AdventureMan Loves Magnolia
I was oblivious. I didn’t even know what a magnolia tree looked like. But AdventureMan grew up in the South, and he has been pointing them out ever since we got here. We watched them as they formed their buds. And now – magnolias are blooming all over Pensacola!
Grafitti Bridge
Grafitti Bridge turned purple last week. The Run for Life (Cancer Survivors) had painted it purple and then had to put guards on it because the Oil Spill protesters wanted to paint it black.
You know how there are the rules, and then there are the way rules are enforced – or not? Grafitti is discouraged in Pensacola, but Grafitti bridge – a train bridge – is kind of exempt. The informal rule is that as long as the police don’t actually SEE you painting on the bridge, they won’t bother tracking you down. So the adventure is to do it in the middle of the night, with someone keeping watch so you don’t get caught in the act.
Oil Spill Moving Towards Land
You can follow the oil spill movement on this interactive map from usatoday.com
There are lots of meetings. The answer to most questions is the same “I don’t know.” “We don’t know.” Fishing has been banned in the Gulf areas where the oil spill may have effect.
The Shrimp Basket
Even though The Shrimp Basket has specials like 25 cent oysters all day on Tuesdays, and even though the first time, I really did order the steamed shrimp, it is hard to walk into the Shrimp Basket and not to order something fried.
I can go for years most of the time and never eat anything deep fried. It just isn’t that important to me. I can see that living in Pensacola, it is going to be a serious challenge, because so much is deep fried, and holy tomole, it all smells so good. Fried onion rings. Fried fish. Fried shrimp. Fried seafood platters. Fried grouper sandwiches. Stop! Stop! You’re killing me!
Pensacola is a real military town, and loves their Blue Angels, the Navy stunt flying team. The Blue Angels practice on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and have autograph signings after the practice and anyone in Pensacola can go and it’s FREE!
There is often a waiting line to get into the Shrimp Basket because of their specials. On Fridays, the special is all you can eat Fried Fish for $7.99.
When you finish the first batch, you just tell the waitress you want some more. We ordered it, but we could only eat the first batch, there was so much fish. They also have very cool and colorful T-shirts for Shrimp Basket fans:
Roses Love Sun and Rain
The last two weeks in Pensacola have been gorgeous, and then, Friday afternoon, all hell breaks loose in huge, windy wild thunderstorms and torrential rains.
My roses are thriving. All of a sudden, there are roses everywhere, gorgeous, full happy roses!
Can’t take any credit; these were planted long ago by the original owner, and the good Lord provides the sun and rain. 🙂
One Moment in Time
I would have told you if I had known about it long enough in advance. The New York Times had a photo . . . not contest . . . opportunity. They asked people all around the world to shoot a photo at 1500 Greenwich Mean Time, which is 1000 Pensacola time.
As we were leaving for the Episcopal Lite service (0800; it is amazing, they do a processional, recessional, sermon, prayers of the people and communion in 45 minutes flat, amazing!) and I told AdventureMan I needed to take a photo.
It is what I love about AdventureMan. No matter what I propose, he is up for it. OK, sometimes I get a little foot dragging, but for the most part, he is Gung Ho. We hit church, we even had time for a little breakfast at the Shiny Diner, and then we went to take photos. This is what the New York Times instructions were:
Where will you be on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 hours (U.T.C.)?
Wherever you are, we hope you’ll have a camera — or a camera phone — in hand. And we hope you’ll be taking a picture to send to Lens that will capture this singular instant in whatever way you think would add to a marvelous global mosaic; a Web-built image of one moment in time across the world.
Please keep your photos under 5MB in size.
I didn’t read the instructions. I sent them three photos. I was only supposed to send one.
AdventureMan is going down tomorrow to volunteer with the Fish and Wildlife service; they are going to need a lot of volunteers when the oil slick hits, Tuesday or Wednesday. It is going to be a horror.
Billy Bob’s Barbecue in Gulf Breeze
We had heard many people saying Billy Bob’s Barbecue was THE BEST, so when we saw that it was located near the Gulf Breeze Cinema Four, we decided it was meant to be. We’d give it a try.
