The vacation’s over

It’s a Sunday afternoon and a pretty good end to a vacation week. I’m sitting on our patio, under the oak tree by our pool, just enjoying a quiet summer Sunday afternoon.

The last three days of our vacation were uneventful. The weather was not ideal, generally cloudy and windy, with a few sprinkles.

This was a typical scene from our deck.

Mrs. Poolman and I had a very nice anniversary (37^th, thank you very much) dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, The Sundae Café. I had their Cajun shrimp and grits, and Mrs. P enjoyed lobster mac & cheese with broiled sea scallops. We enjoyed it so much, we went back for lunch the next day. Decadent, but hey, we’re on vacation.

The weather cleared up some on Friday and we got back out to the beach. But even on the cloudy days, we were totally happy just sitting on our deck with books in our laps. Enforced idleness is not bad.

We started moving stuff back to our house on Friday because I needed to be out the door early on Saturday morning. I didn’t want to leave Mrs. P with more of a load to move out than her own clothes and some of the leftover food.

On Saturday, I needed to assist my boss and his wife to take two couples on a visit to Wassaw Island one of our boat-access-only barrier islands. One of the couples had “won” the trip in a silent auction  that was part of a major fund-raiser gala for the University System of Georgia Foundation. We met up with them at 9 am and drove them to the south end of our island to meet our skiff and driver. The weather was cloudy with a few drizzles, but it wasn’t too bad. At least it wasn’t broiling hot with a ton of bugs. Our guests seemed to enjoy it. We saw nest with some juvenile osprey, a good size pod of dolphins feeding and more bits of nature on the island.

Our guide, Dorothy, in the weird hat and blue shirt, explains some of the island ecosystem.

We did have the whole beach to ourselves.

I was home by 4 pm and fairly tired.

Today I got the back yard and pool cleaned up and checked on my garden. I’m really happy with the way it is growing. After two previous unsuccessful efforts at growing tomatoes over the past several years, this little 4’x4’ plot seems to be doing well. Right now, we have more than 30 tomatoes in some form or another. None have turned red yet, but we are cautiously optimistic.

Grow, plants, grow!

Hopefully these little fellas will turn red.

We also have two pepper plants that seem to be doing well. I’m really excited about tasting the first batch.

Back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

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The beach, pizza and other things

It’s Sunday afternoon already. Where did the weekend go? Actually, for the most part it went to the beach.

I got home from work Friday evening and went ahead and took care of most of my usual Saturday morning chores. I mowed the lawn, vacuumed the pool and cleaned up the back yard. So Saturday morning, Mrs. Poolman and I packed up and headed to the beach for our first visit of the season. It was a beautiful day and the beach wasn’t overly crowded. Our friends the B’s joined us and we just chilled with books in our laps for a couple of hours. We came home earlier than originally planned because it was too windy to keep our umbrellas up, and it was too hot to just sit and bake.

We all came back to our house and floated in the pool the rest of the afternoon. Writer Princess, Son-in-Law and another friend, Susan, eventually joined us.

We picked up some pizzas from a new place that opened near us in just the last month or so, Papa Murphy’s. This is a different concept in a pizza franchise. They don’t cook the pizzas there. They assemble a pizza to your specs and you cook it at home. The prices are very reasonable, and every pizza we have had from their has been absolutely fantastic. I think they are on to something.

We found out yesterday that the father of a friend of ours died unexpectedly Saturday morning. He was 83 years old, but it came as quite a shock. He hadn’t been ill. His wife found him slumped over on the couch with the TV on and the remote in his hand. Apparently he had a sudden but fatal heart attack. It must have been quite a shock, but as callous as it sounds, that’s not a bad way to go.

His granddaughters are two of Writer Princess’s best friends. The girls have been hanging around Casa Poolman since middle school and are close enough to us to call us “Ma and Pa Poolman.” So today, we picked up WP and made a run to Sam’s Club to stock up on some food to take to them.

The visitation and Rosary are tomorrow evening and the funeral Tuesday morning. The Poolman family will be properly represented at both commemorations.