Weekend Snapshots

We started off the holiday weekend by indulging in one of our favorite things to do here on the gulf coast. There are tiki bars all long the Intercoastal Waterway and we hired a boat with a captain (we used her before for my husband’s surprise birthday weekend)  to cruise and bar hop for three hours, from Venice north to Sarasota.  The weather was hot and sunny, we enjoyed  introducing the fun to another couple and felt confident the gulf breezes and the heat would kill any nasty germs.  A few rum runners were enjoyed by all.

Otherwise, the holiday weekend was quiet.  We started our rainy season right on cue, with lots of rain and thunderstorms.  It was feeling very tropical with high heat and high humidity, which will be the norm the rest of the summer.  Here’s hoping the big hurricanes stay away.

Of course, we flew the flag all weekend, remembering those that sacrificed to make us free.  And somehow, the word freedom seems to mean a lot more right now.

Happy Tuesday!

Banana Bread in a Mug

There are many variations of this and other “in a mug” recipes that are cooked in your microwave.  I have tried brownies, chocolate cake and omelettes, to name a few.  This one looked good too, so since I had all the ingredients on hand, decided to give it a try on one of our rare rainy mornings.

It’s pretty much pantry staples, a quick stir and 3 minutes in the microwave, so what’s not to like.  I keep cut up ripe bananas in my freezer to use for smoothies, so that was easy too. This was a combination of a few recipes  and tweaked to how I prefer.  You can make changes easily, depending on what you like.  I don’t care for chocolate in the morning, so I didn’t use chocolate chips, but used sliced almonds instead.  Chopped pecans would be delicious too.  The banana provides sweetness, but if you want more, add about 1 or 2 teaspoons of brown sugar.

Banana Bread in a Mug

Mash 1 ripe banana with a fork in a large microwave safe mug.  Add 1 egg and mix well. Add 1 T milk, 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp cinnamon and 3 T flour.

At this point you customize with chocolate chips, nuts or chopped fruit.  I used sliced almonds and sprinkled them on top, but you could also mix your additions into other ingredients.

Cook in microwave for 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

May So Far - In Photos

Now that we have a bit of freedom to enjoy life in Florida again, May seems to be moving along much faster than life in quarantine.  We have made up for lost time on the beach and have even gone out to dinner once using all the social distancing guidelines that are in place. We live in an oasis of calm, without a lot of tourists and I felt totally comfortable.  It was so exciting to order a cocktail and have it served to me.

I have been planting all kinds things in my neighborhood, for my HOA Landscape Chair position and I love having a huge space to be creative.  It was fun to go to the plant nursery and design the clubhouse flower bed.

Mother’s Day was without my daughters, but they sent beautiful tulips, we face timed (via Pittsburgh and metro Detroit) and my hubby picked up our favorite steak salad, seafood bisque (with a shot of sherry on the side) and key lime pie.

We took coffee and doughnuts to the beach one morning and spent quiet evenings marveling at the beautiful spot we have created, where the sunset is something to be celebrated every night.

Feeling normal feels good.  Have a great weekend.

A Little Pout

In my favorite movie, Terms of Endearment,  Emma (Debra Winger) tells her husband “I think I’m entitled to a little pout” when he shares news about an upcoming move. In light of all the things being cancelled due to Coronavirus, what I am sharing is not nearly of the same magnitude, but it still feels sad to me.

After my mother passed away in February, I got it in my head that I could get through the funeral and the first weeks of grief, if I had a plan in place to spend time with my daughters.  Time gets away and since we live in three different cities, it’s important to keep connected.  I knew it would help me heal.

After much schedule arranging, we made plans for them to fly to Florida for Mother’s Day weekend, all meet in Ft. Myers and take a boat to Key West together.  A weekend of sunsets, margaritas and bar hopping on Duval Street was in store.  And lots of catching up.

Sounds so simple, but right now, seems unimaginable how we can even reschedule.  I know we will figure out a way to be together, even if it’s a weekend around my pool, but the fact that I should be giving them both a hug right now is making me sad.  And worth a little pout.

Happy Mother’s Day

Cinco de Mayo Beach Style

As life starts to open up in Florida, we are finding ways to get back to normal, but in a smart way.  We all feel pretty comfortable with being outside and maintaining social distancing.  Social interaction with friends is necessary and in the midst of this cataclysmic change to how we interact, we will find new and different ways to connect.

Dinner parties at home are out, but what we did for Cinco de Mayo, may become the new normal.  We each brought our own “picnic dinner”.  We each brought our own margaritas.  We were the required distance apart, but conversation still flowed freely.  We laughed, we shared stories and we did everything we could to build a bridge between what was and what will have to be.

We are blessed to live in a beautiful location, with wide open space on the beach.  There was no one around our little group of six, the gulf breezes are nothing but heathy and the sunset is a balm to the soul.  How could anyone say that this type of moving forward is a bad thing?

Happy Wednesday!