Monday, Monday.  As the song goes. . . here it comes again.  Can't really say time goes slowly, can we, at our age?  Nope.  The weeks speed by.  I guess life is just like vacations.  The early years, summer and a year seem like  forever.  Now.  Forget it.  It's 10:44 on my computer.  When I blink my eye, it'll be noontime. 

Our friend Mark from Canada has arrived.  We told hime we'd leave the door open for him, so if we weren't there to just come in and make himself at home.  When we came back from dinner, we noticed items in the guest bathroom that weren't ours.  But he wasn't around.

 Mark comes and goes as he chooses, which is fine with everyone.  He's very personable - we always enjoy having him here or up north.  He's actually Bob's friend, but we have more room for company than he does, so Mark stays here. 

Bob comes home today from Melbourne where he visited his daughter Christine and her family for Easter.  Bob left Saturday morning and is coming back this afternoon. 

Mark said, and we agree, our weather hasn't been the weather we're used to, down here.  The nights go down in the 50-60 degree range, it's been cloudier more than most.  Like now.  I'm hoping it gets sunnier today cause I wanna go to the pool.  It's my chance to see people. 

One thing about being in a community for so long is the amount of people I know.  There's always someone at the pool to talk to.  Circlewoods is like a small town.  The pool is like the local post office, drugstore, or wherever people come to meet. 

We had a very different Easter because we didn't have any company this weekend. (When Mark arrived Easter evening, the weekend was really done.) 

Greg, Noi, Neenee and Brenan were supposed to come, but things popped up.  Brenan had tickets for a concert Saturday night, Neenee was coming down with something.

 Paul and I both agreed that schedules and so forth are so important to teenagers.  It'll probably happen more and more.  That's part of the cycle of life.

 We'll see them at Brenan's graduation in early June. We're flying down.     Seems a lot of the family will be there.  Great!  Can't wait!

Last week was so busy - Alice and Carol here for dinner on Palm Sunday,  Tuesday we had Cookie and Clarkie also for dinner.  Wednesday's difficult fiasco.  We decided to go out to dinner, just the two of us, to a really nice restaurant which we loved.  The Lock and Key on Manasota Key, overlooking the water.  We had a 5:00 reservation and had a short wait.

 It's marvelous now that the majority of Snowbirds are gone. Although the parking was bad over by the restaurant, we had to park way across the street in the beach parking lot. The dinner was delicious.  I ate too much and will have to pay the piper when I go to Weight Watchers on Tuesday, tomorrow.

I had a Skype session with Nancy and the kids at 6:30.  We were a little late getting in, but it was so good to see them all.  Walter is a dear - 14 months.  He's hanging on to things, not walking yet. He sat there for a while seemingly in love with me, and then he got off and crawled behind Nancy to investigate something under the piano bench.   Vincent will be 8 at the end of this month.  We talked for a while, same with Evie.

  Vincent was eavesdropping (his words) on the sofa behind Nancy. She cautioned me to be careful what I said.   I could see him, as I spoke to her about two packages that were in the mail for his family birthday. . . April 29th.    He's celebrating it late May with friends.  I'm thinking about flying out there from Elmira for that celebration.

I got an e-mail from my friend Barbara who lives in New Hampshire.  I had erroneously said she lived in Vermont.  Oops.  They've been there for several years.  They were going to Long Island for Easter.  I didn't ask, but I assume they take the ferry across the Long Island Sound to Long Island.  Is that so, Barbara?

When we did over our new room, we eliminated two large shelves about a foot from the ceiling that went around two walls.  It was covered with tchackas (sp), a jewish word meaning little items, not necessarily meant to be together, but that are,  that have meaning only to the owner (my definition).   These have a temporary home above the wall cabinet that includes my computer, and these hundred items  and when I look up, they're looking down at me.  I'm slowly finding homes for them.  I know how Bob feels.  He's trying to get rid of stuff.  Most of these have meaning to me.  And Paul.

