Britt called this morning and I could tell she’d been crying. She told Parker last night that she would never be willing to move to California and it’s obvious that when he finishes film school out there he isn’t coming back here. She told me how she feels badly because he didn’t do anything wrong. Well, she didn’t do anything wrong either but she can’t just keep talking to him every night with no hope for a future. She is so much like me and now our situations seem to be very similar also.

“Do you want me to come over?”
“Yes, that would be nice.”

Lately my answer for everything has been to hit the road so we headed for Saint Augustine. There’s plenty there to get her mind off the situation for a while. To get both of our minds off our situations.

As we wandered down St George Street the voice of a girl singing lured us into Mi Casa Café. Outside the restaurant is a bar and a few tables with a covering overhead but otherwise pretty much open where she was singing and playing the guitar. A guitar and me, I can’t resist. Some of the songs Chelsea had written and a couple of covers that she did surprised me because she is so young. When she sang Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide” I cried. Changes…man....yeah, talk about it! But I cheered up with Melanie’s “Brand New Key” and even sang along without getting an “Oh, Mom” from Britt. Actually, I don’t think I sound so bad but that’s just me.

The bartender seemed to be either her roommate or boyfriend and was very nice. He recommended Spaten Optimator for me and offered a taste which turned out to be half of a small cup but it was very good. So, with the “taste” and the regular large cup it was almost more than I could drink. Almost! Britt gave me a hard time because it was before noon and she had lemonade but who makes the rules around here anyway? Me, that’s who and I'll drink before noon if I want to!

We sat there for a long while enjoying Chelsea’s music before deciding it was time to move on. She had a few CD’s there, of course, so I bought one and talked to her for a bit. She was happy someone recognized her Melanie song and enjoyed it. That's definitely a place I want to go back to sometime at night. And often!

We bought tacky bracelets made of seashell fragments and I got a pair of not tacky earring made of abalone that I love. Dangly ones.

There was a bench in the little alleyway where the shop was located that had a sign over it: “No Loitering”. Now, can you tell me what the hell else you would do on that bench but loiter? Britt and I stood there and had a good laugh. Is making out considered loitering? Have to give that a try sometime and see if anyone comes to arrest me!

The chocolate shop doesn’t have the appeal it once did since I don’t eat much candy any more. The caramel apple, though, looked good but they’re so messy. I stuck my head in and the guy said, sure, they’d cut it up for us. A big green apple dipped in caramel then chocolate then drizzled with white chocolate cut eight ways in a take out box! We could only finish half of it between us but it was delicious.

Outside of a gallery sat an artist painting so I had to stop and chat. Britt and I are both very gregarious so a lot of chatting happens when we’re around. He had a large painting on display that took a year to finish. Imagine that, a whole year on one painting but the detail on the ferns and Spanish moss was unbelievable. Today he was working on a commissioned piece of a scene in Key West. It looked finished to me but he showed me where he was going to add a cat curled up on the sidewalk because there are cats there descending from Hemingway’s cats and a rooster and hen because “anyone who knows Key West” knows they run around wild. I don’t know Key West so I’ll take his word for it.

Victor told us that the lady in the shop next door was there when Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived in the area and that many times she saw her walking her dog down the streets of St Augustine. He also told us about Rawlings visits from Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald when she lived there.  I got a chill just thinking about it! Imagine! Now that’s a trio I’d like to stop and chat up!

Britt and I went in my favorite shop where they have the risqué postcards and buttons. Love that place! It’s the one where my friend Dimples got a card for her grandmother of an old woman smoking weed. She is so much fun and apparently so is her grandmother.

We had wandered a while since eating half the apple but weren’t really hungry when we came to the pizza place with the guy out front passing out samples. It’s supposed to be the best pizza in St Augustine and the sample won me over because the crust was thin and very crispy. We ordered one slice each, Britt’s with artichoke hearts and mine with artichoke hearts and tri-color peppers. As usual my order was wrong. I don’t know what kind of karma I have or what cook or chef I pissed off in another life but I rarely get what I order. The girl handed me artichoke hearts with extra cheese! I didn’t want extra cheese. I wanted bell peppers. So Britt took the one with extra cheese and we sent back hers to have peppers added and it was delicious with a very crispy crust after having been cooked twice. Yep, I think it probably is the best pizza in St Augustine.

One of the galleries has a Theodore Geisel exhibit. They have his sketch of a woman with her tits showing and a big hammer poised over her head titled “Booby Trap”. Ha!!

We walked along the water on the way back to the car parked by the Castillo and enjoyed the sight of the sailboats and the breeze on such a beautiful day.

When I dropped Britt off we hugged and told each other how much we had enjoyed the day. The pain was forgotten for a few hours and somehow when it came back some of the sting was gone.....

I think we left it strewn up and down St George Street.