Memory Lane for Jim...

We took Mom back to Largo on Saturday afternoon, then Jim decided he wanted to see the changes in his old neck of the woods. He lived in Clearwater for 30 years before marrying me, and living in Indiana for the past ten and a half.
We headed towards Dunedin, then crossed the Dunedin causeway to reach heaven...really it was the Honeymoon Island State Park. Caladesi Island is there too, and it is a beautiful area. Lots of walkers, bikers, condos, and we saw two weddings having photos taken on the beach. Such a pretty area. The state park has a dog beach which is where we headed. We saw a 'beware of rattlesnakes' sign, next to the dog poop bag dispenser. As we walked towards the beach, (egad what a hike), it was obvious to us that most of the folks forgot to take advantage of that dispenser! People are lazy and stupid; not caring about the beautiful park, and the "gift" of a dog beach! When we got to the beach, tidepools were between us and the surf, and we didn't want to cross it, making corgi paws wet and sandy for the car. Their feet caught all sorts of sand burrs. Three big labs were romping free on the beach in the water, and pooped on the wet sand. I guess their owners didn't see the '6-foot leash sign'. We stared at them, until they picked up their mess. (There are some things we are a tad radical about!)Sheesh! Anyway, the views were cool, and the dogs had a good walk.
Onward towards Palm Harbor, which had a charming historical atmosphere in the heart of its tiny downtown. The buildings were little cottages, housing lawyers, eateries, and small businesses. Tarot readers and psychics had their shingles up too.
Tarpon Springs has the largest Greek-American population than in any other U.S. city. Greek immigrants went there in the 1880's to dive for sponges, a huge industry at the time. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is a beautiful old-world building, with fantastic windows. The sponge docks and fishing piers in the heart of old downtown, seemed enhanced by the docked old ships , and statues of men in diving bells. The hustle bustle in the historical area was loaded with busy tourist-trap shops, tiny greek restaurants and people at sunset.
We kept on going, and ended up at Paul's shrimply Shrimp....for our favorite Florida fish, grouper. (Our waitress told us that her 17-year old friend, Michael, caught the grouper daily, and sold it to the proprietor). We sat outside on the deck. Jake, our male corgi, enjoyed a feast inside the car. He opened up a ziploc bag of homemade blueberry muffins, made with milled wheat kernals, which Christina, our daughter-in-law, had made for us. Believe me, corgis do not need thumbs!
All in all........Jim enjoyed seeing the area again, and I always like rubbernecking...and Jake really liked the muffins!