" What is your favorite food? and If you could eat as much of it as you wanted to without getting sick, how much would you eat?" Those were simple enough questions and Alex could have handled them easily, but he could also start asking his own questions. When we attended his first reconciliation (penance), the pastor told the children that Jesus was going to be there with them that afternoon. Alex was sitting in the front row and, not being shy, asked every priest who came in to help with the service, "Are you Jesus?" Well, what do expect a third grader to ask?

Mass went along swimmingly until just before the Lord's Prayer, after which the communion was to start. We were about two rows behind Pete, Roxanne, Alex and Anthony and to their side. When the congregation rose, Anthony remained seated and was obviously in distress. Peter walked him out of the church as we started the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father, who art in heaven." What would happen if Anthony was sick and was unable to participate? "Hollowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Still no sign of them. "Give us this day our daily bread." Then they walked back in and Anthony resumed his place and was smiling. "Deliver us from evil." The procession started and Alex followed Anthony and did exactly as he was supposed to do. We were so, so proud of both boys. They were so handsome in their suits and white ties.

We returned to Casa Kolshorn after I got slightly lost coming back from the church and shared a wonderful bar-be-que of skirt steak, Bubba Burgers, salad, a bakery cake and a cheese cake made by Roxanne with a number of Roxanne and Pete's friends and Roxanne's parents.

Key West, May 3, 2010

I finally got to Key West. It is someplace I have heard about and read about for a long time and now I have done it. I'm glad we went and I found it interesting, but I believe that I would not want to live there. To be fair, we only went for the day and didn't stay overnight which had been recommended to us. We were tired from  walking in the 90 degree heat. If we had stayed overnight we could have proceeded at a more leisurely pace. However, Pete and Roxanne were amenable to a one day trip. That allowed Pete to spend all day Sunday with the boys since he is only home for a little over a week. I felt that our visit to Key West was something like an orientation trip.

Key West is not a place that I would describe as kid friendly. It is more of an adult party town with many bars and restaurants and restaurants and bars. They are everywhere. One of the most popular nighttime activities is bar crawling. Anne and I are not big drinkers and while there is live music at most of the locations, it is not something that we wanted to do. We did stop in a bar called Fat Tuesdays and I had a drink called "Swamp Water" the main ingredient of which was rum with an additional shot for a buck. I drank about a third of it when I had pains in my stomach like severe indigestion, so I stopped. I had the same experience on Saturday when I had two double Margaritas, after two beers. I think I should stick with my Scotch. No such problems when I drink that.

When we arrived at Key West around 1:00 p.m., we were hungry  and decided on a Cuban restaurant. I had a Negro Modelo beer and a Cuban sandwich. Anne had a fish sandwich. Either one would have been enough for us both to share.

I bought a fedora hat and a shirt that I had a dye transfer put on the pocket that said "Key West." When I went into the store selling the shirts, I asked how much they were. The lady pointed to a small tag on the rack that said $34.95. I had been in another store where the same shirt was $14.95, but they didn't have my size. I said "$34.95?" The lady said that was correct, but that I was lucky because they were on sale today for $20.00 and any logo of my choice was free. Sometime you just get lucky.

We visited Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West where he lived for seven years. After his death, his sons sold it for $80,000. The people who bought it (the Dicksons) were so continuously disturbed by people knocking on the door that they decided to move out, turn the place into a museum and charge a righteous admission fee - a good money maker for them.

It was five o'clock somewhere, actually, right there about the time we were in the Margaritaville store and bar. The habituants, however, had started their toasts about 3:00 or 4:00 and were likely to continue until 4:00 a.m.

I think that some of the other Keys would be interesting as they offer snorkeling, glass bottom boats, fishing and other water sports with a less congested environment than Key West. Key West reminded me of a cross between New Orleans and Ocean Grove, New Jersey. It takes about four hours straight driving from Penbroke Pines. On the way back we stopped at a McDonalds for a light snack and got home around 10:30 p.m.

Alligator Alley and Alligators in the Backyard - May 10, 2010


We took Peter to the Fort Lauderdale airport for his flight back to Haiti and then proceeded West along I75, Alligator Alley which runs from Ft. Lauderdale to Naples, Florida. We didn't see any alligators this time, but had seen some along here the last time we were in Florida.

When we arrived at our friends, Rosemary and Bob's house in Trinity Communities (New Port Richey) we learned that the water level in the lake behind their house had risen and now is about 50 feet behind their screened pool enclosure. From that point waterward there is thick vegetation about ten feet tall with about a dozen trees much taller with Spanish moss clinging to the branches and bending them over. In the late afternoon and evening you can hear them grunting, the alligators that is. They sound something like pigs. Then there are bobcats, water moccasins and mink all walking or slithering through the back yard. We were safe, of course, because nothing could get through the fiberglass bug screening that surrounds the pool.

Bob and I walked to the edge of the bushes with my binoculars to see what we could see. We didn't see any alligators, but only a large rabbit.

