Small World

When we lived in Newtown for 30 + yr s, I walked regularly on the area roads. And believe it or not, I even jogged in those younger years, up and down the country lanes. On occasion, I would pass another walker who just happened to have the same kind of dog that we had, a wonderful little Westie. This is our Laddie.....he lived 17 years. She also drove a Saab and had 3 sons, just like me. And blonde hair. And she lived about a mile from us. But altho we knew the same people, we never connected on a social level, just a Hi and wave as we passed on the roads. So, many many years later, after we'd lived in Pa for a few years, we came down here. And one of my former neighbors tells me that Sonja moved to The Villages also. Just out of curiosity, I looked them up in the phone book and WHOA.......they live on our STREET.!!!! How weird is that ??? So we are now walking partners. She still lives in Newtown and hates the heat so is only here for short days in the summer but is here most of the winter. I am heading up to Ct on Thurs and was looking forward to walking on those old familiar roads with her ....(.those hills are much more challenging these days).........but she emailed me and said she would be down here . So this morning , we had a vigorous hour plus jaunt around the neighborhoods. It's just not as scenic but the conversation is lively. We had a lot to catch up on. I still think it's remarkable that we have connected. She'll be down for a couple of weeks so we can do more catching up when I get back. I'm heading up to spend the weekend with Andy and Mason while their Mom and Dad go to a wedding. I'm looking forward to that fall weather and wearing jeans.
It's still 90 degrees down here.
Today, I headed over and got the first of the flu shots this year. I also

got the Shingles vaccine. Both of my parents had Shingles in recent years and I have seen the misery first hand. The Villages is very efficient in offering vaccines to anyone who wants them. Each day, a different area Rec. Center offers it and the wait is minimal. The pneumonia, flu , shingles and tetanus are all available. For all you old people, Medicare paid for it all except a small charge for the Shingles.

Pretty ugly

The mandevillas are doing great. The blossoms are so large and lush. But they still don't get an adequate supply of water from the sprinkler system so hand watering is needed. We need to correct that. Left in my care, most green and living things die.......Speaking of

GREEN and LIVING.... Mr. Gecko has taken up residence on the lanai. He started out as a tiny 1 inch baby and as you can see, in the past month or so , he has filled out a bit. I don't like him out there but since it is still too warm to open up the doors, I don't fear him coming in to the house. But I do fear him growing and possibly becoming THIS
.

Not a chance you say....????? Green, 4 legs, long tail, pointy head, moves quickly, beady eyes...........looks like same gene pool to me.

And who would have predicted this ...........BRONCOS WIN SEASON OPENER. It was a terrible game for both the Bengels and the Broncos until the last 20 seconds. It wasn't a John Elway type save , just dumb luck.

Got back on the golf course this weekend......twice. Not pretty. Except for the new shoes.

Going home

Yesterday was a lazy day with no big agenda..........so we started at the beach. It was a bit breezy ...... That being quite an understatement when the umbrella launched itself into the air and then careened along the beach putting all in its path in peril. It was impressive in it's speed. Luckily, it was caught before it could do harm. So then we placed it back in the sand but I kept one hand firmly on it. Meanwhile, Paul and Curt tried their skill at boogey boarding. It was not always pretty and the photographer spared them any further embarrassment. I think you have to be a 6 year old to do it with style.Jan and Curt and Laca and Kevin are avid shell hunters . The beach closest to us doesn't have blog worthy shells to capture. But further south, there are more fruitful pickings.

But.......Laca learned the hard way about liberal applications ofsunscreen. This was acquired during their kayaking trip.......ouch.

We are heading home today, regretfully. We take with us a bit of sand, a lot of memories and a relaxed spirit.

Charleston

Today I am in a rush as the masses are urging me to remove myself from this computer and get thee to the beach.....But knowing my loyal fans are hanging on my every update , I have ignored their pleadings......

We wandered the streets of Charleston yesterday. The air was balmy and delightful and it was a short 21 mile drive from Kiawah. Altho I learned a great deal of very early history, early history and later early history, I won't detail it here...... mostly because I can't remember all the wars and invasions and disasters that have befallen this magnificent area.

