11-30-1963 to 11-30-09

A day to celebrate 46 wonderful amazing years.....actually over 50+ years if you add in the years of togetherness. It's been a beautiful ride and there is more to explore. Stay tuned.

Preparations

When last we visited, we had a big hole in the back yard. Yesterday, in the rain, the cement showed up. It had been dry most of the morning and I even got 7 holes of golf in before the deluge. The concrete is blown on the sides and floor. Apparently, it sets quite quickly and doesn't just run down the sides as I expected.

I'm sure it would be messy on a sunny day but these guys were soaked and up to their ankles in concrete.

It took them about 3 hours to get it all formed and by that time the rain was too heavy to even take a picture outside so I tried one thru the screen.

Meanwhile, inside, preparations were ramping up for Thanksgiving. We are having 6 in for dinner. Good neighbors and Aunt Romayne. Weather is cooling off after the rain and I feel bad for all those grandkids arriving and hoping for sunny, warm days. Since the Village pools are all heated, and it will be in the high 60's, I'm sure the northern kids won't mind.
Yes, this is a rare picture of the male species polishing silver....... We wish you a wonderful day, surrounded by good friends and family.

In the Beginning

The past couple of days have been a beehive of activity in back of the house. It is exciting to know that in about 6 weeks , we will have a large addition to our yard. We have pondered various changes after we realized that we had space just burning a hole in our imaginations. Space is at a premium, both inside and out, and maximizing it's usefulness is always a challenge down here. Since we live on the golf course, we don't need an actual back yard full of grass and plantings. But we would like more space on the screened lanai. So, putting pen to paper and tape measure to yard, we figured out what might fit. After a lengthy process of meeting with the builder, we settled on a plan and it all passed the very stringent Architectural Review.
And then we waited and waited for our turn on the construction schedule. The economy may have tanked in most parts of the US but down here, there is building and buying and selling and changing and growing. It is quite remarkable.
So this is what the first week's work looks like.

Stay tuned....................................

Join us on our morning walk

It dawned a beautiful morning. Perfect for a scheduled walk with

Sonja. We usually walk about 45 min to an hour around our end of TV but we decided to make more of an adventure of it, with rewards at the end for our efforts. We met at the corner of Inner Circle and Inner Circle (because we live on a circle !!) at 7:30. Sonja always wears shorts and a teeshirt, never a jacket or pants. I , on the otherhand, come prepared for the chilly 60+ degree morning with a sweater. But I promptly sweat it off.

We pass the golf course behind our house, still dewy from the night's sprinklers. If you can hit straight off the tee, you don't have to deal with these daunting moguls.

We come to a "hill", Florida style. And view the sea of roofs.
But there are other things to notice along the way. This is an old black cemetery, here long before TV was even a thought. Fortunately, it has been preserved and maintained. It sits in the middle of a Village and most people have no idea what is behind the hedges.

There are flowers everywhere and it seems strange to see petunias in full bloom this time of year. The coleus have about seen their peak but I love the masses of color.

Getting nearer the town center, we need to cross the main road via one of the many tunnels.

The next 2 pictures off of my phone are out of sequence but for what ever reason, I can't move them . Anyhow, one of the many APPS on my iPhone (have I mentioned what I think of this amazing device ?? ) is called Run Keeper. It keeps track of your movements , whether walking, riding , driving, swimming etc by GPS. It then gives out a summary and a map of your trip. I use the free APP and it has some serious limitations but I'm not ready to pay for the better version.

We started at the green pin and ended at the red.

This was our destination. Lake Sumter Landing is built to resemble an early- century Key West type village.

And this was our" final destination", to quote the redundant announcement by flight attendants.

Breakfast outside at The Veranda. I forgot to take a picture of this 'healthy' meal before I dove in.

And, I don't care if it is mid-November, it's still too early for Christmas trees.
And then we wandered over to do some window shopping at the new bathing suit/tropical wear shop and found it to be open. It had some lovely things and I became fond of a bright "Jams" brand shirt. I glanced at the price (sans glasses ) and thought it a bargain at $35. When the clerk suggested that I pay $101 instead, I decided it wasn't to my liking after all. And reminded myself that 95 looks like 35 without glasses and that I should bring them when shopping.

