JUST CHECKING IN
WEDNESDAY WALK
Sometimes, especially if we do the one.point.seven (both bridges, all the way round Massalina Bayou) or two.point.oh (one.point.seven plus a visit to Ritz Theatre and remember when it was eleven cents to get in, a quarter upon reaching age twelve, and the Saturday Morning Kiddy Matinee with Bud Davis leading us in Hail, hail, the gang's all here), the walk is an hour. It may be less, forty minutes, or thirty. Monday we watched a fishing boat return to Tarpon Dock Fish Market after a thirty day voyage fishing for grouper). Whatever, it’s decent exercise for a couple of octogenarians who are trying to stay three steps ahead of Father Time and out of sight of the Evil Eye.
It’s just Robert and me, who have known each other since second grade. We lived across from each other on Massalina Bayou, Robert in the Green House, me in the white house with Green Shutters. We were in Cove School together. Class of 1953, we graduated from Bay High together, me in the band, Robert played varsity basketball and an excellent all round athlete. We were both born in 1935 and as Robert says, we went to each other’s seventh birthday parties. We walk every Monday and Wednesday morning and remember. Walk and remember.
About quarter to seven I leave home so as to park on Linda Avenue behind Cove School by seven o’clock. Dressed in a white shirt that has born the years and today is promoted to a gardening shirt, this is me this morning in the elevator on the way down to the garage.
The sun was just coming present in front of the Bill Lloyd Building as I parked.
Our walks have taken us all over the Cove. We like walking around Massalina Bayou, but don’t always do that, probably more often it's west on Cherry Street to the Bay and down Beach Drive. This morning’s walk ended strolling down an alley between 2nd Court and 3rd Street and between Linda Avenue and Hamilton Avenue.
Someone has an older Ford Explorer planted in the alley melting into the ground, and I keep hoping a for sale sign will appear on it. On Massalina Drive there’s an old Tahoe gathering leaves and hasn’t been registered for three or four years. It would be my first choice for a for sale sign.
Wednesday is breakfast morning. We take turns buying breakfast, and whoever is not buying gets to choose the restaurant. Sometimes Bayou Joe’s. Golden Corral. Panama Cafe on the Bay a time or two. One favorite, especially on a day that’s good for eating outside on the back porch, is Big Mama’s on the Bayou. This morning was such, and as we waited for our breakfast we watched
this bird scouting around the marsh at bayou’s edge and catching minnows. As nearly always in the bayou, mullet jumping.
We’ve been doing this for over a year now, and I find that having a friend to walk with establishes accountability that keeps it going. Monday walk. Tuesday Cardio Chuck's Shop. Wednesday walk. Thursday either goof off or elevator down to the gym here at HV. Friday Cardio Chuck. Saturday usually goof but sometimes gym.
T trying to extend +Time
It’s just Robert and me, who have known each other since second grade. We lived across from each other on Massalina Bayou, Robert in the Green House, me in the white house with Green Shutters. We were in Cove School together. Class of 1953, we graduated from Bay High together, me in the band, Robert played varsity basketball and an excellent all round athlete. We were both born in 1935 and as Robert says, we went to each other’s seventh birthday parties. We walk every Monday and Wednesday morning and remember. Walk and remember.
About quarter to seven I leave home so as to park on Linda Avenue behind Cove School by seven o’clock. Dressed in a white shirt that has born the years and today is promoted to a gardening shirt, this is me this morning in the elevator on the way down to the garage. T trying to extend +Time