March 6, 2026 - Friday
Final swim with Betty as she is getting ready to go home to Illinois next week. 🥹
Elks for lunch today. We don’t usually go on Friday, so this was a change of pace.
March 7, 2026 - Saturday
Walked early with a nice breeze in the air. I did some work around the condo, even mopped the lanai after rain accumulated. Dee and Tim invited us over for a delicious steak dinner. Since I forgot once again to take a picture of them, this picture is from last St. Patrick’s day…
March 8, 2026. - Sunday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sister Cindy!
No walking today as we were on the road to a Palma Sola Botanical Gardens gig. It was very hot, but we were on a shaded deck with fans overhead and there was a lovely breeze to cool us down.
It reminded me of our Farmers Market back home with all of the vendor tents.
A few smart vendors set up inside in the cool A/C…
Master Beekeeper, Kevin, started this as a hobby and now has 38 hives in the general area. He has won 1st place in the state competition and is even a judge now. He told me of a friend who travels around the country with his bees to pollenate almonds in CA, fruit trees, cranberries, and strawberries up the east coast. I asked how they were transported - semi-trucks with 400 hives per semi!
Miss Sourdough was across the way and she shared a story of a “hotel” to leave your sourdough starter when traveling - they feed it for you daily. Obviously, people get really attached to their sourdough.
It was so much fun playing today. We played 3 sets from 11 to 2pm. We sat in front of Bruce, who is a real player with intricate fingering to spice it up and Norm, who plays u-bass and was really in the groove today. Rich played every song and is really finding his chords easier now - practice, practice, practice! The band is invited to Palma Sola’s Christmas event which is a Th, Fr, Sat, Sunday in December.
Lightening in the sky when we got home. This big boy was basking on turtle beach…
March 9, 2026 - Monday
Birds are singing - a true sign of Spring. The water was lovely, missed Betty.
March 10, 2026 - Tuesday
Went to Publix for a light grocery shopping. HA! It was $10 more than last week!
I walked as soon as we got home while still cool. When I walked in the door, Rich wanted to take a ride to Nokomis to try out a new ukulele! He has it in his head to get a tenor (like mine) to go along with his Luna concert, u-bass, and carbon fiber ukes. 😳
Jeff Hanna and his wife, Barbara, had a music store, The Ukulele Place, with 100’s of instruments, classes for 40 ppl. and World Drums. Then came Covid - they downsized to their cute bungalow and now this is his showroom. Barbara was in the studio teaching drumming.
When I asked, “How much?” He said, “Rich answered that question with, ‘Ah, I don’t care about that!’” And he doesn’t!!!
As we continued to talk, he said he was from upstate New York! On Lake George! He also lived in Central Maine where he built and repaired wooden boats - canoes like the Old Town that my dad was gifted which was mahogany inside and the top of stem and stern. He even had canoe cargo boxes stacked in the room from those days. When I mentioned my connection to Raymond, he didn’t blink an eye. Yup - a good friend of his moved to Raymond, ME. It’s a village, yet so many people I meet are familiar with Raymond.
We came out of the store with this beauty, a tenor Ohana, made of curly mango wood, new strap, new double case, and a plan to have Jeff restring my uke and clean it up next week. ChaChing!
By then, I was starving. So we stopped at Aros’s Pizzeria for lunch - a spinach and pepperoni pizza. It served for lunch and supper!
March 11, 2026 - Wednesday
The water was delightful this morning. Had another jam session - it was such fun. Back at the condo, we love sitting on the lanai with our cocktail watching nature and now hearing the beautiful song birds.
March 12. 2026 - Thursday
Walked at 8 and it was already 70 degrees. Glad to get ‘er done and move on… Betty and Joe left for Illinois today.
Did laundry and a bit of organizing before we left for Sara Dance Studio. No - we did not dance, but I went to visit my Hair Fairy to get some strands of sparkle in my locks. I was early, of course, so I got to watch ballroom dancers doing their thing. I was surprised at how many folks were out dancing at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon. In the evening, they wear gowns and get all gussied up.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XhsQTeWZvVBS3LiZA
Dianne, my hair fairy, was set up in the Back Ballroom so I got to watch a couple learn to dance to Eye of the Tiger for their son’s wedding in June. Turns out they live in the same neighborhood as Dianne. I got 13 strands of sparkle and feel like a new woman. They will last until that piece of hair falls out. I still had two left from my December visit. Look closely…
I noticed that there was a slit in the back of Dianne’s dress, so I told her about it as she would be dancing tonight. She said, “Oh, that slit is for my wings which are on order!” I thought I would die laughing. 🤣
So Rich had dropped me off so he could continue on to Nokomis (yup, back to Jeff’s) to deliver MY ukulele for a good cleaning and new strings. Honestly, I would not have done it on my own, but now I am so excited to get it back. After playing Rich’s new tenor, I noticed a difference in the strings - lighter, thinner, sweet sound. So the new strings will be the same as his. Even though it is a different instrument, it will make a big difference with me trying to tickle the strings more to jazz it up.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s inaugural Sarasota Ukulele Festival! Stay tuned…