First off, they have Beer Batter Onion Rings, and AdventureMan and I have been searching for many years for the world’s best onion rings, so we started off with them. When they came, hot out of the oil, they were real fresh onion rings (that scores big with us) and the batter was light and crisp. They were good, right up there with the best we have had so far:
When our dinners came, we groaned. We though we had ordered light. The portions here – for the price – were HUGE.
I had the dinner salad with smoked chicken, and I chose the balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing – it was fabulous:
AdventureMan had to try the pulled pork platter, and for his two sides, he chose the sweet and sour slaw and the baked beans (the two sides we think are critical to truly good BBQ, although we sometimes try other things, if the slaw and beans aren’t right, it isn’t BBQ). His platter was enormous, and delicious:
I like Sonny’s, and I like Dave’s Famous BBQ; they have good food. What I like about Billy Bob’s is that is has a real family feel about it, not a chain feel. The food feels more real and no less delicious, and the service feels more personal and like they take pride in their food and their work. You can tell the difference between hired help and people who really care whether you like the food or not. I give Billy Bob’s a big plus because I believed they really cared about what they serve. 🙂
We will definitely be going there again.
Señor Driving
You get a reduction on your insurance rates if you take the safe driving classes for seniors. AdventureMan still isn’t all that comfortable with being a senior, so he calls himself “señor,” which is ‘Mister’ in Spanish. He tells people we are taking “señor” driving classes, and everyone looks at him like he is a little nuts.
Well. . . he is, actually. More than just a little. And now he has the time and energy to be a full time nut, and more power to him.
The “señor” driving classes were actually all right. We learned some things we didn’t know, and we met some interesting people, one, a retired New York fireman, and his wife, a retired nurse. They invited us to go eat seafood after class, and we learned all kinds of things.
On our way back from the ladies room, his wife leaned over to me and whispered “Is he helping you?” I laughed. I knew what she meant. “Yes!” I whispered back, “So far, so good!”
Living in Kuwait and in Qatar, most of the people were younger than us. Countries with all kinds of imported labor put upper limits on workers, so they don’t have a lot of old guys kicking the bucket in their countries. You can get exceptions to the rules in certain jobs, and we had a lot of good friends around our ages, thank God, but here in Pensacola, we feel like YOUNG older people – there are so many older people, and so much to learn. They are all really good about sharing their tricks for survival, and we find that keeping our ears open is a good thing.
Hell
Hell is unwrapping household goods when every tiniest piece is wrapped in a whole sheet of moving paper. Every spoon. The stopper for a crystal decanter. Every single piece, individually wrapped. It is endless. . . .
It is also why I do so much of my own packing. That, and finding my muddy riding boots packed with my formal gowns.
An occasional mover cares.
Most movers are casual labor, insufficiently supervised. Things can disappear.
This move is in waves, and we are in the biggest wave right now, the goods that have been in storage for 12 years. It had gone well, but we think some things are missing. Also, some serious pieces of furniture are incapacitated. One in particular, a china cabinet, handles the gazillion pieces of china and crystal collected through years of Army wifedom, but lost a foot. You can’t store china in a very tipsy cabinet, and I don’t know how we are going to get it fixed. Meanwhile, how to store all these pieces???
Aarrgh.
We are just taking a break before we submerge into the world of putting things away again. Aarrgh.
The Hacienda Restaurant in Pensacola
While we have really missed GOOD Mexican food during our time in the Arabian Gulf countries, we find that we are on an endless search for our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Pensacola. We have had good food – and then had bad, umm. . .er . . . repercussions.
Finally, we found a restaurant we loved. The next day, we also realized that we were fine! No gastric fireworks, no problems.
First, the Hacienda is very welcoming, and the service is fast and attentive without being intrusive.
Second – the restaurant is colorful. You really know you are in a Mexican restaurant:
Third – the food was really good. Chips were thin and quickly cooked so they were not coated with fat.
AdventureMan had a tamale with shredded beef, and he says it was outstanding:
I was not so hungry, so I ordered a taco salad – but it was really delicious, too.
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