Bad Blogger, Bad Bad Blogger

Ah, shame on me. I've been a bad blogger, a bad bad blogger. Cut me some slack. I need it, some slack that is. Slammed for days in the kitchen with baking orders, some for charity, some for friends, some for special orders, I've been sifting, stirring, measuring, spilling, wiping, and sweating. I had a crush of baking to do, its hard to believe, but it all happened at once. Sure, I love the baking, I really do, but there were some days when I collapsed in bed at the end of the day with my legs throbbing from standing on the hard tile floors for double digit hours each day. That being said, I know I owe you a post about Mr. Happy Vegan's experience on the roof, and I promise you that will be the next post without fail. It will. However, I just want to catch you up on the goings on down here, so this will be relatively brief.

I am, once again, pressed for time. Today is Tuesday, which means Pop is up at his club running his twice weekly golf game. Translation is that Jen drives up and back, twice a week, twice each of those days, to drop him off in the morning, and pick him up in the late afternoon. That is what is pressing right now, the time is almost here for me to begin the trek back over the dreaded giant bridge. Speaking of Pop, let me tell you that he turned 102 yesterday. Pop was born into an entirely different world than I was, literally and figuratively. I've got a picture to post, and I will share that soon, along with another tribute to one of my coolest and best friends ever. But, its certainly worth mentioning that Pop cracked the ceiling on another milestone birthday, and both myself and Mr. Happy Vegan were among the many friends and family to celebrate (and eat lots of cake.... chocolate, of course, baked by yours truly).

Other happenings down here worth mentioning include the fact that we have had close to 2 weeks now with temps over 80, yesterday approached 90. Its fantastic, yes, it is. For a few reasons, I had some days where I was exceptionally cranky (shocking, isn't it?!) but I think part of it was the fact that I was not acknowledging it was solidly in the 80s here, and I was baking like a fiend for hours every day.... without air conditioning. It actually wasn't until yesterday when I realized "hm, maybe some AC would help the situation." And, it did.

Still running regularly, but am about to ditch the Vibrams. I haven't encountered anyone else who has the problem that is plaguing me, numbness. I can do about 2.5 miles before I find myself struggling with numbness in a couple toes, which doesn't sound much, but when you're pounding out a few miles for time, its awful. I still stand by my statement that my stride is longer and better, but the comfort level is not what I hoped for at this point. That being said, I did my very first barefoot asphalt run, which I hope to never do again. I came home with a blister, and pain from those itty bitty pea rock pebbles which somehow seem to find their way into the street, in exactly the spot where I will be running, no matter how hard I try to avoid them.

As a final note, the horrible trauma in Japan is at the forefront of my concerns. Some of my stress is very much directly a result of the environmental crisis unfolding from the nuke plant in Japan, and sorrow for the people who first lived through an earthquake, then tsunami, and now a nuclear disaster. No matter how we slice it, we reap as we sow. This is my blog, so I will say that I believe more nuclear plants are not what we should be building. The human race has been arrogant and ignorant, many scientists, environmentalists and other experts warnings have been ignored for decades. Now its coming home to roost. Please do anything you can to support the workers trying to halt the nuclear disaster from become worse than it already is (radiation is in the ocean, you'd think it couldn't get any worse, but, it can; it can get much, much worse). Good thoughts, energy, prayers, whatever you subscribe to, do it. And, any other way you can find to assist those who have been stricken would be a nice idea too. A very nice idea.

For now, that's it from Big Pine Key. I'm off to pick up Pop, and then hit the road for a sunset run. I promise, I'll be a better blogger, and will tell you the story I've promised. Now, hopefully the story was worth the wait!