It was not too hard to find Starbucks in Ft Lauderdale, and it is the same there as it is the world over-laptops and coffee. In Ft Lauderdale you can count on finding a liberal sprinkling of gay guys-the one with the loosely buttoned white dress shirt with the collar unfolded was a dead giveaway. Ft Lauderdale is America's #2 city for largest population of gay males-San Francisco is #1.
Danny rents a room in Diane's house. The back porch of Diane's house, haircut HQ, is a very pleasant place to sit and visit. Even on a hot day it is shaded and cool. The household consists of Diane, Danny and Diane's girlfirend and three elderly little female dogs-Shirley, Rosey, and Savanah. We caught up on life as we finished out Starbucks.
Diane is a photographer and raw vegan chef. She has worked for the past year for a family whose name is synonymous with meat packing. The family has divested themselves of meat and the young wife is all about raw vegan. Diane spends her days purchasing and preparing food for the family's 7 houses on the intercoastal. She has recently learned that she will be put on a project of photographing a book of their new organic farm. Plans are to make a gardenlike farm and open a raw vegan cafe. http://dianebradford.com/Diane_Bradford_Photography/Editorial.html You can check out her website.
Next, the haircut. I'll just include the photos.
Once one has had a fabulous haircut, what better plan for the afternoon than lunch at Whole Foods followed by shopping at a really fabulous Goodwill store. Ft Lauderdale Goodwill has name brand distinction. It is also large and arranged better than a department store-first by size and then by color. I came home with a simple black silk blouse for $4 and a pair of Columbia pants that will dry in a nanosecond for $6. My shopping consultant recommended a vest as well. I'm not sure where I will wear it, but it is cute. Like fishing, the big stories are the ones that got away. I am still dreaming of the Indonesian simple two color print jacket finely tailored. It was just a farkle too small. The brown capris that matched the ones I was wearing were also one size too small. Though we didn't have time this trip, I understand the Salvation Army Thrift Store offers as fine a fare. We might also have a look around "Out of the Closet", though it is mostly men's wear. Things to look forward to.
We have planned to get to Caps Restaurant where the food is as good as it's rum running history. We have planned it for the past several visits to Ft Lauderdale, but it continues to elude us. This trip up A1A Danny thought I had set the navigator, and I thought he was in charge of directions. We ended up in Deerfield Beach. We set the navigator from there, but my blood sugar was falling fast and it was Friday night and we hadn't made a reservation, so it seemed better to punt. We did have a very nice seafood dinner on the beach and managed to get a table far from the ageing drinking and dancing crowd. For those of you who haven't been to the beach night scene recently, there are over tanned and tucked contemporaries and older still dancing to Jimmy Buffet with bottles of beer in their hands on Friday nights in South Florida.
The moon was almost full and there was a nice cooling breeze off the ocean as we walked the beach and availed ourselves of Adirondack chairs at the county park gazebo on the beach. A fitting end to a lovely day.
Be advised that checkout at the Sunrise is 10am sharp. At exactly 10 the cleaning lady opened the door to my room to begin her work. Danny and I were sipping our Starbuks, but I was all prepared and we were able to evacuate immediately. The trip home was a repeat of the trip down with added rest stops post coffee and more people (Saturday) and no wrecks but plenty of lunatics.
It is always good to be greeted by one's partner and enthusiastic dog upon return home. Fun to watch the Derby and the Rays even though we only got them to the 11th inning before we had to let the do it on their own, and disappointing to see that they lost without us.
KG
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