inspiration

with these as my every day visuals...

...honestly my brain is so relaxed...but my camera is so full of images...i am not sure what to include or what to leave out...i usually err on the side of adding as many photos as i can...

so here goes...friday was also designated a beach day

if the weather would cooperate...and boy did it.

we (meems, marmee, and our mom, gigi) headed out

to eat and spend the evening on the beach.

so it was off to cortez. a small fishing district.

meems wanted to share a unique dining experience with us.

star fish company is a fresh seafood market/restaurant.

the commerial market is up front and center.

then you make your way around back to the eatery dockside.

we lined up with all the other awaiting customers,

which included a traveling quartet. after a 30 minute line...we

ordered scallops, grouper, peel and eat shrimp, cheese grits,

hush puppies... well you get that we were hungry...now to find

a place to sit(not easy)...and wait...and wait...more waiting

... but we met lots of people...saw lots of interesting

birds...and felt the sun shining...all very worthwhile.

plus we were now in a different time zone...

i have been trying to adapt to that

first little sign since my arrival in florida.

so we had plenty of time to take in the sights

right from our outdoor, dockside picnic table seating.

fishing/seafood equipment lined the docks

as if it were the decor artfully placed.

what a charming fish market and place to sit for 2 plus hours.

brown pelicans were plentiful around the docks

but no feeding is allowed...which makes perfect

sense around an eatery.

isn't he a beauty.

the great white egret was on perch.

white pelicans are only here during the cooler months.

we also met another kind of bird seasonal to the florida coast

lines, snow birds. jean was one such kind...with so many interesting

life experiences...84 years worth. a world traveler, she met her

husband, a nasa engineer, while at a gathering for the nasa

workers. she worked in the library for nasa.

but that night was dancing on the table when her furture husband's

friend said "look at that cute red head with the good legs." as she

said, "the rest was history."

she was indeed fascinating...thanks jean...for some great stories.

after eating, waiting, talking, taking photos, we headed to

the fresh fish market for some seafood.

meems got shrimp and stone crabs for our dinner on valentine's.

then we finally got down to business and went to coquina beach.

afterall this is a huge reason for flying down to

spend some moments at this time of the year...

being on the beach soaking up the rays.

the sunset also complied with my hopes of having

a gorgeous evening at the beach...thanks mr sunshine.

and so goes another day in paradise.