Idyllic Evening

Tiki52
Tequesta, FL
March 12, 2025

Happy PI Day! 

The weather in South Florida lately has been nothing short of idyllic. Days with highs in the high-70s and low-80s coupled with low humidity. Wow!

I know summer is coming with mid-90s coupled with high humidity making the feels like temperature in the 100s, but for now--let's enjoy the weather and get to the beach or outside. 

I had a boat reserved for Monday, but that is the one day when temperatures will struggle into the mid-70s and thunderstorms are expected. Not a good boat day. 

But, this week we have been enjoying getting out. We went to our favorite watering hole on Wednesday evening enjoy Happy Hour and the weather was perfect. I find Tiki52 to be visually stimulating with colors, boats, birds and the ICW just beyond. 

A great way to begin the evening. 

Spring is coming, Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 5:01 AM EDT!

-- Bob Doan, Tequeta, FL

On the Waterfront

Pelican Duo
Blowing Rocks Marina
Tequesta, FL
February 4, 2024

 With daytime highs in the low 80s, South Florida is perhaps the best place to be living in the whole nation. Chris and I joined friends at our favorite watering hole last night for Happy Hour. It adjoins a marina where there always seems to be a lot of activity. 

Last evening in addition to people, pelicans were monitoring the comings and goings at the marina. They were magnificently perched atop some of the pilings and with the color of the reflected sunset adorning the sky, I could not help myself but to snap an image. 

By way of an update:

My truck has returned from the repair shop with two more tires, a four wheel alignment, stainless steel muffler and pipes, and new back brakes. Hopefully, it is ready for another 100,000 miles! We took out the resonators that were on the tailpipes and the truck has a bit more throaty sound--which I like. 

And in the news:

Is anyone else concerned that the fox is in the henhouse with Elon having access to the entire U.S. payment system? 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Getting Back into Life

 

It is Sunday the 19th of January and the last full day of the Biden administration. I worry and wonder what our country will become. We will find out during the next few days as Trump 47 becomes a reality. I have already seen some of the chaos and confusion that accompanied Trump 45 and that concerns me. 

I am taking a deep breath and trying not to get too caught up in the political storms. I will watch the inauguration because seeing and hearing for myself is better than getting only a digested version with inherent biases incorporated into the analysis.

On the home front--Chris and I are getting back into Florida life. We removed most of the traces of Christmas yesterday and made two trips to the storage facility. We have a few more items to pack and store and then we will be ready for the coming months. 

We are looking forward to travel and spending time with family and friends. 

I enjoyed the 80-degree temperature yesterday. Being back in shorts and tee-shirts with bare feet or sandals is definitely my preferred attire. Yesterday was the first day that I had not worn socks in almost a month--and my toes were not cold. I even went barefoot to the mailbox. 

Maybe a bike ride today.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Christmas is Closing in

Poinsettia Plantings
Tequesta, FL
November 18, 2024

 I was able to get bike yesterday, even though the wind was strong and in places made me wonder why I decided to head out. I walked Finnegan a mile-and-a-half before the ride and I had failed to eat breakfast. Don't know how that happened. Well, about 10 miles into my ride I realized that I was low on energy and, as it was about 11:30 AM, I shortened my ride and headed home to get some lunch. Coffee is just not good for powering a body into the middle portion of the day. 

Along the way I did see more poinsettia plantings to bring a splash of color to the upcoming holiday season. Most of the usual flower plantings are past their prime and the poinsettias provide as needed kick-start to the gardens. 

Chris and I are about to start our holiday season travel gymnastics. She returns today from the baby shower trip and we leave Sunday to head back for Thanksgiving. We will be there two weeks and then return to Florida for about two weeks before heading back for Christmas and an undefined stay in Maryland while waiting for the arrival of our fourth grandchild, who is also our fourth grandson. Gonna be a wild ride. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

More Festive Decorations

Poinsettias at Publix
Tequesta, FL
November 10, 2024

 I know I wrote about this last year, but using poinsettias for outdoor Christmas plantings is a thing here where we do not get frost. 

The poinsettias are out everywhere brightening up the season with their red festive bracts. 

The splash of poinsettia red makes even the most unassuming garden announce that Christmas is coming!

I enjoy watching the transformation of the gardens for the holiday season and seeing the use of a typically indoors only plant (up north) in outdoors garden plantings. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Moon in the Palm

 

Moon in the Palm
Tequesta, FL
September 19, 2024

Sometimes when I walk out my door in the morning to allow Finn to do his business, I am confronted with a scene that causes me to stop and consider it for more than a passing moment. Such opportunity presented itself yesterday morning as the sky was only beginning to lighten and the moon was visible through a tall palm in front of my building.

