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.