No Boat Travel
3 Miles Bicycling
Having received the regulators for his alternators, Clark was anxious to start work. To complete the installation he needs a large quantity of wire to connect everything. Inquiring at the marina office, he got the name of a marine supply store just over a mile away where he could buy the supplies he needs. Before heading over to the supply store, however, we decided to visit the St. Pete Farmer's Market first to buy some items including lunch.
Unfortunately, we dilly-dallied around in the morning and did not get to the farmer's market until 11:00 a.m. I knew I should have gone earlier but did not act on that knowledge. Consequently, I could only buy one scone (their last) which was a sad disappointment to me as I am somewhat addicted to a good scone.
When we arrived, we found Leonardo at the entrance to the farmer's market welcoming us and soliciting donations for a local charity.
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle - Leonardo |
What a difference good weather makes! Unlike last week with a sparsely populated market, this week people packed the market. One guy carrying an infant tripped over my trolley I brought along to carry back my heavy fruit. He apologized, and when I countered with, "I'm just glad you didn't drop the baby!" He said, "That wouldn't happen. Dropping the baby is not an option!"
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| Crowded Farmer's Market |
I still had some vegetables from my shopping spree at the market last Saturday, so I had a relatively short shopping list today. As we did last week, we bought lunch from one of the food vendors at the market. Unlike the savory delight I had last week, the knish I had this week proved to be totally bland in comparison.
After lunch we dropped our goodies off at the boat and jumped on our bikes to head over to the Marine Supply store. The bike trip there took us through more sections of the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg campus.
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| USF - SP campus Student Union building on right. |
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| USF-SP Closeup Shot Look closely to see "Rocky the Bull" - their team mascot in the center of the picture |
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| Sculpture at USF-SP |
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| Fountain on USF-SP grounds |
The closer we got to the marine supply store, the more "sketchy" the surrounding area became. When we arrived at the store, I wondered if I should remain outside with the bikes while Clark shopped. He locked them to the building, so I decided to take a peak inside. For comfort sake, I popped in and out of the store multiple times while Clark made his shopping decisions to make sure the bikes were still there.
On one of my checks I saw three policemen standing in the field next door interrogating a man in a batman shirt. I didn't know whether to be comforted or unnerved by the close police presence. The store only had some of the items Clark needs to complete his project, so we will be traveling back there on Tuesday to pick up the items on order. I do love to ride my bike, but I am not enthusiastic about it when it takes me through areas where I wonder if we will encounter any unsavory characters.
Having completed his shopping trip to the marine supply store, but unable to start his project, Clark suggested we walk through the art show going on across the street from the marina. Living on a boat, I knew there would be nothing I would want to purchase, but it is always interesting to have a look.
Walking through the marina towards the Art Show, Clark spied a Mainship 400. I swear he has built-in Mainship radar as he notices them wherever we go. Even without his glasses on he said, "That looks like Ivory Lady". I looked and sure enough, Ivory Lady sat at dock in the municipal marina. The owners of this Mainship traveled the Great Loop when we did. They have since moved on to the RV world and sold this boat to new owners.
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| Ivory Lady at dock in St. Petersburg Municipal Marina |
Amazingly, Clark did not suggest we go visit them and introduce ourselves. We continued on to the Art Show instead.
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| St. Petersburg Art Show |
We saw some very unusual pieces of artwork at this show with exorbitant prices to go with the originality of the works.
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| Pictures like this one made almost entirely of pencils |
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| Intricately Hand-stitched Pieces |
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| Imaginative Art (note the dog in the foreground with the girl as well as the "dog waves") |
As we walked around the area, we spied a tree that Clark referred to as "Sierra Bait". Our almost-four-year-old, Idaho granddaughter is a real adventurer and would think nothing of taking a turn climbing this tree.
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| Good climbing tree for our granddaughter Sierra She would love to climb this! |
Having biked three miles and then walked the Art Show, I decided I had burned enough calories to warrant a trip to the ice cream store. Clark insisted we walk back to the boat before heading over there, however, because he wanted to pick up the 10% off coupon first. As I predicted, by the time we got back to the boat, he started to balk at the idea of heading back out for ice cream. With a little "arm twisting", I convinced him that we needed to have our ice cream as a 4:00 snack before dinner instead of as dessert afterwards. I knew from past experience that if we did not go then, we would not go at all.
After eating our sweet treat, we decided to take a walk down the street to check out the shops and restaurants. We found two or three more ice cream shops that we can check out next time we want a treat as well as a restaurant offering good English cuisine including Fish and Chips, Cornish Pasties, and Shepard's Pie.
During our stroll, Clark suggested we cross the street (easier said than done with the hustle and bustle of Saturday evening traffic) to get a picture in front of the Christmas Tree. When we positioned ourselves to take the "selfie" picture, however, Clark discovered that his arms were not long enough to get the full tree in the picture. A woman passing by felt pity on us and offered to take the picture.
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| Merry Christmas from St. Petersburg, FL |
What should have been a 5-minute photo shoot turned into an hour-long discussion, with the woman who took the picture, on the current political environment. She had interesting comments and thoughts, but I would have been happier with a much shorter conversation on this particular topic. Although we needed to get back to the boat to connect with Jeff and family on FaceTime, we took a few minutes to continue our exploration of the area before returning to the boat.
We spent about an hour before dinner on FaceTime watching our Idaho grandchildren open the Christmas presents we sent them. The "Princess Tent" we sent seemed very popular with both girls. As we watched the one-year old went into and out of the tent repeatedly while the older one went in and stayed there! What fun it was to be able to share this time with them if only over the internet!
Sunday 12/17/2017
No Boat Travel
Having taken most of the last three days as "vacation" time, today it was back to work. While I took care of the laundry and some sewing, Clark went to help a boater named Ed with a battery issue. Ed bought himself a used boat that requires a bit of work. As if Clark does not have enough work on our boat, he offered to help Ed with his.
Later, Clark and I spent time in the engine room laying out the plans for the installation of the new regulators. We had to decide where they should be positioned and how the wires will run to connect them to the alternators. The rest of our supplies for this project will come in on Tuesday. Of course the next step will be crawling around the engine room installing all the piece parts. Just can't wait!
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