Fleeting Moments and Small Town Charm

She was drawn to the coastline where the gunmetal sky seemed stretched like a canvas to the coral painted oceanfront motel.   Unexpected sunshine bathed the scene through the gentle raindrops, shimmering.  She had already photographed the bright little building, its style so kitschy and evocative of a days-gone-by era, and she hadn't noticed the emerging rainbow at first.

She was thinking about the charming motel and its vivid facade; the scene it made at the end of the street, its low-rise from the coast made prominent by its hue.  She knew of its lush lawn on its wide, private ocean-facing side, that every room faced the sea and thought that if she didn't already live here this would be a lovely place to spend a Valetine's weekend.  What she loved most about atlantic beachlife at this moment was the sparkling of the sunshine through the rain and  the colorful Sea Horse Oceanfront Inn against the dark sky and then, then the rainbow caught her eye.

She scurried to a better position nearly frantic that the rainbow would evaporate before she could capture it.

It hung suspended against the blue long enough for her to take several shots. She wondered how anyone could  walk away from the beach at this moment; like a child, she exclaimed to a passing couple, "oh, did you see the rainbow?!"  They murmered assent as they passed, leaving the moments for her to savor alone. 

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The Sea Horse Oceanfront Inn is a personal favorite for budget-minded people who want the beach, the pool and everything our small towns have to offer.  Free from amenities but not hospitality, I'm fond of it because so many of my family and friends have stayed there over the years,  and it offers a private lawn, swimming pool, oceanfront rooms with beach access and The Lemon Bar (for motel guests and everyone else).

This sounds like an advertisment... but I've been privately grateful to the people there for maintaining its old-fashioned charm amidst a changing world and offering an affordable place to stay for beach lovers who like to wander our small town, too.  They take good care of their guests.  We've had medical supplies delivered there, and called for an ambulance once.  It's the kind of place where you know the first name of the person in the front office, and the room keys are old school: an actual key attached to a plastic tag with your room number imprinted on it!

****

Luxury accomodations are available across the street, and that will be different post on another day.

From The Rear View Mirror

Driving in the light rain slowly home in the late morning, I glanced in my rear view mirror. Behind me were lovely images of the  neighborhood's trees and lush landscapes. Even in the dreary winter when things are at their dullest, their greenery was uplifting.

Throughout the rest of the day I snapped these mirror images.   Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Groundhog Day scenes from Atlantic Beach neighborhoods, framed by my rear view mirror.

I guess the groundhog didn't see her shadow 'round here.  

A Watermelon Martini for Jeannie

Recently I discovered that I like watermelon martinis very much.

I hadn't wanted to want to stop; I just wanted to continue on home.  But I was wearing a little black dress, and we were returning from an early evening cocktail party, and it was only 9:00pm as  we turned onto Ocean Blvd. from Atlantic, and then he spied an open parking place right across the street from Ocean 60. Before I could talk him out of it, he'd parked the car and wasn't going to be taking no for an answer.  We were not ending his evening out this early.

So I thought I'd humor him.  I would order a Diet Pepsi and smile while he'd sample whatever drink he'd had in mind, and then he'd be satisfied and we could go home.

So I could do... what, again?  Fold some laundry?  Sweep the kitchen floor?  Seriously, what was I thinking?

I heard him order a watermelon martini and thought a watermelon martini, are you kidding me?  We sat at the bar in the cozy Ocean 60, an intimate and elegant restaurant on Ocean Boulevard in Atlantic Beach: one side for quiet dining, the other side for quiet drinks. Sometimes there's live music that's appropriate for the atmosphere of a room that is small and sophisticated.  I'd actually been there before, but not in quite some time.  It occupies the corner of a short block of shops and a couple of other restaurants, each with unique offerings for various palates, price points, occasions and mood.

Ocean 60's  Martini Bar and Wine Room was the perfect place for us on this night.  I just didn't know it yet.  The bartender placed this pink confection of alcohol with a perfect cherry in front of my husband and I couldn't believe he'd ordered such a drink.  Just a few minutes in the place had softened my resolve to hurry home, and besides, I needed to take a sip of this pink drink my husband had ordered.

He took a sip, and then I did and that was all it took for the drink to become mine.  Within ten minutes of arriving I was settled in to my place at the bar and in no mood to go home and do, what again? Fold laundry? Sweep the floor?  Um, no.

