671.

Howdy folks.

Did I mention that I fell in love while on vacation?

I did.

With ceviche.

Specifically fish ceviche. (Don't ask what kind of fish because I don't know.)

I also don't know what made me eat ceviche but I saw it and decided I wanted it.

After my first taste (drenched in lime juice freshly squeezed by my own beautiful hands), I was hooked. From then on, we were together for every meal except breakfast.

Ceviche and I became very close during my visit to Curaçao.

How will I survive without it?

I miss you ceviche!

670.

Bon bini na Kòrsou! (Welcome to Curaçao!)

(Photo courtesy of RedFoxx Photography.)

Best. Drink. Ever. 

The view from our room.

Baby Bliss thinking about it. The water was cold but she swam out to the reef. (See reef in the distance in the photo below.)









Sand between my toes...



Bon nochi (good night) y'all!

669.

Bon nochi folks!

My birthday vacation was wonderful.

Baby Bliss and I spent a week on the Dutch island of Curacao.

We ate, drank, laughed, sunned, swam, slept, met lots of nice people, learned a few short phrases of a new language (Papiamento), and had an all-around good ole time.

I'm thankful for it all.

It's only been a few hours since we've been home. I'm only still awake because I needed to ice a bruise and heat sore shoulders. (Toting too much luggage through long airport corridors and standing in long immigration and customs lines. Which moved surprisingly fast by the way but a long line is a long line.)

And now y'all, I'm off to bed. I've been awake since 6 a.m.

Photos to come soon.

Bon nochi everyone.

668.

I'm so thankful for my friends and family.

This has been a fantastic weekend and it's still going.

Running out the door to run a few errands so yep, more later.

Peace and love y'all!

667.

It's been a beautiful busy day and it's not over yet.

I've been to two parties.

Baby Bliss and I had to come home so she could change for work. I'm dropping her off then I'm heading back to the big city to hang with Miz A for a few hours.

More later folks! 

666.

So Sunday I had the breakfast date with one of the guys I met online. We ate and chatted and before I knew it, four hours had gone by.

We parted with a hug and kiss and a request for a second date.

On Monday, he and I met at my favorite park for lunch at my favorite table. He had his beautiful Akita with him. After lunch, we walked the dog and shared more conversation.

He's a cool laid-back buy but I won't see him again. In all the conversation about the marital woes that led to him leaving his wife, I never heard him say the word "divorce".

Which is not something I need concern myself with because I prefer not to date men with pets.

Moving on...

It was a semi-busy week here.

Baby Bliss has been working at one of the local theaters. It's a well-known and much-loved production (judging by last night's attendance); she's the dresser for the male lead.

She has grown to love the world of live theater (which I can do without). She is usually responsible for cast makeup but has previously done sound on a few productions.

I've been flitting about, running last-minute errands for my birthday party (today) and our soon-come vacation.

I've also been texting and talking to a guy I met online. But he's erratic at times. The weekend usually tells the tale with these kinds of things. If I don't hear from him today, he's history. *chuckle*

And now it's time for me to get ready or I'll be late for my own party.

Stay tuned for photos.

Toodles y'all.

665.

Did I forget to mention Friday and Saturday in previous posts?

I think I might did.

Friday afternoon I drove down to the big city to get my grandma. She and I ran the streets for several hours, taking care of business, dining on gourmet fare at Chick-fil-A, doing a bit of upscale shopping at a local thrift store, getting groceries at the hoity-toity supermarket, picking up a few trinkets at the nearest Dollar Tree...

After I returned grandma to her home (well before dark), I made a pit stop at one of the finer fried chicken joints in town then joined Miz A at K's house.

We three sat around for a few hours of food, laughter, and conversation. Eventually Miz A and I departed with promises of returning on Saturday. But alas, it wasn't to be.

Saturday morning I awoke to a text from Miz A informing me that she was unlikely to return to K's because she'd taken ill during the night.

(That's not what she really said but I like the sound of it. She did say she wasn't feeling well, which wasn't surprising because she'd been lethargic Friday evening. When I arrived at K's, she was bundled up in a blanket on one of the sofas, drinking water.)

I sent my condolences by return text and hit the snooze bar.

Actually I had made plans on Friday afternoon to spend Saturday with my friend D. He called and said he had the weekend off (a rarity) with nothing to do. We hadn't had a visit since Thanksgiving (when I drove to his town) so I suggested we meet in the big city on Saturday to hang out.

We started with lunch at a favorite Chinese restaurant then a walk (at the mall because it was so damned hot out).

It was a really good day. I like D (who I met on a dating site a few years ago and developed a friendship with) because he's an all-around decent guy. We have many shared interests, good conversation, he's a gentleman. He's handsome. Kinda sexy too. (But there's no romantic chemistry between us.)

D and I parted around 8.

Later in the evening, I logged onto one of the dating sites and e-mailed with a few guys who have been chatting me up recently.

One of them invited me to breakfast Sunday.