Thank you, Carol and Patti for your kind remarks regarding last Wednesdays events.  It was nice of you.  On that same note - we took Betty to the late service at church yesterday.  She usually went to the early service, but didn't want to go just yet.  We sat where she likes to sit - on the left.  I noticed a lot of her friends were there. Good.





  

So - the Unexpected happens and are we ever prepared for it? Nope.

Yesterday I had an unexpected, unplanned unpleasant yet re-affirming day.   It was all so different.  I have to admit it took my breath away for a while and it exhausted me.

Alice has a group of ladies that come to her house, including me, for Bible Study - every Wednesday morning at 11 AM.  It's a good way to get to meet ladies, and get acquainted with the Bible.  This Wednesday we had a luncheon planned for afterwards, so everyone arrived in good spirits, with their food in hand.  Some for the fridge, some for the oven.  You know how it is.  Good appetites waiting.

 The attendance has waned since lots of the Snowbirds have left, but we had 12 there.  One of our friends was missing and so Alice called her.  She lived next door.  Got her answering machine.  Her door is always locked. 

Well, yes.  She had gone to be with the Lord.  She was found on the floor.  Alice, a nurse,  had seen her a little while before, and she was tired, but looked "okay"  She did have a heart condition, a medical alert bracelet, but she didn't have time to even use it. Ginny was 90.   It impressed me how these ladies got on the situation and helped her best friend, Betty, who was always there for Bible Study.

 Betty is a spry white-haired mid 80 year old. ( Forgive me for saying but she looks good in a bathing suit and always dresses very well.  She had a beautiful sweater on and I commented on it - she smiled and told me "Salvation Army, you know."   This was before all this happened.  She's a beautiful lady inside and out. 


  Alice  called Ginny's son. She didn't have relatives nearby and they had to wait for the coroner, ambulance and police since she died alone.  We read psalms, prayed, talked about her and after Alice got back, we had our luncheon.

 Those at Ginny's house cleaned out her fridge of food that would spoil, found the deviled eggs Ginny had made for the luncheon; they brought them over and included it with all the food. 
I think we helped Betty and ourselves by supporting each other.  We read psalms, prayed and  I played hymns on Alice's piano.  Not many sang, but several hummed.  I think we all were exhausted.

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Guess what.  It's raining again.  It should be a short burst, though. . .not last too long. 

My writing is disappearing again.  Wish Bill was here to see what was wrong.  I just wrote a few lines and suddenly it disappeared.  It was nothing earth-shaking.

Oh, yes.  Our weather has really been good lately.  I've been too busy to go to the pool this week, but hope to soon.  Easter, as you all know, is this Sunday.  We're hoping to have guests - Greg and family from Gainesville.  Looking forward to that.  We have to phone them and see for sure that they're coming. 

My mom and dad planted a beautiful gardenia bush out front which Paul has tended and nurtured and it is about to burst into bloom very soon.  I've had three blossoms so far, but soon I will be inundated with their white flagrant flowers.  Looking forward to that. 

Looks like we'll be staying a little longer than we had expected.  There are a couple of reasons: 

Bob's friend, Mark, is coming for a visit from Canada.  He is a delightful guest and will be staying with us, as he always has.  We enjoy him  and we're looking forward to  his coming in, next Tuesday.  Plus we have heard and read on our computers that the weather upstate NY is not ideal yet.  Not bad, we just don't think the grass is a problem yet. (maybe I've jinxed that by writing it.)

There.  The rain has stopped.  Bob had come by for a cup of coffee and one of the hot-cross buns he delivered to us yesterday, and when he got here, it wasn't raining.  When he left, it was.  A short rain. 

Seems like a lot has taken place since I last wrote. 

Carol O is home now.  She wrote there were snow flurries one day, and 70's the next.  Sounds like upstate NY in April, doesn't it. 

