Salad Time!

The tomato, pepper, and lettuce plants are in the ground. The radish, cucumber, and squash seeds are sown. Home grown salad here we come! Let's hope the deer and all the pesky insects understand who this garden really belongs to.

Time For a New Look

I decided it was time for a new look as hopefully winter is on its way out. On Friday I actually heard someone say it was too hot. I think they meant that they were too hot as they were still dressed for colder weather. At least I hope that is what they meant!

This has been kind of a bittersweet weekend for Bob and I. For the first time in about 15 years we are not at the racetrack for Daytona Race Week. We had become dissatisfied with our reserved camping spot but didn't feel that we could afford to upgrade at the present time so this year we will be watching all the races from the comfort (?) of our living room. Not the greatest decision but we'll live with it for this year and see what next year brings.

I realized that I never updated our shower renovation project so I have included some pictures.

I also realized that I mentioned our "new babies" in a previous post but never included any pictures of the new additions. They are no longer babies but certainly "mischievious children"! 

All 4 before the neighbors adopted two.

Lewey

Dewey

Our Christmas tree ornament

Ready to head out for first trip in motorhome

Relaxing on the dash

Lewey

Posing on the cat tower along with Socks

Not "babies" any more

Happy New Year!

Presenting fireworks from the St. Augustine Beach Pier.

Turn on the heat!!!

Oh, where oh where did Florida go? It had to have moved while I was busy doing the last minute Christmas prep! 35 degrees is not normal. I'm tired of moving plants inside every couple of weeks and I'm beginning to run out of layers. On the bright side we're not having to deal with snow and all of the problems it brings. So I guess each cloud does have a silver lining.                              

Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone and in almost a blink of an eye. I wonder . . . will it rush by so fast when I'm retired???

We did have a very enjoyable Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at our house with Mike, Mindi, Chris, and Sarah and Christmas Day at Mindi's house with Bob's family. Lots of tasty food and pleasant company. Plus some pretty nifty gifts!

As both Bob and I are off next week finishing the shower renovation is at the top of our "to do" list. On Wednesday we will be headed to Anastasia Island for a little, well deserved, R and R.

Have a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Br-r-r-r!

Time to pull out the socks! My toes are cold!!! It's 8:03 am and according to the TV the temp is 46 degrees in Orlando so I'm sure it's colder here.  You do have to be careful what you wish for. You may not be able to fool Mother Nature but she sure likes to try to fool you.  Yesterday Sarah, our granddaughter, told her mother that it felt like Christmas! However by the middle of next week it is expected to be back in the 70's. Typical Florida weather.

Wake Up Call

Sometimes in life we can get rather abrupt wake up calls. I was on the receiving end of one of those last week. Bob and I have been trying to make some positive life style changes but mine obviously should have been more diligent. When I woke up last Wednesday morning I certainly did not expect to be in the hospital by evening. Two "stents" later I can assure you that I am much more serious about my health issues and the food that goes into my mouth! I am also very grateful to my guardian angel for giving me another chance to get it right. Thank you!!

Better Gardening

Bob and I may not have the best luck growing good things to eat but our squirrels sure have the knack.

They have "planted" peanuts all around the yard.

I recently posted about having a soft heart and feeding the stray cats in the neighborhood. The down side to that is you can't be certain what else you are feeding!

We had to chain up the dish because "Rocky" and his/her family kept stealing them.

New Blog Look

My favorite graphics designer is Irene Alexeeva and I was so tickled when she started designing "blog couture" - ready made backgrounds and headers for blogs. She recently updated her blog with a beautiful fall theme but hasn't offered it for sale yet so I decided to use her graphics and see what I could do. Not too shabby if I do say so! If you would like to see more of her work her blog address is http://irenealexeeva.blogspot.com/.  The Heartistic link on the right will also take you there.

I have been very busy with the start of the new school year. For the first time in quite a while I am the sole ESL teacher and have no one to share the many responsibilities with. The number of teachers may have decreased but the number of students and amount of paper work sure didn't! Next year at this time I should be able to say "This is the last time I have to do this and the last time I have to do that." Retirement will be right around the corner!

