It is not HOT at the beach today, it is S U L T R Y ! ! ! 
I am not venturing out beyond what is totally necessary today. Was going to take a junket to the shops, but am, instead, making do with what I have on-hand. It's the first really hot day of summer, which has most certainly arrived on The Right Coast of Florida, although the calendar is stating the official start of summer is not until next week!
Crowds are in near-record numbers at the beaches as people take what is now termed "staycations". In other words, more and more people are electing to not venture too far from home for their summer holidays this year due to the ever-increasing and no-relief-in-sight prices of petrol. I have noticed in recent weekends on my daily bike ride that traffic weekends in the beaches area has most deffo increased over what I remember from last summer. People are cruising 'round in search of a prime parking spot near the beach so they can schlep their beach chairs, coolers, umbrellas and blankets to a select spot on the sand by the water. Fotos in today's issue of The Shorelines depicts a beach scene reminiscent of my childhood at the Jersey shore; wall-to-wall beach towels and umbrellas, with barely an inch of sand between sunbathing bodies through which to serpentine toting an extremely heavy and unwieldy cooler, beach chairs hooked through one's arm, and a beach tote filled with various necessities, including (but not limited to) sunscreen, a paperback and mobile phone. Why we all feel we need to be instantly accessible is beyond my scope of understanding. Not so long ago, the world got by without mobile phones, but nowadays, it is a rare person who does not tote one of these electronic marvels everywhere, including right to the toilets!
Such imagery reminds me of the movie "Summer Rental" with John Candy. If you have not treated yourself to a viewing of that film, some summer day when it's too hot to breathe, rent that one and settle back in the comfort of your air-conditioned home with a frosty mug of your fave brew and have a good chuckle.
Next weekend will find me parked on the sand early on, with the intent on staying on thru moonrise with friends whose father has accepted an employment offer that will take them away from me back to New Jersey, a good thousand miles away. A scant month from now, they will be re-settled on the northeast coast, and I will be still here on Florida's Right Coast. Consequently, we are packing our few remaining weekends together with things to do; one of which is an all-day picnic at the beach. Another weekend we will head to St. Augustine and party at the jazz club there behind St. George Street; where we can purchase a bottle (or two!) of our fave vino, and tromp to the upstairs where we can sprawl on comfortable couches, listen to good live jazz music, and still be able to carry on a conversation as if we were in the privacy of our own living room.
I will miss my friends, but will carry pleasant memories of our times together in my mind's eye, and tuck them for safe-keeping for all-time in my heart.
On the personal homefront, Alfie, my Tonkinese kitten, now six months old, has discovered a creative way to use the door handles on the kitchen stove as a ladder by which he can climb to the counter top. He is most pleased with this latest accomplishment. He is still well under four pounds, hence the vet's forecast of an adult weight of about six pounds looks to be pretty much on target. By comparison, Smokey, my adult Maine Coon, is easily twice and a half that weight!
The little Tonk has certainly injected my already harmonious household with his youthful enthusiasm, and livened up the sedentary lives of my older Maine Coon, Smokey, the elder beagle, Beauregarde, and the female schnauzer, Luppet, who has taken Alfie on as her own infant and follows him everywhere, washing his little face at every opportunity. She was quite the distraught mother when Alfie took an accidental tumble into the toilet one afternoon last week as I was cleaning out Smokey's litter box. I use the flushable kitty litter and had just scooped out some of Smokey's solid deposits, and there was Alfie doing his rendition of "log rolling" with his hind feet as his little arms clung to the opposite rim of the toilet seat, trying to extricate himself from his predicament. He'd been sitting on the edge of the bathtub observing and wanted a closer vantage point, but didn't count on skiddering across the toilet seat and getting his hind end dunked. Luppet was at the doorway in a nanosecond, barking her head off, and as soon as I fished Alfie out of the toilet and put him on the floor she hurried over to wash him off and check him out. He squinted his little eyes closed; obviously embarrassed by the entire incident, and tried to stalk off, every step or two, pausing to give his hind feet a shake; first the left, then the right. The schnauzer cast me a dubious glance as if she blamed me for the whole thing!
Last weekend the summer jazz festival at the beaches was kicked off by a fab free concert at the SeaWalk Pavillion with opening act jazz guitarist Matt Marshak, whose guitar style is reminiscent of the great George Benson, in front of the headliners The Sax Pack, a trio of sax players consisting of Steve Cole, Jeff Kashiwa & Kim Waters. They are PHENOMENAL musicians and superb entertainers. They each truly know how to engage an audience and make each person an integral part of the show.
I rode my beach cruiser to Jax Beach, locked it up on a chain-link fence, and walked across the street with my beach tote. Found my friend from work, who already had a prime spot right up front by the stage staked out, and spread my fave beach blanket next to his. I chuckled when I noted that his beach blanket, no doubt just grabbed off the shelf without a second glance, sported the likeness of Square Bob Sponge Pants or whatever he's called.
The weather was absolutely lovely! Nice ocean breezes just past sunset kept everyone very comfortable for the four-hour free outdoor concert right at the Edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
In any case, the week was quite busy, and contained a mixed bag of emotions, as most weeks do. I guess I am mostly just saddened by the news of my friends moving. All our lives flow along with the river of life. Sometimes we get caught up in the rocks and lodge by the shore for a time, and then a rainstorm dislodges us and we continue flowing. Many times, we flow with our family and friends in-tact, but sometimes, we become separated. Some will travel down a different fork in the river where it parts around the rocks. Perhaps, someday, if we are fortunate, our streams will re-unite. I'm most certain, that at the end of life's journey, all rivers of life empty into the hands and heart of our Creator, where we will, without fail, all once again be as one.
Until then...
Love, Light & Blessings to my friends,
m 