Not too many years ago, moving to Florida was way down on my list, somewhere around root canal and digging for maggots. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with any of them - just wasn't something I planned on.........just shows how much of life we don't plan, doesn't it?? So, as you all know I am down here in the heart of Florida and find myself actually liking it. No, actually some of it I really love. There are of course, things about Illinois and specifically my native Chicago, that I miss dearly. (Goes without saying I miss my daughter and her family, my sister, cousins, etc....) But I'm talking about "things" here that we sometimes take for granted.
There is NO SUCH thing in Florida as an Italian Beef. Most people look at me and repeat, "Eye-talian Beef? What is that? Like sausage on pizza?" I decided once to try a recipe using the crock pot and a very nice sirloin tip roast. It was close, but no where near a Portillos or an Uncle Nicks. My brother and his wife became so competitive, they went out and bought a commercial meat slicer - hoping that would improve our Floridian version. It helped.... But then again, there is no such thing as ITALIAN BREAD - like Gonellas - so it was all close but not that close.
Hot dogs in Florida are sort of mushy versions of the worse store-brand you can imagine. And no, sauer kraut DOES NOT belong on a Chicago Red Hot (thanks NY for trying). no Viennas. No real casings. No pickle spear, no celery salt, no bright green relish, no poppy seed bun (llike Mary Ann Bakery). Just a soft pink stick with waaaaaay too much mustard, and (gasp!) ketchup.
Well, you may think all I miss is food......but there's more. I miss Oak trees with big Oak leaves. I miss Red Maple trees....I miss cornfields. I miss black and white dairy cattle and seeing red barns with Harvestore silos.
I miss taking the train into the Loop, the Red Line to Wrigley Field, power walking up Madison, browsing Michigan Avenue and spending hours at the Art Institute. I miss the fabulous architecture that elevates Chicago to world class and my spirits to no end. I miss the Lake and Oak Street Beach. I miss the Bears and my Cubbies. I miss the unmistable "accent" of a Chicago native, who will tell you where they live by naming their Parish. I miss the SANITY - yes, that's right, folks - the SANITY of driving on the Kennedy.
So, why do I want to stick around here? Well, obviously, there is warmth and sunshine. YEAR ROUND. No white flakes, no ice, no taking your life into your own hands just walking to your car. No sub-zero temps that back hand you with sub-arctic windchills. No mile-wide tornadoes that seem like God's bathtub drain.
Those are some of the things......but there is more. I love seeing palms growing side by side with Georgia Pine. I love the feel of the sand and the smell of the salt along the Gulf Coast beaches, the seagulls, the pelicans, catching site of a dolphin while driving across Tampa Bay. I love the hawks that crowd the sky and the little lizards that dart around my sidewalk. I love the Cuban culture, the music and the food. I love being less than an hour from Mickey. I love seeing the alligators -- so primevel and yet so majestic. I love the fact that 90% of Florida is cattle pasture and all the different breeds that are represented. I just call them Florida Cows. I love seeing mile after mile of orange grove and countless farm stands that are open year round. I love the fact that Florida is a mini-melting pot of former Yankees and have many New Yorkers who I now count as friends.
Ideally, I would love to have a place in the Gold Coast to come to in August and again at Christmas time, and keep my main retreat in Florida. But all of that is dependent on winning the Lotto, so I will just save my pennies for occasional trips North. I wonder if Uncle Nicks would ship Fed EX??????
7/19/10
Monday, July 19, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
How I keep my sanity? I PLAY!!!!!!
Who doesn't feel stressed these days? I mean, jobs, economy, oil spills, heat waves, war, Mel Gibson.....JIMINY CHRISTMAS! Our headlines look like a really bad SNL skit, only it's all for real. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we are all affected one way or the other.
I like to handle stress in two ways - napping and community theatre (in interchangeable order). Community theatre has opened opportunities for me to: A. be part of a group of really fun people (on the most part); B. use my God-given talents of being a ham and an entertainer; and, C. get out of the house for awhile! Seriously, if you like movies, books, songs.....any type of entertainment - chances are favorable that you, too, could be part of a community theatre group. Because it all comes down to one thing - performing!! and not necessarily on stage. If you can use a paint roller and a staple gun, hammer a nail or sew a button - you can be, wait for it, STAGE CREW! And if you get goose bumps looking at electrical control slides, you can be, ahem, a TECHIE!!!