I went back inside to get my phone, with the camera, to capture the scene. I had to wait until Finn had completed his task, but it was only a few minutes. I continue to bed frustrated because cameras do not easily capture the moon, it tends to show up fuzzy despite my best efforts.

By taking the image, I also documented the coconuts on the tree which the community's tree service has not removed. There are coconuts everywhere. I had thought the trimming in June was supposed to prevent the coconuts from forming. I guess not. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Summer Green

Summer Green
Odenton, MD
August 30, 2024

 Despite the lack of rain in the region, the green of summer seems more vibrant this year than in years past. I haven't noticed many tent worms and while some trees are showing signs of heat stress, most are a vibrant green that almost blends into the background. 

Yesterday was a gray and rainy day--which was needed for the area although I am sure the wineries were not too happy since it is the middle of the harvest. Even so, the green remained vibrant. I took this image of the tree in my daughter's yard and it demonstrates how the green envelops everything. The tree is hard to distinguish against the green of the forest behind. 

This is the kind of summer that I remember as a kid growing up in Upstate New York. The heat, the humidity, and the green forest that surrounded our home. Everything during the summer seemed green, until those last days of August when color began to creep into the backdrop signaling the end of the season and the beginning of autumn. 

Color is beginning to arrive in the leaves. It is very limited at this point, but as the nights begin to cool off the color will eventually spread until only the coniferous trees remain to remind me of the summer green and excitement that the springtime brings as the green returns to fill the landscape. 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Looking Over the Yard

Buck in the Yard
Odenton, MD
August 19, 2024

 One of the joys of visiting Maryland and staying with our daughter and her family is the abundance of wildlife around her yard. There always seem to be geese, deer, fox, woodchucks, and other assorted animals passing through, grazing in the yard, or swimming in the pond. 

It is very different from where we reside in Florida. The most abundant form of wildlife we see are lizards--of many sizes and colors. And then there are the birds which transit through or that we can watch along the shoreline. But from the windows of our house we do not get to enjoy a wide scene like that from the deck of Nicole's house in Odenton.

The Small Herd
Odenton, MD
August 19, 2024

Seeing a young buck in the yard reminded me that Autumn is arriving soon. Of course the 57 degree temperature this morning also reminded me of the same thing. Autumn is coming. I am a bit worried about golfing on Saturday in the cold morning air. I may need a gallon of coffee to get moving. 

The deer did not seem to mind our activities on the deck. They were not even spooked by the dogs, who have grown used to the deer and did not bark. They munched their way through the yard until an evening thunderstorm drove us all inside and the deer retreated to the nearby forest. 

Earlier this year the pond supported geese, although they seem to have moved on probably preparing for winter. I understand that most geese in Maryland do not migrate. I remember the huge flocks that used to transit the skies when I was growing up in Upstate New York. They were huge.

Update on Removed Facebook Posting: Still nothing heard from Facebook. Hmmm.

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Unconscious Bias?

 I had an interesting thing pointed out to me the other evening. 

We, collectively but not absolutely, seem to differentiate between men and women presidential candidates in a very important and potentially misogynistic manner. 

More often than not, we call the male candidates by their last name: Biden, Trump, Obama. 

On the other hand there appears to be a tendency to address women by their first names: Kamala or Hillary come to mind. 

Why don't we call men by their first name? How does Joe or Don sound? 

There are exceptions. I understand that the pool of women who are/were presidential nominees is small, two. And yes, the vice president candidate, Sara Paulin, was not called Sara. But even so, JD Vance is addressed by his last name.

I wonder if there is an unconscious bias at work? Or is it something more sinister and misogynistic?

Food for thought.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

updated to clarify a confusing sentences, 3 Aug

Walking to the End of the Jetty

 

Jupiter Inlet Jetty
Jupiter, FL
July 16, 2024

A couple evenings ago Chris and I, accompanied by friends, did something we had not done before. We walked out to the end of the Jupiter Inlet Jetty located in DuBois Park. 

Although we have been coming to the Jupiter area for over 20 years and have lived here full time since 2022, this very close and convenient spot was one that we had not visited. Admittedly, we had walked to the jetty on beach walks from Carlin Park; even taking images of birds hunting along the rocky base of the jetty--but, we had never actually visited DuBois Park; got out and walked the jetty. I have boated out of the inlet more than a few times, however. 

It was a beautiful evening with the clouds in the sky and a unique dive support vessel anchored just off the jetty. We enjoyed great conversation while also appreciating the natural beauty of the scene. 

