Wednesday

I felt young today as Phyllis and I went to the convention center to a senior health fair...blood pressure-check, diabetes test-check, back/body scan-check...yes, I am alive and breathing!!! We walked the bay and took some pics then drove back to the house and joined up with Kent to go to see Avatar 3-D...wow...if you haven't seen this, go! It may not be for everyone, but it had a good message, the scenery was spectacular, and the special effects were grand-I was ready to cheer at the end. All three of us can see a sequel in the future.

A good evening of interesting table talk after dinner rounded out yet another great day! It has been a wonderful visit here at Seminole Lakes with Kent and Denise. This morning the palms are swaying in the breeze and the egrets, ducks, and herons are active in the diamond-sparking lake! Phyllis and I are headed a few miles north for Port Charlotte to stay with Deb and Jim LaPierre. Tonight we are going to a Porto Fino's to hear Eddy and the Edsels...Kent and Denise will join us so it's not quite good-bye to this area; just shifting GPS position! We certainly do not want to wear out our welcome! Another great day in the neighborhood we call Florida!

Tuesday Tidbits

The party took a toll on my stomach...I ate and drank way too much... so I didn't join Phyllis and Denise for a yoga class this morning! Since Kent had some business to attend to, Phyllis, Denise, and I decided to go to Matlacha...a Pine Island artist community. Even though it was a bit cool, the sun felt wonderful as we wandered our way in and out of the various shops of eclectic art. We ended up at one end of the strip eating lunch at Moretti's...my fresh shrimp and their basa fish salads satisfied our lunch cravings. More shop visits on the way back to the car and some homemade key lime and coconut ice cream finished off our visit.

We went back to Punta Gorda and after visiting Denise and Kent's neighbor who makes jewelry, we set off for Fisherman's Village, an open area shopping plaza on the Gulf. We stopped by Pat and Elaine's real estate office and our new friend Jan's bookstore/giftshop before stopping for drinks at Smugglers Captain's Table. It was a great view of the sunset before heading home to a grilled pork dinner and salad. Phyllis and Denise went to bed early while Kent and I stayed up to watch and discuss the CNN Google program...Kent and I are both enthralled with the world of technology!
Another late night...but a great one here in Seminole Lake Village!

Monday Musings

While Denise went to yoga class on Monday, Phyllis and I did a 2-3 mile sweat-walk here in the neighborhood. It is definitely getting warmer! Shopping Bealls Monday discounts took most of the afternoon...after a scary checkout with no wallet to pay for my loot, we returned to the house to find that I had left it on the dresser. Back to the store and I finally was able to claim my many "needed" items. Denise made hors d'oeuvres and off we went to Pat and Elaine Martin's home for a dinner party...and what a party it was! We were overwhelmed with the beautiful home, great food, interesting drinks (including a Bellini-champagne topped with peach juice), and lively conversation! I took a tour of the home and have added some pics...couldn't get the boat and canal as darkness set in early! What a great evening!

Heading South Again

On Sunday, with heavy heart, Phyllis and I packed up the Black Bullet and left Carol and John to head to Punta Gorda. We did take a detour to Clermont to visit Phyllis's nephew Kenny, his wife, Chein, and daughter, Bethany...What a great visit with them in this rural hilly area that is only 20 minutes from Disney and Universal. Maybe next year we will stay in this area a day or two. We went to Mimi's Restaurant where they gave us huge muffins to go because we had never been to their establishment...what we didn't need was more carbs...Dr.Oz is still in our heads!!!

Where did the time go? We talked so much that poor Bethany was almost an hour late for a birthday party...After dropping her off, we went back to the house, took some quick pics, and headed south again...We knew that Denise and Kent were waiting supper for us. As it was, we pulled in around 7:30pm. After a few drinks, we had a great dinner salad, green beans, and chicken on the grill...Exhausted, we settled in this beautiful house for the next few days...It was still a bit chilly to sit on the screened in porch area overlooking the lake...what a beautiful setting! It was great waking up to beautiful weather Monday morning! We slept in while Denise went to her yoga class and Kent worked on his computer. Ah, this is "The life of Riley"!

