My wife left her cellphone at work last night, so this morning we drove to her place of employment to pick it up. Should have been a 30 minute errand – I, of course, knew better. I brought two digital cameras, my IPOD Touch, umbrella, water, first aid kit and a number of other survival items. 3o minutes…yeah, not likely with my wife. We could wind up anywhere in the state, although I expected the impending rain and storms to limit her range somewhat.

Our first stop naturally, was Starbucks. I ordered a triple grande cafe mocha. My wife regular coffee and a couple of healthy omega 3 muffins.

We spent about 40 minutes there speaking with our favorite barista that we have known for years. Fabulous woman.

From there we picked up my wife’s phone and on the way back made an unexpected turn into the Davie Army-Navy Store on Davie Road. They were having a $7 sale, We bought some shirts (2 for $7.00!!!) and shorts (from $36.00 to $7.00!!), plus a few other interesting things.  I have to go back for more shorts, and perhaps for a holster for my SIG.  While we only spent $37 there, we came away with a large bag of items. I love that place.

Speaking of unexpected turns, on the way home my wife suddenly directed me me to turn into Jesse Durkos Nursery on 5151 SW 70th Ave in Davie. A place well hidden. But one worth the adventure of locating. The place is like a tropical garden. In fact, we have paid to visit tropical gardens that were not as nice as this place. We have been working on creating a butterfly garden in our back yard. We have a number of different plants, and so far have attracted tons of Monarch butterflies, plus Zebra Longwings, and three other varieties that my wife can name but all I can say is they are orange, one is yellow and one is deep black or blue with yellow edges. No,wait, that was the peanut butter sandwich I had for lunch at work yesterday.

Anyway, we have been searching for coontie plants for weeks now, as they supposedly attract the very rare and beautiful Atala butterfly. We have failed to locate any nurseries  in Broward or North Miami-Dade counties that carry the coontie plant. So, when I asked the interesting woman who works there about it, she said Yeah, no problem – we have ‘em. Turns out they have more coontie than Miami has crooked politicians! Small coonties, mid-size coonties, large coonties, humongous coonties, and one so large it once escaped and attacked a Wal-Mart.

$20 for one small one. Good price. Cash and check only though, so we bought what we could and will go back. But before we left we took a tour of the area, taking photos along the way.

We are going back to both the Army Navy store and Jessie Durkos Nursery this weekend.  Not exactly the sort of fun entertainment Hollywood stars or the young kids do, but we enjoyed a great morning together. Conversation, coffee, nature, cheap shorts and army surplus items.

Life is good.

SCG

My wife captured this photo of some small colorful bug that was crawling on the back of my shirt. Thankfully, it wasn’t poisonous At least, I don’t think so….

Happy Friday evening folks.

SCG