SUNRISE in SARASOTA

We left Nantucket yesterday afternoon. It was a busy morning packing up a few things that did not get into the SUV when it was driven south 2 days ago. And then there's the stuff my daughter, her husband, and the babies brought back. Caesar brought less with him when he crossed the Rubicon.

We said goodbye to Nantucket and in 3 hours we landed in Sarasota. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. which is my custom and I watched the sun come up out of our east window in the family room. I made coffee and it smelled good. Unfortunately it didn't taste so good so I had a diet coke instead. I don't know if it was the Hazelnut creamer that has been in freezer for 4 months, or the coffee kept in the refrigerator, or the coffee maker (which I cleaned twice) or the water. Whatever it was...it was not as good as the one I had yesterday in Nantucket just before I packed up the Cuisinart.

Anyway, I wont take this as a metaphor for our return. Sarasota looked better than I expected it to be, including the North Trail which we had to pass on the way home. It looks like we lost 2 coconut palm trees since we have been away. They turned brown after this past winter's freeze and never came back The others ones look good and are sprouting nice green fronds. Minor problems will crop up over the next few days but it is good to be back on our other island, Siesta Key. NOW WHERE IS THAT TO-DO LIST?

I'LL BE BACK

For those of my readers who live in Nantucket, this is a palm tree, on a white sand beach in Sarasota, Florida. Later today we will be leaving beautiful but getting colder and rainier Nantucket and heading into the 90 degree days of the Sunshine State. We avoided the fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk heat of the Florida summer but now it is time to catch the tail end of the heat and to revel in the mostly wonderful weather of fall and winter (discounting a hurricane that may sneak up on us and blow our house out to sea.)

Several folks extracted a promise from me that I would continue to write this blog on my return to Siesta Key, our island in Sarasota. They asked to remain anonymous. There are many adventures to be had in Florida. And I will muse on several of them in the coming week. Our first adventure will be "the automobile shuffle." The SUV we enjoyed all summer up in Nantucket will arrive home on Tuesday Morning, loaded to the headliner with all manner of impedimentum..mostly clothes-de-Kitty and my two pairs of jeans and 4 t-shirts. There are books, and electronic gizmos, and lots of shoes. We left our kitchen utensils and bed linens in Nantucket for next year. YES, there will be a next year "God willin' and the creek don't rise."

The Kitty's car was leased and the lease is over shortly after our return to Florida. Our other vehicle is a 1998 Mercedes ML320 with about 200,000 miles on her. When I drove this SUV the last time back a couple of months ago, it seemed to be trying to catch on fire or at least the front brakes were smoking. Sounds like a case for Goodwill. So there you have it, two people, one car. This formula was great in Nantucket where I rode my bike or walked everywhere. Back in Sarasota, riding a bike is the transportation equivalent of Russian Roulette, and walking very far will have to wait until November due to the heat. So I guess I will have to get another set of wheels. I blogged about the Jeep Wrangler, and the Mini Cooper and my "sort system" (the WHY of my eventual choice.) Life is too short to make all practical choices. One of my friends drives and Aston-Martin, another a Porsche Panamera, and a third has a garage filled with all manner of exotic cars. I can't even think about getting into that arms-race. Being the ICONOCLAST that I am, my choices are either "the most impractical WTF vehicle I can find" or a nondescript "beater."

We don't have a MINI dealer in Sarasota but the JEEP guys are about a 10 minute drive away. If I can talk them into giving me more than a dollar trade in value on my old ML..I can buy one of their fine products. This week, on the news, mostly FOX, there were videos showing workers at the JEEP factory, where they make their flagship Grand Cherokee, smoking dope and getting hammered on beer while on their lunch hour. This is a bit off-putting when thinking about buying a JEEP that costs as much as a Mercedes or BMW SUV. Fortunately they also sell the Wrangler which when purchased without any bells and whistles is reasonably priced. NO, I (probably) will not remove the doors and the roof and put a surfboard on the roll bars. But don't hold me to this. Beauty is skin deep but quirkiness runs deep to the bone.

