The Big 6-5 and Noodlers

Sarasota, FL      High:  86      Low: 63

Oh, boy....Eldy turns 65 today, April 14th....It's the BIG ONE! Sparky got a chuckle out of her young cousin's comment the other day on Facebook, "can't believe I made it to nineteen!" Well, you can sure say that about reaching 65, right? And he's made it to 65 without heart problems, any kind of major illness and not having to take ANY meds! Wow!

He doesn't like celebrating birthdays at all, and HATES a fuss being made over him...Sparky is just the opposite. You'd better remember HER birthday if you are her significant other, (it's July 18th, you gotta a ways, yet) and she will ONLY be a young 63. But she's definitely got the aches and pains to complain about, so not so sure about the young part. But this is not about Sparky, this is about ELDY. How are we going to celebrate? (oh, brother, guess I'm stuck celebrating, cuz my woman is bound and determined to make a big deal out of just another day, fusses E.) We're gonna have a CAKE, and a present, a little one....and we're gonna go out to eat! (Kinda figured that, says E.) Sparky's choice because she's got a cool place all picked out...(You can see why we're gonna go out to eat if you have been reading our blog. Sparky definitely isn't going to make me my favorite birthday dinner, which is probably fried chicken or my mom's recipe for homemade noodles from scratch and beef/gravy, because Sparky hates to cook!) And she isn't a very good one, either. Uh, yeah, a home cooked birthday dinner probably ain't gonna happen, so out we will go....

Saw a beautiful roseate spoonbill today out in the Lakewood Ranch lakes and ponds, that beautiful planned community one exit down from Fruitville Road where Sun 'n' Fun is....



A shy bird, it flew away before Sparky could get close enough to capture it's fuchsia  beauty as it was "spooning" the pond banks....

Spent some time in the pool today....Sparky is now officially a member of the "Noodlers Club"...That's where you grab a pool noodle, plop on your sunglasses and a hat....Sparky decided to hop on down to the pool with a noodle and see what's cool about noodling in the pool. Now note that she did NOT say, "canoodling" which is something you do in the privacy of your own home unless you are a male teenager besotted in love with a hot young chick and don't care who sees what in public.  We recently saw a young man in a local restaurant, (WHOA, Sparky! Never mind! warns E. They get the picture! ) It was bad enough that Sparky was thinking, GET A ROOM, for Pete's sake! Sparky only saw mature adults enjoying themselves in the pool today...Young families were there, too, but mostly just us older folks trying to cool off.

Sparky digresses...OK, so---- noodling is hanging out in the water with your pool noodle and friends...Sparky thinks it's a riot that everybody wears sunglasses and hats in the pool, guess they don't care about clothing in the pool as long as you don't submerge yourself, but Sparky doesn't wear sunglasses--tch! tch! tch!, and doesn't wear a hat--tch! tch! tch! (That means not a smart move) and so she got a sunburned face today. But she sure enjoyed talking with her friends in the pool today...fellow pickleball players and crafters and all around great people who we've met in the past few months we've been here. By the way, in case you are one of those people who doesn't like to wear sunglasses, your eye doctor will tell you that's REALLY bad...macular degeneration and other eye problems can be traced back to not protecting your eyes from the sun, especially Florida sun. So Sparky's girls, if you are reading this blog, your mother says, WEAR SUNGLASSES!  Like they are going to follow their mother's advice...   :-)  Sparky wishes she had listened to her mom telling her all those years to wear sunscreen and a hat. Now she's got tons and tons of ugly brown and scaly spots to show for years and years of sun exposure. (Boy, Sparky is really all over the place today, isn't she?)

Time to come home and get ready for Ocean's 11 band at Ocean Blues in downtown Sarasota. They play from 7:00-9:00 PM every Saturday night...Always a good time and wonderful, wonderful music.....If we get back in time, Sparky will add to this post, if not, stay tuned for tomorrow...Venice Shark Tooth Festival is on tap as well......