Blue sky + blue water + white sails = here comes the funAnd, the winner is ....
The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted. No, it will not be the Baja and the Mar de Cortés. Neither will it be Texas. It will be Florida, but not the Golfo de México. Miami and the Atlantic Ocean will be December and December will be Miami and the Atlantic Ocean, at least in part. Additional details will be forthcoming.
It appears I allowed my destination to slip a few days ago. Anyone who noticed the verb tense I used in my responses to comments made by Magdalena in another post a few days ago would have surmised that I already had targeted Miami without actually waiting for the votes to be counted. Guilty as charged. "Outside influences" entered the picture and made a selection rather easy.
Some might recall that I have mentioned my two previous excursions to Florida. I finished (as to say, actually graduated) from high school on a Friday evening. The following Monday, another young man and I hitch-hiked from our small-town residence in Minnesota to Minneapolis, where we stayed for about ten days. We then hitch-hiked to Florida, where we spent most of our time in and around the Miami area for nearly four months.
Three years ago, I vacationed for a couple of weeks at Fort Myers, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. This was in the midst of the cold and snow of February. The intent of that trip should be self evident: Exchange winter for warm wind, open water and bright sun.
I am curious to discover how much I am able to recognize in the Miami of today. Probably nothing. What do I mean, "probably?" Undoubtedly, nothing. It has been a long, long while ....
12 comments:
Good, good, good :-)))
I hope you will discover, among many other cool things, also one or two, or three really nice restaurants with fresh, healthy food, and fresh made fruits and vegetables juices, and fruits coctails. Yummy, yummy. Yummy.
You will have fun in South Florida. You should go to Coconut Grove...that's were all the action is, lots of fun stuff, and travel down to the Keys to see Hemingway's house :) I have a link for Video Fame on my sidebar and it has lots of pretty pictures of Florida, places to go, etc. You should check it out :)
Good place to spend December :) You'll have fun. Maybe you can hop on a plane and finally head off to Europe after :) At least you will arrive with a suntan...LOL
Have a Happy Day, Fram!
Hugs and Love to You,
Kelly
Like most people, my culinary experiences generally revolve around fast food establishments when I am traveling, but you might have steered me in new and beneficial directions, Mag.
I have to admit that "fresh, healthy food" would be a semi-new experience for me. It is not that I avoid such foods entirely and never eat them, but they are at the periphery of my diet, and not at the center.
This is worth further consideration. Perhaps, Mag, you could recommend a book or two which would guide me in the right directions.
I am certain I will enjoy Florida if the weather cooperates, Kelly. In all probability, I will be avoiding "the action" at this point in time, but making a run down the Keys to visit the ghost of Ernest Hemingway is within the realm of possibility. I nearly went to Key West three years ago instead of to Fort Myers, but I was going through a "baseball period" and wanted to watch spring training.
Actually, I have considered bouncing from airplane to airplane and making the big jump to Europe directly from Florida, but I am not certain I want to carry winter gear with me to Florida.
As for a suntan, if the weather does not cooperate, I will demand my money back from the State of Florida. If the weather does cooperate, I probably will get a burn the first day and spend the next three or four days hiding in the shade.
Sure, with pleasure. This sort of food is at the center of my diet and I wish I could convince you to do the same. It improves creativity :-)
I believe you are in the process of convincing me, Mag. When you see me walking down a street eating an apple rather than a chocolate candy bar, then you will know victory is complete.
Thank you, for the book recommendation. I have ordered a copy -- in English.
Well, in the same way you popped by for quick catch-up on my blog, you're off again. Where? Where the wind on your tail guides you. I appreciate your comments on Zadie Smith's essay. They're very welcome. I hope you will return soon.
Take care.
Greetings from London.
Zadie's articles were such that I had a near-physical ache inside of me to be sitting among a dozen or so people in a circle of chairs, perhaps with a Cuban for a moderator and the author herself, in a back and forth discussion about her viewpoints. The eternal student and the perpetual critic = Fram.
When you combine being a bit lazy with trying to pack up and to sell a house, and an internal need to be on the move for short jaunts here and there in order to maintain an equilibrium, perhaps you will understand my lack of attentiveness to the sea of blogs, CiL.
Until the advent of my Sanctuary/Refuge, I had always traveled light. Flexibility and mobility had been among my primary selling points. I have always considered possessions to be "albatrosses" = burdens, obstacles, infirmities.
My present goal is to arrive in Europe the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, with a possible break in Florida between now and then.
Somewhere along the line, most certainly, CiL, you will receive greetings from the "the Continent" -- from me.
I look forward to those greetings, then, mate. In the meantime, here's a confession. I read 'Lolita' when I was a teenager and didn't 'get' it. Now I have just ordered it from my local library to give another go and also because I have another book called 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' so it makes sense to read the novel the other other book is based on. Other than that, Nabokov never registered on my radar.
Thanks for you comments.
Greetings from London.
Not long ago, CiL, I wrote these words in an email: "I do not recall ever reading a single work by (Leo) Tolstoy, and am not certain why it is that way. Apparently, I never had any teachers who admired him. It is particularly strange considering my primary area of study in college but, I guess, no one can read everyone."
I suppose I could say those identical words in relation to Vladimir Nabokov.
The bright spot in this, for me personally, is that I am able to say that I have read any number of "great novels" by relatively obscure writers, most of whom the typical reader of today never has heard of, much less read. Such is the sideways blessing of having been a history major as well as an English/literature major.
Still, maybe, I will make time for Nabokov and his little girlfriend, and see if I "get it," even today.
Take care, man, and see you around.
'The bright spot in this, for me personally, is that I am able to say that I have read any number of "great novels" by relatively obscure writers, most of whom the typical reader of today never has heard of, much less read'
Would you believe it that that is the theme of my post next Sunday? Slightly biased towards Latin American art, of course, as befits a Cuban, but I'm with you, mate.
Greetings from London.
PS: I get to shoot the first critic, by the way. :-)
As someone who believes coincidence amounts to more than a distortion in the spacetime continuum, I think this sort of thing happens far, far too often to be ignored, CiL. A government commission to investigate this mysterious pathway our thoughts and words seem to frequent certainly is warranted.
Yes, I would believe it, and I will look forward to reading that post.
As for who gets the first shot at the first critic, I suggest we flip a coin or cut cards or fire simultaneously. Just trying to be fair about that particular matter.
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