No moss gathering here

Dunedin, FL – It has been a challenge to find time to record all our doings for you avid readers. For that, I apologize – but here’s a bit of a catch-up. In the month of shamrocks and pots of gold, I’ve had a streak of good luck: two weeks ago, at the morning coffee meeting, I won the 50-50 draw of $62 to my great surprise. That night, at Bingo, I won another $20! Then, the following Monday morning, mine was the winning ticket for the 50-50 draw again, with a haul of $67 this time! And, that night at Bingo, I won another $5. This morning, at the coffee meeting, someone actually came to sit at my table in case my luck should be contagious! (And no, I did not get the prize this time; but there’s always Bingo tonight….!)*.
Fawn and I rode our bikes to a craft fair last week, and enjoyed our stroll past rows of stalls where jewelry, art work and other handicrafts were on display. Among those attending was Gail, decked out early in her St Patrick’s Day finery of glittering green! She kindly let me take her picture, which I’m sharing with you. She said she has Irish blood, and always dresses up in March to honour her family heritage.

Our friend Cam offered to take us in to St Petersburg a few days ago to visit his favourite bookstore, Haslam’s, which has been in business for decades and boasts a huge inventory of new and used books. We had a wonderful browsing session and came away with half a dozen books. Haslam’s reminded us of the now-extinct Highway Bookstore on Highway 11 just outside of Cobalt, Ontario, a wonderful rambling old building stuffed to the rafters with books of every type and vintage, which we visited every time we were up there.

After treating us to a delicious lunch at the Lucky Dill, Cam kindly offered to hunt down the Palm Tree Arboretum that I had read about in some tourist literature. The park displays palm trees of every size and colour – apparently there are some 500 different varieties of palm trees – in a lovely setting just next to the city’s harbour.

Back here in Dunedin, we’ve been making almost daily visits to Honeymoon Island State Park to stroll on its gorgeous beach. Every time we go, something is different – the tide is coming in, narrowing the stretch of packed sand, or it’s out, offering a wide expanse where thousands of shells crunch under our feet and seagulls and sandpipers vie for morsels of food. Lately, there have been more beachgoers because of the March break; it’s great to see the little ones with their pails and shovels, building sand castles.

Last Saturday the women of the park got together at the clubhouse to make Mardi Gras masks. Of course, Fat Tuesday was a while back, but they made it a moveable feast! The masks will be worn this Wednesday when we have our fashion show in aid of a local women’s shelter. We had a great time, combing through heaps of feathers, ribbons, beads and glitter, to create our masterpieces.                        [*News flash: I won $30 at Bingo!]