Emily Bloss

Last night, one of our dance friends brought along a video camera to film birthday celebrations at the Elks. They also happened to capture us doing a merengue dance, so as soon as we can get a copy of it, I’ll post it! People really seem to enjoy watching us do that one. Must be because we have so much fun!

I’ve had a particular tab open in my Opera for months now… it’s very sad but I can’t seem to get it out of my mind and I don’t want to forget.

The site below has a series of pictures from a little island that’s 2000 miles away from the nearest continent, where lots of albatross chicks are dying because the parents pick up plastic floating in the ocean, believing it’s food for their babies. The pictures show the contents of the chick’s bellies.

Midway – Message from the Gyre

I’m not sure why it affects me so much … it makes me want to do something about it. Perhaps my next calling in life will be to help clean up the Great Garbage Patch. And here’s the Wikipedia entry for lots more info.

1. You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.
2. The Blue Book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas is in it.
3. You’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws.
4. You think a woman who is out of your league bowls on a different night.
5. You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean.
6. Someone in your family died right after saying ‘Hey, guys, watch this’.
7. You think Dom Perignon is a Mafia leader.
8. Your wife’s hairdo was once ruined by a ceiling fan.
9. Your junior prom offered day care.
10. You think the last words of the Star-Spangled Banner are ‘Gentlemen, start your engines’.
11. You lit a match in the bathroom and your house exploded right off its wheels.
12. The Halloween pumpkin on your porch has more teeth than your spouse.
13. You have to go outside to get something from the fridge.
14. One of your kids was born on a pool table.
15. You need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos.
16. You can’t get married to your sweetheart because there’s a law against it.
17. You think loading the dishwasher means getting your wife drunk.

Today we started assembling a puzzle, and as I sorted to find the edge pieces, I wondered what other people do when they find pieces still hooked together.  So here’s the poll!

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Here’s the puzzle – I got it (still shrink-wrapped) at a yard sale for $2:

The colors in it are just beautiful. We got the most fun part done this afternoon – the edge. We’re finally set up to do puzzles without them getting wrecked by the cats. The last time we were at Lowe’s, we got a piece of plexiglass which we can clamp onto the kitchen table. It works quite well so far… now I just need to find time to complete it!

And we only have to go to Orlando to get it! We went over to visit Bleys and ended up discovering Agave Azul.

The food was delicious! I had a combination plate with chile relleno, chicken enchilada and picadillo taco. Trav had beef fajitas and Bleys had chicken fajitas, which they said were good. The homemade tortillas were very tasty and with the appetizer chips they served a yummy ranch-based dip.

The restaurant is beautiful. The entrance has a fountain of stone wall with a curtain of water and the decor is of soothing blue and earth colors, with nice tables and cushy, comfy booths. I can’t wait to go back! I’m going to get the Mole de la Casa next time. Mmm!

Tonight we went out with a bunch of friends from dance class. First to Pape Kibo’s for dinner and a fantastic flamenco show with Gypsy Star, then on to Sam’s Hudson Beach… a little place right on the Gulf, perfect for watching sunsets.

We had a group of 12! Thanks to all who showed up.

It was a good sunset, too! I like this picture Trav took (I adjusted it just a little).

I wish I had taken pictures of the show at Pape Kibo’s. They had a flamenco dancer who was very good – dramatic – dancing to the music of a 5-piece band. The lady doing percussion was very entertaining, too. My favorite part was the dancer, in her fiery red ruffled dress, castanets  expertly wielded in her fluttery hands. Amazing.

We had Barbeque Halibut Steaks for dinner tonight and it was really good. We had to substitute tuna steaks for the halibut because that’s all they had at Publix. We were wondering if all of the fat and sugar cancels out the goodness of the fish. Hmmm….

When peaches are in season, we want to try Halibut with Zesty Peach Salsa.

If you have a good fish recipe, we would love to have it.

Tonight we went to Pape Kibos to celebrate Pris and Kathy’s birthdays. It was awesome! Here we are, after delicious bread and tasty drinks, about to eat a delectable dinner.

The ambiance of the place is Ernest Hemingway… big game, savannah-type stuff.

They serve exotic meat, which I love to try. Tonight they had kangaroo and silly me, I didn’t ask how much the specials were. My mistake!! This is about how I looked when I found out how much my dinner cost…

Yes, that says $55 for the kangaroo. This one time, it was worth it. We easily got $55 worth of entertainment between the six of us, what with the jokes and all. Steve wanted to know if they would take a check for the kangaroo or would they be afraid it would bounce?! tee hee

We highly recommend Pape Kibos in Hudson, Florida, for incredibly delicious Italian food served in human-sized portions at (mostly) reasonable prices. Danielle and Leena are wonderful servers! Plus the owner said it was OK for us to lick our plates clean there. I wish I had licked my plate clean tonight. Next time I will, because the food is so good. MmmmMMM!! :p

We had a fun and delicious Easter celebration this year, at our house. It was so good to see everybody. Here are the pictures!

My niece and her boyfriend came to visit Florida for spring break and while they were here, we got to see them! We all went up to visit the manatees at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

The park serves as a rehabilitation center and refuge for endangered West Indian manatees that have been orphaned or injured in the wild and also for manatees that have been born in captivity. In addition to the manatees that live in the park, we got to see a few wild ones, including one with her baby in tow.

The spring is the headwater of the Homosassa River, pumping millions of gallons per hour of crytal clear water.

We had a really great time at the park and Adrianne surprised me with a stuffed manatee! He lives on my desk and I take him into my lap for patty-pats now and then. He is so soft and I just love him.

After the park, we took the scenic route to a little place called Pape Kibos, for dinner. Along the way, we got to see the Gulf, lots of sawgrass marsh and palm trees.  We also spied a redneck taking his dog for a walk… the dog was going along the road, and the redneck was in his pickup truck, staying alongside the dog. Too funny!

Pape Kibos was a nice place for dinner… we plan on going back there again. The food was unusual and very good. I had a dish called Scallops Al Duko, which was scallops sauteed with black olives, capers, white wine, tomato and overfried spinach. The spinach was really good – it was like tissue and it melted in my mouth. Trav had a chicken ceasar salad. Adrianne had Chicken Grandma (with white wine garlic sauce with capers, black olives, artichoke hearts and asparagus) and Phillip had Snapper Bobo (with grilled asparagus, tomatoes, capers and oregano bread crumbs). It was all very yummy.

Then we went for ice cream – Phillip’s treat. Thank you very much, Phillip!! After dessert we went down to the Hudson marina to see if we could catch a nice sunset. It was really cold and windy down there! But we did stay long enough to see the red sun dip below the horizon.

In all, a fantastic day. Thanks for coming to see us, guys!