Another Week in Paradise

Can't believe how fast the weeks go by while in Florida. We have had another nice week of weather. It was cool one morning but by 10:00 a.m. it is sunny and warm again.

We have just done our routine activities most of this past week. On Wednesday night, we had a soup supper which was good. They had about 12 different types of soup, with bread and crackers, and then cake for dessert. Everything was very good.

The owners here at the park have an organization called Friends of the Circles and they are the ones that made the soup. It is a good fund raiser for them. Although it was only $4 a person.

Yesterday we went with our friends, Don and Linda, to a town called LaBelle. It is about 40 miles Southwest of here. They were having their annual Swamp Cabbage Festival. Don and Linda had been there before for it and they said it was a lot of fun and invited us to go with them. It was a fun day. They had a parade and they have different type floats in their parades than we do in the Midwest. I will attach some pictures. They decorate the floats with palm leaves instead crepe paper - it sure made you know you were in Florida.

After we watched the parade, we walked over to the their park where they had vendors for food as well as arts and crafts and live music.

As you can see by the menus they had Gator bites and Swamp Cabbage Fritters. Well, we decided we needed to try both of these. Both the Gator and the Fritters were deep fried (no good for our arteries) but really they were pretty good. I thought the Gator tasted like chicken and the Swamp Cabbage tasted like regular cabbage. Swamp Cabbage comes from the heart of a palm tree - I forgot exactly the name of the palm. Here is a picture of a pile of the palms. They just take the heart of it out and cook it. It is like a filler - not much of a favor.

Well, after all this the guys wanted to go the Lawnmower races. This was a first for us. We had never been to anything quite like this. They "supped" up the lawnmowers and they raced around the tracks. First they had some drag races and then they had oval races. It was pretty cute! And, a woman won two of the races. She was quite a driver. We heard she had been racing for 22 years. So I guess she should have been good....

This was a fun day but we were pretty "pooped out" by the time we got home.

Today we have been packing for our cruise. We are leaving in the morning to head over to Fort Launderdale to pick up our friends, Dora and Marlin, and then head to Miami to catch our ship. We won't have the computer so we will be off until next weekend. Have a good week.

Beautiful Weather in Florida

Well, the last week has been perfect, sunny weather in Florida. This is why we came here. It has been in the 70s/low 80s and really nice. As a man of fact, it almost got too hot a couple of days....but Jack says it is just right!!

On Thursday, February 5, we took a drive over to Bradenton to look around. We had been there before at different times but not since we had been here this time. We enjoyed the drive over - went over a different highway. Stopped had lunch and of course had to hit the outlets there. You wouldn't believe the number of cars & people there. One of the sales clerks said it had been that way since the middle of January when all the "snowbirds" had hit town.

We are continuing with our square dancing here at the park. Are really enjoying it and getting to know more people.

On Saturday, February 7, we went to Lake Placid's art and craft fair. I thought it wouldn't amount to that much, since Lake Placid is not very big, but was very pleasantly surprised. They had over 150 vendors, entertainment, and food. Had some real cute stuff. We bought a new "wrought iron" welcome sign with a glass ball on it. It was cute. We even met a couple from Overland Park, Kansas, while we were there. Small world.... Here are a couple murals that are in the downtown area of Lake Placid. This town is known for its murals - we haven't seen all of them yet.

Sunday, February 8, the park had a bar-a-que chicken dinner. There is a man in the park that is in the catering business and he caters most of their dinners and they are very good. Met another couple from Missouri there. They were from a small town close to Rolla, Missouri.

We have enjoyed the pool this last week. The water is back to being very nice since the cool snap so it has been a busy place.

On Thursday, February 12, we drove over to Ft. Myers to go to Camping World, Miromar Outlets and go to the Beach. It was a nice day but let me tell you the traffic over there is really busy. It got over to the Beach area around 2:00 p.m. and it took us 45 minutes just to get up the road to the Beach and then another 30 minutes to find a place to park. Really crowded. It is a nice Beach area but sure didn't like the traffic we had to fight. If we go back we will go early and leave early.

We have had a couple groups in this week for entertainment. On Tuesday, we had a couple named Grace Harmony Gospel which we really nice; then last night we had two guys - Elvis, Alex and Elmer. They were really good. The guy that portrayed Elvis had a wonderful voice and did sound real close to Elvis. He also say Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, and some others. We really enjoyed this one.