I thought the image represented the scene very well, even the trash can so conspicuously placed in the foreground. I need to do better with stuff like that. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Independence Day Eve

 

For some reason, I stumbled into Hump Day this week. Perhaps it is because it is the day before Independence Day and I know that many people are calling this the last workday of the week because they are taking Friday off. Maybe it is because there has been so much happening in our country during the past week that I needed Hump Day to focus my thoughts.

Happy Independence Day, tomorrow. 

If traveling, I pray for safe and smooth travels. If not traveling, I pray for peace and contentment amid the challenges of life and the world.

Chris and I will not be traveling this year as we have been traveling a great amount lately. It is nice to be home. 

We will enjoy the 4th here in Florida.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech.

Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.

—President Herbert Hoover

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Closing out the Week

Dinner at Cooper's Hawk
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
June 6, 2024

 I competed my last checkout ride before traveling to Maryland in preparation for riding the GAP. It was a pleasant 17-mile ride with about 60 percent of the load I expect to drag along on the impending 150-mile ride. It was a bit strange at the beginning, but after about 5 miles, I no longer noticed the additional weight. I hope the real ride is like that. 

Before Friday even began we enjoyed a great meal, and some wine, at Cooper's Hawk on Thursday evening. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions and we had a great time for a couple hours of wine tasting and then eating a very nice meal. 

And then Friday arrived. 

Chris Checking Out a Hat
Tequesta, FL
June 6, 2024

We are  preparing for the upcoming roadtrip. I continued getting my bike bags packed with what I think I'll need for the trip. Jen produced a great spreadsheet which lays out the basic necessities and I have been following through dutifully getting the items I will need for the ride. Yesterday's big purchase was a $10 small, 2-pound folding stool. I got it at, of all places, Wally World (er, umm, I mean Walmart). I actually hate going to Walmart because the parking lot is a danger zone with crazy drivers and even worse, people walking who just wander behind moving cars. But I got the stool and Chris bought a small camelback water backpack for her riding. She needs a lot of liquids when we ride.

By this time tomorrow I hope to be on the road headed north. The drive weather forecast looks ominous. There is a potential for thunderstorms and rain almost all day! Ugh. Well, the truck is big and heavy. Monday looks clear, however.

I will plan on blogging from the road to advise of the actual conditions. I guess my bike, which will be on the bike rack on the back of the truck, is going to get wet! It probably will not be the last time it gets wet as rain is forecast during the GAP ride.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

#travel #biking #GAP #GreatAlleghenyPassage #CoopersHawk

Rainy Morning Evolves into a Beach Evening

Carlin Park
Jupiter, FL
 3, 2024

Down to the ocean we went yesterday afternoon. The day which began with greatly needed rain ended with blue skies and a beach afternoon. I made a special note that with the solstice approaching, the available daylight lasts later into the evening. During the winter months we would have been in darkness long before we departed the beach last evening.

The ocean was calmer; compared with Friday. I hope that it was mimicking the mood in the country after Friday's upheaval with the weekend for things to cool off. Of course the news media will keep emotions stirred as long as possible. There needs to be some rain in the news reporting to cool things off.

Temperatures are approaching summertime levels, in or near the 90s. It is a bit of a shock after spending three weeks in relatively cooler Europe. I don't think we will see morning temperatures in the 50s again until late September. The lowest temperatures expected during the next week are in the mid-70s. The ocean was already at 81 degrees yesterday, which is perfect for swimming although the sargassum washing ashore made entering the water an exercise in caution. The sargassum can be seen in the image I took both on the beach and in the waves.

And another day dawns!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Life is a Beach

 

Angry Ocean
Carlin Park Beach, Jupiter, FL
May 31, 2024

Happy June!

May is now in the past and it took almost the entire month of May, but Chris and I finally made it to a beach to enjoy happy hour last evening. 

The ocean was rough and beautiful with waves crashing on the beach with authority. The waves were too rough for surfing. We watched more than a few brave souls try to ride the waves. 

We tarried on the beach for about two-and-a-half hours to enjoy the waves and conversation with friends. Well, and also to enjoy the goodies that we had brought to celebrate the end of the week. I realized that two weeks hence I would be completing day 1 of the 150 mile Greater Allegheny Passage (GAP) bike ride that I have been training for--well except for the past three weeks. And last week, Chris and I had departed our cruise ship in the morning and were in Venice, Italy. Wow, we sure are packing a lot of activity into this summer. 

But, it was Happy Hour and both of us, Chris and I, unwound from the week and travel and got back into a Florida state of mind. 

Life is a beach--that is where it comes from for me.

Like the Zac Brown Band song, Knee Deep says:

This champagne shore washing over me

It's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea

One day you could be as lost as me

Change you're geography

Maybe you might be

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

The Walk

 

Lily in the Lead
Odenton, MD
April 26, 2024

Happy May Day

Everyday we walk the dogs. There are three of them when we are back in Maryland and they expect a walk every day. Finnegan is the worst--he starts annoying us to get a walk about 9:30, but Nicole's dogs, Lily and Arthur, are right there when we start the walk preparations. 

