I had been tossing around the idea ofafter nearly 40 years hanging up my belt
andI just needed some time away to think. Don said go for it.
Just 4 nights and 5 days. Here goes:
Tallahassee is up scale and Gainesville not so much.
I preferred Gainesville
and
one full day there to run was plenty for me.
However, the buildings in Tally are old and historic and the
vistas like the covered bridge and duck ponds would take your
breath away.
One unusual thing I noticed was every single person with corse black
hair that I saw in Tally had a style that was miticulously manicured
with beautiful corn rolls. Magnificent!
The people in Tally dressed well and super helpful. I mostly saw working
people.
Tally has a Hare Krishna group. I tried to find their "Higher Taste" restaurant
run by the Hare Krishnas. Google pointed us to their restaurant, in
a strip mall,
a small store next to a momma poppa organic
market but the space was empty and the note stuck on the door said it was out
of business sooooo with a little follow thru I called
the number on the door only to find
that now they only deliver!
: (
No thank you! : )
The best restaurant of the whole trip for me was the Sweet Pea Cafe.
I got the tempe rubin sandwhich....it was the best
meal of my trip and only $6.50!
: )
My friend didn't like the atmosphere at the hippy run Sweet Pea, so we
got take outs
and went to a park
she suggested a picnic table by the lake.
We had a choice of 4 picnic tables and it took her 15 minutes to
realize that there was a homeless person just two
picnic tables away....I told her she needed to get out
more to the other side of the tracks.
: )
My friend is into prissy stuff, way worse than me!
(She thought the hippy place was dirty and noisy....)
The day before I took her to
Applebees for lunch and that made her happy!
: )
Other than restaurants my Tally friend showed me some trails in the woods
and a covered bridge and her favorite "clean well lite
place"....an organic food market with nice lightning and
spa music....Much like Publics only with a
night club feel! hahahaha...I'm sure the prices reflected
the decor! As do the prices at Publixs
: )
On a social note, my friend drove me to her friends house and we chatted
the afternoon away. This is a friend she's had for 40 years (all her
friends are into spiritual material-ism...."this book to
this workshop...to this church" all the latest in the spiritual world....people are the same
everywhere you go! I'm starting to believe that. Same conversations
where I live.)
her friend gave me the "oneness blessing"!
: )
It's some kind of movement from India that some "movie
stars" promote....sorta like the hugging saint or the
guy that does gazzing but different
very different and
my friends friend told us that the head guy of the movement
gives workshops and certificates so you don't have to
fly to India to recieve the blessing.
: )
Then people have oneness pot lucks at their house...kinda
like my parents did back in the 50's saying the rosary together...odd but kinda'
nice to receive the calming blessing of hands on the head.
I stayed open and I am still enjoying the after effects!
My time in Tally one day and 1 night...I stayed at my friends Town house and
her home is lovely and I had time and space
(my very own bedroom and bathroom with a real bathtub). Everything
was super clean and I had time to
do my morning routine un-interrupted. Tally was great.
Just the one night.
Next I pointed home and broke up the trip as I planned
two nights and one afternoon and full day in Gainesville.
I fell in love with
The owner of the airbnb and had a little dog.
He had 16 outstanding reviews and
although he is a guy....I trusted my gut and I was right! Fabulous
experience.
: ) Both he and his dog were young, friendly and intelligent.
He seemed to really be interested that I would find everything I
needed.
His motto "Me cassa is su cassa"! I had my own bathroom
and my own bedroom....I didn't do kata there but I did meditate
and do my morning written pages.
Gainesville has a few libraries and a farmers market and many
vegan options....and unusual 2nd hand places to shop.
I found the Hare Krishna lunch spot at the
University...great! (Both my son and my x said it's a must do
experience,,,
the lunch was awful but I met a woman and we bonded...she was a
grad student there and we exchanged similar stories about early
retirement....she gave me her contact info...funny but she is only
58 and I thought she was way older than me!...but she was extremely
colorful and I adore her.)
The one day I had there in Gainesville...all day Wednesday...I made
7 or 8 stops at different places I wanted to see.
I lolly gagged all around the town from 9 AM
to 7 PM.
Thank god I have a car and a GPS!
The high point of the experience was my trip to the Gainesville
Dojo.
I met with the owner and the experience was a culture shock.
It hit me so hard...in fact the whole trip hit me so hard
that
I am now rethinking the idea of closing the karate school and retire-ing.
I remembered how much I like teaching and all that jazz!
The Shihan/Hanshi runs his 5,500 sq foot
building and includes many other disciplines...it was wild.
This is the old website and the old location the new website is being
renovated
with youtube links and other high tech stuff....it is a college town after
all
and the Sensei has a student who does state of the art teck
stuff and hosts his website. http://www.gainesvilledojo.net/
Welcome to the new world..even old classics get retouched.
on a similar note:
The owner of the airbnb I stayed at in Gainesville
said my WWW.Senseiforhire.com site looks like
the year 2000.
Interesting. He's 25 and I value his opinion. He has his own
tech company and a degree in engineering and sells his own apps
and
teaches Salsa at the college! He is so cute!
: )
I felt like a bird out of a cage in Gainesville for a
whole entire day to follow my whims.
I just did and went and saw and stayed in the
moment enjoying the natives and gaining lots and lots of info. about
Gainesville and about myself and where I am headed at age 67.
I estimate that I have maybe 30 or 40 more years to fill on the earth plane.
I returned yesterday morning.
I came back to attend my Thursday night group...a courses in miracles.
After coming back:
At the top of my list is re-doing my website.
I am not sure who to contact or what I want it to look like
but I do have a friend who knows something and my plan
is to first call the host site about tools and then
keep searching for some new ideas. I am so ready to begin again.
That being said...I am still on my leave of absense and I will return
to "work" on Monday!
Enough for now!
: )
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