Jack and I are going on a 5-day cruise leaving Miami on Monday, February 23. We are getting excited about it. We found a good bargain and couldn't pass it up. Our good friends, Marlin and Dora, from Kansas City are flying down and going with us so I know we will have a great time. We are going to Key West & Cozumel.

We have our Valentine's Dance tonight. Hopefully the music will be good. It is a new group we haven't heard yet.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and give all your love ones a kiss and hug today for sure!!

Back to the Sunshine State

Let's see where did I leave off. On Tuesday, 1/27/09, I flew back to Kansas City to my aunt's funeral. Had a good flight even though I didn't get a non-stop - went through Chicago but just to let people off and on. Got into KC around 2:30 p.m. My good friends, Dora and Marlin, picked me up at the airport. Oh it was cold!! Had some snow on the ground but not anything like when we landed at Chicago.

Went to my sister's house Tuesday night and caught up with what had been happening with the family.

Wednesday I went over to Chad and Cathy's to baby-sit the little ones - Bronson and Nico. I really needed my Grandma fix. Cathy went with Chad to look at a new van their were looking at buying. Had a great time with the kids. Chad and Cathy decided this was the van for them. It is a wonderful one. It is a Honda Odyssey. They definitely was needing to get a bigger car with their two little ones. Cathy was real excited and she said that is a sign she is getting older when you get excited over getting a "van"!! Then I went to get my hair cut and met Dora at the movies.

Thursday was my Aunt's funeral. I went to pick up Cathy and the boys (Chad was going to meet us at the funeral). Then we met Craig at his office in North Kansas City and he rode with us too. You know funerals are where to see family that you don't see other times of the year. So it was like a family reunion. The service was very nice but very sad. But she is in a better place and is not suffering any longer. Pray for her son as he is a only child and this was really rough for him. This day was also my birthday (I'll definitely remember this one). So on Thursday night, Craig and Chad and their families took me out for dinner. It was a little different not having Jack with me to celebrate my birthday.

Friday I had some things I needed to get done while I was home. Went to the movies with Dora again - we got our movie fix (see Jack and Marlin do not really like going to the movies so we go)...visited with the neighbors (thanks Doris for letting use your computer while I was home). Emma stayed all night with me so we could get our visiting by ourselves.

Saturday morning Craig picked us up and took me to the airport. Had a smooth flight back to Florida. Was great to get back to the warm and sunny Florida. Jack picked me up and we stopped at our favorite restaurant at St. Pete Beach - The Wharf - and had our grouper fix. Brandy was glad to see me too.

Got back in the swing of things here at the park. Went to Tai Chi and line dance lessons yesterday. DeAnn called yesterday and they are going to come visit us in Florida in the middle of March. We are excited about that!! Can't wait to see them.

Cool & Warm In Florida - Heading to KC

This picture is the Goodyear blimp that went right over our park on Saturday. I believe it is here for the Super Bowl.

The weather has been both cool and warm. We did have some cool mornings this last week but the days have been pretty nice. Starting on Thursday we have had ideal weather - 70s and sunny. But one morning it was 30 degrees with frost on the truck. That wasn't good!! But I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

Our dance last Saturday night was great. Finally we had the music we like - variety with 50s/60s/country/pop. It was a one-man band type music - good voice - he played the guitar and fiddle. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Fun time...

We did our routine activities and had fun. On Wednesday, we went to the movies with Becky and Dave (couple across the street). We saw the new Clint Eastwood movie - Grand Torino which was very good. Was surprised he didn't get any nominations for the Oscars from it. He acted in it; directed it; and produced it.

We met Wendy and Rick (friends from Arizona City) for lunch on Thursday in Sebring. Had a good visit with them.

Jack and I also started taking square dance lessons on Friday. We danced years ago but haven't done it for a number of years. Two years ago in Texas we took a few refresher lessons and enjoyed it so thought we would try it again. It was fun and it is definitely good exercise, which we can always use.

Last night the park had their annual spaghetti dinner. It was real nice. They had decorated the club house into a Italian restaurant with red checked tablecloths and wine bottle centerpiece/candles; played music while we ate. It was very good and had the right price. After the dinner, we had a bonfire down by the lake. Here is a picture of our table.

My sister called us right after we got home to tell us that my Aunt Arlene had passed away. She had been in bad health for the last year and has lived a long good life but you know you are never ready for the final goodbye. Aunt Arlene was like my "second Mother" as she lived in KC while my Mom lived 200 miles away. She was a wonderful woman and knew how to live life every day. God take care of her. I will be flying to KC on Tuesday to go to the funeral and then fly back on Saturday. Not looking forward to going to the cold/snowy weather but some things we just have to do.

