Move to Tampa--Moving day

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Dear Family and Friends,

Moving Day finally arrived. We ate a leisurely breakfast, then went back to the motel and packed up, washed the dishes, packed up some more, and drove to our new home. As so many of Tampa's apartments are, it was a gated community. Actually, a pleasant drive leads to two gates, one straight ahead and one to the left. Between the two gates is the administration building with a deep porch and rockers, and a fountain in front with flowers. Behind the administration building is a small gym, and to the side is thw pool. The post office is also there, and a computer room, and an oven where each morning they bake cookies for anyone to stop buy and share coffee and a cookie.

At the back of the pool a deck has a flight of steps which leads to a small bridge which leads to a roofed deck built in the water of the lake, and which serves as a fishing pavillion. A fountain springs from the lake during daylight hours. Four buildings of three stories each for each gated side. We are in the second building on the ground floor. Our good sized apartment, a tad oddly shaped consists of two bedrooms, 2 good sized bathroom, a long narrow room that is the livingroom/dining room area, and a kitchen. There is also a utility room with the washer and dryer, and each apartment has a small screened balcony. The bedroom windows are huge.

We had quite a lot of items to unload from the car. They had thoroughly cleaned the apartment for us, but I am a big believer in shelf paper, which saves huges amounts of cleaning when one leaves, so we headed to the Wallmart directly across the street for shelf paper, and other little necessities, and for groceries. On the way back I noticed the sign by the lake: "Caution! Allegators have been sighted." Oh boy.

Signing the lease, cutting up shelf paper, organizing our sparse possessions, etc. took up a lot of time. In addition, Raj's co-worker who clued us into this excellent place to live (unlike so many leases you can get a month-to-month lease here) invited us to dinner at their apartment in the building next door. We took a little time to explore and discovered a large sunken field behind our building, and another, smaller and more wild lake separated by the larger one by a huge dike. My guess is that that is where the allegators actually hang out, confirmed when our friends told us that on the day they moved out they saw a gator sunning himself just below their third floor balcony. By late afternoon we were out of things to do, just waiting for the moving van. R went off to do some errands and I sat and rocked and rocked and rocked on the office porch, but they never showed. Raj came back. No van. They eventually showed up at dusk, having gotten lost several times on the way down.

It was late and dark by the time they unloaded us and left. I unpacked the sheets and pillows and we stumbled into bed. Raj had actually made an offer on a condominium, so there was a possibility that we might move in a month or two. Therefore, we only unpacked half our boxes, the ones containing clothes and cooking utensils. My books, Raj's papers, all the little tchotchkes, and our collection of posters from the many lovely places we have visited were all left boxed. It need both our efforts for two days, and while it left a rather drab effect, we did achieve a reasonable arrangement.

On Monday, Raj headed out to work and I headed straight for the fishing pavilion to practice my Tai Chi. It is a beautiful spot, just made for Tai Chi. I learned not to rush there but to amble slowly, enjoying the sun rise and the morning bird songs. Sometimes I saw a rabbit or a raccoon scurry past. Squirrels chased each other up and down the trees. A large wrought iron fence separates the pool area, deck, and steps from the bank of the lake. One day I finished my Tai Chi and was admiring the beautiful eagle decoration on the last post of the fence. When it moved I remembered there were not ornaments on the fence; this was a real bird, not an eagle but an anhinga. A beautiful thing, all black until it spreads its wings, when you see a it bordered by a band of white. It swims with its body underwater just its long neck and narrow head sticking out, so it can be mistaken for a swimming snake, so it is called "snake bird." It has no protective oil, as ducks do, so it must spread its lovely wings in the sun and dry its feathers, which it did each morning as I finished my Tai Chi. Other days I saw a little blue heron strut along the edges looking for breakfast, and nearly always a squadron of ducks would fly in.

The ducks actually preferred to swim in the swimming pool, and one day I accidently headed off Mama Duck who was leading a line of her ducklings under the fence on the way to the pool. When she spotted me coming up the steps she turned around and chivvied the ducklings back to lake, squawking all the while with the righteous indignation of someone totally in the wrong. One morning Raj got up early with me, and we went to the pavilion to watch the sun rise. The air was too foggy to see the lake's rim, the fountain was not yet on, and not a bird was in sight. Just as we were about to give up the blue heron flew past us, a huge shape flying out of and into the mist. A few moments later a splash, and then we saw the snake head of the anhinga sail by. Fish leaped all around us, and we could hear the ducks quacking. We watched long enough to see the sun rise and spot the heron striding on the far edge stabbing for a fish or a frog, then went back to our apartment (flat) where our morning tea tasted extra good. On a later visit as I finished my Tai Chi I noticed a bit of what looked at first like litter but turned out to be a turtle swimming towards me. I don't want to live in Florida, but I do like our apartment location and its lake and pavillion.

We did not buy the condo, so on that later visit we did some rearranging of furniture into a more harmonious pattern, unpacked all my books, hung the posters, and spread around the little knick-knacks, which make the apartment very welcoming and homelike. In the meantime, having unpacked as much as I could, and having stowed away as many boxes as I could, I had one day left before returning to cooler weather in Pothole. I had been thinking about those gorgeous clothes in the Oriental Bazaar, so on my last day, even though it was over an hour each day by bus, I went there and bought two blouses and a dress, all of which I wear often with great satisfaction and many compliments. I look forward to dropping by there, credit card at the ready, on my next visit.

Love to you all.

PS During the month of July I went with my dearest friend, Emma, to Washington, DC. It was not a vacation but a working trip for Emma, and I went as an unpaid assistant. We did have the week-end off, and naturally gravitated to the Smithsonian. We discovered that the Museum of Native Americans has absolutly wonderful food, and recommend it highly, especially if you are a tad daring in your food choices. (If you aren't, they have hamburgers and fries.) Choose carefully, however. Our first day we chose entree's which came with two sides, and that plus beverage and dessert (don't skip the desserts--they are fabulous!) ran us about $12.00. The next day we ordered a la carte, and spent about $25.00. Worth it but be forewarned.

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