Another Farewell Party this time in Ft Myers

My friend, Becky, has accused me of travelling FL in search of farewell parties.  LOL  This past weekend I went to FT Myers to visit my sister Shirley and BIL Doug before they migrate toward TN.  It happens that they were having their farewell party at their condo so why not.  Good food and entertainment.

I arrived on Saturday around noon and we visit for a while and then hit the pool.  The food came out around 5 which consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs provided by the condo association.  Residents furnished all the other goodies with potluck dishes.  Lots of good food, oh I mentioned that already didn't I.

Colorful umbrellas decorate the lawn.

Hamburgers and hotdogs

Yummy side dishes

A big turno

People in the food line.

After everyone ate and cleaned up it was time for the entertainment to begin.  Sam, a talented resident, had written a skit for the last three years and the "entertainers" came from the residents of Pinewood.  The skit was the last installment of Bob and Sue who had met Behind the Dumpsters, went on their Honeymoon and finally They lived Happily Ever After.  No telling what he will come up with next year.

Cindi Lauper w/Back Up Singers.  She's had 2 knee replacements.

Some of the "entertainers" were: Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Chuck Barry, John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Cindy Lauper, Nancy Sinatra, and Dean Martin w/back-up singers. 

 

 

A very entertaining night.

Here we are:

Next day we went downtown and walked on the riverwalk for a while and then to eat at Joe's Crab Shack.  I took a few of my Tervis Tumblers back to the store and swapped them out for new ones.  Tervis has a 100% guarantee and it's truly no hassle.

Sedona stayed with Margie, Roger, Anne and Buddy.  Margie stayed in communication with me via email and text sending me messages and pictures from Sedona.  Ahhh, how sweet!

Please share w/me, Roger.

Roger is surrounded w/love and no fights!

I believe Margie said Sedona was watching Beverly Hills Chi.

 Thanks Margie.

Later...

What does one do in stormy weather???

Make lemonade, of course.

27 Myer Lemonds

 

 

 

 

15 yielded a quart

During the break in the storm yesterday, Margie, Roger and I went to raid the last of the lemons (with permission of course) on the "secret" tree so it could begin to bloom and produce again.  You all may remember reading about the lemon fairy who kept me in lemons since I have been here.

What to do with all these lemons to keep them from going bad?  A girl can only drink so many lemon drops at one time.  I was talking to my sister this weekend and she suggested I squeeze the lemons and put them in ice trays, freeze them, put them in a zip lock bag and I can have lemonade anytime I want.  What a brilliant idea.  Thanks Shirley.

I mentioned the stormy weather and I don't mean just raining, take a look at this:

This is just a little of what we have dealt with all morning.  Tornado warnings for Polk County (the county I live in) and one was spotted in the western part of Polk Co.  I have a rain gauge and Monday there was 5.75" showing, today from last night until about 10 a.m was only 1.5" but it's raining again so there may be more.  I've read that rains like this can cause sink holes to appear.  Hope we don't start losing park models in here.  Uck!  That would be baaaad!

Sedona does not like to get wet.  During a break in the rain we went out for a walk and she was stepping high.  We stopped over at Margie's and then the bottom dropped out while we were outside talking.  We began to run, yes I was running but I'll have to say not for long.  I figured I could use a hair dryer on us and we could get dry quickly.  This rain is not cold like in TN.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Later...

Time for the Migration to begin

Friday was the signal for the migration North to begin.  It was the farewell party at Citrus Ridge.  Sweet Charlie returned with his good music.  Everyone headed to the pool, danced a little (Margie & Roger) and ate a lot.

Noodlers abound

Margie & Roger and Tina & Dave

Do a little dance...

 Citrus Ridge does this every year as a farewell and welcome back.  Some of the RVers have pulled out already and even some of the park model residents have headed home.

Later...

Next Year at Citrus Ridge & other things

A decision has been made.  I'm coming back to Citrus Ridge next year and going to try to work for Disney.  I've got a much better lot with NO acorn trees.  It's a lot on the lake and should be a comfortable place for me and Sedona.  I'm looking forward to staying there.