Right now CARROLLWOOD PLAYERS - my home theatre - is "in production" for it's first annual CARROLLWOOD IDOL. For this round, I am serving as Director and Stage Manager. I can't carry a tune in a suitcase, a my friends well know, but Ido have a knack for what is and isn't entertaining. We have almost 30 contestants of all ages - from 16-60+ and I am looking forward to our inaugural performance on Aug. 6th.
I like to handle stress in two ways - napping and community theatre (in interchangeable order). Community theatre has opened opportunities for me to: A. be part of a group of really fun people (on the most part); B. use my God-given talents of being a ham and an entertainer; and, C. get out of the house for awhile! Seriously, if you like movies, books, songs.....any type of entertainment - chances are favorable that you, too, could be part of a community theatre group. Because it all comes down to one thing - performing!! and not necessarily on stage. If you can use a paint roller and a staple gun, hammer a nail or sew a button - you can be, wait for it, STAGE CREW! And if you get goose bumps looking at electrical control slides, you can be, ahem, a TECHIE!!!
Right now CARROLLWOOD PLAYERS - my home theatre - is "in production" for it's first annual CARROLLWOOD IDOL. For this round, I am serving as Director and Stage Manager. I can't carry a tune in a suitcase, a my friends well know, but Ido have a knack for what is and isn't entertaining. We have almost 30 contestants of all ages - from 16-60+ and I am looking forward to our inaugural performance on Aug. 6th.
A Tale of Two Beginnings; or moving is always a hassle and writing about it helps
As my loving Sister has recently pointed out, I have moved enough to be able to write a book about it! But since this is about the 15th time in 25 years for me (and no, I am NOT military), I find I have not the energy, time or resources to go into book length. So, this is the condensed version.
Some background is the first order of business. I moved from my native Illinois to Florida in 2006. While I assuredly am not ready for the walker and oxygen tank yet, I felt compelled to move closer to my Brother - for some God-only-knows reason - and bought a mobile home in Winter Haven (mobiles are very popular down here, ya know). Winter Haven, FL, is a beautiful older city smack dab in the center of Florida. The local saying is that if you do not live on a lake, you are at least within walking distance of one. And that is very true. Another old saying is that if there is a body of water any larger then a puddle and it is NOT an inground swimming pool, there is an alligator or two or a dozen living there. Also very true. My mobile sat on 150 feet of lake front and I had a whole family of alligators living just outside my Florida Room (or enclosed porch for you Yanks). I respected their space and they in turn left me with all my limbs intact.
The trouble with idyllic Winter Haven is that there is very little in the way of employment. Economically feasible employment. So, I began working in Orlando - an 80 mile a day commute among the worst drivers on the North American Continent. You see, most of the drivers on I-4 through the Orlando area are visitors - tourists from all over the world - who may or may not be used to driving on our side of the road - or able to read English on road signs. Couple that with numerous exits to Disney, Universal and all tourist trappings in between, and you have a sure fire formula for vehicular disaster. It is common to have the rental car crusing along side you in the far left lane suddenly discover that he needs to exit RIGHT NOW.
After a couple of years of this, I decided I might as well look for employment in Tampa - about the same distance from Winter Haven as Orlando, but without being anywhere near Orlando, if you catch my drift. So, I found a job, left the mobile and we rented a small bunglaow in a "gentrified" neighborhood of the City of Tampa. A small bungalow with only one closet. Yeah, I know....what was I thinking! But it made up for lack of space by being only 15 minutes away from work. And through work, I found an investor with cash and made a deal to find a house to properly put down Floridain roots.
I walked through countless foreclosure houses that price-wise were fantastic deals, but inside looked like pictures of Dresden - after the bombings. People being foreclosed upon are a bitter group for the most part. Plumbing fixtures, interior doors, mouldings, appliances, carpeting - all of these seemed to take the brunt force of this bitterness - or were simply ripped out. Finally however, I did manage to find a diamond in the rough. A 3 bdrm/2 bath home with a pool(!) that needed work but still had toilets! HURRAY!