Anyway, if I roll up to the mall or your house in a piece of vintage Detroit Iron, or a WWII JEEP, don't think I went off the deep end from being in Nantucket. I did that long ago.

We don't gotta cho you no steenkin bodges

Thanks to Obama's tightened security at the border, another group of Mexicans are denied entry in the USA. This could be the turning point in the war against illegal immigration. And all this time we thought his bark was worse than his bite. I don't know about you but personally I am glad that congress passed the Taco Bill.

ECONOMIC TEAM

I was listening to Morning Joe and heard that Larry Summers is quitting the OBAMA economic team (not the first). You remember him as the former president of Harvard who was booted out of his job for political incorrectness. I was wondering what these guys are going to do when they fill out their Curriculum Vitae in preparation for their next job. I figure Summers is going to put down 2009-2010 Sabbatical. If you were part of an economic TEAM whose success could be compared to the losing team in a SuperBowl whose final score was 56 to ZIP, what would you put in YOUR C.V.? I think "I was in a COMA" would be better than admitting "I was in charge of the Stimulus package and improving employment in America."

Rahm "Rambo" Emanuel, the Chief of Staff at the White House who was practically invisible for the past 2 years has his beady little eyes set on becoming the Mayor of Chicago. When I think of honesty in government, "Chicago" immediately pops into my head. Any one named Daley, for example. Maybe our next presidential administration can come entirely from another city, say, the one that Tony Soprano came from in New Jersey. It has to be more honest...Bada-Bing.

TEST DRIVE

Drivin' this JEEP all day today. The cobble stones of Main street are only one of the rough terrain opportunities on the island. There are places where you can drive on the beach, many roads that are unpaved, and parking spots that are only accessible if you go over a tall curb. As I have written before, this is the single most common vehicle on Nantucket, for a reason. Most of them are convertible, and if there were ever convertible weather, this is it. 60s and 70s are the norm. I will report to you after today if my neck is not too sore to sit in front of my computer. I may get one when I get back to Sarasota, so that I can keep in touch with my inner island-ness. It also could be the dumbest thing ever, and I'll abandon the idea. Today's the day.

ADIOS, Nantucket

Nantucket will be left behind in a few days as we return to the balmy 90 degree weather of Florida. This is a photo of a crowded Nantucket beach I took this week. When we return to Siesta Key, our other island, I will go to the beach every day. It is a 20 minute walk from my house. If I can do it here, I can do it there. I just have to remember to drink lots of water.

By the time we get back to Sarasota, most of our friends will have returned from their European trips and North Carolina homes. I will trade my lostah roll lunch for a nice Chicken Parm sandwich at Demetrio's. I just love living on islands.

I CHANGED MY MIND

I WAS GOING TO WRITE SOMETHING SPIRITUAL or ZEN-like this morning. We had a good day yesterday and a great meal last night, God's in his heaven all's right with the world, etc. But then someone sent me this in an email which I opened just before 6 a.m.

For those of you who don't follow politics, this is a cartoon of Nancy Pelosi, aka Queen Nancy, aka the Shrieker of the House. Caricaturists draw their subjects by exaggerating their most prominent features, making the head much larger in proportion to the body and accentuating the facial expression. For example, a caricature of Pam Anderson would have, as impossible as this sounds to achieve, Boobs that are out of proportion to the rest of her. Angeline Jolie's bee-stung lips would be even more amplified. Queen Nancy is the victim of serial-plastic surgery and her face is tighter than a pair of jeans on a Latina female in Miami. She's been lifted so many times she has to have a regular Bikini Wax on her chin. Take a good look as it is possible that after the elections in November she will become the minority leader, or be replaced by another Democrat as the Speaker and she will go back to the Bat-cave and just hang around.