I've enjoyed my winter at Citrus Ridge.  Lots of activities and lots of very nice people.  It's has certainly helped having Margie pave the way for me.  Yeah, I'll admit to riding on her coat tails.  LOL

Sedona and I have enjoyed riding on the bicycle especially now that the roads have been paved.  All I have to say is "wanna go for a ride?" and she goes out to where the bike is and sits until I get out there and get her ready.  She sits quietly and watches everything as we go by.  I have a clip that I attach to her harness to prevent her from jumping out.







Friends Bobby and Sharon came down from N FL to visit.  They got a site in CR and it was nice to have Sharon around here.  We went to breakfast with the girls and then on a shopping trip around the Orlando area.  It was a short visit but I got to see her new Smart Car.  Little thing but it will tow nicely as it only weighs 1700 lbs.  They shouldn't even know it's back there.

Margie and I went to The Barn close to Lake Alfred today.  It's a nice place out in the boonies.  It has antiques and gift store and a restaurant.  When you enter the restaurant you pick up the menu, find a table, make your number and name on the menu as well as what you want to eat.  You go up to cashier and pay and they fill your order.  Your order is delivered to you in wooden boxes with leather handles like a "box" lunch.  Very unique and so tasty.  Not too expensive and not too much food either. 



Another event at Citrus Ridge was a fashion show sponsored by the Red Hat Ladies and Bon Worth.
There was an opportunity to make purchases but I didn't need anything so I passed on the deal.  The ladies did such a good job and it was enjoyable afternoon.

One of the ladies had made a purse and called it her DD purse.  It's made out of a red bra and she had it decorated with purple and lots of beads.  Cute idea.  So all you women who want to carry a bra for a purse, here's your idea.










When I leave here on April 15 I'm trying to decide on a route to go back to TN.  I'll spend a few days around the Homosassas Springs area, stop in SE Ga to visit Jonathan and Taylor, then Savannah, Augusta, Liberty SC, Dillard GA and then TN.  I am always changing my mind so these plans are in jello, they are just my thoughts.  I'm trying to avoid Atlanta because I want to see some new scenery.  Or I might go through AL.  Who knows.

I'm discussing workkamping at TN State Parks for a couple of months this summer.  Should work out and it will be a way for me to save some gas money and see if I could really be into this workkamping gig.

Citrus Ridge is having the Farewell Party tomorrow.  Sweet Charlie will be back singing his tunes as he was here at the Welcome Back party.  Should be a fun time!

I'm heading down to FT Myers this weekend to visit my Sister Shirley and BIL Doug.  Should be a good trip.  Can't believe I have waited all winter to do this.  Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Later...

Segways in Celebration FL

Jonathan & friend, Ally and Taylor came down from SE GA for a visit with me before I head back N in April.  While they were here we decided to do the Segway tour of Celebration.  We head over to Irlo Bronson Hwy and take a quick 15 minute training session on the operation of the Segway before they turned us out on the busy street and the trails of the town.  Here is a quick video of Taylor receiving her lesson.

After we passed the necessary stopping and turning we meet our guide and then he gives us information about crossing as a team, how we were to let him be our eyes when crossing and we were to look straight ahead until we got out of traffic.  It was so much fun.  We saw so much wildlife.  Celebration is a town that Walt Disney originally built for the families working at Disney.  That didn't pan out and it was more expensive than he had planned so it is just a cute community with a town and lots of trails/boardwalks.  It is very well maintained.  It is also a good place to go walking.  We saw alligators, lots of birds and lots of very nice houses.

Carolyn learns to ride.

Carolyn learns to get off the Segway

Ally gives it a try.

Jonathan's got it figured out.

Ally's got it!

Ally, Jonathan and Taylor in front of the Bohemian Hotel

Carolyn, Taylor, Ally and Jonathan

On the road

The girls getting ready to go

Celebration movie house (closed)

The lakes

On the trails

I just could hang on, Jonathan could ride one handed

One of the houses along the trail

Ally poses

Another home

A boardwalk

Business in Celebration.

