We are home

My passion flower is still blooming   

I guess I have taken enough time from my blog.  It really is time to enjoy writing again.  First of all, I want to thank everyone for their wonderful thoughts after our sadness came on so suddenly when our beloved four-legged furry friend, Kippy, went to the Rainbow Bridge.  Two friends, first Bonnie and then Becky, told me about the Rainbow Bridge.  It was new to me and it certainly expressed all of my feelings.  Thank you to both of you.  And to the other 24 comments, expressing your sadness, I was touched.  I even made a new friend, Kary, Diane sent a beautiful poem, and I actually felt the many hugs.

Arriving back in Florida with a little tough.  Our neighbor's Yorkie came running immediately looking for Kippy.  He still doesn't understand that Kippy did not come home with us and keeps looking for her.  On my Facebook page, I received many other notes of encouragement.  I am happy to see that there are so many pet lovers out there that truly understand.

But now, it is time to plant our winter garden, get our home back in order and very soon we will be doing our volunteering at the Children's Miracle Network golf classic at Disney.  And cooking...really need to start cooking again.  Making a spelt salad tonight that I have made before.  Also picked up a new slow cooker along the way home, and anxious to try some recipes in that.  I'll be back.



Our French businesses

Just thought I'd share some pictures of the 'shops' we 'own' in France. Aren't these delightful? They are two of my favorite things, gifts from The Trout!!

The artist is Marilyn Bast Dunlap.

All the pretty horses

Right near where we live, there are stables where people can board their horses and take riding lessons. I pass this way several times a week when I am going out our back gate. The horses are beautiful and the other day I saw something I had never seen before.

This horse looked so beautiful, but I loved his tail. It has got to be the best fly swatter a horse could ever own.

I wish I was fonder of horses. I think it has to do something with my unreasonable fear of heights. When you sit on a horse, you are really so high that falling might be a dangerous situation. I remember as a Camp Fire Girl back in the 50's. I would go to Camp Hitaga in Iowa for a week or two for several summers in a row. These are some of my happiest memories and I still remember most of the camp songs we learned. Horseback riding was the one thing that I wasn't sure of. I remember being on a horse that wouldn't move for me. That is almost worse than one going too fast; almost. My brother-in-law has raised horses for a long time and I always thought they were so beautiful, but never had a desire to ride one again.

Azaleas at home

I believe I told you that we had two hard frosts in Florida this winter and things are very slowly coming back to normal. I am missing my hibiscus which were hurt. They'll eventually be back. I frequently pick the blossoms and arrange them with some of my rosemary to make a lovely centerpiece. Will have to wait on that and right now, the very fragrant rosemary still looks lovely.

We have a hedge of azaleas along side the garage. They also survived nicely. They are so fragile and yet so beautiful. God really did an extraordinary job on flowers.

Sunrise

"When the sky is a bright canary yellow..."

Our little wagon

I never dreamed that a golf cart would be one of our modes of transportation. It was just too odd to even imagine us as 'older' people tooling around in this little wagon.

Our Bichon, Kippy, has always cringed at getting into the car. Usually it means going to the Vet, to the groomer, or a 3000 mile trip to Montana. No joy riding for her. But, the golf cart is a different kind of ride. She actually sits in the Trout's lap with her front paws on the wheel and ears blowing in the wind as we travel through our little village.

Remember the song "Surrey With the Fringe on Top"? "Isinglass curtains you can roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather." Well, we have these isinglass curtains. Three sides fold down and zip together at the corners to keep out wind and rain. How convenient. The cart is mainly used on the golf course, but we also go to visit neighbors in the cart when we don't want to walk. It's fun and the grandsons have found they feel kind of important if they can get behind the wheel.

The end of the story

I did something unexpected this weekend. I spent it reading, reading and reading. On Saturday, I stopped in our library here in our retirement community and found three black notebooks on a table with a sheet of paper and pen next to them.

A man who lives in our community has written his 5th novel and with this last one which is still is draft form, he is asking the residents who live here to read it and add the epilogue. If he chooses it, you can receive credit in his book.

So, I quickly raced through the draft making notes, proofreading (as a former medical transcriptionist, this comes normally) and have just finished the reading. This is a murder mystery taking place in Canada with Detroit connections. I am mulling things in my head that I would like to change, etc., but I do not have a definite ending yet. I think it will come, though. I felt there were loose threads during the story that needed tying up. So, will just have to keep thinking about this one. This has been fun.

Near our home

One morning this week on our walk, I decided to take the camera. It might be surprising that living in our retirement community, we do have some farm life around us. We have long-horned cows right behind our fence, an occasional buzzard looking for something (hopefully not me), orange trees and grapefruit trees hanging heavy with fruit. I love the early mornings, because you hear roosters crowing and trains from tracks nearby. Because of our frost last week, all of our neighbors lost lots of flowering shrubs. They'll come back quickly though, because this is the tropics and we can plant anytime to replace.

