Last blog I told you about a recent vacation designed to help us chose our “snowbird” location during future winters: East or West. We took a few weeks in each location and it was kind of cool to be looking out at the Pacific Ocean one week, then the Atlantic Ocean the next.

Pacific

Atlantic

The visit out West was NICE! Warm…sunny…plenty to do…easy to get around. So, it was on to ‘The East’ and Florida. What can one say about Florida that hasn’t already been said? Supporters say the weather is great, there’s lots to do, thousands of miles of coastline, roads are good, no state income tax. Naysayers say it’s too muggy, bugs run rampant, alligators and snakes, roads are crowded, and lack of income tax is reflected in services. We started our Florida trip by flying into Jacksonville, a pleasant-looking city on the northeast coast. My brother Ray and his wife Patty have recently retired and, by New York law, have moved to Florida. And in concert with the guidance provided by the Migration Amendment added in 1960, as New Yorkers, they have settled on the East coast of Florida. They are renting a home just south of Jacksonville in the Ponte Vedra area while looking for longer-term housing. They will be year-round residents so have wisely settled in northern Florida to avoid some of the crushing heat and humidity found further south. I was amazed at the open space remaining in this area. Although housing developments are going up everywhere you look, there are still thousands of acres in this area that are undeveloped. That took me by surprise. This is a very pleasant area of Florida and a stone’s throw away from the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United States, St Augustine. Definitely worth a visit if for no other reason than to get a sip out of Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth. (or for something more effective you could try a few samples from the local distillery).

Had a great visit with Ray and Pat, sightseeing, playing golf, eating in and out, and enjoying a few of Ray’s cocktails, for which he is rightfully famous. Ray and Pat have narrowed down the location of their permanent home to a nice subdivision in Nocatee or a Del Webb ‘55 and over’ nearby. I was relentless in making fun of the Del Webb community until we visited. We are talking high end here with phenomenal facilities. And while the regular subdivision looked deserted during the day, the Del Webb community was hopping, with friendly people strolling all over the place. The community clubhouse was also rocking with people playing water volleyball (OK, they were standing in 4-foot-deep water and playing with a large beachball), groups playing billiards, and many folks in the fitness center “working out”. The list of clubs posted on the wall was mesmerizing. Of course there was knitting, sewing, beer-making, wine-tasting, all sorts of sports. There was even a sausage-making club, but what caught my eye was the Chair Yoga club. Now, that’s my kind of yoga.

Ray and Pat were torn on where to build their retirement home but a few weeks ago their rental home neighbor helped to crystallize the decision.  He put up a trampoline for his 3 daughters and every day right after school 2 to 5 little girls enter the netting and bounce and giggle to their heart’s desire. For at least a half hour. Not more than 50 feet from my brother relaxing on his porch. Ray characterized their home location choices succinctly: ‘Chair Yoga’ or ‘Girls on Trampolines’.

I’m looking forward to sampling some of the sausage he learns to make next year.

Following our stay with Ray and Pat, we jumped in our rental car and headed south to the Fort Meyers area on the West coast of Florida. This is a beautiful area of the state with Sanibel, Bonita Springs, Naples and Marco Island in close proximity. Jean’s parents spend a few months of the year in Florida and they too are in compliance with the Migration Amendment because, being Midwesterners, they have targeted the West coast of Florida. Most recently they have ended up in a rental home in the Naples area. They have multiple visitors during their stay as friends and family come in for a few days or a week. In fact, Jean and I have come down 2 of the last 3 years and we are always happy to see one or two other couples there escaping the winter weather. Naples is very nice but it is clearly a suburban retirement community. The people running around here are not young. And there is a lot of traffic every day of the week, all day long. Driving here is scarier than driving in downtown Chicago. You never know what these old folks are going to do. Personally, I prefer the vacation vibe of Sanibel over Naples and even Bonita Springs.

Florida just feels very different from most other places. It is very, very nice but seems hard for me to really feel comfortable. Maybe too hot, maybe too humid, maybe too rainy, I don’t know exactly but I have a hard time feeling, well, perfect. Now, the West has weather drawbacks too as it can get very windy, or very, very hot but there are many times when sitting outside just feels divine.

Still Florida is where our friends and family are. We have people in Jacksonville now, Naples of course, but also Orlando, Port St. Lucie, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale. And more of our friends are retiring there every day. So it looks like Jean and I will continue to rotate our winter visits between East and West. Win-Win methinks.

Music Fan

So a few months ago I posted a blog about my futile efforts to play a musical instrument. I think playing an instrument is just magical and I can’t imagine life without music. But, I do want to get something off my chest.

I love music. All types. Early on, my parents exposed me to the beauty of “easy listening” and Big Band music. Oddly, it was my first girlfriend who turned me on to the musical stylings of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. My earliest records were bought in the 60s and I still love that stuff (although I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I liked the Monkees more than the Beatles back then). In the 70s it was Zeppelin and Heavy Metal for me, morphing into Hard Rock then Rock with horns (Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears). Disco is a stain, but Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes are a fave. The Big 80s were uninspiring (Sorry Andy but Duran Duran? Really?) so I fell back into my old buddies Elton, Billy and Bruce. I also explored (and enjoyed) ridiculous New Age music (WNUA in Chicago, anyone?). Smooth Jazz necessarily followed (Spyro Gyra, Bob James, Earl Klugh). Soon, I took up Blues, Classic Classical music, with a bit of Opera thrown in. I’m still a Classic Rock kind of guy though, with many Spotify playlists and Classic Vinyl as my #1 SiriusXM preset. Truly, I can listen to and enjoy almost anything, even current Country (Pop), although I still don’t get Rap.

But there is one guy I just don’t understand. He is revered by millions. He has been nominated for 39 Grammy awards and won 11 times. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have earned him Academy Awards and Golden Globes. And in 2016 he won a Nobel Prize! Yep, Bob Dylan. Just. Don’t. Get It. Why not? Let me count the ways:

1. He can’t sing. Terrible voice but not bad enough to be great like Joe Cocker or Leon Russell. Just bad. And he knew it, so he finally took singing lessons and came through with the abomination called Lay Lady Lay. Ugh.
2. He plays the most annoying musical instrument known to man: The Harmonica. And features it front and center in most songs. Really?
3. The words to his songs don’t match the music. Usually there are way too many words in each phrase, so he rushes through them ending in his trademark upward lilt.

I know, now you are thinking that I’m an idiot and that he is a genius. His songs are brilliant you are saying, and he is inspirational, ground-breaking, a voice of the then counter-culture. Yep, I will say, especially Everybody Must Get Stoned, right? OK, I’ll give you some of his early stuff like Blowin’ in the Wind, Like a Rolling Stone, Mr. Tambourine Man. But notice how all those great songs are best when someone else does them? Same thing for All Along the Watchtower and my favorite, If Not for You. All much better when someone else does them. That makes him a great song-writer, poet maybe, but not performer. Still, we can’t ignore the hundreds of other pieces this great songwriter wrote that were, in my opinion, pretty terrible. Did you know he released 38 albums? 38! That means that you haven’t even heard most of the ‘songs’ this genius wrote and played. And there is a good reason for that.

OK, I know I’m being tough on the guy (someone must) and I’m obviously exaggerating his lack of talent, but I just don’t enjoy listening to him. (Except maybe for Tangled up in Blue). And there are not a lot of people who fall into that category for me.  But, I know, you love him…and that’s just fine.

Well, I’m glad I got that off my chest. Now I must get back to studying the CDL Manual in order to pass the written tests for my Bus Permit!

• Uncategorized