Days 3-5 - Central Florida

Visited with Mom at her assisted living home.  What can I say?  She's physically healthy as a horse but old man Alzheimer's is eating her up.  It's a devastating disease and really bothers me when I remember how strong willed and minded this woman was.  Every now and then you can still see it in conversation, but it's just becoming more and more rare.  And, of course, when one's own mother doesn't recognize him it has a tendency to reset one to zero.  My sister, Judy, because she lives in the area, has been saddled with the burden of caring for her above and beyond the services of the "home."  And Mom hasn't recognized her in over two years.  One just has to accept this stuff...but it ain't all that easy.  And it's got to be tougher on Judy having to see it every week.  Life is definitely a lottery.

After visiting Mom I stopped at King's Choice BBQ in Eustis.  This is a Lake County landmark and tradition I've mentioned several times in these blogs.  It's still there and the BBQ is still the best I've ever had.  The latter in spite of the fact that they've "wimped" up the sauce over the years.  It used to be a lot hotter.  Anyway...took the BBQ to Ron's, and we pigged out until it was time to go to Cassia, Florida.

Ron has been telling me for years that there are some good "pickin' and grinnin'" sessions in Cassia, but never during the periods I was visiting.  He kept giving me this second and forth Saturday of each month stuff and touted up the number and skills of the participants; many of whom, evidently, are older folks (even older than we) and play a lot of that good ol' country music.  I, of course, have accused him of BS'ing me and stating that such events obviously never occurred.

This particular Saturday night was not the second or forth of the month, but was billed to be the 6th annual Houston (somebody's) 85th birthday party, eating, and picking session.  Houston is a guy who certainly appears to be 85 years old (or is it 91, given it was the 6th 85th birthday celebration). [Note: I expect it's all the inter-breeding that goes on out in these swamps that leads to these mathematical faux-paus's.]  In any event, we went, a bunch of folks played a bunch of old country music and it was good.  Always good to see folks having a good time though the level of musicianship was a little ragged at times.  There was this one guy who played the hell out of a harmonica, but, unfortunately he knew it, and instead of playing with the others he played (way) over them, ruining the sound and his place in my pantheon of harmonica players.  The price was certainly right and one couldn't expect a lot for that.

For the record...this was a special birthday party and the existence of 2nd and 4th Saturday amateur pickin' and grinnin' sessions is still suspect to this writer.

Ron, Donna, and I went to a bar and grill on the St. John's and we heard this local singer, Rog Lee play and sing.  The guy is really very good and writes some cool stuff.  I really like his turn with lyrics.  He's a character and has a lot of songs about the St. Johns and Florida.  I'm really partial to a couple of them.  One is 'Square Grouper,' a song about fishing for those various and sundry bales of chemical product that gets dumped in the Atlantic from smuggler's boats under attack by the Coast Guard.  If one had an outlet it wouldn't take much to make a few dollars there.  Of course, anyone who has seen the movie 'No Country For Old Men' should be able to assess the risk and act accordingly.  Another song of his which turns me on is 'In Case of Rapture (Can I Have Your Car?).'  This one "rings" with me because of all the "professional Christians" I see running around everywhere.  The song tells how he is a little slow leaving a stop light and this guy honks at him, throws him the bird and yells, "f__k you!" as he passes him in this nice new Cadillac with a bumper sticker that says "In Case of Rapture This Car Will Be Empty."  Rog, correctly, questions whether he can make the Rapture if guys like this are going.  An excellent sentiment to which I fully subscribe.

After seeing Rog in the early afternoon we went to the Bistro in Deland and had a great meal of appitizers, mostly consisting of my favorite Moules (Mussels) and artichokes.  Ended the evening with a nice walk through an old car show and through downtown Deland.  They've done a good job with the old city, and there are some neat restaurants and stores in the old mid-town area.
 
On Sunday afternoon we were off again, heading eastward to New Smyrna Beach.  On our way out of Lake Helen we ran into these guys.

 Yeah...try finding one during hunting season.  These are some of the wiliest game on the planet.  They routinely drive hunters to distraction by their seeming antics just out of range of the shooter.








New Smyrna Beach is only about 25 miles from Lake Helen and is one of the best beaches in Florida.  We arrived late in the day having decided rather late to have a Sunday drive. But, in the final analysis, it's mostly that "sugar sand" only whiter.  Saw plenty of it earlier.  Pretty place, Florida.

Caution!  Fat man on beach.

Donna and Ron

The recent hurricane kicked up a bunch of Jellyfish and there have been many bathers hurting on Florida beaches during the past couple of weeks.







Ron and I visited Mom again on Monday.  After that I made an appointment with the Kawasaki
dealer for an oil change and tire replacement Tuesday.  Then we went down to the St. John's River near Hwy 415 for a couple of beers.

 Gator's Riverside Grill
St. Johns River

This pictures looks west toward Sanford and Lake Monroe.  The river flows north to enter the Atlantic at Jacksonville.

This view from the Gator Grille toward the east and the Highway 415 bridge.  A couple of miles "up" river from here is the area where my family setup after migrating from Georgia after the civil war.  The Geneva, Florida cemetery is full of Geigers.

Left of Ronnie is Walt and his grandniece.  She is watching the wildlife.

And the wildlife is watching her.
This is a small, young guy.  He probably went about five foot.











Walt told us about a guitar "pickin'" at a music shop in Deland scheduled for that evening.  We joined him and picked and grinned with them later.  That was good and now others can say about me what I said about the groups on Saturday (little weak in the musicianship area).