Lunch in St. Petersburg

Deserted St. Petersburg Pier

John, Trudy and the boys left early this morning for an airboat tour of the Florida Everglades. I did a small load of laundry and caught up on some chores until nearly noon. Bob and I drove into St. Petersburg by a different route (Pasadena to Gulfport-22nd Street, into DT St. Petersburg), because of the east bound lane closure on the Pinellas Byway between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Lunch at the Parkshore Grill was inside rather than out, because of a 20-minute wait. No matter. Loved my pecan encrusted blue tilapia and spinach, but Bob's salmon with lemon caper sauce and thickish angel hair pasta didn't seem very appealing. I detest capers almost as much as olives, and the dish was full of them. Bob liked it well enough.

I was disappointed to see that the St. Petersburg Pier is deserted due to structural deterioration and the interior is vacant. Plans to re-open seem vague and lacking in support. We stopped at our favorite Vinoy Park to watch the fishing. No dolphins or manatees, but plenty of entertainment watching the pelicans try to steal fish. The afternoon felt a little chilly (68F or so) by the water so we headed home toward the end of the afternoon.

Family Values

Too bad the far right has hijacked the term "family values". I've thought about our family a lot over the last couple of days. As always, I remember the frequent claim of my high school chemistry teacher, Sylvio Guindon: "when you get married, you marry the whole family".

Yesterday evening, John and I were reminiscing about the early years after his dad and I were married in 1983. He and Mary were still teenagers at the time, and it was challenging for all of us to get used to the new dynamics of our "blended" family. There was adaptation for all parties: new wife for Bob, new adult in the house for John and Mary, new everything for me (unemployed with a new husband, instant family, foreign country, unfamiliar culture).

We've all done well nurturing our relationships and are proud of the family we all had a hand in creating -- Bob, his first wife, their children and spouses or partners, our son Chris, the grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our family may not be strictly "traditional" but our family values are intact, healthy and love affirming.

So happy we have family visitors during our Florida vacation!

Skyway Bridge Revisited

View of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from the fishing pier

I never tire of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and fishing pier. I blogged about it on our first visit to St Pete and we've been back at least once on every subsequent trip. The old bridge is a Florida state park where sportsmen -- and let's not forget women -- fish 24 hours a day. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, some of the people we talked to had been fishing since Saturday evening.

More fun than a visit by ourselves was introducing John, Trudy and the boys to the fishing pier. The day was spectacularly beautiful, sunny but not too hot. The pier was lined with people fishing, often with several lines in the water. I got out of the van a little early so that I could walk the last quarter-mile or so to the end of the pier.

Trudy Hennessey caught John with a big fish

As I walked along, I heard swearing in many English, Spanish, Russian and several Asian languages when a fish was lost or lines became tangled. The "serious" fishermen were at the very end of the pier, sometimes assisted in the landing process by a guy with a menacing grappling hook at the end of a long rope. The pelicans and other seabirds watched  carefully, ready for any tidbit of bait or rejected fish. Dolphins did their own fishing, near the pier and in the distance.

We stayed for an hour. One of the highlights: John posed for a picture with a large bonito (we heard "bonita") caught by a fisherman who struggled with it for fifteen or twenty minutes.

More photos on FB.