More Florida Memories

I got a call from the tenants of my sister Susan and my condo in Stuart, Florida the other day, telling me that the air conditioning had gone on the fritz.  Not a surprise, since this time of year the A/C is on 24/7.  A quick call to the air conditioning people fixed the problem, but getting a call from our tenants reminds me that I really miss not being able to head down there any time I want.  That's the price you pay if you don't want to have the expense of two homes, I guess. And by the way, I took the photo on the left of my mother Mary, sister Susan, and father Nelson (an eccentric looking bunch, at least in this photo) back in 1977, the year after my parents moved to that condo in Stuart from Chicago.  Susan and I were visiting during that summer, as I recall, and this photo was taken on a day when we decided to explore the beach on Jupiter Island, just a short drive south of Stuart.  It was a whole new world for us, all having grown up and lived in Chicago all our lives, and it was a truly wonderful time.

My father passed away in 1983, a mere 7 years after he and my mother moved to Stuart, but he really loved the place, and I am glad he had at least that much time to enjoy his retirement. My mother also loved Stuart, made a lot of friends down there, and continued to live there for almost 30 years, until she moved up here to live with me in Denver.  We were still able to fly down to Stuart twice a year or so to visit, and so my mother was able to enjoy both her home down in Stuart and also spend time with Susan and myself up here in Colorado.  The photograph on the right is of my mother on the patio of the Island Reef, a favorite lunch spot on the ocean for us whenever I would visit.

Eventually I hope to live down in Stuart for 5 months a year and rent the place out during the season (January through March), when you can charge twice the amount of rent each month, even though the temperatures then are cool (often downright cold) and the days short, which effectively takes all the fun out of dining by the water. The photograph on the left is of an egret that used to hang out on the St. Lucie River, just a short walk from our condo, with Stewie Anderson's sailboat in the background.  This boat was the lone occupant of the complex's yacht club, since the City of Stuart would not allow them to dredge.  And considering what a lovely and peaceful spot this is, I am damn glad, too.