This is a close up of a woman making a sweetgrass basket. This is a skill passed down since the days of rice plantations when they made the baskets from local grasses to winnow the rice. On many street corners, these are displayed for sale. I wanted to take a picture of this women but she declined so I snapped a quick one of her working. The picture below is a googled picture since I forgot to take one on the many we saw. They are not cheap but very labor intensive so I am glad they are popular and valued. The woman did say that she liked my purse.....my big lime green one. I offered a trade for a basket but guess she didn't like it that much.

We did take a carriage ride thru the streets.......here is a cobblestone road that are prevalent in the older parts.. The stones were used for ballast by the English ships and then either dumped or made into streets.
A view from the ride shows the Slave Market up ahead. It was a place to buy and sell slaves altho their history is rather vague and more politically correct these days when discussing this. On a smaller scale, it reminds me a bit of Pike's market in Seattle or Fanueil Hall in Boston in that it is a long, multi block open air building with stalls for selling assorted goods. Pike's market is more upscale, Boston's is more permanent and this one had mostly forgettable shopping. It is also an area of frequent floods so all looks temporary.

Here is our guide and horse, Bandit. Some of stories told may or maynot be historically accurate but it was a pleasant ride thru history for an hour.

Later we walked and walked and walked. I took few pictures but this is a view of Rainbow Row where they narrow houses are each painted a different colors. There are 40 'approved paints' in Charleston and most of the city looks like a Historical district so not much can be changed without lengthy bureacratic decisions.

Not sure of the history, if any, of this house but it is somewhat typical of the narrow tiny row houses.

Later, we met the rest of the family for some libation. We met at the world renowned Hyman Seafood restaurant downtown. We ate well and of course, I have pictures to prove it.

Laca has been raised a true southerner. She ordered Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes........note, I said this was a SEAFOOD restaurant. !!

Kevin took the plunge and ordered the Fried Calamari po-boy sandwich. This picture does not begin to show the true size of this whopper..........he declared it delicious and most of us declined a taste.

Jan and I had shrimp appetizers with really fresh and delicious hush puppies. Curt also had the fried green tomatoes and the shrimp.

Paul had the fried flounder. It was massive but he gave it a 10 for freshness and taste.


BEFORE

AFTER

And then we were too full and satiated to do anything but go home and take a nap.

Charleston is just lovely and would need many many trips to enjoy it all. We'd like to go back.

And now we're off to the beach.............................................

Kiawah Island, Day 2

It was a peaceful morning, like so many other mornings on the Island. Jan and Laca sharing mother-daughter thoughts. And then........, The "Jaw' s Music" could be heard in the distance......you know the tune.....
and the pair looked out on that dark and stormy night.....(ooops, wrong story)

....looked out to see who was humming the ominous sound.........

. It was Larry ........contrary to popular belief, he had no interest in food or small children or even the mother-daughter conversation......

Larry knew that a 'world famous blog' was about to be written and he wanted to be a part of it. He put on his best shiny coat, without the assorted twigs and leaf adornments, drew up close and personal and showed those pearly whites for the camera. And then he waited and waited and waited.........

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Meanwhile, life on the Island was waiting to be explored. First we went for a walk. Trails wind thru the lovely live Oaks and palms. Then we went for a long bike ride for more distant views.

And close up views.......

We ended the afternoon at the beach......with a cold one, a good book and a best friend...forever......

Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Jan and Curt, VFF, (very favorite family) have become regulars at this beautiful place on the Carolina coast and this year, have invited us to share the experience. (Jan is Paul's sister for the non-relative readers of the blog). Laca (Jan and Curt's daughter) and husband Kevin rounded out the group. And now that the introductions are over, let's begin the tour.

