Oh happy days.........

Happy happy happy birthday baby sister  

 

And to the Mom shown here doing one of the things that brought her great great joy ... Oh how I wish she were here today reading to her great grandbabies ~ that she would have so enjoyed .....  watching them dance and play and have temper tantrums! 

bad bad bad again

Got no pictures to post!  This is such a beautiful area of Florida and we still haven't been out on a picture taking trip ~ although the camera is in my purse at all times.

I guess it was just one of those days that perhaps is best to have no photos!  Some days are like that ya know. 

We started at the local flea circus (aka flea market) and farmers market which runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I love love love farmers markets and have been trying so desperately to find local produce ~ I hate buying produce at the grocery store but sometimes a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do.  So, I love farmer's markets .... flea markets, well not so stinking much.  I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and I just don't get the logic that attracts droves of people to these things ... there's probably 500 "vendors" at this flea circus and I swear 60% of them are duplicates.  Socks, what the hell is with "vendors" and socks?  There must have been 40 booths selling socks!  Someone please help me with this "logic" cause I surely don't get it.

From the flea circus we came home and I needed to lay down for a while - fighting yet another head ache.... this is getting kind of old.  After a while Rick decided to go out on his bike - I went to a couple fabric stores to get fabric for a project I'm working on and got so frustrated with lack of competent help in the stores here that I just decided to scrap the whole plan for today and come home.  Seemed like the safest option for said "employees" and me .... will unfortunately have to deal with it all over again tomorrow ~ UGH.

We have been seriously thinking about buying a piece of property here (yeah I know I wanted to do that in Spearfish and definitely in Sioux Falls, but has been a unanimous thought with us since we've been here, again, in central Florida) and I've got to say this experience today made me take a few steps back and reassess this plan.  We love this area ~ the beautiful rolling hills, the vast amounts of open land but close to the things we want ... the people are a very friendly mix from all parts of the country .. we shall see how this plays out.  In the meantime we need to decide if we are extending our stay here or moving on ~ we are scheduled to be in the Keys in 17 days.

So, that's it for now ~ I will truly have some photos of this gorgeous area soon ..... it's really worth the wait (gotta get away from retail ~ incompetent retail) though!

So we arrived in Summerfield, FL Tuesday.  We had been at Paul's (aka Chester) for a couple weeks ~ mostly "chillaxing" eating too much, drinking to much and just having a great time with our Pal.

We are at a campground here for at least a week ~ may extend it but likely will just continue on southward ~ we shall see.  But this a a decent place ~ pretty much what we like no pool, not much for amenities ... All I really want is a decent laundry area if I need it, a decent play area for Arlo and some trees and a campfire ring (although this place doesn't have any of those things other than a great laundry area and play area for Sir).  It is a member of a discount membership program we belong to so our rate is 1/2 the rate the "general public" would pay .... Saving $$$ here 'cause we'll be spending way too much in the Keys.  Private campgrounds down there this time of year can run $150 a night!  Isn't that insane!

Anyway we headed out yesterday to Lake Weir about 10 or 15 miles down the road.  I was on a mission to find a restaurant I had read about when we were in this area last January.  Well we found the place ~ Gator Joe's ~ right on the lake and Arlo got some good play time.  He needs about three hours of hard play time a day and rarely gets more than 30 minutes!  Although there is a decent fenced area for him here.

Here is Gator Joe's from the beach area.  

 

Right next to the restaurant is this neat "round" house - looking out over the lake through the many windowed walls and it has a gorgeous deck on the lakeside.  Apparently this house is available to rent for weekends (or longer, I'm sure if you could afford it!)  As you can see it also has one of those great moss covered oak trees that I so enjoy in these parts.

On our way home we stopped at the local Elks Lodge (what a surprise huh).  The bartender there was from MA originally and one of the babysitters she had for her children when they were small was the wife of a man Rick used to work with.  It amazes us constantly what a small world this is ~ we have run into so many people from MA along the way and many times they and Rick have had common friends ~ or the case of the restaurant in St. Augustine where we were watching a Patriots game last year and of course conversations start with people around you and come to find out one of those people was someone Rick went to elementary school with!!!!  True story...

That's it for today folks .... we're getting the bikes out and meeting up with our friends Dana and Wendy shortly.

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!

I am so ...

Thankful for .....

and      ....    in no particular order    .....

Happy turkey day to all .........

Way down upon

The Suwannee River ...  

So we three got the bikes out today and rode up to White Springs (2000 census population was 819).  It was pretty darned cool riding because the sun just wouldn't stay out for more than three minutes.

