Siesta Anyone?

The beach is the place to be in Sarasota Florida.

My favorite is the public beach on Siesta Key. Such a deal!! It costs NOTHING to park or use the facilities. Can't beat that with a stick!!

I was there yesterday with my friend Terry and her daughter Tracey. They are here on vacation from Ohio and are beachlovers of the First Order.

Because I have lots of company and am often spending whole days at the beach I do my best to slather #40 lotion all over my body and keep my completely buttoned cover-up ON unless I'm in the Gulf itself.

I found the most marvelous beach chair at Walgreens which also assists in limiting my exposure to the sun. It has a long canopy and a French Foreign Legion hat flap in the back so if I turn my chair away from the sun I can sit for hours in shade I've provided for myself!

(SOME people say I am 'high maintenance' but how can that be when I provide my own shade AND can-and-do make my own fingernails??

But I digress....)

Terry and Tracey have no such qualms about sun exposure. Their goal is to turn as brown as they possibly can in the days available. This year only one rainy day has interrupted the quest so they're well on their way to having fabulous tans. Maybe the best ever! I'll be joining them again today at Siesta.

The beach crowd has already begun to thin, many of our snowbirds having departed on April first. And it would appear that a great many more school districts had their Easter break last week and not THIS. At least, that's my assumption seeing less than half the number of beachgoers yesterday than I saw last week when Beckie, Gret, Reece and I were on the Key.

One thing is for sure, if you have any "body issues" at all just come to the beach where I can assure that, in comparison, there will be many stranger bodies than your own and you will, therefore, leave feeling pretty darn good about yourself!

I inherited my Grandma Kate's odd shape once I hit menopause. Until then I was usually described as "healthy-looking" which meant I looked OK and had some meat on my bones. But at 40 the Great Shift occurred and suddenly, while in proportion elsewhere, my tummy became distended and I consistently appear to be about 6 months pregnant - 5 if I'm dieting.

Still, even given the above, I don't feel freakish at the beach.

Neither will you!

So... come on down. Look for me - I always sit on a straight line to the beach from the steps at the concesssion stand. My blue and white striped chair is easy to pick out.

I'll save you a space.