We all went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. It is very large with many interesting exhibits. My favorite aquarium, however, is Jenkinsons in Point Pleasant. Okay, the aquarium in Monaco was better, but is far, far away.

Charleston, South Carolina - May 13, 2010

After we left New Port Richey, we drove and drove and drove to Charleston. The city is about one hour east of I95, but that road seemed like a five hour journey. The Tom Tom led us into town. We had used the street address to find our motel and when it said "You have arrived at your destination," we were next to a dilapidated building with a sign that read "Jesus Saves." The GPS should have told us to turn right instead of left and then we would have truly arrived at our destination.

We used the afternoon and evening to walk around Charleston and to eat pulled pork bar-be-que at Sticky Fingers on Meeting Street. The next day we toured Magnolia Plantation which included a house tour and a boat ride. We saw plenty of alligators on the boat ride.

We left Magnolia Plantation at about 1:00 p.m. and decided to drive until we got tired and stop for the night. A few hours later we stopped at a practically deserted South of the Border and bought a sub sandwich. We drove and drove some more until I felt that we had probably traveled enough. We stopped at a rest stop at which I bought a bottle of Mountain Dew. That rejuvenated me with vim, vigor and vitality so much so that we drove to Peggy & Greg's in Annandale, VA, riding through a prodigious thunder storm and arriving at 11:00 p.m.

We visited with Peggy & Greg until 1:00 p.m on Saturday and then headed home. Of course, the Beltway turned into a parking lot almost as soon as we got onto it. It seemed like forever, but we only lost about 20 minutes. We arrived home very tired, but glad to be here. There's no place like home and that's because that's where all my stuff is. Our next trip of any significant distance will probably be by air.

Anne asked if I didn't feel like it was time to go back to work since we had returned from a trip. I said "No, I don't feel that way." She said that she felt like that. I said "I'm not going."

 

The Porch is Done, the Porch is Done

It was done last weekend, but we just put the furniture back today. Actually, it's not done. I still have to do the railings by the front steps, but the painting is done and that's good. The railings will have to wait for another month as I have other things to do in the meantime. I just wanted to report that the painting was done, lest some reader conclude that I was slacking in my responsibilities.

I Am Tired Tonight

I decided that today was the day to get busy scraping and sanding the porch, so I got busy doing it. I opted not to rent a commercial sander. I had done so the last time we painted the porch and was not all that pleased with the results. Also, the paint on a good portion of the floor was solid and in good condition. I got on my knees, with knee pads, of course, and proceeded to scrape away loose paint then to sweep up the debris. I then sanded as best I could and again swept up the debris. I divided the porch into five sections, I think (remember I'm tired) and did the same for each. By the time I was half way through the third section, the nice, cushy knee pads were feeling mighty thin and my arms and back were feeling like they had done some work. It was also getting embarrassingly difficult to get back up each time I got down. But, in the end I did it and feel quite good about the accomplishment. The next step is painting, which will be a piece of cake compared to today. I will use a roller on a pole so that I can stand the whole time. With the painting, the most work is putting masking tape on everything that's not supposed to get floor paint, something I wish prior owners had thought to do. It is particularly difficult to get paint off brick and they were not especially careful when they painted resulting in a lot of extra work for the current occupants. Again, this is one of those jobs that people may not notice has been done. With tables and chairs on the porch, the floor will be less noticeable. After all, when we invite people over and use the porch, we aren't expecting for them to stand around marveling at the floor. If they did, I would think that our entertainment or food service skills were somewhat lacking. It would be okay though if someone said, "Oh, doesn't the floor look nice. Did you have it painted recently?"

Another Busy Day

Today I actually got started painting our porch columns and soffits. I had filled in gaps with wood putty and sanded and scraped until I didn't care anymore and now the painting has started. Anne did the outside soffits while I did the inside and columns. Two more columns to go and more soffits tomorrow. Then it's on to the porch floor. The floor needs to be sanded and I'm not quite sure how to do that this time. The last time I painted it, I rented a commercial sander (the vibrating kind, not a drum sander) and I wasn't really happy with the results. I'm afraid that a drum sander would be too aggressive and could cause more damage that I care to deal with, so I will have to figure something else out. I have a powerful pressure washer, but that didn't do so great either. The most powerful nozzle started scoring the wood and the next most powerful didn't seem to do much. I may be on my hands and knees for this one. The painted columns look great. If you get close, you can see the imperfections, but from a distance they sparkling white and bright. I said to Anne that this is one job that people won't notice that we did, but would notice if we didn't.

I am a little less than a third of the way through reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. Other than the fact that an impenetrable dome plops itself down over a town, the story seems like a plot for a B movie. Mr. King has, so far, not provided his usual harem, scare'um, out of nowhere effects. But, they may be coming. Kids are starting to see weird things in their minds. He has some time left, like 700 more pages, so I'm hoping he comes up with something. He does have a way of making you want to keep reading though. There is a list of important characters in the front of the book, but so many of them had been killed off by page 100, I wasn't sure how he was going to make it to page 1074. I'll have to keep on reading.

