9 April 2024
Lately I’m on a streak of really sweet grapefruits. I’m not sure why because I did not select them, Whole Foods did. As a kid I remember putting sugar on grapefruit to make it edible and at summer camp being served that awful Donald Duck Grapefruit juice. We called it battery acid in a can. When I moved to Florida I was pleasantly surprised I didn’t need sugar on grapefruit – they’re naturally sweet here. I refrained for a long time from eating them due to my bad memories but Joel and Keith introduced me to the grapefruits growing on their tree out their back door.
It’s not like you don’t get one that’s not too sweet. You, on occasion do get one a little tart. I’ve learned most citrus down here tastes better when there’s a drop in temperature for a few days and then you pick the fruit. I suspect most groceries in the area keep them in cold storage so that may sweeten them up a little.
Today’s grapefruit was simply perfection. I couldn’t ask for a better one. It’s such a little thing but it made me want to do a happy dance.
I didn’t dance but I did manage 1.4 miles today. I really didn’t want to walk but, as usual, once I got started, I’m glad I did. It took a little longer because I kept running into neighbors and talking. One neighbor hailed me as I walked past her house and wanted to know how I was doing. She recently lost her husband and has been undergoing cancer treatments so we swapped some stories about treatment.
As I was walking down the second finger isle in the neighborhood, I did a double take of a flower.
I said to myself that looks like a Hollyhock and when I checked the ID on my iPhone it labeled it as Common Hollyhock. This flower brings back memories of my Grandmother on my Dad’s side. She planted these in the yard by the side of the dogtrot house. They belong to the same family as Hibiscus and cotton. Grandmother Searcy also planted begonias in enameled pans she hung from the eaves of the house along the back porch. Every time I see begonias down here I think of her. Now I have Hollyhocks in this one yard to remind me.
Yesterday, of course, was the eclipse. I didn’t realize we would get 60-70% coverage by the moon until yesterday morning. That gave me time to fashion a pin hole “camera.”
You need a stiff piece of paper where you cut out an inch to two inch square. Cover that with aluminum foil and put a pin hole through the center of the foil. Then you take a white sheet of paper and hold it down with rocks so it doesn’t blow away. Then you have the sun come through the pin hole and shine upon you white paper. You have to get it fairly close to the paper but it works!
This is a little out of focus because I severely cropped the image. Before I could get a better image, the cloud cover denied me.
Today, after the walk and my second breakfast (with half a great grapefruit) I managed to start my yoga stretches again. Memory fails me and I had to really think the sequence of “poses” I do during my normal yoga routine. It’s been so long since I’ve done that.
After yoga, I headed to the pool. At least this time I remembered to set my Apple Watch for a swim. I forgot yesterday and I was worried I had destroyed the watch but apparently it is idiot proof. I did forget to log my yoga on the watch – again memory problems. I should remember next yoga stretch.
After all that exercise, I needed some relaxation. I had previously scheduled an hour and a half massage with Tom at 5 Points Massage. That did the trick. I was thinking of eating at Bona’s next door but they were closed on Tuesday. Italian was on my mind.
When I got back to the house I checked to see if I had spaghetti and I did. I had blanched and frozen some broccoli and decided to make that. It called for six cloves of garlic so me and the house should be smelling of garlic for the next week. It turned out really well.
Tomorrow is movie night with Chris and Tucker.
Stay tuned!