 We all had a great time and would do it again.  Probably not as long as this 2 hr 13 mile trip but well worth it.  There is a coupon in the coupon books around town if you plan on doing this.

Later...

Roy and Tina Come for A Visit

Arriving by Allegiant Airline to Orlando Sanford Airport are Roy and Tina for a few days of a great vacation. 

First on the list was a trip to the beach.  My what a beautiful day.  We went to Cocoa Beach on the east coast and before going to the beach we stopped to shop at Ron Jon's Beach Shop.  It was a shopping craze as Tina found some things for her and her sons and Roy had to get a T-shirt.  Nothing for you Jerry.

Then it was to the beach.  What a beautiful day, oh, said that already.  But it was!  The water was cold, cold but then we took a look around and saw all these blue jelly fish on the beach that had washed ashore.  There were a couple of people who had been stung and I sure didn't want to be a casualty.  So we soaked in the sun and took a stroll on the beach and had a great time.

Then we headed over to my favorite places, Milliken's Reef in Port Canaveral.  This place has great live music, good food, fun people and a place to watch the cruise ships depart.  We were also able to see a rocket launch.  It was a "top secret" mission that all the news stations seemed to know about and broadcast.  We saw it in person and that was pretty exciting.

We missed action in the park.  Some of the guys in Citrus Ridge agreed to be Calendar Girls.  Since I wasn't there, I'm going to direct you to Margie's blog as Roger was one of the Calendar Girls and boy was he cute.  We got home about the time it was breaking up so we got to see some of the guys in drag.  What these guys won't do for charity, right?  I think they enjoyed it too much to do it "just" for charity.

Sunday we head out to Tampa for the Seminole Hard Rock Casino but before we go there we must stop by Parksdale Farms in Plant City Fl for the best Strawberry Cake in the area.

We got Roy to the casino in time for him to play in a Texas Hold'em tournament and Tina and I were left to our own devices, the slots.  I knew Tina was finally liking a casino when she said "I'm gonna go over here and see if I can find something to play that I like."  I didn't see her again for quite a while.  Yep she's hooked.  LOL  We ate at the champagne buffet and held our own with the crab legs.  What a great day!

Next day we just lazed around a bit and went shopping and ended the day with a good soak in the hot tub.  Hated to see their visit come to an end.

I'll be back in Citrus Ridge again in November.  I'm gonna try Disney one more time and hope that starting earlier in the application process will get me working in either Oct or Nov '11.  I've found another site that is on the lake and out from under this messy oak tree.  I have a great view of the lake and the western sky so good sunsets should be in my future.

Later...

Jonathan and Taylor visit

My son, Jonathan and granddaughter, Taylor came down for a visit.  We went to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom and had a wonderful day.  Their visit was cut short by my bad cold and crappy cold weather.  But we made the best of a great day.  This was Taylor's first visit to Disney and Jonathan hadn't been there since he was 3 yo and he is 35 now.

We had a fun time riding the rides and we all agreed that the Big Mountain Thunder was the best roller coaster.  It's funny how Space Mountain seemed so cool way back then.  It was still fun but wasn't what I remembered.  Of course we had to do it's a Small World.  Yes, the song stuck in our head for a while.

Nothing would do the kids but to spin Gran on the Tea Cups.  I think you will see we all enjoyed even though I thought I would toss my cookies.  Very worth it.



It was a terrific trip and can't wait to do it again.

Later...

The Circle Will Be Unbroken

Imagine my surprise when I received a phone message from my YaYa's, Becky (Lotus) and Missi (Giggles) last night to tell me to expect a package in the mail sometime in the next couple of days that would excite me.  It would excite me because it was a present to keep Theda (LawDog) and me (Queen) and the rest of the YaYa's united forever.

I got the package today and couldn't wait to open it.  Oh my, I broke down and sobbed.  I'll let you decide if you would have too.

I love my YaYa's forever!

Later...