Here is a couple of pictures Jack took today down by the pool and lake.

Cool Front in Florida?

Can't believe we have been here for almost three weeks already. Time flies when you are having fun!

The Floridians think we are having a real cold front come through, but if you are from the Midwest it is just a little cooler than normal. We did have a front come through on Tuesday and we got a little rain and clouds. But you know it isn't that bad for January. It is in the 60s in the day and high 30s and low 40s at night. It is suppose to get to the higher 60s today and a little warmer tomorrow. The clouds are pretty well gone and the sun is out.....yippee!

Let's see we went to Ft. Myers last Saturday to the flea market. It was a pretty nice one. It had a lot of stuff and was similar to the one we had in Arizona last year. Only bought a few things but will probably make it back now that we know how to find it and where things are located.

We did our usual activities this week. On Wednesday, we went to Tampa to the Florida RV show. This was one big RV show - over 1300 models to look at and hundreds of vendors and suppliers. We really enjoyed it but was tired from all the walking. Wendy and Rick (from Quail Run) went with us and that was nice to visit with them. Didn't buy much but did get us a new yard sign with our names on it.

Went out to eat with our new friends, Dave and Becky, a couple times. They watched Brandy for us while we went to Tampa and then we watched their Yorkie yesterday so they could go. This is nice to have someone close that can let Brandy out if we are gone for a while.

This morning we went to the pancake breakfast here at the park. It was nice and they had plenty of pancakes, sausage, O. J. and coffee. Tonight we are to have a dance and music - hopefully it will be good.

Sunny Florida

We are adjusting to the Florida lifestyle. It really doesn't take much to get use to it though...just set back and enjoy it.

We have tired some of the activities this week. Monday, Jack and I went down to shuffleboard. We have played it before but we have never learned the rules and how to keep score, etc. So we went to learn the basics. It was fun. They have a group probably 20 -22 people who play most of the time. There were about 6 - 8 new people so we had a good time. But the deal is you play for about 2 hours or so - so you spent the morning which worked out fine. I have been going on Tuesdays and Fridays to Tai Chi which I'm liking real well. It is a fun exercise and not too hard on you!! On Tuesday afternoons they have line dancing which is always fun. I have tried the water aerobics - they have three times a week. The pool is nice.

Here are a couple of pictures Jack took of the front entrance of the park. It seems to be well taken care of and landscaped nice.



The weather the first part of the week has been really warm - in low the 80s - but a front came through on Wednesday and it has been much nicer. It has been a little cooler - low 70s - and the humidity is lower. Can't ask for more than that!!

Jack has been fishing a few times but hasn't had a lot of luck. He has caught a few little ones but nothing to talk about but he is enjoying having a lake right on the property. Here is a picture I took this a.m.

Tomorrow we are going to drive to Ft. Myers to the flea market. It sounds like it is similar to the one we went to in Arizona last year at Mesa. I'll let you know how we like it.

The park is getting fuller. Still have empty sites but each day we get new people into their sites. Yesterday a couple from Canada moved in and they are going to be here about as long as we are.

Enjoy your weekend!

Dinner w/friends and Lake Okeechobee

We are getting settled in at our new home. We are getting more into a routine and enjoying the park.

Last night we met our friends from Arizona - Bud and Shelley; and Rick and Wendy. We met them at a restaurant in Sebring - the Sebring Diner. The food was really good and very reasonable. They had ate there before but we haven't been there. We talked and laughed just like old times. It was really nice to see them and catch up. Here is a couple of pictures we took:

Afterwards, we went on into Sebring since we were there and stopped a couple places - I didn't find as good as bargain as Wendy did though. But I hadn't visited the Mall so I wanted to check it out. (You know DeAnn we always have to do that!!)

Today we got up and went walking early before it got too warm. Then we came back and loaded up Brandy and we went over to Lake Okeechobee which is about 40 miles or so from here. We were a little disappointed that it didn't have as many accesses to see the lake as we thought. But we enjoyed the drive and looking at the lake, etc.

Here are a couple pictures of the lake:



Drove by a number of orange groves and lots of sod farms. Florida is so flat it is ideal for these types of farming. It must be orange picking time as we are seeing lots and lots of trucks full of the oranges. A couple of days ago we stopped at a roadside stand and bought some called "Honey Bells" and they are delicious - so juicy and sweet.