More Clouds

Everyday there are these pretty, white, fluffy clouds but no rain. Sometimes we even get the dark, ominous, threatening clouds that give us lots of lightening and thunder but still no rain.

Sixteen Hands Horse Sanctuary

Back in , thanks to my niece Lauren, we stumbled across a horse sanctuary. Diana asked that day if I minded if we stopped to check it out for Lauren's sake. I did not mind at all. We got out, talked to someone and made a decision to come out for a day to do some work. I blogged about that day here: Helping at the Horse Refuge. What I did not know that day was how much the place would stick with me and draw me back for more.


Last year, as soon as I realized that we were in fact going to stay in one spot for a bit and that my last child was leaving home, I decided I'd better find something to do that would help me adjust to both things. I remembered how much I loved the "feel" of Sixteen Hands and started there. Then a series of health issues and a computer crash halted my attempt. Still, I knew I needed to get going with something or it would potentially be a very ugly scene when Austin did in fact move out. I thought maybe I should find something closer, something I had experience with, something that fit our lives when we started moving around again. So I looked around at my options. And kept coming back to Sixteen Hands. I'd tell Nathan that I still wanted to do it. But just did not get around to doing what I had to do to make it actually happen.



The first week I set up a booth for Thousand Trails at Friday Night Live in Wauchula, I see the lady next to us setting out items with horses on them. I say to Nathan, "I still want to do volunteering at Sixteen Hands" and then set out to go be friendly and talk to my neighbors just to make nice. I get to the front of the booth and am shocked to see it is Sixteen Hands. I most likely overwhelmed them with my excitement as I talked to Robin and Diane. I get the information again and this time, I know I'm going to follow through no matter what. I do. And the rest, as they say, is history.



I always knew I liked horses, but was not what I'd consider a "horse person". I wasn't obsessed with them like my niece Lauren or my Mom. I thought I'd enjoy being around horses. I had no idea I'd fall head over heels in love with them though. Or that I'd want to spend as much free time as possible with them. Or that I'd talk endlessly about them until poor Nathan's eyes rolled back into his head from sheer boredom.



I still love the 'feel" of Sixteen Hands. Probably more so than our first visit, because I know all that is involved with what creates and preserves that peaceful environment. I'm honored that they let me come out, completely green and stupid in all ways, and so patiently allowed me to find my way during this new chapter in my life. I'm guessing you will see lots about the horses and SHHS because it is where I spend a good bit of my time while we are temporarily planted!



Living the life in FL!

Eustacia Meets Frida

Today Eustacia Vye (my Pashley Pricess) met up with her new friend Frida, the fetching Batavus Fryslan that belongs to Margonaute of ZOMGBicycles.

Margo and I tagged along and sat at an outdoor cafe while the bikes frolicked nearby.

The Batavus Fryslan is a very pretty and comfortable bike. It is a higher-end model than the Old Dutch I tested last summer. It was getting dark and impossible to take decent shots, but Margo has more pictures of this bicycle on her weblog. Especially nice are the shots from last weekend's Tweed Ride - Frida looked so elegant with her owner's stunning outfit!

Despite their differences in wheel size (28" on the Batavus Fryslan vs. 26" on the Pashley Princess), we were surprised to note how similar Frida and Eustacia looked, including their overall proportions. My handlebars are set quite a bit lower, but that was an intentional modification on my part. Margo prefers hers higher. The bicycles also have matching cream tires, matching Brooks B66S saddles, and matching Wald rear folding baskets. So cute to see them together like this!

One really cool thing about Frida is the DIY handlebar bag. It is a small leather purse, with the strap wrapped around the flat part of the bars.

Here you can see the handlebar attachment. A simple and elegant idea that shows you don't necessarily need to spend tons of money on bike-specific accessories.

At the end of the evening, Margo test-rode my bike while I carefully tried hers on for size (Frida is new and I was too worried about her well-being to ride her on the street).

Margo on my Pashley. She is slightly taller than I am, so ideally the saddle would be raised.

My own impression is that the fit of the two bikes is similar, but the Batavus has somewhat more relaxed angles. Weight-wise, the Batavus is a bit heavier. They are both nice bikes, with the main differences being the fork crowns, the wheel size, the lighting systems, and the shape of the handlebars. If you are choosing between a Pashley and a Batavus, I'd really suggest test-riding each.

Here is to lovely bicycles and to lovely bicycle friendships!

H Street Revisited

Now that H Street is coming back into its own, I wanted to pick my father’s brain about what it was like back in his day, in the 1920s. I decided we ought to take a tour, and see what was left, so we climbed into my pollen laden car and went back in time.

