SOARing! Sanibel and Good Friends; Wow! (Smack!)… No More Starbucks; Pistol-Packin’ Granma

Last Sunday was Suzanne’s final SOAR! Workshop in The Villages for this season, and a large and enthusiastic group of attendees spent the day learning how to attune to higher consciousness and achieve self-transformation. You can still gain the benefits from Suzanne’s SOAR! program by going to her web site and ordering her DVD set at http://www.suzannegiesemann.com/soar/ .

After the SOAR Workshop, we traveled south and had a delightful short vacation with friends on Sanibel Island for a few days. Bill Hammond, Suzanne’s original literary agent, award-winning author (http://www.bill-hammond.com/) and continuing adviser on publishing, invited us down to a condo he was renting for the week with his sons Churchill and Harrison (2 of the 3 Most Eligible Bachelors in the USA, therefore in the World… the third, Bill’s other son Brooks, was unable to make the trip to Sanibel). We arrived Sunday afternoon and got reacquainted with the Hammonds and Churchill’s girlfriend Emily. Here we see the Gang of Six on the beach…  (L-R, Harrison, Suzanne, Ty, Emily, Churchill and Bill). 

We then went for a visit to Sanibel’s Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, named for the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and wildlife supporter who initiated the Federal Duck Stamp program. Our first event there was a two hour kayak trip. Churchill and Emily were in a double, as were we, while Harrison and Bill chose singles. Here we see Churchill and Emily enjoying the beautiful scenery in the mangroves; Churchill claims to have put on sunscreen, but when the day ended, he was in near-agony due to a brutal sunburn. (Since Minnesnowtans don’t see the sun for 10 months during winter, don’t they know to be careful out in the tropical sun???) 

Harrison and Bill are seen here; Harrison was usually on point (befitting for an Army ROTC senior), and this photo barely suggests the power in his weight lifter’s upper body. (Along with his awesome strength and power comes an incredible appetite… Harrison was the brunt of several jokes and stories about his ability to consume heroic quantities of food, including one about a snack he had one night, a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon… but I’m sure that was slightly exaggerated… or maybe not!) He also impressed us with his speed while running on the beach. Suzanne and I were jogging at a 10 minute per mile pace when Harrison flashed by at a 6:30 pace; the sand parted under his feet like a Corvette running at full throttle!





Speaking of incredible upper body strength, that shown by this kayaker (hey, not the sexy girl, but that handsome muscular guy) also impressed every passing paddler… no laughter, please!

Der Blogmeister almost died on this vacation… I guess an explanation is in order. In the spirit of recording faithfully the events and people he met, purely for historical purposes, Your Faithful Correspondent was going to take photos of everything and everyone that he met. All was going well until a certain beautiful 20-something young woman with a perfect runner’s physique, clad in a skimpy, form-fitting  bikini, appeared. My jaw dropped with admiration, and with trusty camera in hand, I was about to record the moment for posterity, when My Lovely Bride gave me “The Evil Eye”, or “Dagger Eyes”, as “The Look” is also known by husbands worldwide, with the unspoken but perfectly understandable message, “You lift that camera, Bozo, and you are Dead Meat!”  Sigh… 

Up until today, I was a Starbucks drinker, maybe 5-6 cups a day. I have consumed my last cup. In the future, I will shift to any other coffee brand on the planet. Why, you ask? I am greatly offended by their Race Together program. I don’t need any commercial establishment, particularly a coffee company, lecturing me on social issues. So that settles that. I’ll go to Panera, McDonald’s or 7-11 before I buy another cup of Starbucks.







Finally, a humorous accounting moment… and how often do those come around? They can be as rare as honest lawyers. In any case, we were having our taxes done, and during a free moment I commented to the office manager, an old friend of ours, and a grandmother, how much I liked her colorful blouse. I asked, Sharon (not her real name), did you embroider those flowers yourself?” She replied, “Ty, get real. I spend my free time on the target range with my .357 magnum, not embroidering blouses…” “Yes, ma’am, I didn’t mean to offend!”