I noticed that when I published this post (this is an edit), I got an ad for NJ Hardwood Flooring. How do they do that?

A Busy Day

It was a busy day. I got up early to get a routine blood test, had breakfast, mowed the front lawn, had lunch, went to the dentist for my next to the last appointment for my new cap, worked on scraping, filling and sanding two more porch columns and watched the aftermath of a bad accident around the corner from our house. I saw the fire company extricate a man from an on fire, turned over car. According to neighbors, he was traveling at a high rate of speed south on the north bound side of Route 34. The car left the road and traveled along a couple of empty lots and then turned over and caught fire. Apparently there were no other cars involved. One of our FBI neighbors said he saw no skid marks anywhere. I don't know what happened to the man, but I saw them put him in the ambulance and then the ambulance just stayed there for quite some time. Paramedics arrived, but they didn't even get out of their rig. From my years on the first aid squad, that to me, means one of two things. He was not injured and was sitting in there chatting with the first aid people, or he was lying in there having had his last chat. I sincerely hope it was the former.

Every job seems to take longer than I think it will. I had allocated about an hour or so to dealing with the two columns, but it took most of the afternoon. Of course, I stopped to go see the accident, but I didn't stay there that long. I shouldn't complain because I have every day to get this stuff done, but at some point I would like to get it done so I can move on to the next project. I suppose I could approach there little tasks as a model ship builder who I once heard say, "It doesn't matter how long it takes to finish one model, because when I finish with this one, I'll be starting another one." I guess, but I'm not building model ships here. I do get satisfaction and have pride in what I have done when these jobs are completed, so I should stop complaining and go do something constructive.

The Twins and Seven Presidents

The twins are staying with us for two nights so that their parents can get a little away time and have adult conversations. Yesterday we went to Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch where there is a nice playground and, of course, the ocean. It was very warm at our house, but freezing at the beach with a strong breeze blowing off the ocean. The kids loved the playground and the beach. We hunkered down near some dunes to shelter us from the brunt of the wind, but Timmy and Bridget ran back and forth to the water to bring water to make sand things with the beach toys that we brought. By bedtime, two people were very, very tired and it wasn't the twins.

Today was not as nice as predicted, but while Anne was at the oral surgeon, the twins and I set up a racing car set in the cellar. Two days ago I had lugged the thing up to the attic figuring I wouldn't be needing it for a while. Timmy spotted it up there and kept pestering me to get it working, so I did. After lunch we went to Holmdel Park to take a walk around the lake and to use the new playground at the top of the hill where there is a big climbing dome. We also stopped in to the interpretive center at Longstreet Farm where the kids remembered seeing a cat. The lady there let them see the cat who was in another room resting. Riley (the cat) looked like a larger version of Bootsie (our deceased cat). There were a few sprinkles while we were at the park, but not enough to stop the fun. In the parking lot, a woman was returning to her car with a large collie and Bridget said, "Oh, I love that kind of dog" and called "Hi, doggie" to it. The woman brought it around for the children to pet. She said it loved children, which was obviously true and the kids loved the dog as well.

Books, Spas and Automobiles

I have finished reading the books in Six Gothic Tales. They were Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, Mission to Malaspiga by Evelyn Anthony, Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt, The High Valley by Jessica North, Thunder Heights by Phyllis A. Whitney and Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent. They were all written by women and the chief character in each was a young woman who in one form or another manages to get herself tangled in a web of mystery and danger and they were all very enjoyable. I have also just finished reading Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer a tale about the attempts in 1922 and 1924 of George Mallory to conquer Mount Everest. We learn at the very beginning of the book that his body was found in 1999 about 600 feet from the summit and the question is whether he made it or not. This is a novel, but a compelling tale and you start to feel the agony of the climbers around 27,000 feet, 2,002 feet from the summit. This was another good book. Thank you, Christine, for recommending it. I have been doing all of this reading because I want to start on Under the Dome by Stephen King, which was a birthday gift from daughter Christine and family. There is not a word on the dust jacket of the book except the title, author and publisher, so what the heck is this story about? I guess I'm about to find out.

We were sitting in the spa the other evening and I was looking at the planes passing overhead. I wondered where all of the people were going to or coming from. Some planes were very far up and others were much closer to the ground. Not that close that I could see the pilot waving from the cockpit, but closer than the ones higher up. Anyway, pilots don't wave from the cockpits anymore, not like they did back in 1954. I thought that each passenger in each plane has a story, a family and a life, 99.9% of whom I will never encounter. I thought the same thing watching cars and trucks passing in front of our house earlier in the day. It reminds me of The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant in which civilization is described in terms of a river flowing past the banks. I never read that, but maybe I should. I have time now, when I'm not sitting in hot water looking up at airplanes.