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 ~

Grand Opening

Hi, Hunnies, I'm home. I know it's been a while but I have been on the road and/or having way too much fun to blog.

During my travels last week, I saw this scrawled in white paint on the rear window of a Nissan in South Carolina:

Justin and Melissa
Just Married
GRAND OPENING!

Made me laugh.
They were very young so yes indeed, it may have been the Grand Opening.

Here's what I am drinking tonight out of one of my infamous blue balls martini glasses. It's Raspberry Sparkletini and Grape Vodka, half and half, very cold, garnished with a cherry.



Yep, I call it Blue Balls with a Cherry on top.

A hearty welcome to all you blue balls and cherry searchers.

Anata no koto wo kangaeteiru

Daughter Kaitlin and her roomie Kim have been assigned to Negishi, a smaller base about 18 miles from Yokosuka. She started teaching swimming today and I believe this is a pic of the pool. She thinks she will be in Negishi through July and them have other assignments in August and September. They put her up in the Bachelors Officer's Quarters (BOQ). Kaitlin is very pleased that she has good digs and maid service.



She has seen her first Japanese ladies wearing kimono and eaten her first real Japanese foods. She told me "I love you," in Japanese. I think I detected just a trace of homesickness in her voice. Still no internet but she and Kim are having that set up on Wednesday. I can't wait to email her and see photos.

"Anata no koto wo kangaeteiru" means "I'm thinking of you."
Love, Momsie

KOI

Koi Pond at Ft. Lauderdale hotel

Watching fish swim is so relaxing. I would love to have a koi pond at home but I think our native raccoons, hawks and osprey might find them a little too colorful and delish to resist.

Flip Flops

It's 95 degrees.
I hate summer.



Most of the year, flip flops are my shoe of choice. I have platform ones, high heeled ones, gold, silver, decorated, plain, every color, every style. These were downright pricey at $2.84. Gotta love 'em!

Sayonara

It's been a while. Been busy running up and down the east coast of Florida for the last month in between various, sundry and expensive dental tortures. Beach pix from the length of the coast may follow if I make time. But important news first - at 5:15 this morning, we sent the kidlet through the X-ray machine to a plane bound for Japan for four months. Who says being a professional lifeguard doesn't have its perks?

First darlin' daughter flew to Atlanta from JAX (Jacksonville, Florida) and then she hopped a Boeing 777 to Narita airport serving Tokyo, Japan. You can track her here for about the next 6 or 7 hours.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL55


Click to view large

As I type, She's flying over the Bering Sea and in Alaska Terroritirial waters. I hope she looks for the crab boats featured in Deadliest Catch since that is one of Kaitlin's and my favorite TV programs. (You think she can see them from 36,000 feet?) Upon arrival, she'll take the bullet train to the Navy Command Center Base at Yokasuka, about 40 miles south of Tokyo and have three bases in Japan where she will lifeguard, teach swimming and water safety.

Our daughter comes from a long line of lifeguards: her father and I were both lifeguards as was her aunt and her grandfather. She knows a peach of a job when she finds it.

I will admit that I cried just like I left her off at kindergarten when we watched her plane take off this morning.

Kaitlin will be in Japan until October. She'll celebrate her birthday there on July 4th. I miss her already.

Well, off to watch the shuttle light up the sky here in North Florida.
Godspeed Kaitlin and Atlantis.
.