Beach Walks, Climate Change, and Rosie, of course!

 I forgot to mention last time that Tippy and I have been asked to do our Africa class (Kenya and Tanzania) again. This time it will be in October, in person at the Beaufort OLLI location. It’s a new facility and should be high-tech. Thus far, we have had a very positive response and we always enjoy reliving the experience.

I had not seen Tippy for a couple of weeks as she was teaching an online course for FSU. She was off this week (7/6) and invited Rosie and me for a beach walk to see some local beach art. It was an iffy morning weatherwise as tropical storm Elsa was forming. The sky was threatening and there was a light drizzle but not enough to deter us! We arrived at the spot only to discover that I had forgotten Rosie’s leash. Tippy came to the rescue with her belt! Due to the weather, there was no one on the beach and Rosie could run free. She absolutely loved it, between running and sniffing. We only saw two “installations” but it was a nice walk and good catchup before we had to head home. I know Rhonda T will identify with one of the art pieces!

Today (7/7/21) Elsa is closer so I’ve made a grocery run and secured all of my outdoor furniture. Now it is just a matter of waiting. The weather was dreary for our beach walk yesterday, but the afternoon was sunny and calm. Today has been heavy with humidity, overcast, and foreboding. I’ll be glad when it passes. (7/8) We were very lucky as there were only a few branches down and a lot of debris blown around. Sea Pines and Port Royal/Parris Island got whacked – lots of trees down, electricity out, etc. The worrying thing is that storms have begun forming early in the hurricane season…. And it runs through November (I think). I’m hoping it will not be an active year!

Speaking of weather/climate, I knew Seattle had 3-4 days of very HOT weather for which they are not equipped. Then, last week I read that they had gone 20+ days without rain, so I called Jan to see how she was doing. She was fine but her house temp during those hot days was in the high 80s, which is very warm for them. She explained that in June often they don’t have much rain in but the real problem is that they had not gotten much rain in April and May. It’s just amazing how extreme the weather has become, and in our case, it has been extremely nice! Here we are in the middle of July and we are still in the 80s rather than the high 90s with 90% humidity! We have also gotten enough rain that everything is so nice and green. It’s supposed to remain this way through the next week and a half and I’m hoping beyond that.

I know you get tired of me showing or talking about food, but this is different. Believe it or not, there is a FB group called Vegan Sandwich Fan Club and they have shown some delicious-looking combinations. Since I filled my taste for summer corn, I’ve been hankering for really good tomatoes. I ventured out to Okatie farm one day and picked up some heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, and peaches. So my sandwich had Tofurky chicken, vegan cheese (though I haven’t completely given up cheese), a thick slice of tomato, some of my cabbage salad, and a slice of red onion – on a seeded sourdough bun! It really was tasty, but I could have used a bigger bun! The interesting part is the soup from Reyna. It's cactus soup!! Needless to say, I’d never had that but it was tasty (with onions, garlic, kidney beans, etc.) and if I had not known it was cactus, I would have thought it was green beans. The soup was another motivation for the big sandwich. All in all, an enjoyable lunch.

Finally, I will leave you with Rosie’s glamour shot! Isn’t this adorable! My/our friend Paula volunteers at a dog rescue in Spain that I follow online. They are raising funds to purchase more land for the rescue and one of the supporters is doing these enhancements as a fundraiser. I thought it was such a fun thing to do, certainly worth the 20 Euros, and it’s all done digitally. In fact, I received her finished product the day after I emailed her the photo. It was certainly something I consider a worthy cause and if you're interested, let me know and I will provide details. Psst….she also does cats!!