"Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on.”
- Irving Berlin
I am always told that when it comes to looking on the brights side, do
so with caution as you may risk inviting adversity back into your life. On the
other hand, it’s fair to step outside your comfort zone occasionally and
reflect on life’s journey. This time last year we were simply cruising along,
looking forward to yet one more conference and a break from daily routines.
Imagining the changes we have made in just six months just wasn’t something we
were giving any thought to; and then it all changed.
Margo and I had built a house on a golf course in the city of Windsor.
This House of Windsor, as we are now referring to the home we created and lived
in for seven plus years, was to be our place of refuge in our twilight years.
But then, for Margo, along came COVID not once but twice and our situation took
an unexpected turn that left us rethinking everything about the life we had
planned to live.
LMWS is spread alongside the Intracoastal
Waterway
adjacent to barrier islands facing the Gulf of Mexico.
We had always enjoyed the music of Jimmy Buffett. We have our car
satellite radios tuned to Margaritaville. Looking back several decades, it was
Margo who walked into Margaritaville, Key West, Florida and up to where Jimmy
was sitting, enjoying lunch with a business acquaintance, and asked for his
autograph. Holding an unused luncheon menu, Jimmy’s reluctance quickly
dissolved when Margo politely informed him that returning to Margaritaville
that night, would have been inconvenient. So yes, stepping away from protocol,
Jimmy signed the menu.
As I now write this post Margo and I have taken up occupancy in Latitude
Margaritaville Water Sound (LMWS), the third such Margaritaville development
following similar creations in Hilton Head, South Carolina and Daytona,
Florida. With a selection of building lots to choose from and a variety of
Key-West influenced homes on offer, we are now on the list to tackle building
yet one more home. This time, it will be part of a laid-back, beachy lifestyle to
which we are rapidly becoming accustomed.
“Feel the heat pushing you to decide
Feel the heat burning you up, ready or not!
- Jean Beauvoir
Yes, some like it hot. Electing to take those first steps to living in
Florida during the months of July and August, we were informed, may not prove
to be the best time to be introduced to Florida living. Given the time it will
take before any home we build will be ready for us, we have taken out a year
long rental of a house that was just finished and where the owner was delaying
their own move to LMWS. Yes, walking into a brand new, unfurnished home, only
to see the garage thermometer showing 100F may have been off-putting for some,
but not Margo and me.
It was only a short time ago that we spent a summer in Sydney. For those who may not be familiar with Sydney’s geography, it is as close to the equator as is southern Florida and with the Coral Sea to the north where it straddles the Tropic of Capricorn, we haven’t seen or felt too much that differs between the two locations. LMWS is just like Sydney on a mid-summer’s day, where both temperature and humidity battle each other to see which is recording the bigger number.
Consistency may be a blessing for some!
We paid a visit to this part of Florida back in late April. The Panhandle
or, better yet, the Emerald Coast as it is also known, is a place of pure white
sand beaches and a relaxed, gentle surf. More reminiscent of a large lake or an
inland sea, the beaches provide a backdrop in support of the languid nature of
the lifestyle embraced by all those we have encountered to date. Living here
seems so far removed from the village and city lives we have experienced in the
past, be that in Colorado or California. Maybe it is the heat but then again,
maybe it’s the margaritas.
The garage often reflects a temperature of 100F but outside it’s been a
more pleasant 90F but with close on 100% humidity, if you aren’t used to it,
then it can be oppressive. But again, having spent all my formative years in
Sydney and enjoying a career that routinely had Margo and me spending time in
Sydney more often than not during its summer, for us both it’s not quite as
oppressive as many make out Florida in summer to be. Is it possible that such
scare tactics, as we have read, are simply propagated to discourage vacationers
from heading south in summer?
Humidity more often than not
presents itself as rain, particularly at night.
What we are really sorting
out is where exactly folks go for a quiet night out. Take it from us, LMWS has
the Latitude Bar & Chill Restaurant styled very much along the lines of Margaritaville
establishments everywhere. However, catering to the over 55 crowd, once the sun
sets it can get very noisy – no respite here far from the maddening crowd or somewhere
to seek out fine dining. It is what it is; typical for the Emerald Coast and
indeed the entire Florida coastline, simple in and out dining with mostly bar
food.
