My morning bike ride ( A tour of Anna Maria)

Nothing is more relaxing than my morning rides.  I live in a VERY small town.  We call it "Mayberry at the beach"!  We don't have mailboxes because there's not enough people to have a mail carrier.  Everyone goes to the Post Office to pick up their mail from the Post Mistress.  ( Yes, I'm serious)  There's the Community Church and the Baptist Church...if you're some other denomination, you have to go to Holmes Beach or Bradenton Beach for church.  We have seven restaurants because of the tourists and a few shops for them to browse.  Oh, and two fishing piers, a City Hall and a Community Theatre that puts on plays when the Snow Birds arrive.  And that's my town in a nutshell.

But on my ride yesterday morning, I decided to go really slow and look for things that were unusual, or just pretty to me.  The only camera I had was my cell phone, but I think the picture turned out o.k.

So enjoy the tour of my little town, my Mayberry at the beach.....

             Anna Maria City Pier.  Great place to watch families fishing together!

                                     Heading out from one of the canals for a day on the water.

   Bear in a golf cart pulling a kayak!

                                                         

Looks like somebody's all set for a day on the beach!

One of many rental houses on the island.  This one is gulf front.  You can open the windows and listen to the ocean or just walk across the road and your standing on the beach!

   The Egret screen door...love it!

Totally Old Florida Wacky!

More wacky

  Ginny and Jane E's at the old IGA..great place!

 Ordering breakfast at Ginny and Jane E's

More of Ginny and Jane E's

                  The General Store...basic needs plus wine, cheeses and Artisan breads made daily

The Waterfront Restaurant.  Really good food and if you sit on the porch to eat, you can see the Cruise Ships come under the Skyline Bridge heading for Mexico on Thursday and Sunday night!  

  Getting ready for Winter at the marina on Bimini Bay

Oleander 

Gotta love this yard!  It makes me smile every time I ride past.  Little signs everywhere telling you what kind of flowers and trees are there, and one that says, "Free Weeds - take as many as you like"!

Oh when the Saints, go marching in.....they'll be eating red beans and rice!

There are few things that make me as happy as watching my New Orleans Saints!  Been a fan since Day One.  Sat in the Superdome WITHOUT a bag on my head during the "Aints" years.  Made my boss at work install a big screen t.v. and get NFL Ticket, or I wouldn't work on Sunday.  Cried when I saw what that bitch Katrina did to the Dome and cried again, this time with joy, when my Saints came marching back in the Dome the next September.  Gloated for a month when we won the Superbowl and never gave up until the last second ticked off the clock last year.  So you can imagine the my delight when I saw this PINK jersey!  I have politely asked my children ( on Facebook so everyone will know) to give this to me for Christmas.  Right now, there's a little more Contessa than the Contessa would like there to be, so a trim down is in order!

So, in keeping with the trim down theme, I offer my Red Beans and Rice recipe!  Enjoy!

  This is a recipe for one since I live alone.  Just double or quadruple or whatever you need to do!

1/4 cup dried kidney beans
1 cup frozen onion and pepper mix ( I use Pict-Sweet)
1 Morningstar Farms Hot and Spicy "Sausage" patty
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Crystal Hot Sauce to taste
1/4 cup brown rice (dry measure)

Cook your red beans like you always do , using the garlic, salt and pepper and hot sauce during the cooking.

When your beans are done, start your rice ( I use the slow cooking rice, it's cheaper!) .  While your rice is cooking, add the onions and peppers and the patty to your beans.  Don't worry about thawing the patty.  Just let it cook and break it up as it cooks.

That's it!  It's lighter and healthier than what I used to make, but it's full of flavor.  And this makes a BIG serving for about 300 calories.

Now don't blow it with garlic bread...just get some 40 calorie bread, add some Olivio and garlic salt and you're set!

Wash it down with a Michelob Ultra ( 95 calories) and you'll be comforted, but not uncomfortable!!

Happy Eatin' Y'all!

While taking my morning bike ride, I stopped at the beach.  It was a beautiful morning.  There was no sound, except the waves gently lapping on the shore.  I got off my bike to just "take it all in".  It was about that time that I heard the plane.  It was just a small two-seater, but that sound sent me back ten years.  To a sunny, September Sunday morning.  I was walking down the beach on another island, Hilton Head Island, SC.  The only sounds were the waves gently lapping on the shore...and the sound of the Coast Guard chopper pacing up and down the coastline.  It was the Sunday after 9/11.  The sound of one lonely chopper will be forever in my memory.

This week, I have learned much more about the area in which I now live, a little island called Anna Maria.  There were significant ties to 9/11 in the Sarasota, FL area.  The two terrorists that slammed those planes into the Twin Towers learned to fly about 45 minutes down the road from my house, in Venice.   President Bush was at Booker Elementary in Sarasota when he was told of the attack.  That's about 30 minutes from my front door.  It's easy to forget about these things.  But this week, I saw people interviewed on local tv that most of America will never see.  I saw the man who owns the flight school, the teacher that was seated beside President Bush and several of those students who were reading to him while the World was crashing down.  It really hits home when you see the faces, hear the voices of those, though not at Ground Zero, the Pentagon or in a field in Pennsylvania, played a part in that day.  It makes you realize how that day changed so many more lives than the families and friends of those lost. 

I am grateful for every moment of freedom.  I am grateful for our Troops who defend us.  I am grateful for a God who still protects us.  It is my prayer that none of us ever take any of it for granted again.