Lots of Room on the Beach

Bob's Laughing Gull

We bundled up, picked up a couple of Subway sandwiches, and headed to Pass-a-Grille for the sunset. Bob decided to walk with his sandwich and talk to us, with his back to the water. He quickly made friends with a laughing gull, and (not being much of a crust eater) he illegally started dropping chunks of bread, which were quickly scarfed up by the bird.

The gull's many friends soon arrived and circled Bob's head, screeching noisily for a handout. He soon looked like the Birdman of Alcatraz, though less serene. In fact, not serene at all. Maybe it was more like a scene out of Hitchcock's The Birds. The wind was blowing so hard that I didn't dare put my own sandwich down to take a picture.

Marilyn and Bob sat huddled on the park bench, looking as though they were going to dump me to wait in the car. However, they pressed on and we stayed until the sun dropped into the gulf. People scurried off the beach and it was soon quiet again, except for the odd evening walker.

Habemus Papam Franciscum

A new pope already! Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected on March 13, 2013. Lots of stories on Vatican News but, for the most part, we watched the coverage on CNN.

Pope Francis I, now Bishop of Rome, visited the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore soon after his election. Bob and I visited the basilica on a choir tour in 1999. I returned later on my own for what turned out to be a private viewing of the famous mosaics, which I'd missed two decades earlier when I was in Italy with my mother.

It's awesome to remember the sights and smells (wax, incense, dust) of that lovely space.

Marilyn Makes Three

My sister Marilyn drove through snow and sleet on icy roads to get to YYZ yesterday morning for her flight to Atlanta followed by a connection to Tampa. We picked her up at the airport, which is much less busy mid-week than it was last Saturday when we arrived.

Marilyn Marshall. That's me in the reflection.

It was chilly but warm enough for lunch on the deck: cold cuts, cheese, salads, hummus ~ all washed down with a tasty but cheap Barefoot Riesling. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, now bathwater warm since the heater was fixed. It had been broken over the weekend, which suited me fine, but even I was happy to slip into warm water on a cool day.