We did not walk back home. Another hour hike back might have necessitated more eating.

Results of living in a Republican stronghold.....

Yup, she's back.......In her up and coming bus tour to promote the book and whatever else, the Palin forces have decided that 76,000 old people just can't wait to welcome her back. She arrives sometime around the end of the month at the local Barnes and Noble. When last she was here, via helicopter, dropping into the Town Square on a Hot and Humid afternoon, the local rag reported that 60000 cheering loyals were on hand. There is NO WAY that even 1/3 that number could have fit in the square. Plus it was so hot and so crowded and the wait was hours and no chairs and no umbrellas were allowed and those on the Right were dropping like flies. I hope they have a better plan this time.....at least it will be cooler.

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The Moving Roadblock literally lived up to its name this week when we brought it to the house for a thorough cleaning. It took up half the road and the first night we had the flashers on so that someone coming home from the Square and a bit of libation wouldn't plaster themselves and their golf cart against the end of it. And now it's shiny and clean and waiting for our next foray ..... thinking of a few days near a beach.




The back is better thank you and today was a trip to the dentist. We found a lovely office , staffed by 12 women , including the two dentists. Just seems to make for a calming environment for those of us with anxiety issues in that area.

My final medical update.....

Not that I'm planning any imminent departure but I'm just tired of PAIN and I"m sure you don't find my latest complaining to be so readable either. Since we last talked, I have been unable to walk WITHOUT PAIN, or sit WITHOUT PAIN, or lay down WITHOUT PAIN, or draw WITHOUT PAIN, or shower WITHOUT PAIN. About the only thing I have done is study this required book for my class. But the title is misleading in my instance. It's a pretty good book and if any of you have an issue with perspective in your art, check it out. After a looooooong night of misery, while Paul slept soundly I might add......the least a fine husband could do is be miserable too....but then he has done his share. I finally gave in and payed a visit to the local Urgent Care Ctr. There are several in TV (The Villages) but this one is close and staffed entirely by physicians. And as my luck would have it, the young Dr on duty was an MD and a CHIROPRACTOR. How fortuitous was that !!! After X-Rays and such, he said it was my sacroilliac joint that was out of whack. After two injections (a steroid and a strong non narcotic anti inflammatory) and prescriptions for more drugs including VICODIN, I was out the door feeling a bit more mobile.

I
I am truly grateful for modern medicine and DRUGS...... So this is the last of blogs about my state of health.....I promise.

We're thinking positively about Lizzie today who is in a major twirling competition , wearing a stunning outfit of lace and appliqued flowers and 1500 hand applied Swarosvsky crystals , all fashioned by her talented mother. Pictures of course when I get them...............................

Temporarily out of order......

This is just exactly how I feel, except the lightning bolt is in my lower back. I am putting out a distress call for drugs of any kind. I have never had an issue with back pain except once and I always prided myself on using good body mechanics as a nurse, thereby missing the scourge of most nurses that I know.


But, sitting on a low stool, turning a wrench for hours and being in an awkward position when working on the RV, apparently did me in. It came on slowly and was probably aggravated by two long vigorous walks that Sonja and I did . Since yesterday, I have been laid low, using Motrin (mostly ineffective) and wishing it were Morphine. I'm assuming I can slowly heal thru the weekend and be up and running (a figure of speech only) by Monday.

Weather is lovely , in the 70's, light breezes, no humidity and the golf course is waiting. Had to cancel my usual Friday foresome.
And now, I'm going to try and sit in a chair and do some drawing.
Addendum a few hours later: . . .can't sit, can't lay, barely walk....the heating pad is my friend. I feel my years plus 30.

Home at last....

