Memorial Day Weekend

Allan wrote...

We began this long weekend on Thursday by reconnecting with Jim and Jill D, old friends from Atlanta back in the 1980's when Jim and I both worked at that amazing computer company, AST Research.  It was really great to talk with them again. Jim suggested we eat at Guanabanas and I'm so glad we did. It's exactly the kind of restaurant we had been looking for in vain since we arrived in Jupiter. It has no windows; it's open to the air; it serves seafood; it's got live music in the evenings (Julian Marley, son of Bob Marley, played with no cover charge on Friday night!)  Just an amazing place.

Jim and Jill - we reconnected after almost 20 years.

This restaurant looks like it's in the rain forest somewhere,
and that's exactly the feel we'd been looking for. 

No windows. no doors either! It's all outside just as it "should be" in a
tropical setting like Florida.

The have live music almost every night, often with no cover charge.

Outdoor seating for everyone

It's right on the intra-coastal (on A1A) in Jupiter.

Cool place !

Friday we rode over to West Palm Beach to meet the homeowner who wants a house sitter for six weeks in late November through early January. We thought it would be nice to come back to South Florida in the winter season and spend Christmas here. We met the owner, a very nice and interesting guy who will be going to the Philippines with his wife for those six weeks. We enjoyed our time visiting him, touring his property  and meeting his dogs, but decided to forego that assignment.

Saturday was not memorable except that we worked on our computers much of the day. Sunday, however, was a gorgeous day that reached 90 degrees, so we decided to go to the beach. The parking lot at Jupiter beach was overflowing so we drove down to the pier in Juno, pitched our umbrella and soaked up the sun.  Beautiful.

The 990-foot pier at Juno Beach, just south of Jupiter. Memorial Day weekend brought everyone to the beach.

The condos in the distance rent for about $1700/month if you live here all year long. Some are rented only during
the winter season and can go for as much as $5000 per month! Apparently the snowbirds from New England, New
York and other places where the snow falls fast and heavy find those rates affordable.

Fishermen on the pier were catching panfish all afternoon.

 As I was jogging the beach I came upon a group of people standing at water's edge screaming, "Shark, get out of the water!"  I looked and, sure enough, I could see a dark shadow just a few feet off shore. It wasn't a big shark -- maybe three feet long -- but within about one foot of the shark a little girl, maybe 5 years old, was splashing and playing, oblivious to the screaming or the shark.  I jumped into the water, grabbed her up and put her on dry land.  Then, looking at the shadow in the water, I realized it wasn't a shark at all; it was a manta ray flapping his "wings" in all his glory, looking like a giant, beautiful bird floating through the waves.  I hollered out, "It's a manta, not a shark" and suddenly everyone wanted to get close to it.  Funny how the fear turned to excitement and big smiles appeared on everyone's face. I followed the manta along for about a hundred feet, watching as his "wing" broke the surface over and over again. Finally he headed out to deeper water.

On Sunday the first tropical storm of the season, Beryl, made landfall near Jacksonville. By Monday morning, as I write this, the storm has traversed about half the width of Florida, heading West, and is weakening. Here's a half-hour video of its path as it ambles toward Tallahassee.

So today is Monday, Memorial Day. We have no plans but will probably go to the pool later. I've been reading "Spirit Junkie" by Gabrielle Bernstein and might finish it up today. It's about her life and how it changed when she began studying A Course in Miracles. Becky is reading a book about a man's life with his Sheltie; she said it brings tears of happiness and remembrance to her eyes because it reminds her of our wonderful Sheltie dogs we loved for 13 years.

Our beloved Sunny Rose and Bonnie Blue