My Excessive Monday Treat

It's a slammin' Monday and I needed a treat, but I may have gone way overboard with this chocolate chip cookie!

Time for Sea and Sand

The best thing I love about summer - beach time!

Truth be told, I love beach time any season of the year.  However, summer is scallop season, and for the second year, my friends invited me to join in the hunt at St. Joseph Bay. 

Florida's season runs from July 1 and ends this year on Sept. 24 (extended a few weeks this year). It's big business in Port St. Joe and neighboring areas and we camped out at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

This year proved more difficult than last year. In 2011, we'd have our limit by early afternoon.  A report from FWC didn't look great for the 2012 season. It took longer this year, and by day's end didn't reach the max.  It took a little while to find them this year.  Anyway, it's not all about the scallops-- with all the work in getting and cleaning them, it's hard work-- but more about spending time with my extended family, especially my godkids and enjoying our time on the boat and snorkeling the beautiful waters.

I wish I had an underwater camera to capture all the cool things you see in the sea grass.  Sting rays, mullet, crabs, sea urchins, minnows... with mask and snorkel, it's like watching nature in 3D action.  Kind of hard to describe in words.  It was also great to find sea turtles cruising by the boat.  

Coming Up For Air

It's been a long time since I posted! I guess it feels good to be busy with a new job (well, not so new since I started back in March) and all to keep my mind off other things going on.

However, for the rest of the week, I've run away from work and everything else for a week-long adventure back home for some time in the sand and sea.

After some rejuvenation, I'll try to post some stuff here soon.

“When It Looked Like The Sun Wasn’t Gonna Shine Anymore..."

“When it looked like the sun wasn’t gonna shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds..."

That's what Maya Angelou sang in opening her opening talk, the famed poet and educator's appearance marking the 50th anniversary of integration at The Florida State University.

Ever since I was in high school and first read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, I had always wanted to see this phenomenal woman, so I jumped at the opportunity when she came to Tallahassee.

I couldn't help but think the powerful lobby of librarians were in her pocket by encouraging us to visit libraries, interact with librarians (and make them our new best friends) to research, learn, and truly savor the joy of poetry. That would be a daring feat in this modern age, where libraries have undergone a transformation from society's central station of learning to an odd hub that combines a day care napping center for the homeless, the invasion of after-school crowd of teens logging onto Facebook, and the one-stop movie shop (especially since all the Blockbusters and Hollywood Video stores closed).  Books seem to scream for attention in libraries these days.

So, I felt it a personal challenge to tackle on more poetry... to read it more and learn to appreciate it as she has.

Dr. Angelou concluded with an excerpt from her piece, "Brave and Startling Truth." Check it out!