Keep in mind foreclosure homes are sold "as-is". As the daughter of a car salesman, I am fully aware of all the ramifications of that statement. Investor assured me - and contractually agreed - to some repairs to the fencing, cleaning the pool (which looks right now like the Black Lagoon made famous by the Creature), etc. So, I packed up and moved in. On July 12th. (think Florida heat in mid July). Only to discover the central air is dead as a door nail. Kaput. No cold air, no luke warm air. No air, period. I have promises that it will be repaired "soon". In the meantime, I have found a wet dish towel wrapped around your neck helps...a little.
So, as I begin this Blog, I am sitting as naked as I can legally get away with, surrounded by cartons containing all of my worldly goods. Too hot to unpack. Thankfully for the dog and cat, most of the floors are ceramic tile. I never saw a dog stretch out as flat on the floor before as Chewbacca has managed.. All four paws straight out, chin on the tile.
I am hoping this is the last move for quite awhile. I have already decided that my next move will entail only a couple of suitcases and a plane ticket. Hope my daughter gets her guest room ready in time :)
7/16/10
Some background is the first order of business. I moved from my native Illinois to Florida in 2006. While I assuredly am not ready for the walker and oxygen tank yet, I felt compelled to move closer to my Brother - for some God-only-knows reason - and bought a mobile home in Winter Haven (mobiles are very popular down here, ya know). Winter Haven, FL, is a beautiful older city smack dab in the center of Florida. The local saying is that if you do not live on a lake, you are at least within walking distance of one. And that is very true. Another old saying is that if there is a body of water any larger then a puddle and it is NOT an inground swimming pool, there is an alligator or two or a dozen living there. Also very true. My mobile sat on 150 feet of lake front and I had a whole family of alligators living just outside my Florida Room (or enclosed porch for you Yanks). I respected their space and they in turn left me with all my limbs intact.
The trouble with idyllic Winter Haven is that there is very little in the way of employment. Economically feasible employment. So, I began working in Orlando - an 80 mile a day commute among the worst drivers on the North American Continent. You see, most of the drivers on I-4 through the Orlando area are visitors - tourists from all over the world - who may or may not be used to driving on our side of the road - or able to read English on road signs. Couple that with numerous exits to Disney, Universal and all tourist trappings in between, and you have a sure fire formula for vehicular disaster. It is common to have the rental car crusing along side you in the far left lane suddenly discover that he needs to exit RIGHT NOW.
After a couple of years of this, I decided I might as well look for employment in Tampa - about the same distance from Winter Haven as Orlando, but without being anywhere near Orlando, if you catch my drift. So, I found a job, left the mobile and we rented a small bunglaow in a "gentrified" neighborhood of the City of Tampa. A small bungalow with only one closet. Yeah, I know....what was I thinking! But it made up for lack of space by being only 15 minutes away from work. And through work, I found an investor with cash and made a deal to find a house to properly put down Floridain roots.
I walked through countless foreclosure houses that price-wise were fantastic deals, but inside looked like pictures of Dresden - after the bombings. People being foreclosed upon are a bitter group for the most part. Plumbing fixtures, interior doors, mouldings, appliances, carpeting - all of these seemed to take the brunt force of this bitterness - or were simply ripped out. Finally however, I did manage to find a diamond in the rough. A 3 bdrm/2 bath home with a pool(!) that needed work but still had toilets! HURRAY!
Keep in mind foreclosure homes are sold "as-is". As the daughter of a car salesman, I am fully aware of all the ramifications of that statement. Investor assured me - and contractually agreed - to some repairs to the fencing, cleaning the pool (which looks right now like the Black Lagoon made famous by the Creature), etc. So, I packed up and moved in. On July 12th. (think Florida heat in mid July). Only to discover the central air is dead as a door nail. Kaput. No cold air, no luke warm air. No air, period. I have promises that it will be repaired "soon". In the meantime, I have found a wet dish towel wrapped around your neck helps...a little.
So, as I begin this Blog, I am sitting as naked as I can legally get away with, surrounded by cartons containing all of my worldly goods. Too hot to unpack. Thankfully for the dog and cat, most of the floors are ceramic tile. I never saw a dog stretch out as flat on the floor before as Chewbacca has managed.. All four paws straight out, chin on the tile.
I am hoping this is the last move for quite awhile. I have already decided that my next move will entail only a couple of suitcases and a plane ticket. Hope my daughter gets her guest room ready in time :)
7/16/10
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