Cheesecake And Quickies

Yesterday was a researching and writing day for me. I got a couple of e-mails back from the Toledo History Museum and the Toledo Police Museum with some links and information about some things I needed for my next Tinder Street book. This means I can probably start working on it once I finish my current work in progress without having to take a trip up there. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend following up on what they sent me, but what I did see of it seems very helpful.

After that, I started writing, and by the end of the day, I had managed to knock out a little over 6,000 words in my new Big Lake book. Then I had to stop for a while to do some more research on the chain of command in the US Forest Service. Being a government agency, they do love bureaucracy and have a lot of it.

After dinner, Terry and I watched the evening news, and then we watched the last three episodes of the new and final season of Shameless on Netflix. We have been binge-watching it for the last few days since learning that it was available. There were eleven seasons of the show about a dysfunctional family living on Chicago’s south side, and it is both funny and raunchy. I told Terry that I think part of what I liked about the show is that some of the characters remind me of the people I knew when I lived in the Old South End in Toledo when I was going to high school. Of course, the TV show’s characters were greatly exaggerated for the most part, but I swear some of the things they did on that program and some of the things they said took me back to the old neighborhood.

We finished off the last two pieces of the delicious New York cheesecake that Terry made me for my birthday while we were watching TV. It was as delicious as the very first bite after she made it. And no, we didn’t binge-eat it all by ourselves, some was shared with others. Not because I wanted to share, but because terry said I had to.

After months of very hot, very humid weather, it was absolutely beautiful here on Florida’s Central Coast yesterday. The high was somewhere around 78^o, with low humidity and a nice breeze blowing all day long. The next couple of days are also going to be nice before it starts creeping up into the high 80s again mid-week. But it is a precursor to the better days ahead.

After reading yesterday’s blog repost from five years ago announcing that we had bought our home here, three different readers asked me if we have any regrets from getting off the road or about the place where we chose to be. As far as hanging up the keys, we have no regrets at all. As I said in that blog, we always told each other that when it stopped being fun, we would do something different, and we did. As for regrets about where we chose to live, I will admit that the politics here in Florida are not to our liking. County and local authorities seem to make up their own rules about a lot of things as they go along. And we wish the weather was a little more moderate during the summers. But every place has its own drawbacks as well as its own positive things, and on balance, this was a good choice for us back then, and it still is.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. When we saw this in Titusville the other day, I told Terry I definitely needed a picture for the blog. So if you need a quickie (funnel cake) you know where to go!

Thought For The Day – You know you’re getting old when you try to catch your second wind, but break it instead.