Povey Prattle

This early bird (with his faithful companion) left our home at 5:40 a.m. Sat 2nd November to get some of the fabulous bread at Mama G's Bakery and Coffee (on route 41, behind the airport, next to Captain Brian's). https://www.mamagscoffee.com/welcome I'd bought a fabulous loaf  of crusty bread there earlier in the week and wanted to be there at the opening time of 6:00 a.m. to get more. Oh dear.  The cafe was open, but the bread does not come out until 8:00 a.m. So Zion and I drove south on the trail, and had a good and refreshing walk at Bayfront Park, with a cool breeze coming off the Bay. From there we went to one of the two Winn-Dixie Supermarkets left in Sarasota.   Zion didn't ask why but I was dead set to get some good wine which was on sale as a "twofer" before the store ran out. I'd had a glass of this wine at the home of a friend, and it was so good that I wanted to lay in a stock. Normally retailing at $11.96 it's a bargain a...

Many in European countries are familiar with KINDER chocolate products. I've seen the KINDER eggs here in the U.S.A.,  (I think that they are  made and designed for children), but I have not seen other KINDER products here in the U.S.A. until recently. The KINDER Bueno is now featured at the check out racks at my local Publix,   (you know, those racks which are designed  to tempt the eyes whilst waiting in line). SO GOOD! I have been tempted and I have fallen!  The bueno bars are all but irresistible! I think of  them as a superior version of the more well known Kit Kat bar. The chocolate is smoother  and less granular than that on Kit Kats. The filling is crunchier and more tasty than that in Kit Kats, I could easily become a bueno addict! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Given the name "Kinder" I had supposed that these chocolates were made in Germany.   In fact they...

I know that we officially return to Eastern Standard time at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, 3rd November 2019. But just in case I forget,  I turned my clock back today.

When my beloved Aunt Irene died last year I could not get to England for her funeral  (18th Dec 2018) so I lit a candle and sat quietly on my lanai as I thought about her, and the ways in which she had enriched my life. I did the same on Tuesday last (29th Oct 2019)  as I remembered the very wonderful Pam Bradshaw whose funeral was taking place in Chicopee, MA that morning. Pam  (I sometimes called her "Pammie", or "Bradders" was born in pre WWII London, and remembered the blitz and the deprivations of those war years. She emigrated to the U.S.A.   She and her husband Charles had three children  (one daughter predeceased Pam and Charles.  dying of cancer at an all too young age). Pam was a woman of  faithfulness to her family, to God and to her Church.  She had a "wicked" sense of humour and an innate joy. She was a fine pianist, and a self taught organist - playing the organ and leading the choir at St. Christopher's Churc...

When I grew up in the U.K. we were vaguely aware that 31st October was Halloween, i.e the evening before All Saints, (or All Hallows)  Day. We'd never heard of  "trick or treating",  or of ghoulish parades, and home decorations. The American commercial "celebration" of Halloween   has since flown east across the Atlantic to Great Britain. I suppose that the parades of costumed young children (who hardly trick, but expect a treat) are fine and dandy. But I hate the obsession with cruelty, pain, misery and death which has become a hall mark of Halloween observances on both sides of the Atlantic.  I hate anything which celebrates a culture of death;  (Zombies, the Living Dead etc). In particular I am ticked off with the City of Sarasota which has sanctioned chintzy Halloween decorations in Arlington Park. There is one ( directly opposite the dog park ) which  particularly stirs my ire. What a horrid sight for dog lover...

Just for the fun of it I used my computer to make black and white   (the computer programme calls it "Slate") versions of my walk with Mr. Z. Here they are, in no particular order.