One watermelon martini later I was asking for another and by this time he'd ordered a proper man's cocktail and I was having fun being out at night in a little black dress.  Remind me again why I needed to get home? On a Saturday night?

The music came on and the trio played a set during which time we talked and laughed and enjoyed our cocktails. Naturally the Little Canon Elph was along for the ride and snapped many fun shots of the dark room and glistening bar and the pretty pretty martini in its glass, so sweet and delectable, like cotton candy gently laced with alcohol. The bartender whipped up a couple more martinis

 and I'm not sure what he thought about the girl with the camera snapping photos of every other thing that caught her eye 

but, being a gentleman bartender in an elegant martini bar and wine room I can only imagine the stories he could tell.

I'd thought my husband was kidding the kids when he'd told them we'd be home by midnight - by midnight?, they'd echoed, astounded. They hadn't believed him and neither had I - but it was, indeed a very early 12:00am when we entered our home that night and you know what?  I had no desire to fold the laundry whatsoever.

An Afternoon at Big Talbot Island

Yesterday being the Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday holiday and a mild and sunny day I was in no mood for inside fun (that would be television, Wii, and texting of friends).  I wanted to get out of here and go somewhere else.  While I am a big fan of technology, I'm also fervent about playing outdoors and with an Atlantic coastline and intracoastal waterways in our literal backyards... I was "heading for the hills" (so to speak, as there are no hills in Florida).

Oh, the groans I heard; the vision of a long and boring car ride of sightseeing; their countenances drooped so I bribed them with the lure of bringing a friend along which is how I wound up with five children in the car, and my countenance a whole lot brighter for being outside and going to a place I knew we'd all enjoy.

A mere 18 miles from our house and a short jaunt over the Mayport Ferry, it was Big Talbot Island's "trees beach" I was aiming for.  I've heard it called Boneyard Beach too and the following video will illustrate how it got its name.

Okay, the video's a bit long, but I wanted to give you a good peek at this lovely and haunting coastline.  We discovered it by accident last year, during another of my boring, let's go exploring car rides.  But this beach always evokes fun as it's interesting for everyone: adults and kids and probably even dogs, if I had one, which I don't.  I'll stop writing now because the video will inform you about the place far better than I can write about it.

The video could benefit from a minute's worth of editing, which I'll learn in due course, but if you like an interesting landscape, this one's for the picture books.

A Beachlifer's Ambivalence

Last Friday in the wan sunlight of the late afternoon, I wandered halfheartedly over to the beach walkover next to the pier.

Although warmer than recent days, I still felt strangely chilly and didn't really want to be outside, although some part of me did, very much.   I've been feeling bereft of words lately and I hoped to see something that would inspire me.  This is what I saw.

The car bore Vermont plates and two messages applied with blue painter's tape.

I snapped the first picture on my way over to the beach, and the second one a few minutes later, when the car's occupants were bundled in and preparing to go.  They seemed to appreciate my camera pointed in their direction and paused for me to get the shot.

 After that I immediately looked up and noticed this rising above the low buildings in front of it. I smiled to myself at the congruence of it all.

Despite the warmer afternoon that it was, I was wrapped in my blanket-like coat and although part of me wanted to want to hang out at the beach a bit longer and enjoy myself like these two, I stayed but a few minutes, then gave in to the desire to hurry back to the car, and drove as if on auto-pilot over to the library.  Curled up in a dirty chair,  I thoroughly enjoyed the next hour of my life paging through the current issue of Vanity Fair, killing time until  my next obligation.  I left there warm and happy, clutching both the book and the audio version of the novel I'd requested which had been delivered to our branch.

On some days this beachlifer just seeks the comfort of the stacks, however outdated the Beaches Branch of the Jacksonville Public Library really is.

This was one of those days.

Atlantic Beachlife Tee Shirt Leaves for the U.K.

Today in the Jacksonville Beach Post Office I carefully folded a snow white 'atlantic beachlife' tee shirt for my first international customer, Sammi.  Sammi lives in the United Kingdom and she somehow found this blog, liked the tee shirts enough to buy one and pay shipping all the way to the U.K.!