Our first hurdle was driving down H Street from Northwest to Northeast Everywhere we went the streets are being ripped up or there is new construction. Plus Dad couldn’t see through all the green funk on the windshield so that was a handicap, but we finally found the block where my grandfather, Peter Cokinos, had his candy shop at 1103 H Street. There’s a convenience store and an empty space there now, but back then he used to make candy and ice-cream in the basement. He made a very good living at it, too, and retired in about 1926.

I asked Dad if there were any other Greeks around back then, and it sounds like you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a half dozen families - including branches of our own clan. Jim Cokinos, a first cousin, to Papou, had a deli at 10th and K, and the Kendros family lived nearby. There was the Kavakos Grill at 8th and H which became a nightclub during World War II, plus The Rendezvous which the Kalevas family ran. The Chaconas Bar and Grill was at 10th and H, and the Bacchus Grill was at H and 15th ( owned by the Bachhus family not the god)
He also remembers the Paramount Grill was run by two Greek brothers. It was "a blue collar sort of breakfast place". (Imagine that.)

Besides all the Greeks ,there was also Whall's Department Store which was 2 stories high and carried everything. There were three movie theaters- the Apollo, the Empire and the Princess - all of them gone now. (The Atlas which is now a performing arts center
didn’t open until the late thirties.) There were lots of beauty shops and barbershops- altogether a thriving business community.

Our next stop was 919 11th Street, the house Dad and his older sister, Catherine were born in. Peter Cokinos bought this house brand new probably in 1914. The block is a little worn down now, the fluted columns on the houses have been replaced, but it's still standing. Our family moved from here to Macomb Street around 1927.



We nabbed a mail person and continued down memory lane.
A few blocks away, at the corner of Montello and Neal, we found
Samuel Wheatley Elementary. Dad didn't recognize it at first as it had gained two large additions since he went there, but the whole school is empty now. This is where Dad and Aunt Catherine walked to school,
and where they learned to speak English for the first time.

Next it was over to the DC Farmer's Market. ( not to be confused with Eastern Market) A lot of the stalls are boarded up now. Of course, Dad remembers when it was all going full force, though it took us a while to find Litteri's Italian market. The paint has faded, but little else has. changed, and Mom thought she even recognized one of the countermen. After waiting a couple of years for a couple of sandwiches which were actually worth the wait, we picnicked with the carpenter bees at my son Kit’s school, Hardy which is being housed in a building that was the Hamilton School. The school is located on Brentwood Parkway just off Florida Avenue, within walking distance of his grandfather's childhood.

Our hotel camp in Wadi Rum Desert

I like to travel in style and it doesn’t have to be staying at luxurious hotels and eating at Michelin starred restaurants, although I love to indulge every now and then—for me, in order to survive the holiday in good mood, the basic amenities have to be there, as well as some comfort of course. Now Blondine and I are faced with the challenge of spending a night in the desert... hmm...



We’ve read fascinating stories about travellers staying with Bedouins in the heart of Wadi Rum desert in Bedouin camps, and although this is truly an experience worth doing for, we worry about the conditions of the accommodations. Is there electricity? What about toilet? Where can we leave our car? Is it safe for 2 women to sleep in a tent? So many questions. Trivial perhaps for others?



Well I found this hotel camp called ‘Bait Ali Lodge’ in the middle of the desert, located just a few kilometres away from the environmentally preserved area of Wadi Rum. It is probably the only camp with a bit of frill in the desert so naturally we booked here. To give you an idea, it has a swimming pool and an amphitheatre. Yes, in the desert, in the middle of nowhere.



We will be doing the 4x4 jeep Wadi Rum desert adventure later but before meeting with the Bedouin whom we hired for the afternoon, we are checking in to our hotel camp.



See more fotos below of the hotel camp:









So how do you like this desert camp in the middle of nowhere? Not bad at all eh? Oh, I forgot to take fotos of the rooms... nothing fancy though, very, very basic.

National Key Deer Refuge

There are some endangered animals in the Keys, and the key deer are some of those animals. The key deer only live in the Keys in fact.



There is a refuge here for them. They also limit the speed that you can drive in an attempt to keep them safe. There are only around 800 of the deer. Around 100 were killed by cars last year. So what is so unique about these deer?



Their size! They are on average two to three feet tall when fully grown. They look just like the deer in Virginia, just smaller.



I think they are beautiful!





We drove around the island and enjoyed the sights and sounds beyond the deer.









And now we are hanging out. Austin is working on our yearly Gingerbread House. Every year he says he is not doing a gingerbread house because he is too old. And every year, he jumps in and wants to do the whole thing alone. He is quite the pro at it by now. You can also see our Christmas tree in this picture:



It is about the size of the key deer here! So cute!



Living the life in the Florida Keys!

Yellow Roses