Of Friends, Flora, and Fauna

~ Theodora Vanyar

12,855 Days Alive

8,807 Steps Taken

1 Chocolate Lava Cake with Raspberry Sauce Eaten

So, today’s post is image heavy. I spent the day with Usagi, Lex, and Megan today. It was lovely.

We started the day in downtown St. Petersburg. The four of us went to this raw, vegan joint called Rawkstar Cafe in the arts district on the 700 block of Central Avenue.

It was a little difficult to find something for me to eat, allergies considered. But I ended up getting the Beyond Burger with some air fried French fries. It was really good.

Image is of a plant burger with greens on a bun, a cardboard cup full of French fries, and two small slices of tomato on a plate.

After that, we went to Sawgrass Lake Park. There are three trails there and we walked two of them.

Image is of a sun dappled wooden boardwalk with a sign painted with red letters reading “Sawgrass Trail Overlook Tower” with a red arrow pointing left.

We took the Sawgrass Trail first and saw tortoises, fish, and tons of bugs.

Image is of a tortoise barely visible in a lot of green foliage.
Image is of an unknown plant with reddish berries and flowers along with large oblong leaves in bright green.
Image is of myself in a black shirt with pink hair and my blonde friend Megan in a blue shirt. We are both smiling and sweaty.

I had a lot of fun.

Image is of a sunny, bright yellow flower with four petals surrounded by bright green leaves.

I want to draw the above flower and figure out what kind of flower it is. Maybe I can incorporate it into my flower sleeve.

Image is of my friend Lex, with burgundy hair, in a coral and flowered short jumpsuit in front of a massive, sideways growing tree. She is smiling and wearing rose gold sunglasses.

I saw beauty-berries on our walk today.8 didn’t eat any, but I did take a picture of them.

Image is of small purple clusters of berries on a branch of a beauty-berry plant.

There was a small butterfly garden at the Park as well.

Video is of a large bush with red flowers with several butterflies fluttering around the blossoms.

There was also an educational center that had a display regarding the local fauna, like bobcats, screech owls, hummingbirds, and copperhead snakes.

Image is of a large glass display case with various stuffed and preserved animals such as a Florida bobcat, a Great Horned Owl, a Gopher Tortoise, and several other unidentified birds.
Image is of the same glass display case from another angle. The Florida bobcat is visible in profile; there is also a raccoon, a fish next to an osprey, a coiled diamondback rattlesnake with shedded snake skin, a red shouldered hawk, and a yellow bilked cuckoo.

It was pretty cool. We spent several hours walking.

Image is of a foot beaten path curving around a small, grass-covered hill. There are trees along the edge of the path and growing from the top of the hill as well.

After that, we were peckish again. Since Lex is strictly Vegan, we had to find a place that she would be able to eat as well as the rest of us. We ended up in Gulfport’s downtown/arts district so we could all get something a little heartier to eat.

Lex got a vegan Ruben sandwich at a vegan deli place called the Golden Dinosaurs.

Image is of a shop front with bright reddish pink posts and many signs reading “black lives matter”, “justice for George Floyd”, and other such signs.
Image is of a pole in front of a green metal bench. On the pole is a flag reading “Welcome to Gulfport”. There is a colorful mailbox and parked cars in the background.

Since the weather was turning from sunny to oncoming storm, we took refuge at Siri’s Gourmet Burgers & Pizza for our meal. I got a deluxe pizza which was pretty good.

Image is of a pizza with a single slice taken out on a raised platter. It is a thin crust pizza with cheese, pepperoni, sausage, onion, green peppers, mushrooms, and black olives.

The pizza was pretty good, even if the proprietor was relatively unpleasant to deal with. Well, one of them was. The female owner was a joy and especially sweet.

We left after our meal and the rain had almost died off entirely. We headed back to Megan’s house and said our goodbyes.

All in all, a lovely day off. I have work tomorrow and it will be interesting not being the only one in the office anymore. My direct supervisor, Miss A, is coming back into the office for at least the next few weeks.

I’m pleasantly tired today. Mentally, I’m doing okay. I’m suicidal, yeah, but I don’t have plans or anything. Things are going well right now and so don’t want to screw that up.

Anyway, I’ve got to go to bed.

Take your meds, folks.

Published by Theodora Vanyar

Writer. Artist. Laughter addict. Queer, Jew-ish, anxiety riddled, dealing with #BipolarDisorder, and fat. Oxford Comma FOREVER! All else is icing.

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