When I last left you, I was expressing confidence that the issue with the slides would be taken care of, we would enjoy a couple days of relaxation at the nearby beach and we would arrive home rested and refreshed......................HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
For two days, the great minds of the male gender discussed, pondered, paced, mumbled.......and I worried and whined and figured out that the great beast was severely wounded and would have to stay in the campground without us. One of the slides did go in manually as it was supposed to, the other woudn't budge. Various owners of these behemoths stopped by to express their opinion and shake their heads, happy it was not their problem. But, not to be outwitted, Paul used that amazing analytical brain and came up with an idea and IT WORKED. For about 3 hours, we manually turned wrenches on either end of the slide and inch by inch, it crept in and locked. We hurried up and departed before anything else decided to go haywire. We still had a 6 hour ride to get safely home.

At a rest stop, we parked next to this .....it looked so appealing and simple.........and SMALL. A large dog, a tall guy and a woman apparently fit in it.

So we have been home for 3 days, the weather is cool, the schedule has been busy and the Moving Roadblock is in storage where it can sit for awhile and get its act together. Paul has ordered a piece to fix the offending part and those long 7 days of dodging weather, wind, darkness and tractor trailers are over for now.

If it's not one thing, it's another.......

We have managed to avoid snow storms, tornados, torrential rain and catastrophic flooding (the Weather Channels description) and the plague so far....(.that being H1N1) but got waylaid by a mechanical issue. Anyhow, I am currently at Panera Bread , using their free internet and enjoying their salads and THE BREAD...mostly THE BREAD. We have been on the road for over 4 days and have not had decent internet. I know you have been waiting for a travel blog but folks, this ain't it. This is just to let you know that if we could have, we would have and we couldn't so we didn't. Even the Wonder Phone didn't come thru on this one altho I do know people who have blogged on it, I just haven't figured it out yet.
We left Denver early to avoid a predicted snow storm. (Jenna sent pictures of the 26 inches on the back deck and the buried dog) We headed south to New Mexico, a mostly desolate desparate looking place and then into Oklahoma which is wide open spaces of cattle and oil and cattle and oil and looks prosperous. We spent the night in a lovely RV camp that we had stayed in 3 years previously. We had planned to head to Little Rock to see the Clinton Library but wisely checked out the forecast and decided to head more southerly to avoid serious storms. We spent the night at a casino campground in Shreveport , La with an overabundant supply of large mosquitos, close proximity to the train track and its loud frequent whistle, and on the flight path to the airport. We were too tired to explore the gambling. But we listened to the ominous weather report and departed at sunrise to get as far away as possible from the pending weather. And a tornado did hit in Shreveport and the interstate was closed from flooding and it is expected to get worse. We finally made it to Biloxi and wandered thru a huge casino and drove along the Gulf coast and saw the Katrina devastation of all the beautiful southern mansions that lined the drive. It is very sad.
I managed to spend $5 and walk away with $27 profit from the glitzy casino. We were there all of 20 minutes before we got bored. No offense to those who this appeals to but after a long drive, we were more interested in reclining.
So now, we are in Destin Florida in a beautiful state park on the beach. Weather is warm, humid and the area is a beehive of shopping and dining and of course, the beautiful snow white beaches. However, Paul has spent the afternoon trying to solve a mechanical issue with the RV. One of the slides failed to go out more than a few inches. The other, put out first, had no problem. He has a call into a technical support and has discussed it with Michael and hopefully it can be fixed. If not, the slides can be manually brought in and we will take it home for repair there. Anyway, we are planning on staying here 2 nights and heading home early Sunday morning. Pictures another day....stay tuned.

What a difference a day makes

Flew into Colorado yesterday and was greeted by this. Not heavy snow but steady and cold. Quite a shock to my system. As we were descending thru the clouds and snow, I noticed that slushy snow was building up on the wings. So, being the intrepid and brave flier that I am, but also having inside knowledge, I just knew that the wing deicers weren't on and we were going to cartwheel into the Colorado landscape below. I quit looking but then just had to peek again and some had fallen off so figured that the crew was indeed awake and had turned on the deicers and we would all live.

Can you count the computers in this picture.....yes, there are 5 and on the other side of the room , Paul and I were each on our laptops........ total of 7 and yet we were all able to multi task and have quality family time.





Today we are loading up the "Moving Roadblock" and heading south to warmer climes. We hope to be home in about 6 days. Updates when we have WiFi.