In my childhood home, I lived near train tracks, and I remember the soothing sound the train made as it passed by all hours of the day and night. Like a Grandfather clock in the house, soon you do not even hear it because it is so routine. Sometimes we need to silence the clock in our home when we have guests because it is too loud for them. At Christmas time, I told our grandsons how to tell the time if they wake up in the night (as if young boys wake up) because our clock chimes at each quarter hour and then on the hour. (Yes, those are mice on each side on the top of the clock ;)

We are also near Tampa and the big Super Bowl weekend. Yesterday while on the 15th hole of the golf course, we looked up and saw a cargo plane flying low with a Arizona Cardinals emblem right over us. We will not be there, but at our neighbors watching on TV like most of the states.

This is our home and I am very comfortable here. I have met wonderful neighbors and made lots of friendships. Having lived in many places since our marriage, this feels comfortable and like home to me.

This and That

I promise I will not complain about the weather since I know we have it so much better than anyone else. However, it has been cold for Florida; so much so, we actually cancelled playing golf yesterday and went with friends to a matinee and saw Clint Eastwood in "Gran Torino." Very good movie, completely sad ending. In my opinion, Clint Eastwood is right up there in talent with Charleton Heston and Paul Newman. Such great actors of my time.

On a lighter note, daughter #1 sent a surprise in the mail this week. Another phrase from "Uppercase Living" to add to our home. Somehow, she knew this phrase would be "us." We will enjoy this very much.

This is our home

We live in an over 55 retirement community. Sometimes people ask me what it is like. Well, it can be detailed. Everything you always wanted to do and couldn't, you can now do easily. We have a large clubhouse where you can go to monthly dances, potlucks, a billiard room, barber/beauty shop, a restaurant, a library, an exercise room, a bank, two swimming pools. One is heated and the other is not and is kindly referred to as "the Canadian pool." We have a lot of Canadian neighbors who come down for up to 6 months during the winter to get away from the cold. They don't mind the colder water. We also have a wonderful golf course, shuffle board, tennis courts, pickle ball courts (it's like playing tennis with ping pong paddles). You can also sign up for card games, Bridge, Pinochle, take yoga classes, exercise classes, play weekly Mah-Jongg and there is a crochet club and you can learn to paint.

We have about 800 homes where we live and the greatest part is that everyone is really very equal. No one talks about what they did while they were working. People are from all over the USA and it is so great making new friends.

When we first retired we moved into a neighborhood and it was a lot different. Most of the neighbors were working and it was hard to meet anyone. For us, this is great fun.

Today, the neighborhood is crazy. We are having an annual carport sale. What is it about sales like this that make people think they need what they really do not need? About the only bargains you can find sometimes are sets of barely used golf clubs and golf balls. Other than that, it's just someone else's junk. And that's what I think about that! I have decluttered my home too many times.

Snowbirds

The snowbirds are coming back. That is what they call us retired people who spend summers somewhere else and always come back to Florida for the winters where we are guaranteed warmer weather. We've been back since October, but some hold out until after the holidays. Friends that just arrived this weekend said the traffic throughout Georgia was very heavy heading south.

We live in Florida 8-9 months a year and then usually travel abroad in May and spend time in Montana in the summer. We have spent as much as 4 months out West in past years.

I started thinking about how many cities and towns we have lived in and the number comes to 9. In each of these places you meet people, make dear friends, need to find doctors, dentists, barbers.... oh yes, did I tell you the story of looking for someone to cut my hair and I find a blind barber. Well, he was legally blind, with some? eyesight, but my hair has never been easy to work with so I figured I had nothing to lose. Talk about pressure! And then he wanted to do some coloring. No charge, he said? Hey, I'm a push over. The only stress was that my class reunion was in a week and I would be checked out and noticed. Long story short, it worked out okay. The haircut certainly wasn't the best and the color was something I do not normally do. Yes, the blind barber, and I found him!!

I got off track there, but was just itching to get that blind barber story in. The year is coming to an end and it is time to make another list of things to do better in 2009. Let's see what I come up with.

It's Quiet Now, Too Quiet

The house is quiet now. The children and grands have left to go back home. The house has been dusted and vacuumed and everything back in place and it is sort of lonely. I just can't imagine a wonderful holiday like Christmas to be without children of any age.

There were many hugs, smiles, laughs and games. Special prayers around the table and just lots of love. You can't ask for anything better.

The Trout got his Red Velvet or Waldorf Astoria cake for Christmas. This is a yearly request for his January birthday, so he was happy! It disappeared quickly.

