On the Beach

It's February in Vero beach...

BARRY'S BEACH VIDEO

(copy and paste url into browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_8CMC209qo  


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 Vicki and Sandy M. went to lunch at Citrus...

And we ordered sesame salad with chicken.

But what is this?

  It's more art than food, but we ate it.

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Speaking of "what is it?"

This thing shows up at dark, glides past our back porch, ends up eating fish and pooping on a neighbor's bimini.  

In daylight, he looks a little like Bernie Sanders.

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On the road....

Vero sunsets from the car...

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That's all folks...

The Bee Keeper Cometh

You can take the boy out of the farm, but not the farm out of the boy. Or, whatever.  Barry plans to start a small bee farm on a friend's property on the Maryland Eastern Shore.  Barry has a history of bee keeping, at one time tended 70 hives spread out over northern New Jersey.  The deal was: Barry supplied the bees to pollinate an apple orchard; and, in exchange, he got the honey to sell.  Two tons of it to be exact.      

The new launch is officially April 7 when Barry will pick up two nucs (frames) of bees from the Maryland Agriculture Department. You can't just show up at the bee store and get a few.  He decided on Italian bees with the possibility later of adding a few Russians.  So the lesson is:  all bees are not the same.  I'm fantasizing that Italian bees are probably melodic in their buzzing and form flight patterns of Statues of David.  Pure bred Russian bees, on the other hand, are more like Vladimir Putin, more muscular and ready to take on anybody.  

I know, it's not a honey bee.

OK, for those of you now chomping at the bit to try out bee keeping, here's what the starter kit contains:  a helmet and veil, a smoker which blows smoke over them so they become confused and docile, and a hive with a starting foundation.  Last, but not least, come the bees.   

Starter kit

Did you know that bees have saved humanity by accident?  If it weren't for their messing around in blossoms and accidentally getting the pollen on their bushy bodies and then accidentally flying to some other blossom and accidentally dropping a few of the pollen pieces......well, we probably wouldn't be here reading this blog.

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 Photos of the week...              
             1.  Lunch at....

Have no idea what this is, but it's part of the restaurant.

A long-time customer

         2.  Night time view off of Balboita's back porch...

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Video:  Irma damage to neighbor's bar in St. Thomas... 

My son Jim's neighbors in Annapolis own the oldest beach bar in St. Thomas, located in mangroves next to a boat yard.  This video shows damage to the boats up on steel braces where they are typically getting painted or repaired, as well as damage to the neighbor's beach bar.  Pretty dumbfounding.  Take a walk-through with them. (copy and paste)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pCAVj3y2qf8Y6MiU0B6Nl44KXFAFLz4q/view?usp=sharing.  

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This week's plan...

We're leaving Balboita in Vero for the summer, stored on the hard at a Ft. Pierce boat yard.  The Vero hillbillies -- Vicki, Barry, Kota and Skipper -- are then driving home to Annapolis to start the bee farm in April.   Among other things.  Late next fall, Balboita will return to Vero's city marina, available for the hillbillies when they feel like it.

This plan may change next week.  

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That's all folks....

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Since last we met...

Vero's city marina is different from most marinas.  It's funky chic.  It has a dash of delightful Florida moldiness and a canopy of ancient, gnarled Live Oak trees dressed in Spanish moss.  

So, what's it like living in a marina?  It has "A Little House On the Prairie" feel.  Like living life in miniature. The sink in the bathroom is only thigh-high.  The distance between the galley and sitting area means turning to your side to get by the other person, something that doesn't work well when you're in a sh*tty mood. 

However, I have to admit like this kind of living, although it pains me to say so since I'm a registered cynic.  (Looking into leaving Balboita here over the summer, but that's this week.)

More marina scenes....

Waiting for the free bus to go shopping

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Some Vero discoveries....
    

1.  Havana Nights, a Cuban restaurant with an entrance like a speakeasy...

...and a piano bar for Barry

2.  Int, which stands for international, a Latin fusion restaurant   decorated by a South American artist who did all the murals, the chairs, the bar, everything.  

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And now, the gratuitous boat wreck video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euAR...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euARI7PkOiA
(copy and paste url into browser - it's a good one)

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My art class    ..

I'm taking encaustics, which is not a disease.   You melt wax and then brush it over a substrate -- in my case, a photo -- and then you add stuff, and brush with some more wax which ends up shiny, and I'm not sure why else you would do this than to get it shiny.  With each layer of wax, you bond it with a hot gun, add some image, cover with wax, bond with hot gun.....Pretty messy.  It's basically a class in how to play in a sand box. 

It's also how to be an instant abstract artist including all the cliches of being an instant abstract artist.  "I just do a little bit of marking here and then if I don't like it, I rub it out, but sometimes it ends up working, and then I try some of the white (I like white a lot) over the top and the pigment goes down into the markings and then I put some more wax, lots of wax, on it and if I don't like it, I rub it off............................." says the instructor.

An unexpected entertainment part of the class is the circuits regularly get blown because 16 students are using 16 electric frying pans and 16 hot air guns and 16 hot trays to keep the wax melted and the building workers are running around pushing reset buttons.  Love it.

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Unrelated postscript...

Trip home last week...

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That's all folks,

Two little piggies went to the market....

Vicki and Barry ventured out to the Vero Beach farmers' market

Looking like fraternal twins...

Why do all farmers' markets look alike?

We bought a Bahamian dinner from Bahama Mama who is definitely not dressed for the Bahamas

We also bought some acid-free coffee (what else at a farmers' market?)

Where there was a memorable sign...

And, I like this one too...

 

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Unrelated post:

Barry's photo while bringing the car down to Vero from Annapolis.  Barry is a naughty, distracted driver, but he takes some cool pictures.

That's all folks...