Daytooni

I'm back from my trip to Daytona Beach or as I like to call it, Daytoonie. Had a great bird's eye view of the action from our room at the Hilton. The hotel was not up to my Hilton standards but then, it is the beach and people are very casual. Still I shall never get used to see people parade around shirtless or in bikini's in hotel lobbys.

Regardless, I had fun watching the endless parade of beach activities, the para-sails, boats, fishermen, beach rides, boardwalk, dramatic lifeguard rescues (about 40 per day) to say nothing about the gorgeous hunks that are Daytona Beach lifeguards. They not only look good, they work hard. But, I digress.

What is it about the beach that inspires one to start drinking early in the afternoon? While DH was attending meetings, I spent my afternoons sipping martinis and enjoying the panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean from the 11th floor. All in all, not a bad way to spend the better part of a week.

I can't make this gall-danged flash badge thing work, so please click the single picture below and view all my Daytona pictures at FLICKR. There are captions if you view each one or you can speed through them with the slide show feature.

Okay, so they aren't that good but ...
Made ya look!

Sunny Beaches

On a brief trip to Melbourne Beach, a long barrier island on the East Coast of Florida a few weeks ago, the beach was deserted at 5:00 in the afternoon.


Five o'clock Shadows

The next morning, high tide brought the surf so close that from our bedroom window, it looked like we were right over the ocean.


Sunny Morning at Melbourne Beach

A Gai-jin* in Japan

Typhoons and earthquakes, oh, my!

Kaitlin writes from Japan:

"Saturday and Sunday we were in the middle of a Typhoon. Monday, we had earthquakes. At 11:30 pm Monday night, Negishi felt tremors that reached 4.5 and made our beds shake. I felt like I was in The Exorcist."

Levitating Bed



Sign in front of Kait's housing

Her first typhoon was fairly uneventful.

"It was nothing more than a tropical depression as far as Florida would be concerned. Here however, they were freaking out. We were on TCCOR 1 (Tropical Cyclone Condition Of Readiness 1). This means the typhoon was right on top of us. In the middle of the typhoon the fire alarm went off and we were all sent running from our rooms in our pajamas into the very early morning rain. Talk about a wake up call."


She lives in this building

Kaitlin is collecting the chopsticks from every restaurant she visits and most of them are written in "Japanese letters from one of their three alphabets" so she's not entirely sure what the names actually are. She sends her love to family and friends and says she misses everyone "very, very, very much."

* A gai-jin is a foreigner, not necessarily an American but anyone who is not Japanese.

Always Breezy

Dania Beach, where I spent most afternoons as a young'un.


Photo taken on a recent trip to South Florida

No Free Ride

When I was a girl, all the carousels had ring arm and you could lean out and try to grab the brass ring each time the carousel went around. If you were successful and got the brass, you were awarded another carousel ride for free. Of course, your horse had to be at exactly the correct height at the right time and place and there were several silver colored rings and only one brass one so it was a matter of luck and skill to grab the golden or "brass ring."

I haven't seen a ring arm on a carousel in years. I wonder why they stopped offering the brass ring? Probably something to do with insurance liability.


No brass ring on the old carousel in St. Augustine, Florida.

Move Over, Mothra

As giant crabs attack...



... Kaitlin is whisked away to safety in Yokosuka via Japan's very clean and proficient public transportation system.

Boing!

Pink Lily popped up in my yard overnight.


click to enlarge

Must have been planted by the birds.

Happy Independence Day, America

And Happy Birthday, Kaitlin!







More of Kaitlins 23rd Birthday pix from Japan are located here.

Celebrate!

Happy Birthday, Cracker Doodle!

Hope Japan is treating you well today and that they have sparklers there. And yes, I know the picture below is 4 years old. Send us a new one, please.

More of your previous birthday pix are here.

Happy 23rd!

Love,
Momsie ~