Sparky Goes to Class

Sarasota, FL        High:  87       Low:   64

It was a beautiful morning this morning...Sparky rode her bike along the road by the lake to the pickleball courts. The old knees are glad it's the weekend. Sparky has played just about every day this week. She saw the clouds reflected below in the lake...A couple of BIG leatherback turtles plopped back in the water when Sparky rode by. They didn't want their photos taken. The ducks didn't care....Sparky had to use her camera phone to get a picture.

There was a BIG splash ahead of her, but she missed the alligator that had just been sunning himself on the bank, someone just ahead of her on their way to the courts reported! First time inside the park that Sparky knew of an alligator! In five months time, she has never seen one in the lake inside the park, and she just missed it today. He'll probably continue to stay sight unseen mostly underwater as hot as the weather has been. Sparky and a fellow pickleball player compared notes about gator experiences. Sparky told her about Shark Valley, the 17 mile bike ride down in the Everglades where gators sun themselves right on the bike path as you ride by. The gal told Sparky about an air boat tour that she took her grandsons on. The tour operator said that sometimes they reach over the sides of the boat and knock on the side of the boat and they can get the gators to come and investigate. This particular boat operator from Captain Doug's gator boat tours, reached over tap on the side of the boat, not realizing there was a gator submerged right by his hand. The gator reached up and CHOMP! took part of his hand off. True story! according to her.....Don't do that in a kayak, Sparky cautions....

A couple of weeks ago, Sparky took a class in how to make a leather wrapped bracelet, and failed miserably. It was a case of the instructor not helping a beginner use the right materials appropriately. No written directions were provided, and it just wasn't a good plan for a beginner class on the part of the store. Sparky walked out of class having spent a LOT of money on a class plus expensive shop materials and no bracelet to show for it. So she decided to try another shop....Donna's Beads on Beneva Rd. in Sarasota. They kindly agreed to let Sparky bring her materials she had already purchased from the other shop, and just pay for the class. How nice was that?! SUCCESS! At least getting underway and accomplishing something using a different method.....Great instructors...nice people, and a warm welcoming, enthusiastic, patient atmosphere...It's really important to have a great learning atmosphere with patient teachers, as former teacher Sparky can attest. To see what Sparky did today, head over to Millie's Girls, Sparky's craft blog.

The rest of the day Sparky crafted, started reading the book, The Round House by Louise Erdrich. It's the story of a woman who was viciously attacked (not described) on an Indian reservation, and her 13 year old son and his friends try to find the killer. It's a tale of injustice, of prejudice, of coming of age...It's on best seller lists....interesting so far...

Eldy watched the NFL draft this evening, and Sparky read blogs and crafted.

We'll see what tomorrow brings....Bye for now......