Alice and I went to Weight Watchers on Tuesday.  It can be so discouraging. She lost .4 lbs.  I gained .2 lbs.  So we went out for breakfast.  (had two poached eggs, fruit, toast and coffee for $6.09.
Wow.  That's wonderfully inexpensive. Haven't been to this place in a long time.  Of course I can't remember the name of it.  Keep thinking of Peaches and Cream, which I realize is an ice cream parlor in upstate NY.   We had a nice chance to sit and talk for a while.  That was nice too.  I told her - next week when I'll be driving we should do the same. 

Well, my son has done me a big favor by gently pestering me to get on Skype so we can "Skype" while they're in the Philippines.  You all know how un-skilled I am in regard to anything to do with computers.  Paul helped me work on it; we've video chatted several times this past week.

  It's exactly 12 hours difference from there to here.  They're ahead 12 hours, so if I call at 9:30 at night, it's 9:30 morning there.  Bill brought his computer and work from home, so he can do his medical transcriptioning while he's there.  They'll be there for three weeks.  Epril's  sister is getting married the weekend after Easter.  Epril is having a grand old time visiting with family and friends that she hasn't seen in two and a half years.  Paul even held up Gracie to the computer and I think she recognized Bill.  (She watches tv, you know. Really. And really pays attention - you can see her ears moving, and her eyes are glued to the screen.)

So because I had Skype, I skyped Nancy and the grandkids on Saturday night.

 I saw Evie and Vincent, but not Walter (14 months)who was probably in bed when I called.  Vincent looked so good with his haircut and when he grinned he had that toothless look of a seven-almost eight year old.  Evie (3)went to a birthday party of one of her boy schoolmates.  He had a pirate theme so Evie got an eye-patch and some other boy-themed items.  Cute.  I could see the piano behind them and Vincent played one of his pieces for me. It did my heart good.   Both he and his mother learned on this piano (also Uncle Bill).

It's Vincent's birthday on the 29th.  Nancy gave me a list of things to order.  It seems he's a bit between sizes and she said to look and get something in a small size 8. I'm going to shop on-line.  For toys and  I'm wondering if it'd be better to get him a Gift Certificate to Target and he and Nancy can go and pick out some clothing.  I know they have a Target store nearby where she frequently shops. 

A bit of news:  It's a small world . . .

Every so often I'll get an e-mail with a bit of news from my former husband, and I just recently did.  It seems he and Judy are in near Hawaii, having visited Tahiti, and other places.   Bill and Epril are in the Philippines, and Carole, my former sister-in-law, but I still consider a sister-in-law. . .is in Uganda! Of all places! She's a travel agent and I am wondering if that's why she went.  Anyway - I sent her an e-mail with Paul's granddaughter, Alaina's address.  Remember, she's a Peace Corp volunteer there.  I don't know if anything will come of it, but because Neal sent me that e-mail. . . I can say  . . .

What a small world.




 

Rainy Tuesday

I'm sitting here at the computer, reading some older posts, and wanting to write, but finding it hard to think of a subject. 

Rainy, rainy day.  Alice and I went to W W this morning.  I drove.  It was just gloomy when we left, but it was raining quite hard by the time we left the meeting.  We both lost (yea!) and congratulated ourselves.  After my last week's gain, well - it evened itself out.  My thinking is that the homemade vegetable soup did the job.  And I still have some left.  "One helping a day, keeps the pounds away."

I hate rainy days. 

Ev'ryone's  . . . . clearing out - including us in a couple of weeks.

Carol O's packing her things.  Her train leaves next Friday from Sanford.  She's sad to leave, but she's happy too. . . She's anxious to see her grandkids.  Yes, we all know:  they grow so fast.

  Don't you remember when you were growing up how you'd hate when one of the things grownups would say- my, hasn't he/she gotten so big since I saw him last?  I'm sure it still pains this generation, but the truth can do that!  I can remember when I was a child, simmering about some things that my parents had done,  I'd think to myself...I must write that (whatever) down so that I could remember it and never do that to  my kids.   Never wrote them down and can't remember them now.  Wish I had, so that I could laugh at em. Or nod in agreement.  All I know is that I, as a parent,  did what I thought was right. So there.  As I stamp my foot. 

