Old friends and coincidences~

I am compelled to tell you about some odd, queer or magickal happenings with our reading of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

1)  Friday morning, as we set off on the next leg of our journey, as Harry drove he said, "OK, can you start reading the next chapter to me now?"
I picked up our book, opened it up to the next story in progress. I started reading the beginning of the passage which said: "On January 10th, we set off on our journey...."
Ummmm.....it WAS January 10th.
THAT day.
That was more than coincidence, I'd say!

2) This last Monday morning after a faire weekend, we were having coffee and a leisurely morning with everyone at Dre' and Max's house and chatting with Jay and Abby. I started telling Abby about that previous coincidence of January 10th and how magickal it was,  and all the wondrous things happening that sort of support the book on our trip....and about how kewl Jules Verne was...
While we were chatting, I looked the author up online. While there, I saw a link about "Deism" which was a related topic about Nature, Religion and Science which are all involved in the writings of Jules Verne and the novel. The 6 of us all had a wondrous theological discussion about God and Deism, and many other spiritual things. We finished the conversation and there was a knock on the door.
Max & Dre both went and answered it.
It was Jehovah's Witnesses come to call.
Just then. Seconds after this spiritual conversation.
As Max is thanking the Witnesses and sending them off on their way, Abby smirks and says to me,
"You must've psychically called them with all the talk about Deism this morning" :)
You have to admit, it was as if it was planned!

3) I've been really tired lately (what with all the holiday gigs, home projects, CD all the Christmas and holiday food) and so while on this trip, my friend Michael Edwards reminded me about a metabolism tonic with organic vinegar that my mom used to do as well. It's supposed to give you an energy boost.
It's Braggs' Organic Vinegar (1 oz. 3x a day) with some Stevia in it and water to dilute.
 Well, I figured it couldn't hurt, and so I've been adding some of these weird shots of vinegar to my diet about 3x a day to kick up my metabolism and give me some more energy. It really helped on that Saturday morning of faire when we did the 4:30am wake up call for a 5:45am promo shot for TV.
How are the vinegar shots? Odd, yes. Disgusting, well, ok. (but then again, I drank pickle juice as a child....) But then again,  it has been helping us to detox too. Highly unusual, I know, but have been doing it since last Friday.
Monday, we went out to eat with Dre and Max to the "Lobster Lady" restaurant and have seafood....oysters in particular, which I love, but haven't had in a loong time.

So, get this next coincidence: I open the book on Tuesday and start reading some more from the 20,000 Leagues book...and I read a passage about Cleopatra drinking vinegar with oyster pearls in it. :)
How awesome. I mean, drinking vinegar, and having oysters on the same day isn't a daily occurance.

Life IS weirder than fiction. :)

Onward~
We hit the road early on Tuesday  morning and headed from Fort Myers towards Coconut Springs over Alligator Alley... Didn't see any gators this morning. Boo. But I was too busy reading to Harry anyway.

We got into Coconut Creek and spent the day at Star & Mikals and joined our minstrel friends, Jay & Abby there. We played music, had fun visiting and then went out to eat dinner at Santo's.

 Abby, Jay, Merlyn, Mikal & Star ready for some sushi!

 It is a place from the other side of the world with our Japanese food dinner of fish in the form of Sushi and Sushimi. I also tried a flight of different Sakes and all kinds of deliciousness from parts far, far away from my own home port.

 Capt. Nemo would've approved of this meal.

From there we went to an impromtu outing to see our friend, Ty Billings, play music. I haven't seen him in about 6 years and when we walked in he burst into a great smile and pointed at me! Ty was playing a solo gig at....guess where? "The City Fish Market." The decor was of an old fish market and seafood joint, but very upscale. All the waiters walked around with shirts and ties and butcher aprons on like they'd just been cleaning fish. (altho sans blood :).

We even got a chance to sing with Ty as 3 of us singers from different bands (Abby from Harper & Minstrel, me from MM and Mark Belenson from Wylde Fyre) all joined in with him. It was awesome as we sang an amazing choral harmony to "Drift Away."

 It was awesome to get together with everyone and Ty even took a rare break and came over and had a great time with us as well. There were flying swordfish and octopus and fish nets on the wall. It was all very "Captain Nemo" decor and fare.

It's easy to see a Jules Verne/Captain Nemo theme in everything on our "Around the world in 16 Days" trip! So much fun!

We left Star and Mikals' early Wednesday and drove to Winter Park in the Orlando area to see our friends Dee and Francis and Zachary. They have a lovely apartment and Dee showed us around downtown Orlando. She made the most delicious ham dinner! (I have to get the recipe to give to Lynn Barbato my cuisine hound friend!) We chatted and soaked each other up and laid around and relaxed with her pets, and drank wine. I know. Tough to take.

 Even her skittish, elusive meow decided I was family and came and curled up next to me :)
You can't get better PR as a human being than to be happily accepted by a skittish kitteh!

Today we head to Epcot to visit many countries!  I'm very excited, as my dearie darling husband, does not like to fly in airplanes, so I often wondered how I would soothe my wanderlust to other lands. Aside from going on the Nautilus (where we wouldn't be able to put a foot ON land....) I think Epcot will be a great compromise till I can find a way to travel to distant lands someday.

So Epcot? Here we come!