However, the presence of the
Latitude Bar & Chill Restaurant alongside the Intracoastal Waterway is
ideally situated for watching the sun set over the water. And many of the
residents of LMWS make it a practice to step outside the restaurant to catch
the last rays of the day. With the prevailing weather conditions delivering
thunderstorms complete with vivid lightening displays and intense but brief
periods of rain, sometimes it’s just a case of staying indoors and looking
outside as rain streams down the window panes.
Clarity can come even
with the heaviest rainfall.
While posting to social media sites this past week, I came across this
visualization in a post to LinkedIn. And it struck me that this is exactly what
any writer faces. Seeing past the raindrops to gain a clearer picture of what
is happening in the big wide world. In a short couple of weeks’ time, Margo and
I will be celebrating 15 years with our company Pyalla Technologies, LLC. For
much of that time, it’s been a fun ride as we work with a small group of
clients with whom we really do enjoy. That’s not to say there haven’t been
times when the rain obfuscated clarity but even then, there was always
something that turned up that allowed us to keep going.
It is very true that it is until you start to actually write that
concepts, even the most abstract, take shape and a storyline surfaces. It is
almost as if we need the rain to wash away the distractions of the day and to
bring into focus what it is we really need to say. Arriving in Florida, a place
so different to us having lived for so long by the mountains has awaken ideas
and created thoughts that have begin driving new outlooks on business,
technology and indeed, life itself. What more can any writer ask for than a
complete change in location along with an environment that will take weeks if
not months to properly explore. Ah – but at this time of the year, the rain
keeps falling and the need to sweep away the rivulets of rain a constant
reminder that there is a lot more out there than what is just a few inches in
front of us.
Beachside at Margaritaville, Panama City Beach
Taking the road out of the community and driving the six or seven miles
to the coast, crossing the Intracoastal Waterway, leads us to the other
Margaritaville. Not a community but rather just the restaurant of the same
name. On a rainy night, the outside tables could be had rather rapidly as
patrons all gathered inside. Sampling the key lime pie is a must as is finding
somewhere to sit close to where live music is emanating. Rain may distort what
is in front of us but when it comes to a laid-back lifestyle it seems to play
an integral part in desensitizing us from all that is happening around us.
“Another slice of pie, perhaps?” always seems to be followed with “Well, why
not!”
In many ways Panama City Beach reminds Margo and I of Queensland,
Australia. Having vacationed in Cannes and then in the Whitsunday Islands as
well as attending more than one conference on the Gold Coast, Panama City Beach
is more like the latter location than any of the former locations. It is a
reminder of times spent ducking raindrops along Surfers Beach even as for me,
Panama City Beach is reminiscent of the Queensland Gold Coast circa 1960s.
There are no 100 story condo towers and no true fine dining and not
surprisingly, having left our home on Sanctuary Drive in Windsor, Colorado we
often gravitated to Sanctuary Cove, Queensland for a taste of the local seafood
cooked and presented the way seafood should be plated.
The basics are covered!
Who doesn't enjoy a morning coffee while seated in a beach chair!
For now, our one-year rental of an unfurnished home is undergoing
change. While a couple of beach chairs, an upturned box supporting a couple of
coffee mugs and a stand-up work station are about all we had on day one, plans
have formed as to what we need and in which order and already the necessary
furniture is being delivered. A vase holding an arrangement of dried, yellow
roses that we brought from Colorado was perhaps the very first architectural
element to be “installed.” But the simple, uncluttered decor that we hope to
maintain is just one more example of how clarity is influencing what we do.
Talk to anyone who goes through this process and there is a common
response that without clutter there is a more relaxed approach to life. And in
all seriousness, there isn’t anything less cluttered than the simply beach
lifestyle, Margaritaville-like, and the way it provides stimulus to any writer.
Already I have wrapped up two articles and drafted an outline for another. Then
again, this is expected of Margo and me and after 15 years, we are surprised
that we have a client list that enjoys our approach to storytelling.
Retirement? There I go, mentioning it but the truth is, writing is my
retirement and for as long as I see storylines becoming clear, then this and
other social media sites will continue to be home.
Watch for more updates and photos to come as we work to make this temporary house a home. It may never reach the heights of our former House of Windsor but it doesn’t have to. For Margo and me it’s enough that the rain doesn’t make its way through the roof and the quietness of a sunset can still be found. It may be just a beach and a harbor to some, but for us, this particular harbor and its surrounding waterways have become our new home.
“Most mysterious calling harbor
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear.”
- Jimmy Buffett
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