How I spent my summer vacation by....

E and I packed this morning and then headed over to say goodbye to my sister. She is in recovery and i am sure will feel much better when the home nurse comes today and she can take a shower and get her hair washed. She gets the drain tube removed next Wed. and then she'll be able to get out and about.

We picked up Ga. tomatoes for everyone while we were out and I got some fun touristy goodies for a pal. When we got back to the resort, we all hit the pool and floated in the almost cool water for a couple of hours. Our friend, Chuck, wanted a tee shirt from Dixie Fish House, which still sells fresh seafood but not like when the feisty gal owned it. My sister didn't like the place which is now an open air bar and grill but the beer was just as cold there as it was at Smoking Oyster Bar where all ten of us went for lunch.

I liked Dixie Fish. It reminded me so very much of the old, beloved and now gone for many years, Timmy's Nook, on Captiva. My folks use to take me there when they first moved to Sanibel and the kids and I would visit from St. Louis. It was a tin roof over plank flooring, picnic tables covered with red plaid oilcloths and you could see the Gulf through the floor boards. The sea food was take it or leave it and so fresh it was almost still wiggling. They had a huge drink called a grog and I still remember my step dad daring me to drink one...I won that bet! My folks and I sat out on the deck that surrounded Timmy's Nook in old school desks, watched the stars twinkling above and told each other truths that can only be told in the dark (and after a grog...lol). So, Dixie Fish was a lot like Timmy's and brought back such wonderful memories. WHere Timmy's was is now the Green Flash. I resented that place for so long but took myself out to lunch there once when E was out of town and made my peace. The view is the same and memories only improve with time like fine lace.

E and I will get up early, shower and eat a quick breakfast and head on up the road tomorrow morning toward Tarpon Springs. It has been a great two weeks and we have so enjoyed the group theses past seven days. We have been so blessed with wonderful friends and family.

We miss you, Jadee, and the girls and you, Jill and Kelley, and will see you all next year...this year and last year were some of the very best we've all had down here...and we toasted to the working people today! Love to the missing members of Week 29!