Thankful Day

Northern California is basking in sunshine but there is no heat. The fountains at this lovely Inn were covered with ice this morning. I did not come prepared for the cold so my activities are limited to indoor. Our family gathered at Wine and Roses Inn and Spa for dinner. The grounds are just lovely and the property is surrounded by the vineyards. Rooms are quite urban contemporary but comfy with the down bedding and the deep soaking tub. (I took pics but forgot the connecting cord to download them.....it's always something !)
Patrick took pictures (my handsome nephew) and I thought this one of my younger sister Sandy and husband Tom was especially good. We dined in the ballroom with a huge fireplace and amazing food...and lots of it.

Family gatherings are all about the children and we were delighted to have these 3 well mannered and cute kids come to the party. (All pictures are clickable for a more upclose and personal view)
Jeff and Jennifer came down from Vancouver to wish his grandmother a Happy 90th birthday. And here's most of us who showed up. Those of you who couldn't make it, we talked about you alot...........all good things of course. See you next time !!!

Hello again....

OK, I'm trying to come up with a good excuse for not posting for all these many days. I have none. It's not that I don't care about my legions of fans, knowing that you all are waiting and waiting for a pithy update on living the Senior life. It's just that sometimes our life isn't that blog worthy. I know that's hard to believe but trust me, somedays we are just plain boring.

We have been busy. Company came and went. Judy and Guy are high school classmates (Class of 61 and 63 for Judy) and we try and connect every year or so. They spend their days traveling about the world, enjoying some exotic and exciting adventures. Egypt, Tanzania, Europe and then go home to beautiful Manhattan Beach, Ca. They know how to do retirement. !!

Tomorrow we are heading West. Thanksgiving and a celebration of Mother's 90th birthday is on the schedule. It will be very special to be with family once again. And I have enjoyed packing the sweaters and jeans and non- flip-flop shoes.

You all know that I love Apple products. I'm learning more and more about the new iPhone and the Facetime feature is way cool. But, sadly, my computer needs some work. The mousepad is acting up and altho I can tap on it, I can't click it. Thus I can't scroll and I can't click on pictures to post them to the blog. It's fixable but will have to wait til we get back. So just imagine pictures of the happy old couple playing golf, pictures of Mason's 5th birthday and pictures of the guests. And maybe your imagination is better than the pictures.

I love new toys......

You all are aware of my love affair with my iPhone. It is just so impressive and besides all that it can do, it just feels good. Mine is getting older and slowing down a bit and is having trouble with any multitasking.......We are alot alike in some respects.

So, on Tuesday eve, after discussion and research , I bought the new 4G iPhone. It is pretty hefty and now has that flat edge.....so not as tactile. But it has a bigger camera with flash, can multi task (Pandora while I walk and use Runkeeper) and is so fast. It has a ton of new features of which I will probably use 3 but it is still an amazing device.
Our neighbors have had an iPhone but yesterday they changed to the new Droid X. Mostly they wanted to return to Verizon. (We haven't had any issues with AT&T so far). I looked at a PC magazine comparison of the two phones and for the average older non-techy user, they are probably very similar. I like my interface with iTunes and being able to sync my phone and computer and all the wonderful Apps. I know that Droid does that also but the 'old dog , new tricks' thing would put me over the edge.

Jon says he can sell my old phone on eBay for $100 which surprised me.

Weather continues dry (NO humidity at all) and sunny......80's is just perfect.

Put another log on the fire......

A brief message from the Florida tourist bureau. Wait a few days before you decide to come to the Land of the Sun. The Sun is still shining as lovely as ever but it's appearance is deceiving. Yesterday some winds blew in from Canada and the golfers came out in fleece and gloves and long pants. It was not fun being blown about in the cold but I actually played slightly better...... go figure.

Anyway, the above pic is the current temp at 8 am on Saturday. It is to get colder and windier today and frost warnings tomorrow. I know that those of you in a more temperate climate are not impressed but you would be if you had decided to visit this weekend. Next weekend should be hot again. The actual winter is supposed to be warm and dry as we are in an El Nina or one of those patterns. All I know for sure is that I don't appreciate cold anymore.

The wine was just fine......

We have planned to view a shuttle launch ever since we moved less than 2 hours from the site. On Tuesday, we finally headed over to the coast. Here is a view of a driving aid for the "Roadblock" that I would be lost without. It's the ubiquitous blue tape marking the center line of the highway. Lined up, it centers the coach on the road and I avoid the tendency to drift right to avoid those big rigs coming from behind. It also helps on narrow construction-filled roads.