We had to go down ALL these stairs (well the going down wasn't too bad, but the coming back up ~ now that was tough) to one of the springs in the area.

The spring was pretty interesting, but pretty dried up!  I guess, according to the information signs around the spring, that in it's heyday (which apparently ended in the 1970's) there was a six story building where this "monument" now is and people would jump from the balconies into the spring below.  Below is a photo of what that spring looks like now!  No jumping these days huh!  That thing that looks like a ladder was actually how they closed the space off so the spring didn't run out into the Suwannee River behind.

Prior to going over to the springs we had lunch at the Telford Hotel shown below.  What an interesting OLD building.  It is obviously still operating as a restaurant and a bed and breakfast (the Vermont and New York sisters would love a sister weekend here I'm think)!  Nice lunch buffet - and of course we ate too much.  Paul says they also have a great Sunday Brunch!

Below is a house across the street from the Telford (just because it appealed to me it got posted!!).  Lots of very old buildings in this teeny tiny town.

From the Springs we went to the Stephen Foster (who wrote "Way Down Upon the Suwanee River) Folk Culture Center State Park!  What a fabulous campground ~  with a few (five or six) good sized pull through sites that we would be able to fit in and not have to disconnect the trailer (aka the shed).  But like most state parks, it can be difficult to get a site, particularly if you don't plan ahead (um we do not plan ahead ... man we hate to try to plan ahead).  Below is the Museum.  This entire huge park was just immaculate.

Below is the tower at the park.  While we were there the bells from the tower were ringing.  I thought I took a video of  Rick and Paul with the bells in the background ~ but alas ... I think I goofed (again) 'cause there be no video on the camera!  I think we need to go back there and hopefully get  campsite there and enjoy the gorgeous place.

Now for the grand finale of this particular post (yes I do realize I've been lax, to say the least, in my posting this past week ... I will try to do better).  So to continue ~ Rick and Paul went out the other day to have a repair made to Paul's new truck and have a transmission service done on our car.  When they got home Paul was all excited to give me this great prize he bought for me.  Check out the box it came in ~ see the bottom right hand corner ~ the product is "100% Redneck Approved" ... doesn't that speak volumes!

I was going to record a short video of the prize in action but I haven't gotten there yet.  It really does need a video to fully appreciate the prize ~ trust me!  

Paul knows how much I love cows and this is a trailer hitch cover ~ not just any hitch cover mind you - oh no not for this girl.  It moves and lights up when you hit the brakes or put your blinker on!  It is hysterical and of course Sir Arlo is petrified of it.  We took him out to show it to him just after I put it on and of course he was scared.  For the next couple days every time we left the house or the coach he would go directly to the cow and check it out, sniff it and bark like a fool at it!  Such a goof he is.

we be chillin'

And eating too much and drinking too much and not getting out taking pictures much!  My bad!

However, above is how we can start each day (or a mid day snack or just whenever the mood hits) you go out and pick yourself and orange or three (actually Paul said they are called satsuma ~ as a matter of fact that link has a recipe there but with six eggs I probably won't be making it any time real soon).  Also, for the northerners - we have had two frosty mornings yesterday and today - 26 and 28 degrees at 7:00 AM!!!!!!

Rick and Paul worked most of the day yesterday on this ... the bikes used to be the other way in the trailer, as in we would ride them up the side door ramp (to the right of my bike in the photo above).  Well that was not great because I couldn't ride my bike straight in and Rick would have to pick up and move the rear end after I rode it into the stand.  So now we can ride both of them in from the back door (where the car goes in) and Rick doesn't have to move anything!!!  We are also coming up with plans to rearrange other things in the trailer (aka the shed!).  We keep our bike jackets and chaps etc in there and we just couldn't come up with a way to neatly store them but also have quick easy access to them.  They had been traveling in milk crates and storage bins but it was just so messy and a pain ... we are trying a few brass coat hooks on the side walls ... hopefully that will work better and eliminate the clutter out there.  It has been one of those things that we just have had to create solutions for along the way.  Now if we can continue to eliminate more of the cluttered storage stuff in the coach!  Seems there is still a lot of "stuff" that we haven't used in the 13 months we've been on the road and it should be time to get rid of it!  Whatever we feel its "value" is I am becoming a firm believer in the logic of "if you haven't used it in a year get the heck rid of it"!!  Heck when it's all done we could increase our mileage by maybe two miles a gallon - ya think?

Oh and I keep forgetting to mention ... remember the new blog I was setting up on squarespace?  Well, NOT happening ... I had a two week free trial and in that time I couldn't even get beyond creating the header ... much too complicated for this girl!