Florida 2015: Week 1

January 30 - February 1 The last few days of traveling were a bit challenging as both Mary and I were both suffering from severe colds with coughing, aching muscles, and low grade temperatures. On Saturday evening we stayed in Columbia, SC. The next morning, as we were preparing to leave the motel room, John experienced a seizure. So we let him rest for awhile before we resumed our traveling.

Saturday evening we arrived at our planned destination of Valdosta, GA. Despite feeling poorly we decided to eat dinner at one of our favorite BBQ places, Smok'n Pig BBQ. http://www.smoknpig.com/index_vld.shtml

Sunday we had planned to stop in Homosassa for lunch with Dewey and Elizabeth but wanted to avoid giving them our colds. Therefore we traveled on through to Weeki Wachee arriving around 2 pm. We only unloaded what we needed for the night, made a quick trip to the grocery store, and watched the Super Bowl.

We were surprised with a few new upgrades to the house which includes a new larger SMART TV in the living room, a queen size bed in the master bedroom, and a new sleeper sofa in the sun room.

Here's a photo taken from our backyard.

February 2 - 6  We kept things very "low-key" this week as we rested, recovered from our colds, unpacked, settled in, and enjoyed the warm temperature and occasional sunshine. Mary's hip was out of alignment following the long drive and was creating a lot of pain for her. On Wednesday we drove about an hour to the town of San Antonio to a chiropractor recommended by our Dr. Kim. It was well worth the drive as Mary left the office pain free. We were close to Dade City where Mary likes to visit a shop, Quilts on Plum Lane. While she shopped I walked around the lovely town and found myself at this magical intersection.

On my walk I came across this lovely café where we later had a lite lunch of tomato basil soup and sandwiches.

On Thursday our wonderful friends, Dewey and Elizabeth, came to visit and help us unpack the luggage that was still on top of the car. The next day I was feeling better and met Dewey and Elizabeth at Homosassa Springs Park for a delightful walk. The birds were very active and were content to let me walk quite close to them and take pics.

 

 Our first Florida Weekend this Winter: Feb 7 & 8 And what a beautiful weekend it was with sunny skies and temps in the low to mid 70's. We are very aware of how cold and snowy it continues to be up home and feel very blessed to be here. On Saturday we met Dewey and Elizabeth at a Farm and Quilt Show in Dade City. This event was held at one of my favorite museums in this part of Florida,http://www.pioneerfloridamuseum.org/

The main event of the day was a sanctioned horse pulling contest. It was a thrill to see these magnificent animals "do their stuff".

We also toured the various buildings and I enjoyed some kumquat ice cream. Here is a nice pic of Mary and I that Elizabeth took for us.

 

 

Sunday was our warmest and sunniest day so far. I made omelets for breakfast and we went to worship at Holy Nativity Lutheran Church here in Weeki Wachee. An assistant to the Bishop of the Florida Bahamas Synod was the guest preacher and he did a fine job. After church we traveled a little ways north to Howard's Flea market where I picked up a new pair of clip on sunglasses and Mary found a couple of dish towels she liked. We then had a late lunch at Grumpy Gator's, a place recommended by Dewey for their prime rib. Mary had the prime rib and loved it. We dined in their backyard under the shade of a canvas cover. They also had horseshoe pits in the backyard and a fellow customer invited me to play a game. It was great fun and something I had not had the opportunity to do in a long while.