As you know, the launch has been delayed several times but we enjoyed lovely weather and a few toasts to the brave astronauts. We tried to explore the area but the Canaveral National Seashore and the Merritt Island Wildlife areas were closed ......they are near the launch site and close 3 days prior. We stayed at a nice campground in Titusville but found the community to be mostly dying and vacant. It should only get worse as the Space program is dismantled. Knowing the weather forecast, we knew it wouldn't fly for a few days at least, so we wandered back home.
And because I have no pictures of rockets blasting into space, here are two that more than make up for it. Above is a Colorado sunset......quite amazing, that Jenna took with her iPhone. And below, is Jon's view of the George Washington bridge early on Wednesday. NOT taken on approach to Newark International. !!

Sounds of silence

Do you hear that ???? Me neither...............it is QUIET !!

The company is gone. The house is still. The old people have nodded off.

But it was fun while it lasted. And how many times did we say how absolutely perfect the weather was. I couldn't have ordered it any better.

But, in the past 5 days or so the weather has returned to August. It is humid, hot and foggy for the morning walk. But it's OK, the weather gods came thru when needed.

And now the winter old people are returning. It's harder to get a tee time, a chair in a restaurant and a parking space. But my lanai isn't crowded, (as long as I continue my patrol to eliminate the reptiles) and that is where you will find us. I'm hoping that more of you will join us to hit a few, tip a few and catch up.

Our acorns.............

We spent the day at Kennedy Space Center. After all, when the grandkids arrive on their fall break, we can't have it be all sun and fun. Education must continue. We haven't been to the Space Center for decades.....and now that it is so close and the last shuttle flights are scheduled, we wanted to go over and get amazed once again by what great minds and brave astronauts can accomplish.
The shuttle is scheduled to lift off on Nov 1st. This is as close as the public can get.
Lizzie and Alex came from the mile high altitude but managed just fine at 29 feet.
It was a long day but we saw and did it all. These two are just the best grandkids.....smart, athletic and just plain cute and nice......you know, from mighty oaks the acorns fall......or something like that.

Tres Amigas

BFF since 1961................Carol, Shelly and moi !!! But except for a brief 4 hour visit last winter, we had not seen each other since 1964. We tried to make up for lost time.

It was perfect. First of all, Florida put on a brilliant display with glorious weather, blue skies, tropical breezes and temperatures designed for ideal golf. We spent one day at Epcot and 5 days of golf.

In between, we went to Homosassa State Park where the wildlife are exquisite
and the manatees float freely about.
It was a great week.

Visitors

The guests are arriving. Of late, we have noticed an increase in the number
of the 4 legged variety. The front of the house seems to be a popular place for these tiny frogs....brilliant green, possibly a type of tree frog I think. They surprise me when I water plants and the pop out with their mighty leaps even tho they are all but an inch or so big. Maybe they are good for keeping bugs at bay but I wish they'd call out before they leap.

And in the lanai, we have found a gaggle of geckos taking up residence. We have sealed all visible entries and urged them to go outside. But they are happy and protected from the cranes and ibis and hawks. One was doing a back stroke in the pool yesterday. They also like to scurry among the plants and give me a moment of pause. But my main concern is that they might not be happy with the expansive lanai and plenty of bugs and decide that the soft beds and cool tile might be more to their taste now that the doors are open. Sooooo, as much as I find it distasteful and just plain mean, I have taken to removing them permanently. This is carried out with sticky paper and vicious swats with a pool noodle.

It's similar to the time in Ct when we had an invasion of lady bugs. At first, I would scoop them up and move them outside. As they proliferated, I vacuumed them and then moved them outside. As they proliferated , I said to heck with this nonsense and got the exterminator to deal with them and I cleaned up the carcasses.

Cute only gets you so far.

And yes, the real guests are arriving. The next two weeks will bring all sorts of excitement. Two school friends arrive today, then two of my very favorite grandkids arrive, then friends from Pa. and then..............maybe you'll show up. !!

Remembering

As much as the world hoped and prayed and searched, the balloonists were not found. Not even a scrap of debris or hope was found. It is fitting that the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is this week where they will be remembered by all that knew and respected and loved them.

Back on earth, life goes on at a breath taking pace. I remember reading somewhere about how to capture time. If you spend your days in a routine of sameness and predictability, time flies by in a blur. One day becomes another and another and nothing defines the time......but , if you punctuate those days with bits of uniqueness and change , you define a moment and later, you can look back and remember special days or places or people and it breaks up the sameness. Sooooo, based on that theory, I am going to make my days unique......today I'm going to get a hole-in-one and tomorrow, I will plan a trip to some exotic locale........

And, for all of you without a blog of your own, a blog is a great journal of daily life. I thoroughly enjoy rereading past years and bringing back fond memories. You don't have to publish the blog, it can just be your personal memoir and keeper of your life. Go to www.blogger.com and set one up.....its free and easy..........if I can do it, so can you.