Independence Whut!

So not only did today NOT start at 9, but we blew right by 10:30 too. 🙂 Try noon. But we had good intentions! We bbq’ed the eggplant and tomato, and were munching on the (extremely tasty) end result by 1:30.

Mom makes a batch of roti on a using makeshift wire rack to puff them up.

Fried onions, mmmm…..

That red speck near the center of the photo is Neil, taking care of the BBQ. I’m standing on the bridge walkway which leads from my place over the lake to the pool.

Neil gets things going. Don’t think he was expecting me here. 🙂

Three eggplant and a giant ugly ripe tomato! You can’t tell, but that grill is HOT.

Those “Match Light” briquettes are great. Lit the whole bunch in one try!

Dad manning the grill.

In the shot above this one, walk forward, past Dad, fifteen meters or so, turn 90 degrees counter-clockwise and you’ll find yourself here. This would be a nice bench if the ducks didn’t poop on it!

Here I’m leaning over rail of the walkway. These guys are great. I think they all expect me to feed them.

My apartment complex is named “Heron’s Run”. And here, we have…

Mom combines the grilled eggplant, garlic, tomato and onions. Mmmmmmm, this stuff is /so/ good.
Then it was off to downtown to watch.. and you really won’t believe this until you see it: bed racing. Yeah. That’s right. Mattress, sheets, and wheels. The winner won a silver bedpan.

The bed racers — two teams of Publix (like a Safeway) employees. The starting gun was just fired.

Hustling up the street.

Almost there!
Met up with Cam and Melissa while watching, then it was down to Siesta Key Beach, where we /think/ some sort of fashion magazine was shooting a swimsuit issue… or something. End result were three early 20-something girls in string bikinis. Mom took a picture of the whole thing just to show people back home “what people in Florida are like”, haha.

Not much to say here!

The clouds rolled in, forcing us to leave early. Dig the change in light and the size of those drops.
Now it’s off to meet up with Cam & Melissa to go watch the Independence Day fireworks! Maybe the Texan guy who screamed “Hell Yeah!” between each explosion and sip of Bud Lite last year will be there again!
Hell yeah!
[Edited July 9: Added pictures and captions.]