Arrival in Englewood

Here we are in our cozy Englewood condo as of 3:45 p.m. today. We stopped over in Largo to visit the Costco there and stock up on provisions. Costco is now selling 3-D flat screen TVs, the kind that requires you to wear glasses. I passed on that and bought a book instead. I'm more of a flat page kind of guy. Unfortunately in my case, glasses are required for that too.

We enjoyed smooth sailing to Englewood and while passing by Tampa I much enjoyed the high sweeping network of concrete overpasses they built here. Many seem new and are elegant works of art. It makes the Decarie interchange look worse than Stonehenge.

So we arrived and I parked our car in space number 4, directly beside a cream-colored 1965 Thunderbird in mint condition. I'm no car enthusiast but those old Thunderbirds were a real piece of work. Beautiful. The neighbor here who owns it has a For Sale sign on it. To sort-of quote the Beach Boys, He had fun, fun, fun till the gas price took his T-bird away.

Before heading over to the Sweetbay Supermarket (great name) to pick up items we didn't want to buy an industrial-sized case of at Costco, we visited the beach. A spectacular sunset was gathering but we were too hungry and tired to wait for it.

At the Supermarket I encountered a new All-American marketing initiative. As you walk down an aisle you suddenly hear a squawky and assertive voice say, for example, "Come over here so I can show you what I'm talking about! Nabisco Triscuits! Now don't pass up an opportunity for a treat like this. Absolutely delicious. I'm not kidding you!" All this from a tiny speaker attached to the Nabisco Triscuit shelf. I think a shopper walking by breaks a little beam from this thing which sets it off.

Photos: (1) Carol outside our condo - note the T-bird; (2) the nearby beach; (3) the impending sunset.