Our Last Week Here

This certainly has been a doozy of a winter.  It has been cold at home, cold in the Rio Grande Valley and cold in Central Florida.  There have been beautiful, sunny days too but not nearly as many as there usually are.  We are heading home next week to spring hopefully.  My friend Donna (of the 3 Donnas), is coming for a visit at the end of the month.  If the bluebonnets are on schedule that should be a delightful time.

Kelly and family, along with Pat's mother, came for a visit on Tuesday.  We rented a pontoon boat and plied the waters of the St. Johns River up to Blue Spring and back.  We were not allowed to dock at the Spring so didn't see any manatees but we did see three alligators, two sunning themselves and one swimming.  Ally and Kelly took these photos with their phones.

We took them to dinner before they headed back to Disney.  They go home to Michigan on Saturday.

Wednesday morning we headed to the SW coast of Florida to visit my dad and his wife Edna.  They were unable to attend the wedding due to health issues.  They both are frail, riding is uncomfortable and the demands of travel are too much for them.  

We arrived in the early afternoon and had a great visit that included dinner of Skyline chili and a nice salad.  We didn't stay late because they had been up all day with no siestas.  The cleaning people came early and we took up their whole afternoon.  But I know they love our visits and rested up the next day.

In honor of Kristin and Larry, my Dad rang this bell at 2 pm on Saturday.  He was definitely thinking of us all and terribly disappointed he couldn't do the reading from the book of Tobit.

We spent the night in an area motel.  We didn't want to cause used bathrooms and sheets for them to deal with.  Little things can be difficult when your hands and legs have a mind of their own.

We have friends there in Punta Gorda, Ave Maria and Lake Placid but we needed to get home to show the house this morning.  We just didn't have time to spend another night on the road and our route was nowhere near these places except for Faith and Herman in Punta Gorda who probably didn't want visitors at 9 am.

So we left under very cloudy skies, planning a stop at the Plant City Strawberry Festival to see the Redhead Express, the group we watched grow up while performing in the Rio Grande Valley.  LaRae had her baby boy earlier this month, Kendra is getting married next month and Meaghan still has her red cup named Ted for her cup song.  She gave Ted a shout out from the stage.  They sounded really good with a back up drummer and the best of equipment.  Check them out at www.redheadexpress.com.

We are showing the house at 10 am to the friend of a neighbor who learned it was going up for sale at the garage sale.  Who knows?  Anything can happen.  Wish us luck.

Tom and Eileen are coming over today.  I would like to go see the Tiffany windows at Rollins College Chapel if that interests them.

Everyone, stay warm!