George Foreman and the world of Miami

Seems I spend every post lately with an apology for lateness. Sorry! This time not all me. My post was done and suddenly all disappeared, so had to redo.
Made it back to Naples for the weekend and our floors were done. They look great and I made good headway clearing out the layer of tile dust that was virtually all over every surface. Just part of it I'm afraid. Now onto part B, our bathroom.

George Foreman electric grill

Fun purchase of a thing many people already knew about. Where have we been? A George Foreman indoor/outdoor electric grill. The key word here is electric. Gas or charcoal grills are not allowed at our condo and anyone who knows Mark knows he's a big grill man who grills in all conditions. Well, he's currently opting out of the minus 20 Star Mt. conditions. Mark cooked lime chicken,tasting a bit different but good, and it cooked faster.  One meal so far, more experimenting coming up.

Not the party boat just Mark Cuban's little thing

Back to Miami for the week and the big company holiday party - on the large boat. I'll let you know how that goes. Preparty I've had to change to different shoes -wedges this time, spiky heels and boats do not mix...not sure dresses mix either, should be fun.

Miami Circle- ancient site covered

Expanded my Miami walk to off island. In the middle of downtown is an archaeological site called Miami Circle. Discovered in the late 90's when a developer started excavation for a new high rise. The perfect 38ft circle was found along with a ton of artifacts. It is believed to be a structure at least 1500 years old built by the Tequesta Indians. After protests and injunctions the high rise did not go up and it's now designated a national historic landmark.

Back of the church

Also on the walk came across a darling church surrounded by high rises. This church has a Christmas tree lot out front during the day which is whisked away to safety at dusk. Crazy times...

Brickell Park

Around the corner from the church is a little park that has the original mausoleum for the Brickell family, founders of Miami. Little jewels on the downtown streets.

Brickell Key Bridge

Here's a bit about the world of Miami:
Where, at a downtown location of of Florida's largest grocery store chain, noone knew what "salsa" was, and I'm talking Pace's here. We found it ourselves buried on a bottom shelf.
Where the local tv news channel has breaking news on the elections in Venezuela.
Where traffic jams occur everyday around the Dominican Republic consulate, and the Guatemalan consulate, and the motor bikes zip on around those of us stalled in cars.
Where "Hola" is the first word said no matter where you are.
Where women, of all ages and sizes, wear very short and very tight clothing. You go ladies...

View of our condo building

The holiday boat party did happen. Good times, good food, and no catastrophes with anyone's dress or shoes. We made slow circles around the Miami River which happens to be very close to our condo.

Hope everyone is getting some joy out of the season. Even though it's Florida, the wild elevated atmosphere of holiday preparations is very much here as elsewhere.  I have to work to push the anxious part of presents, etc. into the right perspective.