Actually, Sammi was the one entrant in the tee shirt giveaway who I was glad (at the time) didn't win, because then I'd have to ship it all that way, remember? Turns out Sammi liked the tee enough to actually pay for it, and the shipping, and for that I'll never forget her.   My first international customer, and I'm terribly flattered for her interest.  I'll always remember Sammi, just as I'll always remember that Rosie was the first person to follow this blog.  A girl never forgets such seminal events.

Watch for more news as to where you can find 'atlantic beachlife' tee shirts here in town.  For anyone else who's interested?  Write to me and I'll get one in the mail to you, too!

It's Monday and It's Cold in Atlantic Beach

It's been a freezing week here at atlantic beachlife.  And what's more boring than writing about the weather, unless it's some spectacular sort of weather event, like a hurricane.  Or...snow, in Florida.

My colleague, Nick Lulli of 2News Now, has been excitedly predicting, "snow in northeast Florida!", all day, every day, for the past week.  From flurries to sleet, Nick is ready for some weather action, since we barely had a tropical storm this season (I'm not complaining). While we've had the temperatures for it, and I've seen the ice to prove it

nary a flurry has flown in my micro-climate.  It's been  28 degrees on more than five mornings when I ventured out at 7:20am. When when I spotted this ice slick

(that would be ice on the road!)

I thought I was back in Michigan for a second, where temperatures, frankly, were but a few degrees colder.

I know, exciting stuff.  Well, Nick's excited; he's a budding meteorologist and cannot wait for an actual snow event to report on.  I admire the kid's tenacity. He's been a storm-chaser since he was 11 or so (some pretty accommodating parents, don't you think?). He was out in Jacksonville Beach the other night and reporting on the cold like he was Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel.  Watch for Nick, people, for someday he probably will be on that channel, or some more technologically advanced channel that hasn't even been developed yet.  His Facebook status reported of snow flurries! in Sanford! last Saturday morning!

For his sake, I hope it snows already because if it doesn't he'll be absolutely verklempt by this missed opportunity.  For all the kids in this neighborhood who are still running around in shorts with their hoodies and yes, flip flops (I'm talking to you and you)  let's see if they can man up to the weather.  It's now a mere 36 degrees at 4:09pm, so maybe, just maybe, tonight is The Night for Snow.

(Date palms in warmer days - also before we painted the house: another post)

The lovely blue tarp is protecting my tender pygmy date palms which I brought home in the back of my car several years ago.  These trees  could succumb if a sustained freeze occurs.  So finally an effective covering has been devised by the man of the house and now I can relax. If you drove through the neighborhood today you'd see all manner of coverings on people's protected plants: old sheets, large towels, tarps, bags,  whatever can be scrounged up to toss over the tender tropicals that we insist on planting despite these annual winter risks. I  have a large garden of just gingers that I'd love to cover but the area is just too vast.

(ginger garden in summer)

(ginger garden an hour ago.  so far, so good.)

This fellow below doesn't look as lucky.  For one thing, I forgot about him, so he's spent the last week in an unprotected area of the garden when I could have easily hauled him into the garage.  His sad leaves tell the story of my neglect, and are a poor prognostic indicator of future horticultural health.

(a forgotten Croton.)

I gave him a drink of water and he's spending some time out in the 44 degree sun; I'll bring him in tonight and we'll take his future day-by-day.

I have mixed feelings about this next plant.  Well, no.  I was actually planning to transplant him soon, and now his fate is still uncertain.  I hate to see him die of cold, if that's what happens, because he started out as a couple of small (and I mean small!) plants on my sunny kitchen counter. Now he's grown big and mighty, a tropical beauty that's overtaking the front entrance.  Still, I didn't want him to die, just...move to another location, which is exactly what will happen if he survives the this cold.

(He is a Gold Dust Croton; kind of rare. You have to go to a specialty nursery to find these.)

(This is his sibling.  I thought I'd transplant the first one over here.  Do you care?)

So anyway, it's all weather talk around here because this is the longest run of frigid weather that Florida's experienced in many years.  I realize that my friends in the plains states are scoffing at this but honestly: it is damned cold here!

Look what some beachlifers do for fun.  They rig a sprinkler up in their tree, let it run during the night and by morning, it's a beautiful icy, sculpture for their sub tropical neighbors to behold.  Lo, it's not Disney!  It's Atlantic Beach!

It would have been spectacular if I'd arrived in the morning and not 1:45pm.  I was dodging hastily dripping water to get these mediocre shots.

From under my warm throw (but never a Snuggie),

Jeannie