Merry Christmas Dinner

Our traditional Christmas family dinner included prime rib roast, twice-baked potatoes and my sour cream and bacon salad dressing. We started out with Peach Bellini's with champagne (ginger ale for the boys) and a wonderful California cab with the beef. The Trout's favorite Red Velvet Cake is for dessert and if there is any left, I'll post that tomorrow.

Daughter Angie and husband Mike and our grandsons, Noah and Josiah were our dinner guests. I wish all our family and friends could have been here today. Let's plan on next year.

Merry Christmas Eve

Be it ever so humble, the Christmas spirit is here and sending love to all family and friends. May we remember the reason for Christmas and keep it in our hearts. Merry Christmas!

The Grand Boys

Two of our grandsons with mom and dad and best friend, Jeter, came down for Christmas week. The boys immediately rushed to the back yard and started casting for fish. We have some bass living in the pond behind us and they love casting and hoping for a bite. They have been very fortunate to catch several and put them back to be caught again.

It is good having family come visit us at this special time of the year. Enjoy your families because a lot of us can't be together as often as we would like.

Our Home

Our home is one of the most open houses we've ever owned. It is not cut up into little rooms and we are enjoying the freedom of the openness.

Last night while preparing dinner, The Trout decided to take a picture from the kitchen through the dining area into the living area. It makes for good room for entertaining and easy cleaning. I do have two friends who are interior decorators, so I hesitate to let them see this; but then, maybe they would have some great ideas for me!!

Beautiful

My outdoor poinsettia is not quite as bright as usual for this time of year. We had quite a cold snap a couple of weeks ago, but now with 80 degrees every day this week, we are finally seeing the beauty of this plant. It was foggy and dewy this morning and you can see that on the leaves. It just seems to make Christmas a little prettier.

The lights are glowing brighter also, because one daughter and family will be coming down to spend Christmas with us. Hopefully next year, our other daughter and family will be able to make the trip.

Decluttering

About 15 years ago, we moved from one town to another with my husband's job transfer. By this time, the children were out of the house so it was time to declutter. We actually rented a dumpster and started throwing things away. It felt good at the time. We still had lots to move and the new house had a lot of storage in the garage, so some boxes were put in storage there.

Forward six years, and The Trout and I retire and start our move to Florida. You know those boxes in the garage for the last 6 years; well, they had not been opened. So, in a very brave move I said "If I don't know what's in them and I haven't wanted to know for 6 years, toss them!" And so we did.

Now forward 10 years from that tossing of boxes and this week alone, I have been thinking about two items and wondering where they are. Sure enough, they were probably in those tossed boxes. It's not that important. I have the memory and I am sure during the next few years, more items will be remembered and I will wonder were they are. At least I have decluttered and someday my children will be thankful for that move.

No more hurricanes this year

Our newspaper headlines today stated that our hurricane season is officially over for this year. It runs June 1 through November 30. This year we have been fortunate again to have missed the bad weather.

When we first moved to Florida from the Midwest, I remember seeing papers at the grocery stores in the spring telling you what to stockpile in our home in case of a hurricane. How much water, canned goods, candles, flashlights, batteries, etc., were necessary to survive at least a week of no electricity. I felt as if I had moved to another country. It reminded me of the time we were living in Germany and The Trout was in the Army. We had a list to follow also. We needed to pack canned goods and other necessities in a box, seal it, and have it ready to go in case of war and we get orders to move out to Switzerland. This was 1968 and Vietnam was roaring in the far east, so this really was quite a possibility. So, being someone who always follows rules, our box was packed and ready to go.

That first hurricane season in Florida, I did pack up a box and then after the season ended, we did start to use the products in that box and cleaned it out. The next several years, I did the same, but then when the storms were passing us over, I was not so diligent in packing supplies in case of emergency. Now, we usually are away from Florida for most of the hurricane season, so I do not have these emergency supplies.

It can be a scary time, but I think of all the tornadoes in the USA. How many people really have supply boxes packed for tornado season? Might not be a bad idea. It is really sad, but we are so dependant on electricity, we would be very uncomfortable living without it for a few days.

Got 'em

Don't need to say much today. Yes, I thoroughly cleaned out the pantry. Woke up several times during the night hoping the ants had left. Come morning, no such luck. Must have been a new breed. Not having a hard frost down here, the critters build an immunity and I don't like it..

So, went to church early to compose myself and came home, emptied everything out, clean every can, jar, etc., and then bombed the h---- out of the pantry. Ah yes, after a disinfecting wash and reinstalling all the goodies, I am back to normal. Keeping windows and doors open this time of year tends to let just about everything in.

We lived on the east coast of Florida for 5 years right after retirement. We had triple sliding doors to the screened pool area and I was always chasing geckos out with a handy broom left by the door. For some reason, they didn't seem so invasive.

Nevertheless, we are back to normal and now that a horrific thunderstorm is passing through, I am just going to settle down and do some knitting. Sounds good to me!!