Saturday was a travel day in true Heidi-style: I awoke from my 1-hour of sleep 2 hours before my flight left, called a cab, and took the 15 minutes until it got here to brush my teeth, dress, and throw some clothes into a backpack. Perfect timing. I even had time to stop for some coffee and a croissant.
The clouds on the flight down were incredible.
My high school friend (and deliverer of a good portion of my new iTunes library), Stephen, was in town from Cali so he picked me up and we drove along McGregor like old times. Oh beautiful Florida.
We went to a Fort Myers "institution" (I'd never actually heard of it) McGregor Cafe. We were able to sit outside among the palm trees and watch a wild Florida storm roll in, pour, and then leave as quickly as it came.
So I had to go with a southern classic: biscuits and gravy. Yes, it looks a bit like vom, but it was delicious!
On to family time. My family is hilarious. The weekend was a fast-paced game of banter, innuendos, and generally entertaining conversation. Oh, and lots of wine.
The premise of the trip was to surprise my dad and celebrate his 50th year on earth. Though through loose lips and caller ID, my dad discerned each of the "surprise" visitors long before that word was uttered.
Eric brought down his portfolio, showing off what an incredible architect he is. He's truly amazing; inventive and meticulous, his designs will become fabulous spaces.
I'll just throw a bunch of pictures up. They speak for themselves of the good time we all had.
Hello camera.
Mom and my paternal Grandmother light the "sparkler" candles They didn't accomplish the sparkling part but did a fairly good job of making everyone nervous that they would explode at any moment.
"Happy Birthday to you..."
We take things really seriously.
Mom is definitely the cake lover of the family. Here she's putting the leftovers away oh-so-gracefully :)
Hi Papa.
Grandpa and Nina were cracking up about something. I really love this part of family gatherings. It's a group that holds no boundaries - you show up and you're fair game for just about anything. Somehow I escaped the dinner mostly unscathed.
Dad was elated to have everyone home.
I love the expression on Nina's face. I have lots of ideas of what she was thinking at the moment, but they're all probably better left unsaid.
All in all it was a fantastic night. Happy half-century dad!
The next morning we cooked more and laughed more. Mom made a fancy frittata.
She's a really good cook.
I checked grandma and grandpa into their flight...
We had a quiet day watching the bands of Gustav come and go. The sailboat was still running a naval blockade in the canal: strapped in the middle from Fay. And the water rose.
And got higher and higher. High tide came and went. And we were still gaining inches of water. Hm.
The docks started going underwater.
But eventually the water levels went down, the skies cleared, and Gustav was gone. So we went back to laughing.
And cooking.
And drinking. I experimented with a new drink. It started out with the idea of a blueberry basil martini. But with the discovery that the house was sans vodka, it became something else. Nameless actually. Muddle two basil leaves and 10 blueberries in the bottom of a glass. Add about two shots of white rum. Mix with some ice and top off with some tonic. Yum.
Smile.
The next morning we were up bright and early to bid goodbye to my grandparents.
I forgot to mention the delicious chocolates that my mom and Nina made this summer. They shimmer and taste even better than they look!
Time to pack up my stuff and head towards the airport.
So we meandered in to Fort Myers and then down to grab lunch at PF Changs.
Somehow we ended up at a Happy Feet/comfy shoe place with an over-tanned salesman working hard on my mom. Some of the shoes were pretty awful. Dad and I found the whole bit quite amusing.
Then it was time to bid Fort Myers goodbye. 
Back on a plane northward. A little crochet project cut in to my reading time, but I stole some moments away with Vladimir. Before recently I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've laughed out loud while reading a book. Absurdistan was hilarious. But The Russian Debutante's Handbook is beyond that. Thank you Gary Shteyngart for giving me many embarrassing moments of bursting out laughing on a silent metro, putting me in the company of all of the other people who react to seemingly internal stimuli.
Along with being an immunologist genius, apparently he can draw too. At brunch Stephen mentioned "hey, I think I might try to draw while I'm here". The next morning he sent me this.
Heidi_Pencil
Originally uploaded by priest.stephen
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