I've been in Seaside for 2 weeks and I feel like my social calendar is fuller than when I'm at home. The other snowbirds in the
Beachwood Villas have organized an array of ongoing events. On Mondays and Fridays we meet for exercise (which basically means someone puts in a DVD in the community room across from the laundry). On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have craft day (aka. "stitch and bitch"). They also play shuffleboard, poker, and bridge on other days/evenings, but I skip those in order to ride my bike or take a hike (or go to bed early).
Saturday night we had a potluck dinner. Half the snowbirds signed up to bring some kind of meat, so I decided to temper the meal with some mozzarella tomatoes and stuffed celery. I'll have to remember this idea if I go to another potluck, because it looked very festive.
On Wednesdays I meet up with the Emerald Coast Plein Air Painters. They're just like the urban sketchers, but "plein air painting" means it's supposed to be done outside. If you're in Florida, that isn't a problem. Last week we went to
Baytowne Village - a gated community just east of Destin. They had a bunch of colorful shops and restaurants on the property.
It would have been an excellent place to paint if I'd been doing oil or acrylic, but I was having fits using watercolor. It was so incredibly humid last Wednesday that my paint wasn't drying. I've never had that problem painting outdoors. Usually, my paintings look streaky, because the paint dries too quickly. Oh well, just something else to get used to in Florida.
The fun thing about the painting group is that they always go out some place afterwards for lunch (I found out later it's one of the criteria for picking a painting spot along with ample parking and a restroom). Last week, we went to the
Broken Egg Cafe. I had the chorizo omelette... yum!
I took advantage of the warm week and went on a couple bike rides with my sketch supplies tucked in my bike bag. I still haven't painted any beach scenes (just not my thing), but one day I saw this rusty old truck sitting on top of the dunes. I was about halfway through a sketch when a couple construction workers came over and said they had to move their rig. Just my luck, because the thing looked like it'd been sitting there for years. One guy asked if he could take a picture of my drawing to text to his wife. He said with all the beautiful beach and ocean views, he couldn't believe that I would pick his crummy old truck to draw.
I took this photo one day as I was walking along the beach. It reminded me of all the snow they are getting back home, but that's just how white the sand is down here. Luckily I had my sketchbook with me on this walk, so I sat down in the sand and drew it. Maybe one of these days, I'll turn around and try to draw the ocean waves.