Spanish Springs in the Villages

We finally hit our first Bealls outlet on this trip...didn't buy a lot, but we have the shopping bug again after seeing all the bargains to be had! Discounts are better on Mondays when we get another 15-20% off, so we held back! We went to see Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin today in "It's Complicated". I haven't laughed so much in a long time while viewing a movie! A classic car Cruise-in was in Spanish Springs today, so there were throngs of intresting people around...I love people watching! We had a great dinner at Katie Belles...actually upstairs in The Cattle Baron restaurant. I had shrimp and scallop linguine which was superb...the steaks and chicken dinners looked good too. Dinner was accompanied by Danny and Johnny Dynamic Duo singing those "oldies" that make you a sing along whether you can carry a tune or not! The rain started as we were ready to sit in the square and watch the dancing and the group performing there. Tomorrow we will pack up and head south again. I believe we are taking Phyllis's nephew,Kenny, his wife, Chien, and little girl, Bethany, out to lunch before we head to Punta Gorda to stay with Denise and Kent Marcy. It is always hard to pack up and leave when there is so much more to do in an area, but the Belle Tour must continue...

Friday with Carol

Our bed would not release our bodies this morning...we slept in once again-maybe we should try to get to bed earlier than 1am! John took off early for his 7:23am tee time-much too early to be up and out, even for Florida. We girls all enjoyed a lazy pajama-clad morning. Carol, the ultimate hostess, fixed us a breakfast of granola and fresh fruit in yogurt, scrambled eggs with mushrooms, and freshly squeezed orange juice-served in champagne glasses. It doesn't get much better than this! We decided to take in a movie today so we went to "Up in the Air" with the irresistible George Clooney, and afterward enjoyed drinks at a restaurant where we could sit outside in the sun and watch the "Village-world" go by! It did get up to at least 75 degrees so it was comfortable! We went back to the house to prepare for dinner with Kent and Jeanette, friends of Carol and John, who now live here. The marinated and grilled scallops and veggies with a tossed veggie/romaine salad was paired with a nice Sangria...Dr. Oz would have approved of this fine cuisine! The evening ended with all of us playing "Loaded Questions-Adult"...very suggestive questions to which everyone writes answers and the player must guess who wrote what...as Phyllis would say-"Very interesting!" We were all glad that John won since he is the most competitive and would call foul at the drop of a hat if he didn't win! It's about time for bed as the clock is approaching 1am...what a great day...

Thursday in Largo

We headed out from Anna Marie to have lunch with Rhonda, a friend since childhood. We again crossed the Skyway Bridge and were in route to Largo when what to my wandering eyes should appear but Jim's Harley Davidson shop where my sister,Connie, works. We ran in to get a picture with her before heading to Rhonda's beautiful and eclectic house. What a wonderful visit with her and her artistic husband, Carlos. We enjoyed a great meal at Guppies, a restaurant we would highly recommend. I think my shrimp and spinach salad was more to Dr.Oz's liking than Phyllis's veggie sandwich...but both were scrumptious. This enjoyable afternoon sped by and we were on the road again to Lakeland to see my cousin, Jerry, and drop off some tools he left at my house before moving to Florida. It was dark when we headed back north to go to Lady Lake (The Villages) near Ocala...just our luck that sinkholes started to reek havoc with two of the major routes we had to take. Stop and go traffic slowed our journey down to a crawl for more than an hour! It was a relief when we actually pulled into Carol and John's place...safe and sound! Our king size bed is very inviting!

Flashback to Anna Marie Island

Yesterday the sun was shining as we finally opened our eyes around 8am...I decided to take advantage of Dorothy's craftmatic bed and spent my morning computer time propped up with the massage on...wow, what a life! Because we knew this was our last morning on the island, Phyllis and I bundled up in our heavy jackets and joined Dorothy and Carol for our half mile walk to the old pier and back. It wasn't long before we were stripping down to our shirts...yea!!! The golden orb in the sky finally came through and we feel like we are really in Florida! As you can see,we also picked up a nameless friend! Carol's husband,Charlie, helped us pack up the car, and after pictures, we were off to lunch in Largo. We feel we have new friends to visit in Ashtabula when we get back...not enough time to do as much as we would have liked...next time! Rhonda's visit coming up....

The Villages

Phyllis and I arrived here safe and sound about 9pm to find Carol and John waiting with open arms and the news of their new diet...uh, oh...I think Dr. Oz may be playing with us again!!! Actually we downed a calzone Connie Jean made and enjoyed every bite! Now we are catching up with news of our lives and all the people we know....sooooo if your ears are burning, we were talking about you!!! Tomorrow I will add all of the news of today...we did so much since our beach walk this morning. More pics to share of everyone we were with in the last couple of days! So,until tomorrow....

