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  The Derelict This past week, the Tampa Bay area once again celebrated the landing and invasion of Jose Gaspar. Gaspar is depicted as a pirate purported to loot and ravage the west coast of the peninsula. Though many say he is but a mythical character, others suggest Gaspar was real. It doesn’t matter. Every year hundreds of boats, decorated for the occasion, escort the iconic Spaniard into Tampa Bay where he makes his once-a year-landing and the mayor hands over the keys to the city. May not exactly Jose Gaspar...but thank you Pixabay for the image. When we were in high school, Gasparilla Day meant a day off. We would attend the parade, try to catch the real honest-to-goodness plastic gold coins and candy the pirates threw into the crowd, and cheer for our high school band as they marched by. And a few years later, they threw real plastic beaded necklaces. Sometimes the invasion was only a day or at most a week ahead of the Florida State Fair.  I haven’t been to the Gasparil...

Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows A couple of years ago  I crafted a post called "Agree to Disagree." In it I shared the notion of "perspective." In that previous post I used the illustration of the five blind men and the elephant. Each held a view of what was before them based on his own limited perspective.  In a sense, this post is also about perspective.  Not limited. Informed. It's about the weather. As I craft this week's post, Mike and I have been pretty much housebound. We have been fighting a virus of some sort and the weather has not lent itself to going out and soaking up some much needed sunshine. Sunshine cures many an illness. It's a fact. Sunshine is packed with vitamin D. Vitamin D builds strong bones and helps the immune system fight off those nasty viruses and such.  Even though we live in Florida, the Sunshine State, our weather in Citrus County, as I craft this post, is NOT warm. We do have lots of sun, but at the moment, we are exper...

My Continued  Love/Hate  Relationship with Technology Yes. I both LOVE and HATE technology. When it works, it is a writer's best friend. It not only holds my thoughts in one place, the computer offers advice for spelling and grammar. It can allow me to ramble now and edit with ease later.  When it works. It doesn't always work.   For example, I turned to my go-to word program to compose this week's blog. Everything seemed to be going nicely...until...I no longer have the ability to copy and paste it into my blog? What's that about?  I used all my known strategies to retrieve my blog post.  Nothing worked.   So I abandoned the post about the sweet memory of my early experiences at the University of Cincinnati, and spent the next three hours traveling every rabbit hole I could think of to fix my word processing capabilities.  It is important. I have books I'm working on...stories to tell. I have documents I value. I need my ability to craf...

For a Caring Man...Go to Deer Lake Road I am sick. Not the kind of sick that can be cured by Mike's Wonder Drug: Vick's. I tried. If you missed that post, CLICK HERE. No. This is the achy, sore throat, totally congested sick that hits you suddenly and doesn't seem to want to go away. I have coughed all night. I'm pretty sure my raging cough scared Tiki Kitty.  And today? Even as I write these words, I feel as if my head will explode.  To top it off, I have a blog post in the wings for such emergencies, but can't seem to access it. Seriously.  This Palm Tree Had To Be  Removed. It has nothing to do with this post except  I'm pretty sure the inside of my head looks like this. Stuff like this happens. We can never be fully prepared for what lies around the corner. Only to know it will happen. Our best intensions will be shattered and we need to remain calm. There is likely a reason. I have no clue as to why I'm in this predicament, but here I am. And I have to...