Which is where I think my previous post left off.

And because I now have a migraine, this one shall end here.

Sweet dreams folks.

664.

My date for last Sunday flaked out on me.

But it's cool. Although I was freshly showered before noon, I didn't get dressed because he'd said he would call by noon and didn't.

Que sera, sera darlings.

There's always another somewhere in the wind...

In fact, I've been invited to a late breakfast (11 a.m.).

This one is close to home but I need to start getting ready right now.

Which means I will get dressed for this one. Nothing fancy so if I go and he doesn't show, it won't matter. I'll eat at the place any way because it's a place I like.

After breakfast I'll drop in at a few of my favorite thrift stores because I need a few items for my next vacation. (Which I'll detail more at a later date.)

Time for that shower!

Y'all be good and as usual, stay tuned for more.

663.

Happy Sunday y'all!

As I think I stated in my most recent post, this has been a fairly quiet weekend for me.

I thought it would be an uneventful one as well but that might change. I've been asked out for lunch.

It's almost 11:30 so I need to get it in gear as my date will be 2 p.m., latest.

I'll return with details later.

662.

Looks like my blog is turning into "Tales of the Weekend".

So let's get to it, shall we?

For most of us in America, last weekend was a three-day one because Monday was Memorial Day. I know some folk worked the holiday (by choice or necessity) but many of us had the day off.

It's a day set aside to honor those soldiers who died in service of our country. Some honor the fallen with a simple "thank you" sent into the ether. Some make cemetery visits. Some celebrate with cook outs, BBQs, picnics, and other food-based festivities.

For those who don't know the history of Memorial Day, check this out: Memorial Day Origins.
(Not that I view Snopes.com as the source for authentic information but the material seems to include the various stories I've seen and heard regarding the origins of the holiday. So...)

As usual, my weekend was busy but I did fit a bit of downtime into the mix so it worked out well.

Friday was just a day to get ready for Saturday.

I ran errands, talked to relatives and friends about Saturday's activities, and cooked (kale and sweet potatoes). Mostly I relaxed.

Saturday I was up early because one of the aunts called to say we were definitely going to the park by the lake (park #1, same one we picnicked at July 4 last year) and I should get there early because I live closer. (Which is true. I'm less than 10 minutes away.)

So I got out of my warm comfy bed, got a shower, got dressed, packed the food/towels/table cloth, etc. in record time.

An hour and a half later, I was riding past park #1, reading the park's denial of access sign. It was opening day for the new beach and I'm willing to bet there was a line for entry at the crack of dawn.

Part of the problem is that the beach allows 500 swimmers and the parking lot holds 127 vehicles.

It was all fine with me. I wanted to go to my favorite park (park #2) where I was hoping we could get my favorite picnic table, literally a few feet from the lake. The table is also close enough to the restrooms, close to the parking lot, and the view is magnificent.

I called my aunt, told her the situation with park #1, and told her they should meet me at park #2.

It cost a few bucks to get into park #2 (as it would have with park #1, because it was the weekend) but it was worth it.

Maybe park #2 was mostly empty because everyone was so anxious to get into park #1.

What ever the reason, I drove through the park (past the playground, the dog park, the tennis courts) and over to the section where my favorite table sat.

Oh happy day!

The parking lots for that section were less than a fourth full.

I parked and ran down to my table by the lake. It was available. I danced a jig in my head and ran back to my car to get the table cloth.

Then I called my aunt to tell her exactly where I was.

The aunts and grandma arrived about 10 minutes later.

Basking in the praises of the aunties for picking such a perfect location, I helped ferry our goodies from the cars to the table.

Finally we all settled down to grub, conversation, laughter, sunshine, and that beautiful view.

Several hours later, we packed up to leave, making tentative plans to visit my lovely location again as soon as possible. (I'm thinking July 4.)

* * *

The outing with family was the warm-up, as I was expected at K's for another cookout with Miz A.

I was a few hours late but Miz A knew I had an engagement prior to the afternoon BBQ.

The cookout at K's was what the kids call "lit".  (See definition number 10: lit.)

There were only five of us: Miz A, K, C, J (a friend of K's and C's), and myself but five people was enough.

We ate, drank, danced, talked, screamed, hollered, and laughed loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

Lots and lots of fun.

Sunday was a day of rest, as it should have been.

Monday Miz A and I hit the streets together.

We stuffed ourselves at a new Chinese buffet for lunch then ran off to walk the nearby mall.

A few hours later we decided to head down to the big city to hang out in an area we frequent. 

Miz A parked her car down there and got into my car. We hung out with a few of my relatives for a few hours then hopped back over to our favorite area.

It was actually time for dinner by then. There were long lines everywhere but we finally decided on a cool place, literally. It was an ice cream and smoothie shop that also sold real food.

I don't remember what Miz A had but here's what I noshed on:

It was good and filling. I even had enough to take some home.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed to our respective homes.

All in all, it was a pretty cool weekend and I'm thankful.

Amen.