There's a funny Facebook Share - about why little kids cry (Ex:  Mommy won't let me drink her wine. That wasn't something appropriate for my folks.  Oops. What I meant to say was:  My folks wouldn't let me drink their drinks, and I wouldn't ask) That's as funny as the photos of the dogs with signs around their neck explaining why they misbehave. (Ex. I ate cat poop.  Yes. My old dog did that.)

I woke at 4 AM this morning thinking about Bill and Epril leaving. At that very moment a very good friend was taking them to Fort Myers Airport for their 6 AM flight.  Bill called me from Kennedy before they boarded their 12:30 flight to Beijing. We appreciated the call.  Bill loses his usual optimistic viewpoint when considering air travel.  I asked him how things had gone so far, and he said  "good . . . but we still have the rest of the trip. "  Paul's keeping track of the trip on his computer.

 Our key rings are crowded with soooo many keys, so Paul went to Home Depot this afternoon and got those colored rubber thingees that you can put around them to organize them.  Now, when we want to open a locked outside door, we don't have to try them all until the right one comes up.   If this works, which it will, it'll be great.

Bob and nephew Paul shared a delicious pot roast with us last night.   We sat at the island.    Paul is busy with his gun-smithing.  He brought some of the guns he'd restored for us to see. It really takes a lot of time, skill and effort.  He's in the right business.  There was one gun almost 100 years old that was beautifully restored.  My Paul was impressed, which, to me, is an A+++.

It's still really gloomy outside.  Still raining.  I guess you could say:  Paradise Lost.

The End is Coming Closer

Remember when I wrote in my last post about how frustrating it is when we'd like people to come visit, but their children and they have different Spring vacations?  Lue sent me an e-mail with an explanation.  She said that if everyone had the same vacation dates, Florida would sink.

There's always that possibility. 

I went to the pool Thursday, and it was so very crowded.  Everyone was there.  Everyone was hugging and kissing and saying good-by and "See you in the Fall". After all . . . .It's the first week in April.

It's the end-of-season.  Now Regulars can enjoy their restaurants, roads, stores without us Snowbirds clogging them up.  We've noticed less out-of-state license plates on the roads.  You can go to Walmart and find a parking place anywhere  You can travel on the road and there's much less traffic. Alice and Bob both say how much they enjoy the quiet of the summer months down here.  They can go to the pool and it's like it's their own with no one around.

Alice is feeling ever so much better.  She came for lunch today and looked well.  The doctor told her to still take it easy, so she is. 

There's a story to the lunch:  I'm telling it in a round about way . . . not the short version.  Alice and I are going to Weight-Watchers every Tuesday morning.  We've been pretty faithful about it, except for Alice being sick - and I going on a cruise, having company.

So - I gained a few pounds on the cruise after all or after we had company, so I got my oomph back from the meeting and made some Weight Watchers' Soup.  (It's delicious) I never follow my soup recipes with all the ingredients, but I thought I would this time.   At least the spices.

 It called for cracked red pepper, and diced tomatoes, black pepper.  Particularly dry roasted diced tomatoes.  So, Wednesday afternoon I made it.  Thursday we had it for lunch.  

The soup was so spicy hot; I thought I was going to die. I never have spicy foods so it was a surprise.   I managed to have a cup, with some ice water, a couple of soup crackers and tried to lie down.  I couldn't - my stomach was all crampy, I was burping, my stomach felt hot inside.  I do have gerd, but my goodness, nothing ever like that has ever happened to me.

So, I decided to get rid of the soup - and then make some more new.   My first thought was to give it to Bill and Epril - who love spicy hot things.  Bill and Epril invited us to come to Punta Gorda and go to their Moose Club, so I was going to take the soup with me.  I forgot it.  My brain doesn't work as well as it used to.   (More about Punta Gorda later.)

