Yoga on the beach -- and meeting my pen pal Meta

 That is not me in the photo ;'-). How nice that I found this yoga on the beach class that was held right next to our motel. My first time to do yoga on the beach -- or anywhere outdoors. I loved feeling the sand in my toes and seeing the shore birds at the water's edge and flying overhead. It was so good to get in some nice stretching which I have not been doing with all our car sitting. There were at least 20 of us doing yoga poses and enjoying the fresh air.

 While I was at yoga, Dorothy drove to the next town of Venice to look around at a Saturday market. Now she is back and I am about to drive to Bradenton to meet Meta.

What a delight to meet Meta and her family and Tony and his family. I met Meta on a walking forum and we gradually became "cyber friends" with common interests in walking and cycling. She invited me to join her "spreadsheet gang" to track miles walked and biked with it being a competition only unto our own goals that we set each month. And so I met Tony (and  Hank who could not be there today).

 I had spoken with Meta on the phone earlier and told her about my yoga class which she misunderstood. She relayed my conversation to David and Christina that she did not know I was into yodeling, and I was taking a lesson on the beach this morning. We got a lot of laughs from this one.

 At lunch with Meta (across from me), Tony, his wife Juanita, his brother Jim and wife Anna, Chirstina and David (Meta's daughter-in-law and son).

After lunch we drove to Bradenton Beach for a nice walk in the sand and surf.

 A memorable few hours together with warm and caring people -- my friends created via cyber networking. It was a little hard to part so soon but we hugged with thanks that we got to meet and share time together.

Once back at the motel, Dorothy and I sat out on the patio waiting for a possible colorful sunset. We heard drums off to our left and the fellow who stays here every year (for the past sixteen) for six weeks, told us this group of ten or so drummers do this every Saturday evening. We had to get a closer look and listen so we walked down the beach to find free-form dancers in the middle of a big circle formed by beach chaired spectators, gyrating to the beat of the drummers. 

 There was no colorful sunset -- the sun simply went away.