It's just so ..

Good and Norman Rockwell'ish and makes me miss a Peck family time (but I did have a very important one in October).  

Why is it that good people, good friends, loved ones and good food just give you a "warm and sniggly" feeling?  Here is a photo - minus (unfortunately) Rick the photographer, around the  dinner table yesterday ... just a small group of friends and relatives but gosh it was good .. real good.  I got to cook a great meal (yeah yeah yeah I guess the cook really isn't suppose to say that, but darn it was great ~ thank you Donna for the turkey I got to prepare, which is always a good place to start a good meal on that November holiday).  Anyway I created a great, perfectly timed meal in a terrificly laid out real kitchen ~ what a treat.  So the photo is Paul, his brother Bobby and their Mom with friend Russ and myself

   ... darn we need to learn the way to do pictures that include all the people present  ~ it really is easy ~ I did research it after my weekend in Iowa/Omaha with baby sister when none of the photos included both of us (yes foolishly)! 

I can remember many years ago when said baby sister gave me a bit of a talking to because I really and truly hate having my picture taken (yes, I have gotten better since I graduated from the Alves school of smiling).  Anyway, said sister reminded me about the importance of photos, particularly family photos.  Yes, dear sister you are correct and that is confirmed by the great photos of Dad's that Chad had scanned for all to appreciate (well he and I surely appreciate them ~ who knew a little girl could be so darned adorable eating an apple?).

So the second photo in this post is obviously after that delicious dinner chillaxin on the porch with Rick, Mom and Bobby.  

The photo to the right is a different day (one day later), a different porch and a different brother ~ this is Mom, Paul and his brother Billy (the one with the same back view of a hairdo similar to Rick's).  Once again, everyone is "chillaxin" (is there a pattern here or what?

We had planned to leave Paul's on Sunday and head south to Ocala to see our friends Dana and Wendy, then continue onward to the Keys (Tavernier).  However, rain is predicted for the next three days so the departure plan may (read will) be delayed by a couple days.  The trailer (aka the shed) is disconnected from the coach and parked out back and we don't want to leave major lawn dents pulling it out in the rain ~ nor do we want to connect the two in the rain ... not to mention  set up in a new place in the rain ~ so it seems we will be here a few more days (hope Paul can stand it).  Dana and Wendy will be leaving on their latest cruise in a week and a half so we want to see them before that but also allow them time to get their stuff together before they leave ~ although they are such frequent cruisers that probably their stuff isn't unpacked from the last one!  We had talked about going to Silver Springs before seeing them but we may rearrange (like we haven't gotten real good at that - planning then re-planning!) our plan a bit.  We still have three weeks (and a couple days) before we are "scheduled" to be in the Keys so timing isn't really an issue ~ although Rick thinks it may be .... talk  about role reversal here ... I was the one that always worried about timing and scheduling!  Which was sort of the subject of a topic of discussion, not once but twice, over the last two days as we have discussed our travels with people.  When we left Massachusetts 13 months ago (as well as the time leading up to the departure) I was very very ~  like really very ~ concerned about constantly moving and having no real roots anymore.  Don't get me wrong here ~ I've loved to travel since Rick introduced me to traveling years ago ~ but I've always loved to return to "my space" after seven or ten days.  There was something about a brick/stick home that was my comfort zone and I really stressed over not having  that when we started our big adventure.  Well it is so reversed now - we are booked to be in the Keys for six weeks (no that is not a complaint - I do that know many people would love to have that issue) but that is the longest we've been in one place (well I guess we were in Sioux Falls that long but that is waaaay different - Sioux Falls is "home" now and we have our friends Rick and Jaye there, not to mention our friend Mr.  Mayor and our keys to the city).  Rick and I have always just "known" when it was time to leave a particular place and it has never been more than two weeks so the reality of six weeks scares the crap out of me - what the heck am I going to do?  Although we are right on the Gulf of Mexico (like 20 feet) I know that the most activity I will get in a day is throwing Wilson into the Gulf repeatedly for Sir Arlo or riding my bicycle a mile to the market!  Anyway, I think I need to find a place to volunteer some time while we are there ... or something ... 

So, that's my rambling for today!