Anna Marie Island continued

The morning started early as Dorothy got up to walk the beach before 7am...too bad she had to go alone. Exhausted, I rolled over in bed and Phyllis stayed on the couch until Dorothy returned at 8. It is starting to get warmer...at least got up to 60 today. We made our way over the Skyway Bridge to go to sister Connie's place in Pinelllas Park for lunch...too bad we tried to follow Gypsy (myGPS) to get there...new construction did not allow us to go the way she wanted us to so we heard a lot of "recalculating...make a u-turn as soon as you can...turn right(into the water)...recalculating"...Eventually we made it thanks to the cell phone and human directions!

We ate at a NY Deli style restaurant in Palm Harbor called The Lucky Dill Deli...no scrimping on the prime rib or reuben sandwiches here! After stuffing ourselves they brought us complimentary chocolate chip and regular cheesecake and apple strudel. Dr. Oz must be rolling over in his studio over this meal! We may have to put his CDs in the player again tomorrow...oh the guilt...you'd think I was Catholic or something! Around the corner from this restaurant was Mario and Amanda's new house they're building. After a quick tour of the inside, we headed back to Pinellas Park. The traffic on Rt 19 was horrific, but the Black Bullet pulled us through!

After thinking we wouldn't eat again for a week, we came home only to get Dorothy's house guests, Charlie and Carol, and off we go to our favorite restaurant, The Rod and Reel Pier! The ambiance of this rugged old Florida restaurant cannot be matched anywhere...even taking your life into your own hands to crawl around the back of the downstairs bar to the bathroom where you'd better know if you are "Inboard" or "Outboard" makes it special...No menus were needed as we ordered our deep fried grouper sandwiches with fries and slaw...Phyllis ordered clam strips and we all devoured our meals with smiles! Who the hell is Dr. Oz???? Oh, well, tomorrow we will take it easy and eat light...oh, wait...we are taking my childhood friend, Rhonda to lunch in Largo tomorrow! C'est la vie!!!

Anna Marie Island

For those who are following and are pushing for the newest post (Carol and John)-We headed out from the snow in Knoxville this morning about 10:30. Arrived here on Anna Marie Island at Dorothy's condo at 9:30pm thanks to my heavy foot and taking over the driving from Phyllis who is too speed limit conscientious!

We finished Dr. Oz so we can put him on the backburner of our brains. We also listened to a mystery and are down to the whodunit...tomorrow we will find out! Too tired to write much more tonight...see y'all tomorrow!

Knoxville,TN

The sun is shining and the snow is melting in this 38 degrees...traces of snow melt faster than the 2 feet of fluff we left in Ohio. Had an uneventful trip here and are enjoying sister Cheryl and Ed's hospitality...Her house and recent renovations are amazing! Now we are with calendar and phone making arrangements with people as our journey continues further South.

We didn't get off as early as we had hoped- the partying lasted a bit longer on Saturday night than we planned. It was 2:00pm Sunday before our eyes were clear, our bodies refreshed, and the black bullet was packed - ready to begin the adventure. We listened to Dr. Oz tell us how to get back in shape while the miles slipped away. No stopping for Burger King belly fat food along the way, and before we knew it we were out of Ohio...into Kentucky...and finally Tennessee. It is good to rest a while before continuing.

Tomorrow may be a long one as we are traveling from here to Anna Marie Island to stay with Dorothy Nugent for a couple of days. This is longer trip than yesterday, so an early night to bed is in order. We plan on seeing sister Connie and childhood friend, Rhonda before going to Lady Lake area and the Villages on Thursday. Will add more later...Time to get out of our Japanese morning coats and get on with the day...think we are making supper of meatloaf, sweet potatoes, cranberry-banana bread, etc...Cheryl is working us for our room and board! We put Dr.Oz and his info on hold until later....too many good things here to eat!

The Steward/Zala saga continues

This is the 3rd year I have had the pleasure of joining up with Phyllis on the trek to the sunny South during the month of January. It is a great time to connect with our friends and family who are fortunate to be living south of Ohio-especially during the cold and snowy winter months. This year we are leaving a little later which helps me because I was able to get all of my Christmas decorations down and packed away. Last year it was March before I had it done! The icicle lights on the front of the house will have to wait for a thaw!

The packing is almost done, well at least the piles are made. Tonight dinner party at Phyllis's to celebrate the new bathroom with all those who were involved in the project! Hopefully we will get the SUV packed early and be on the road before 10am! Tennessee and sister Cheryl, here we come! I do hope the snow and ice are gone, along with all of the traffic problems in Kentucky and Tennessee as of late with the unexpected ice and snow they have had! Also, the Florida sun needs a bit of time to bring up the temps! Anything is better than the 30 inches or so of snow we are dealing with here in Jefferson! Anticipation...