We had relatives from Pennsylvania visiting the area last week. We didn't see as much of them as we would have liked. Just like us when we're on vacation, they had an agenda. I will be so glad when we will be able to travel at our leisure without schedules and timetables. We will be leaving on our vacation next Sunday. Our "timetable" will be July 4-8 - Las Vegas, July 8 and 9 - Kanab Utah, July 10 and 11 - Page Arizona, July 12 - back to Las Vegas, and July 13 - home.

In our household we have 3 cats that are neutered and not allowed to venture outside. However we seem to be the minority in this neighborhood. There are many cats just wandering about. A mother and 3 kittens have taken up residence under our storage shed. Being the soft-hearted person that I am I have been putting food out for them daily. Even though they are feral the kittens are becoming brave and curious. Our cats were on the inside looking out.

Pooped!

Another outdoor's day and I'm tired! But the results are worth it. Instead of green crabgrass and green weeds amongst my green plants I now have brightly colored flowers nestled in. If only it will stay that way.

Good Day!

There is something about spending the day working amongst the flowers that makes me feel like I have really accomplished something. Now I need to figure out how to keep the crab grass stuff from growing back in so profusely!

Beach Day

Even rain can't ruin family get-togethers! Bob's sister and her family are renting a beach house for the week just south of St Augustine. So today we all met for a picnic. It was definitely "jacket" weather and it did rain before we left but everyone had a good time. We all get so busy with our everyday lives that it's easy to forget how enjoyable the beach can be and how fortunate we are to have it so easily accessible. Go to our Photo Gallery to see more pictures.

A Sunday afternoon

Mike at the house. I'm trying to learn how to post from my phone. Gotta keep up with all this new technology!

Vacation Plans

An email from a relative started us thinking about summer vacation. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and wanted to know if we were interested in joining them in Vegas. As we haven't been out west in 5 years it's definitely worth thinking about. So I've spent the past few days checking out flights, resort availability, etc. It should be fun and a nice change.

Winter!!!

Just finished reading Facebook entries from northern friends and family. I guess I'd better not complain about the chilly weather. At least we don't have 2 feet of snow on the ground! Still, this weather has not been fun. At the race track for the Daytona 500, I could never seem to get warm. Check out pictures in the Picture Gallery. Some mornings I wear so many layers to school that I look like I put on 10 lbs. overnight! But I can guarantee you that come August we'll all be complaining just as vehemently about the heat. That's Florida for you.

Beautiful Day

Today was the kind of day you move to Florida for. Bright blue skies and temps in the upper 70's. We opened up the pop-up to get it aired out for Daytona. Can you believe it's only 3 weeks until the 500? Time moves so fast! I decided to wash all the pop-up's curtains and ruffly things. I don't think they have ever been washed so it was about time. Bob did some outside housekeeping stuff - sprinkler head repair, leaf mowing, general cleanup. All-in-all a very productive day. Hope these nice days keep flowing!

Bittersweet Day

Yesterday was not the best of days but it also was not the worst of days. On a good note it was Bob's and my 38th anniversary. On our wedding day I would not have been able to even picture 38 years together. But we've done it and done it quite well. I certainly don't expect 38 more but many more will be acceptable. On a sadder note a very dear friend left Friendship yesterday to continue her teaching career at a different school. As her new school is not even 5 miles from Friendship I am certain I will see her frequently. The saddest part, though, was the fact that it was just a year ago yesterday that my brother passed away. His death has been a hard thing to accept as he was younger than me and seemed to be in good health and physical shape. The thing that makes me the angriest is that he worked hard all his life and has now been denied the opportunity to retire and enjoy the fruits of all that hard work. Lesson learned - live life to the fullest because you DO NOT know what tomorrow will bring.

When did they move Florida?

Snow/sleet yesterday and 26 degrees this morning - not what people move to Florida for. Today the sky's bright blue and the sun is shining brightly but don't let it fool you, it hasn't warmed up much. There is hope though. It's supposed to be near 70 by the end of the week!

Snow on the pool screen.

Icicles on the bird feeder!

Snow on the plant cover. I don't know how much the cover helped.

Br-r-r-r!!!

When it is warmer in Seattle than in Florida there is something drastically out of whack! Even after 25 years in Florida I still considered myself a Northerner. . . up until now. Now, I'm just plain COLD!