Tag: Florida

Posted in coffee

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Driving through Anastasia Island on my way to a cookie delivery, a fluttering banner caught my eye: Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii.

I thought, “Really? Out here on the east coast of Florida?”

I made a mental note of other stores nearby before I obeyed the GPS directions to my delivery destination. Check it out on my way home? Absolutely.

When I pulled in, there were no other cars but the sign announced “Open” and I walked in.

All three women behind the counter welcomed me. I cut straight to the chase. I explained that I had been to a coffee farm in Kona on the big island eighteen months ago. They had a 10% Kona blend ready to go, but could make a French press 100% Kona for me. I had a chance to chat while they prepared a medium for me.

I asked, “How long have you been open?”

“About a week.”

The manager (?) explained that she used to live on Maui, behind the original Bad Ass Coffee shop. Her home was destroyed, and after two years in FEMA housing, she decided to move to the mainland with her husband and daughter. When a new franchise opened in St. Augustine Beach, she knew she was in the right place. There are around forty franchises on the mainland.

She showed me a wall of coffees for sale, including the most expensive Peaberry Kona coffee. But there was another more expensive variety on the shelf called Typica. “What’s that?” I asked.

She admitted, “I don’t know.”

So I did a little research. It’s the original variety brought to Hawaii in the 1830s, thriving on the volcanic hillsides. I’m sure it’s delicious, but at $70 for twelve ounces, I’m probably not going to find out very soon.

Anyway, my 100% Kona was delicious, and I’ll definitely be back with the wife. How nice to find an alternative to S’Bux and Dunkin.

Posted in neighbor, neighborhood

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

Posted on by William Douthwaite

…someone lost a bet and had to put the fuzzy flamingoes in their front yard this year.

…someone cleaned out their attic and found some long lost yard decorations. “Hey, remember these? Everyone said we had the best yard in the neighborhood!”

…the HOA went belly-up so anything goes.

…someone up the street died. Whoever cleaned out her house left stuff like this out on the curb. One person’s trash…

…my neighbor put out the first decorations on our block. While some are still trying to coax a few more days from Halloween pumpkins, many have started their Christmas festivities. Less than 25 yards from my house, I have the pleasure of seeing these fuzzy flamingoes every day. This is their first year along this neighbor’s driveway. They are an omen of what’s to come. Soon this neighbor will fill his yard with a hideous hodgepodge of lights, trees, ornaments, snowmen, and other Christmas characters.

Posted in Travel

Back for more manatees

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Manatees doing what manatees do

Fourteen years ago, I wrote about going to see the manatees at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida. On that January day, I thought 299 manatees were a lot. We went to see them again today, and the ranger station tote board announced a count of 677. Cold water, cool air, and overcast skies make for great manatee viewing. By the time we got there in the late morning, it wasn’t as cold as the last few days, and some of the manatees had already begun their slow float back to the St. John’s river.

A healthy crowd of locals and tourists came to see the manatees today. The popularity of manatees is an interesting phenomena. They aren’t much to look at. They don’t do anything. They just float around, coming up for air once in a while. Yet we paused at four or five viewing platforms to watch these big gray blobs float by.

Manatees have state and federal protection. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website, “It is illegal to feed, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, annoy, or molest manatees.”

Several organizations allow you to adopt a manatee. If you do, carefully maintained scar records enable you to pick out your manatee among all the others in the spring.

According to signs at the state park, manatees have no natural predators other than people. Boat propellers and trash are enough of a threat to earn them a spot on endangered species lists and have their own awareness month (November).

Favorite zoo animal? Typical answers include elephant, lion or tiger, and the giraffes. But when the manatees show up at the spring, we drop everything to go and see them. Their natural charisma makes them irresistible.

Posted in Life, memories, Travel

A blizzard, a phone call, and Florida

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/trees-and-cars-covered-by-snow-512229/

Subfreezing temperatures. Flurries in the forecast. Pretty normal February day in Iowa. White piles along the road reminded me of last week’s snow. The gray sky, leafless trees, and bite in the air testified that spring was still far away.

The car heater had barely warmed up when I pulled into the parking lot. After a quick walk inside, I piled my coat, scarf, hat, and gloves on a side chair and turned on my computer. My car, just a few feet away on the other side of my office window, didn’t seem to mind the cold at all.

Not long before lunchtime, the wind blew the first flakes of snow past my window. As I watched, more and more snow fell, and the winter world’s grays and browns succumbed to a coating of white. The wind picked up as the sky suddenly dumped all of it’s snow at once. I couldn’t even see my car as today’s “flurries” matured into a full on blizzard.

My desk phone rang. It was probably my wife, making sure I was okay. I wasn’t planning on driving anywhere anytime soon. But it wasn’t her. It was someone calling me from Florida. They just wanted to ask if I was open to considering a job change and relocating.

To Florida? The Sunshine State? I said, “Sure,” but in my mind I was thinking, “How about I come down today?” Lol. The interview was in April, and we moved there in June.

That was twenty-eight years ago. And you know, I just don’t miss the gray skies, leafless trees, bite in the air, and driving home in a blizzard.