Beach, it’s what for breakfast.

It is very cold and droopy in Port Aransas. No one delivered the newspapers to the island this morning. The bridge to and from Corpus Christie is closed til further notice. The sound of morning tv drifts throughout the complex accompanied by the soft steady sound of freezing rain hitting the pavement and bouncing off the palms.

Today is made for mindless tv, a second pot of coffee and Pepperridge Farm’s Gingerman cookies, the kind with the chunky sugar on the top. Today is made for a bubble bath and a manicure and practicing eye make-up. Today is made for creative cooking with chicken, mushrooms and white wine. Today is made for reading new magazines and watching decorator shows.

I have no idea what Sig is going to do all day.

This is the fourth time Sig and I have spent a good part of the month of February in Port Aransas.  It’s sunny but cold and windy as we drive the island away from Corpus Christie.  

Without comment we pass Mustang Island State Park and the Stripes convenience store that, in fact, does sell wine. Then past A Mano, the best place around for quality Mexican imports — right across the street from another import place whose pots will likely chip before you get them home.     

After lunch we reach the first intersection and turn right, caddy-corner from the row of giant pastel sea horses. We turn into the drive-way of the Sea Shell and stop at the office.

It takes a little while to unload the truck but not nearly as long as before. 

The place shows a little wear. The legs to the ottoman are in the drawer, there’s a deep scratch on the table and a rip on the arm of the couch. The rusty skillet has disappeared. After we unpack and rearrange the furniture, we open a bottle of wine. 

It is as if we had Never left. It is as if yesterday we had dinner at the Mexican place and the day before we went to the CVS. It is like I had already gone to IGA and knew their movie selection sucks and their lettuce is wilted but their hamburger is 90% lean. It is just a little bit stunning that neither of us could think of anything significant about the last year.

Sig thinks it is because we are getting old and memory compresses everything. His second theory revolves around the intensity of familiarity and I didn’t really follow it. Personally, I think we are in a re-make of Groundhog Day. 

This is the fourth time…

Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow or not? If he does, we supposedly have 6 weeks more of winter; since spring begins March 20, seven weeks from tomorrow — that prediction is sorta a no-brainer.

If it’s cloudy, he won’t see his shadow and everyone in Pennsylvania believes spring will come earlier than March 20th. 

I have to tell you I really have no dog in this race. ( I am just amazed I am able to spell Punxsutawney without looking it up.)

Well, go ahead and hedge your bets for tomorrow. There’s this.

And then there is this. Happy February 2.

 Here is another entry in the almost popular What’s In Your Drawers Series. It is called Low Skill Tool Center 2/1. (See January 18th post for first in series.) 

I am sure that you will be as struck as I am by this gripping image of nearly simultaneous holding on and letting go.

I spent part of the afternoon at Sea Turtle Inc, a rescue operation smack dab in the middle of South Padre Island.

The building is weather-beaten and worn out from a lot of use. Inside, right past the messenger bags made from recycled plastic, are huge round plastic tanks counter-top high. Look down and come face to face with any one of several dozen turtles  too busy doing rehab to stop for a chat.

Living in the shallow waters of the gulf isn’t one big picnic. Over 110 sea turtles were treated at the facility last year. Here’s Karma, an Atlantic Green turtle who has really upped her activity; she plans to be outta there by spring break.

The place is called Holy Cow. It is a large room in a cement block building with a number of utilitarian tables and chairs.The only thing on the wall is a wide floor to ceiling chalk board. A man who looks like Antonio Bandera in a close-fitting black polo shirt and a starched white apron tied around his waist, greeted us as we walked in.

We intended to order our favorites — Butter Pecan and Blueberry Crumble. But the menu on the board didn’t have what we expected. Instead there was choco-mint, choco-cherry, choco-vanilla plus a list of tropical flavors like mango, grapefruit and tangerine and mint. The bottom of the board listed nuts — almond, walnut, pecan.

In Mexico almost every child grows up eating Paletas, frozen fruit bars, popsicles made from fresh seasonal fruit. When the fruit is blended with milk or cream they are paletas de leche, or milk Popsicles. 

The Antonio Look alike figured out that we had not yet tasted paletas and immediately offered samples. He told us that all of the ingredients were fresh, and that the paletas were made in the store. We ordered a choco-mint, a vanilla-pecan and vanilla-almond. 

You heard it here first, this Will be the next trend — it also may be the tight-fitting black polos have another run.