Lily is an alpha female and she likes to lead. She also must have some bovine DNA in her as she grazes on the grass along the path. 

The dogs walk every day, except when it is raining, and we enjoy walking the path through the wooded area with the tree canopy above us. We especially appreciate how the path changes with the seasons from the brilliant colors of fall, to the bare branches of winter and now bright green leaves. The squirrels are always busy crashing through the leaves along the path and often make for some comic relief. 

Another great day.

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

The Field Where it Happened

Field 7 (now 9) GORC Park
Odenton, MD
April 26, 2024

 It was there, empty.

I walked by one of the baseball fields where I spent many hours coaching. I could still see, in my mind, the field full of boys and families cheering during games and also the many hours of practice working to transform the raw talent from players of baseball into baseball players. 

The hours I spent there were many, but rewarding and I have to admit that I miss the practices and seeing the boys develop their skills. Some days it was cold, others hot, and then there were the rainstorms which drenched everything and I caught myself wondering why was in out in the cold rain?

I know now. 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Sign and Sayings

Sign at Unlimited Carwash
Tequesta, FL
April 24, 2024

 It was a travel day; Chris and I have returned to Maryland for a week. 

Yesterday I spent some time at the local carwash, as both my bug-covered truck, from the drive back from Tampa, and Chris's car needed cleaning. The carwash has a very important sign designed to protest the safety of the patrons, except that I'm not sure what they were really saying. It seems to lose some of its value when an important word is misspelled. I actually got a pretty good image of the sign. 

Southwest Airline Napkins
April 25, 2024

On our Southwest Airlines flight from PBI to BWI this morning, I happened to look at the napkins.

There were witty phrases on both of the napkins. Now, I have to confess that I'm not sure whether the phrases have been on the napkins of other Southwest flights, but I never noticed them before this mornings bleary-eyed flight. 

Chris and I were up early, like 4:45 AM to get out the door and to the airport to board our 7:05 scheduled departure. As an aside--it was a great flight. The aircraft lifted off the runway three minutes before our schedule gate departure time  and we arrived in Baltimore 28 minutes early. Additionally, the flight was only about 1/2 full. Why can't flying always be like that?

Well, except for the bleary-eyed part.

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Sitting in Silence

View from the Surgical Terrace
Jupiter Medical Center, Jupiter, FL
April 16, 2024

I sat a lot yesterday. In fact, I sat most of the afternoon and then the evening until bedtime. 

Chris and I sat with a friend at a hospital and then later we sat with him at our house. 

We did not talk a lot, mostly just superficial stuff to get our minds off why we were sitting together. And then we enjoyed some wine.

I was reminded of Job's three friends, from the Bible.  

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great. (Job 2:13, NET Bible)

I have come to realize that there are times when just being there is what is needed and that the right thing to say is nothing at all. There is no need to fill the empty space with words.

Sometimes sitting in silence is exactly what is needed. We need to practice it more often and get past the need to fill the emptiness with noise. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Monday was a Day

I donated a pint of blood yesterday. It was my fourth pint. 

It was my big event of the day, well maybe shopping with Chris at the mall was the big event. That got us out of the house and we enjoyed a nice lunch at Cooper's Hawk, where I had four bottles of wine to retrieve. 

I have not been a regular blood donor. Until a couple years ago I could not donate because of my time in Europe with the Air Force, however, the rules changed and I have been donating blood infrequently. I plan on becoming a more regular donor. But, I am now up to a half-gallon of donated blood. 

During the evening I enjoyed our homeowners association meeting--I am on the board. We have a newly energized board and I am excited about the prospects for the future. Looking back, I can see that last year we were really just marking time and keeping the aging infrastructure solid. 

And that was Monday.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Sometimes

Flower
Everglades Safari Park, Homestead, FL
March 27, 2024

When Chris and I are out enjoying the wilds of Florida, I see things which cause me to stop and snap an image. 

That happened a couple weeks ago when we were in the Everglades at the Safari Park. We were strolling the paths looking at the wildlife and this flower caught my eye. 

I had to take the image through a fence because it was hanging above an alligator pen. But the color and the way it was hanging spoke to me that, there is a picture here. And so I took a picture. I worked the camera to reduce the depth of field a much as I could to blur the background and I got pretty much what I saw with my eyes. 

I have to admit, I have many images of flowers from our numerous outings. I especially enjoy admiring the orchids clinging to the trees and providing the burst of color under the canopy. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL