I Went to Sarasota to Sea What I Could Sea

And it was very, very lovely. Cool breezes, great beach, fucking freezing cold water but I laughed at it and did not dip a toe. Lots of great little shops and fifi places but just enough of the old, redneck west coast of Florida to fall in love with it. The landscape is much more sere than the east coast. Here we're all about tropical and lush and overgrown green. West coast is Dade County pine and dry scrub and sable palms.  Hardscrabble, thin soil on top of limestone (ancient coral reefs) and old frame houses. Lots and lots of protestant DIY standalone churches once you get outside of where the real estate developers have run amok. Once upon a time Myamuh was a lot like that.

Lots of good seafood and, christ on a pogo stick, americans friggin' everywhere... so weird to be back in the land of walking shorts and billed caps and wide bodies and shiny pickups driven by shaggy drivers.  The Land Where Buick Rules Supreme. The only spanish I heard all weekend was the accent on the Ritz-Carlton cabana guy, William (gotta believe the R-C was behind that anglicization). And even he was from Puerto Rico...not the other island. And no, my wallet doesn't stretch far enough to encompass a weekend at full price at the Ritz-C.  Some friends were down from NYC with their kids attending a nearby superfamous tennis camp. And such a deal the R-C made them. I stayed down the road at the Mormon-hegemony chain.

Best of all, I got to do two of my most favorite things simultaneously: walk the beach and knit. Am a third of the way up the first sleeve of the Hourglass Sweater and am loving the wider stripes and slower, subtler color changes.  But I am damned sure I will be running out of yarn pdq. Curse badly written patterns.  Will have to call woolneedlework to see if they have any more in this dye lot. Pray to the yarn goddess for me, peeps.   oh. and btw, it was a three hour drive precisely door to door miami to sarasota.  Now that I've got my driving groove back, a certain Bossy Little Dog better watch her butt. For I am bound to come up there and check out her redneck sprinkler system.

My fingers still smell like the ocean. The best.

Comments

[Colleen]

The Land Where the Buick Rules Supreme. I love it!

[Moni]

mmmm...sounds lovely

[mari]

I just sucked a tortilla down the wrong pipe - Sarasota?? That's where I last lived. Yikes. Small world, and you do get your happy feet travelling, don't you? When I left, that fixed-span bridge over the ic waterway next to the Ritz was still in concrete pieces on barges. OK, more details...please.

[dELIA]

It almost feels criminal to ask after all the negative feedback about K1, but you commented on my blog that you wouldn't mind sending me the pattern for that tank top. Call me crazy but I do really like it!

If you are still willing to give it up, my email address is delia.ann@gmail.com.

Thanks!