December 4, 2015 - Jacksonville, FL

A very gloomy and windy morning.  It was a good thing that Edith did not get up early to go to Jacksonville Beach for sunrise photography.

Edith realized that the lens she uses a lot for general photography is still with the camera left at the shop for repairs, so she went by there to get it.  While there the repair guy told her that the camera won’t be ready til after Dec 13.  

We had made a plan to visit our good friends, Gary and Ellen at 2 pm.  On our way over we made a stop at Hala Mid-Eastern store/cafe to pick up a jar of grape leaves, a small bag of #1 bulgur (cracked wheat), baklava. It is hard finding Mid-Eastern food items when traveling because not many cities/town carry the items that Edith needs. Hala had a fire a couple years ago and the building was closed. The store was finally redone and open to the public last month.  The new layout is much better than the old one.  The cafe looks very nice and we may want to try eating there sometimes soon. 

Grape Leaves

The store has a large selection of Hookahs

Dried Eggplants
One of Edith's favorite Middle Eastern dishes
Stuff it with meat & rice, cook in tomato sauce for 45 minutes
YUMMY!

It had been a long while since we had been to Gary and Ellen’s house, but Edith remembered the way and did not have trouble finding it.  It was good to see Gary and Ellen again after not seeing them for 2 years.  Gary and Ellen grew up with Edith at Florida Deaf School since 1st grade.  Gary and Ellen were high school sweethearts, have been married for 48 years. 

While chatting Gary mentioned that he and Ellen were going to eat out with other friends for supper at 4:30 pm and asked us to come along. We followed them to St. Mary’s Seafood Restaurant on Old St. Augustine Road.  It was good to see Juliette, Audrey and Harold.  

Front: Juliette and Ellen
Back: Audrey, Harold, Gary, Erwin and Edith

Erwin had fried grouper (3 pieces), fried green tomatoes and baked potatoes. Edith got grilled shrimp, deviled crabs, lima beans and rice pilaf.  Everyone else enjoyed their meals as we did.  

It was really nice spending few hours with good and dear friends.  We need to get together again.