Monk's Memoirs: Arrr..Matey...Break Out The Rum...

That patch on my eye is because over last weekend I developed a detached retina....the operation to fix it was this Tuesday and so far all is well...besides it ain't so bad the black eye patch is kind of cool....although it does remind me of the Hathaway shirt man several years ago in all their print ads...some of you will remember...the rest of you are just way to young for your own good...

We went down to Matlacha on Pine Island (pronounced "Mat..La..Shea") and had a great day visiting the various shops and galleries..there are some wonderful artists represented in those galleries....I made Richard talk to two of them and pass out his card and brochure...his work is so much more superior to some of the work we saw...he deserves to be represented in a place that really gets good traffic...if you don't believe me then just check out his web site..(click here)...

We all went to my doctors appointment in Ft. Myers and then got to see the sights and have some fun with the tourist trap stuff at Matlacha..

A very nice collection of "Rubin'nesk" Mermaids

Lots of wall art to explore...some in very out of the way places...

All the merchants try to make the area a representation of old Florida and Key West...it has some very wild back gardens and displays....don't miss it if you have never been....

We all took Shirley out for her Birthday...It was a Japanese restaurant where they do tricks with your food while they cook it in front of you....I thought I had a picture of our chef..but I don't..his name was Huleo...from Mexico...He was very good but not what we expected...he said that the tattoos on his forearms were his name in some kind of code...do the words former gangbanger ring a bell.....

My good friend and neighbor Karen came down for a week..she stayed with Bob and Kathy who are our golfing buddies from up north...they are staying in Bradenton for a few months and play golf just about every day...

We all had a great time and got in a little golf along with a dance at the local Moose club...

We got to see hundreds of rare white pelicans feeding on one of the ponds at the golf club...they migrate from South America each year to Florida..I didn't get any shots of them in the air but they have very distinctive black wing tips that are displayed when they fly...

Of course grilled steak was on the menu as a special treat in honor of Karen's visit...Bob did all the cooking...he's very good at it...and Harry...another friend...supervised...well actually he held Bob's beer while he cooked....

An added treat for your enjoyment...if you need to carve a watermelon or perhaps an eggshell this is definitely the way to do it....these were sent to me as a representation of what a laser in the right hands can do...all I can say is...."Wow".....

No match for the laser and certainly no competition for Richard this is my first work of art...I took an art class given by Carol Swayzee ...I never in a million years thought that this could be coaxed out of a brain that up til now... I thought... had zero talent as an artist....I know it's not great.. but before this...my stick figures would have walked off the paper if they had anything that looked like legs....this is what this woman can teach you in just three hours..just imagine the talent she could bring out over a longer period of time....can't wait for the next class....