Yesterday Paul and I went to the supermarket and I bought all the ingredients again and decided to make the soup, but the old soup was in the soup pot still and I didn't want to throw it away.  So today,  I called Bob.   Nephew Paul answered.  He said his dad would love the soup, but he didn't like hot stuff.  They'd take it though.  Paul came and got the soup, which I'd put in a "traveling" bowl.   .  (It was returned.  Thank you to nephew Paul.  )

My pot was now free.  I made a new batch of soup this morning.  I left out the hot stuff. My thought was  it was  a great time for Alice to get out and so I invited her  for a weight-watcher's  lunch.  So Paul, Alice and I agreed it was delicious and we each had another cupful.  So that's the story of the soup. 

                                                                  ********

Now back to the Punta Gorda Story - I had originally invited Bill to come to Venice because Epril was busy this weekend with some friends celebrating birthdays in Miami.  Epril's plans were changed, so we agreed to go to Punta Gorda.  It was easier for them.  And besides, they almost always come to Venice.

 Pretty soon (Tuesday 4 AM) they'll be leaving for the Philippines and will be gone for three weeks.  We thought it would be nice to see them this weekend so we could say good-by.   When they come back, we will have headed north. Carol O and Bob went also.  Paul drove.  We had cocktails at their home and then went to the Moose Club.  Our van holds 7, so six fit fine.  Bill's two-seater does not work well for a crowd. 

We'd been to the Punta Gorda Moose Club once before.  It's an older building, like a lot of the Moose Clubs down here in Florida are.  It's okay.  It has a room in the back that is closed off and away from the bar area.  It is smoke-free and quiet.  Not this time.  There was a noisy party at a long table in the back and they were having a good good time.  We had to shout to hear each other, but that was okay.  we had a good time anyway.  The food was excellent.  They left before us, and it all settled down.

As we were getting ready to leave, a lady from another table, not the noisy one, said something to Epril, and she went over and conversed with her very nicely.  The lady was admiring her hair.  Epril does have beautiful long black hair.  Afterwards, Bill remarked to Epril how easily she talked with strangers.  When she first got here, she was so shy, she would hardly ever talk to someone she didn't know.  Epril nodded in agreement - and I guess his remark got her thinking because I could see the awareness on her face after he said that. 

So - Bill and Epril are on an adventure the next three weeks.  Bill said it should take 30 hours to get there with a stop in Beijing.  They're hoping to do some sight-seeing.  He said if you're not there more than 24 hours and you have a plane ticket out of there,  You don't need a visa.  You can leave the airport.   I know I needed one when I went to China in 2004.  I told them they'd better keep in touch via Facebook or whatever else they use. 

Bill will be working from there.  He contacted his company and they agreed to it. It'll be hard for Epril to leave once she has to come back, but she's made a million friends here.  I'm not exaggerating at all.  They've enveloped her with friendship.  And we love her too. 

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Paul went to the pool with me this afternoon. He sat in the shade.  He doesn't go very often .  .  .  But to be perfectly honest, I haven't been very much either.  It's been a busy season.  I was pleased that people are still around.  We have some leaving in May.  They say they want to be sure the snow is gone.  It was HOT down at the pool.  You can see the difference between March and April. 

I sat with Carol O.  She was there getting the last of her sun-time in.  She leaves on the auto train from Sanford, Fla. next Friday.  A week from today, she'll be in Pennsylvania seeing her grandkids.  Her granddaughter just lost two teeth. The tooth fairy visited her.    Reminds me of Vincent who just lost a bunch also.  I assume the Tooth Fairy visited.

 Carol was remarking the other day - that when her son Matt was his daughter's age and losing teeth he realized that he could make money when his teeth came out, so he spent a good deal of time walking around with his fingers in his mouth trying to loosen up his teeth so he could get more money. 


Our next door neighbors, Crystal and Bob,  aren't leaving until Monday.  Bad weather was predicted on their trip back to Massachusetts if they left today.   So we have them a while longer!