This is a view across the water from the deck. Everytime we open the slider and step outside, along comes Larry, swimming over for a snack. Then he

parks himself beside the deck and waits, and waits, and waits...........fortunately, there are no small children around.....This picture is looking straight down off the deck with the building and clouds reflected back...but Larry is NO reflection. Clicking on the picture will make it bigger and you will see the stick across his nose and his beady eyes. Here is the view to the right with the deck next door which looks just like ours and provides for good Larry and other wildlife viewing.

We went for a walk to the nearby beach.......

The grounds are lovely and have over 30 miles of bike/walking paths and 10 miles of beach front.

The beach is very hard packed and biking is a popular way to see it all.

Love the many birds.

Later, we went to dinner and came out to this beautiful sunset. We look forward to some beach time and some biking and more exploring.

Changes

Paul is finally back from his teaching stretch in Miami. It was a long 10 days or so it seemed. Shortly, he will head back down for another stint.He is stimulated by the challenges but maybe would be happier with more golf interrupting the simulator sessions. Meanwhile, I am happy to hold down the fort and find it to be all the challenges and stimulation that I need. I have never considered returning to nursing for one minute......not one.


My thoughts are more challenged by some changes we are contemplating in the near future. We made a good choice with this house , considering we had about a gazillion to choose from. However, as in rearranging the furniture now and then, sometimes rearranging walls can be good. We have no idea what or if we will do anything but we continue to pour over drawings and dream.
The housing economy is abysmal almost everywhere but in The Villages. There was a slump and even a slight reduction in prices but now it seems to be returning to life. If you can imagine, in it's heyday, a couple of years ago, they were pouring 100 foundation slabs A WEEK. And selling over 300 houses a month. Now the number is at 50 slabs/week and last month they sold 240 homes. It is quite staggering. And the summer season, from May to October used to be very quiet. Businesses barely made a go of it. Now, there is a higher percentage of FROGS (here til we croak) and fewer SNOWBIRDS.

So those days of just walking on a golf course are pretty much over and tee times for choice hours are just as hard to get as in the winter.

This school season has seen some firsts in the family. Nicholas is a SENIOR in COLLEGE this year at Colorado School of Mines....when did he grow up!!! And Becca started her 1st year at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She will do brilliantly and we are very excited for her. Alex started HIGH SCHOOL and Mr. Cuteness is one popular young man with the ladies (especially his grandma). And Andy started FIRST GRADE. Look how tall he is.

So many memories of all of them as wonderful little kissable babies and adorable toddlers. It goes by too soon.....

Today we are heading out for an "Excellent Adventure". Stay tuned....pictures at 11.

Don't blast my ashes into space.......

Again, I sat in front of NASA TV for a couple hours waiting with nervous energy for the launch of the shuttle. I had stayed up late a couple of nights before only to have weather and then some broken device cause a delay. Mostly, I sit and hope that it DOESN'T go up. I just get so anxious and I can't imagine what possesses a person to want to actually do this. It's almost unbearable to me to wait for the launch. Sometimes I hope I will fall asleep and miss it.....but then, no pictures for the blog !! I wonder if anyone ever has 2nd thoughts about being blasted into space. I've never heard of them ever substituting someone when they have a delay.And to think that people actually PAY for a chance to sit on a rocket. I just can't imagine doing it. I just can't.......

But tonight, despite my hoping that a stray cloud would wander over and fire of one bolt of lightning, or a bulb would burn out or something just to stop it from roaring into space, it lifted off right on schedule. These pictures are really bad but I just had to prove to you that I did see it. It was a clear night and maybe that was not a good thing. Other times, the clouds have reflected a lot of the light and the shuttle has to go thru them and it makes for a more visible event. I had one ear on the TV and one foot out the back door. As soon as there was main ignition, there was this tremendous orange glow on the horizon, above the trees. And out of this glow came this brilliant orange light moving fair ly slowly upward.

Eventually, it started to arc over and became whiter in color. It then moved faster it seemed.

And then, it just looked like a bright moving star. I was able to see it until they said it was over 300 miles down range and 5 minutes from launch.

And now I can relax. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

The area was very quiet. Usually we hear people cheering but it was still and only the frogs from the pond were clapping. And now I'm wide awake......