Gorgeous starburst fireworks. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneschoon/3389256448.

Oh yes, it’s HOT in Florida right now. Most days you could probably fry that proverbial egg on our sun-baked sidewalks. But that’s not the kind of sizzle I’m talking about. It’s the smokin’ hot lineup of events planned for Independence Day that I’m talkin’ about!

A weekend of festivities kicks off with “Powerboats By The Bay,” a collection of souped-up racing boats on display at downtown’s Centennial Park on July 3rd & 4th, followed by a spectacular fireworks show over Sarasota Bay at 9 p.m. on the 4th. Although the fireworks can be seen from almost anywhere in the downtown area, in-the-know Sarasotans head for the Bayfront near Island Park, where the the dazzling pyrotechnics create mirror images in the calm waters of the Bay.

Mosaic of pyrotechnics, as seen from Sarasota's Bayfront Park. Photos courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/markus941/729113535.

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A happy Fourth of July to you all. I am spending my holiday at my favorite motel in the whole wide world, the Cape Pines Motel, located in the tiny fishing village of Buxton on Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Why, you may wonder, am I staying at a motel, when I could be staying in my own home on the Outer Banks? Can you guess??? After 18 months on the market and two long months under contract, I finally closed on my house yesterday. It was what is known as a “dry closing,” since it happened too late in the day for the attorneys to make it to the courthouse to record the deed prior to 5 PM. Recording will take place on Monday and it is then that I will officially be able to say my house is sold.

I had to proceed as if the recording would take place yesterday, so I cleaned the house, right down to stripping the linens off the bed and washing everything on Thursday morning. When I learned that recording would be delayed until Monday, I couldn’t bear the thought of messing up the house, so I imposed on my good friends, Bill & Angie Rapant, owners of the Cape Pines, who have graciously made their personal guest room available to me. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have friends like them.

For the past nine weeks I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, handling the various tasks required to bring the contract to closing. I have been so busy that I have only been to the beach once, and then only for Read the rest of this entry »