Greetings from Florida

Travelled a bit further back east on Wednesday night to Jacksonville, Florida to stay for a few days with cousin David and his wife, Bobby.  They recently changed to an almost vegan diet so I have been eating very healthily.   The day starts with a green smoothie - banana, orange juice, ginger and spinach.  I was cautious at first, but it's really delicious!   I got on their scales this morning and had lost a ridiculous amount of weight which can't be true.  Must be the difference in the scales. 

Sadly David has a bad cold and has been in bed most of the time but Bobby and I did a saunter round their neighbourhood yesterday morning to get some ideas for part of their front garden which looks a bit sorry for itself.  Not much inspiration elsewhere.  In this hot part of the country people go for low maintenance heat resistance plants, which tend to be green and leathery, tough springy grass and ferns.  

During the day we went and collected David and Bobby's 4 year old grandson to take him to a therapy session.  He has Down's syndrome and needs speech and physical therapy.  He never got to therapy as he fell sound asleep in the car and could not be woken, so Bobby and I cruised round for a while so that I could see some of the architecture (amazingly mixed) and also have a glimpse of the beach.  An wonderful stretch of hard white sand.  It was tempting, but I wasn't dressed for the beach or lathered in suntan cream either and the sun was very hot.   

In the evening we went to a concert by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra which was excellent.  We had seats in the second row.  The nearest I've ever sat to an orchestra. I'm not sure about the merits of proximity, I think a view of the whole orchestra has advantages.  

Bobby found someone to take David's ticket and we picked her up en route.  She's someone that Bobby only knows slightly and it turned out to be an interesting experience.   We weren't absolutely sure she wasn't drunk or high. Bobby and I turned round in the lobby and she was being photographed by someone...mind you her red dress was pretty tight and low cut!   She had a hooting voice and began talking to people and flinging out loud remarks.  She attracted quite a lot of puzzled looks!   Turns out her ex husband is in prison and she can't leave the state of Florida because her son is on probation (although he has disappeared and she does't know where he is).  Poor woman, her life seemed very complicated.