Welcome to our travels and adventures


Welcome to our travels and adventures

Blink

Holy crap…. where did the winter go? It seems that we were just starting to get excited about our first cruise and now here we are, the cruise is just a memory and March is already upon us. Our calendar looks like most of the events and activities are mostly dining out! Go figure!

Lunch At McGuires With Bill AnnOne our favourites is McGuire's in Pensacola. The girls `needed` to 1303002 Mar 02 FMQing Jim Quilt In Eveningfind some fabric so we had a road trip to Jo-Ann`s Fabrics in Pensacola and to keep Bill and I from whining too much, we had lunch at McGuire's! Hummmm, cold beer (they have their own micro brewery), good food and great company are always the best ingredients for fun. It makes the road trip seem shorter.

 

Barb co1303012 Mar 04 Front Of Jim Quilt Completedntinues to put the finishing touches on the quilt for Jim. It is a labour of love and besides ha1303013 Mar 04 Back Of Jim Quilt Completedving fun doing it, Barb is doing an excellent job, it is turning out great. It is the first time she has applied photos to fabric and incorporated the squares into a quilt. As she progresses, we get more and more excited to see it maturing and closer to the end to send to Jim & Lydia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1303024 Mar 05 Great Bango Playing

 

 

The group of us – our own little posse of Bill & Ann and Dick & Marcia are heading out for an evening of Blue Grass entertainment at Wales West, another campground not far from us. The group called TruGrass played lots of foot stomp’n Blue Grass with a little comedy thrown in. Of course, we had to go out for dinner first. The only spot near by was the Fish River Grill1. This was one of the places that captured us a few years ago. They serve great catfish and hamburgers in a more than casual setting. When we first went there, they had gravel floors and cafeteria style 1303032 Mar 08 Barb Helps Ginny And Siggieseats. It was neat then but now with plywood floors, it may have lost some of it’s ‘rustic’ nature but the food is still very good.

On Friday afternoons, Barb & I continue to host a Digital Photography class where we can all learn a little more about picture taking and photo editing. Our attendance numbers have gradually dropped off with the approach on spring and the snowbirds heading north. It has been an interesting group and hoping to continue next season.

 

1303036 Mar 10 Terry Boxing In The SagoAs the weather warms up, we turn our attention to the yard work on our site. We are trying to 1303061 Mar 18 Our New Front Gardenprepare it so we don’t have so much work on it when we come back in November. We have taken out all the garden edging and laid our extra patio stones so the summer mowers can ride over them and not need so much weed whacking. That lummox you see is me under the Sago Palms, pulling off the saplings and digging in the patio stones.

Later in the day, we found a frog eating another 1303035 Mar 09 A Frog Eating A Frogfrog! We thought they only ate bugs etc!

1303073 Mar 22 Terry Doing A Great Job

 

 

 

 

 

 

1303045 Mar 14 Anita Brigitte Pam Having ChatBarb & the ladies continue to quilt and sew, chat and kibitz – sometimes I think they socialize more than they sew but that’s what makes it so 1303048 Mar 15 Terry Wires Stage While Brian Watchesmuch fun here. After Mardis Gras was done, some of the guys suggested we put a new rear stage wall up to replace the older temporary wall. It would also be a good time to re-wire the area so we would not need extension cords to power the stage outlets when we had professional entertainment in. I jumped in to help out with that project. With all the volunteers to help out, we had it up, wired, fused and dry wall work done in just a few days.

My laptop is/was on it’s last legs. The lid hinges are broken through and one of these days, I will be holding a laptop screen 1303055 Mar 15 Barb Unwraps Computerwhen I open the lid! So, what to do…. well, after a lot of product research and online price and feature comparisons, we decided on moving to a different technology – paper and pencil! Kidding, we moved from a laptop to an All-In-One computer. Since Barb does the photo editing and creates our picture DVDs, she needs the computing power more than I – after all, solitaire doesn’t need a lot of computer to play! We stepped up to Windows 8 and the learning curve is almost vertical. To move all her files and programs to the new one and then move all my files to her ‘old’ laptop took more time than I expected – 8 days of pecking and testing and moving and testing and etc.

You may recall me mentioning a Four Point Posie quilt pattern that Barb was working 1303063 Mar 18 Finished Four Point Posie Quilton throughout the year, well she found the time to put the final assembly together. She has been coaching a couple of the ladies with their projects, helping them with sewing techniques and know how. Kinda supports the adage, want something done, give it to a busy lady! Barb then donated the quilt to Under His Wings, a new home for girls.

1303070 Mar 21 Beautiful Day On Our Deck

 

We even found time to host friends from Wisconsin for a happy hour.  It is funny that you plan a get-to-gether and it happens when everyone is getting ready to depart.  Maybe next year we can do this more often.

 

Of course, all this sewing and quilting depletes ones sullies so the ladies made a road trip to Gautier MS to one of the better 1303091 Mar 26 Meeting The Guys At The Shedquilt shops – Block Therapy Quilt Shop. Us men do not accompany them so they don’t feel rushed and can enjoy their shopping experience – yeah, right. We just wanted a head start at The Shed. We agreed to meet them there for lunch and dollar drafts! Yum…. again, and this may sound like a repeat but what else is there when you have good food, cold beer and good company. It’s just too much fun!

 

1303098 Mar 27 Cheers To AnitaThe quilt ladies had an afternoon of fun and chit chat at Anita’s Hen House. They had lots of sun, wine and munchies. A good time was had by all.

 

 

As the month winds down, Easter is upon us and we are having1303114 Mar 31 Barb In Bunny Ears dinner with about 180 other RVers and friends. A cold/flu/respiratory bug has been whirring through the Plantation a couple of times and many folks were not able to make it for dinner. Some have even had to delay their departure because of illness.

Everything here is slowing down but the dining out is ramping up as we celebrate the end of the snowbird season with many friends. Life is too good and we hope all is good where you are too. Until next time….1303086 Mar 25 My Second Amarylis

What a Month

Here we are again, playing catch up with my writings. It’s not that we have millions of readers though, it is just a personal thing. After Mardis Gras, the activities here ramped up the next day without a breather break. It is kinda fascinating how so many seniors can have all this fun and everyone just keeps on tick’n – sort of like the ever ready bunny!

1302174 Feb 21 Barb Shows The PatternThe ladies are back to  their quilting fun and 1301704 Jan 31 Barb Teaches Flower Makingprojects. Of course that means more shopping trips to either Pensacola or Biloxi and as of yet, I have not heard a single lady decline the opportunity! Barb has been coaching other ladies with their projects and even put on a couple of courses teaching how to make a 4 point posie and how to make fabric flowers. The day she did the fabric flowers, she had a case of laryngitis and the ladies had to be real quiet1202040 Feb 05 My Feb Swap Gift Flower to hear her – now that was difficult!

Barb has also been working with some online quilters and building monthly blocks, made a wedding gift for friends, mug mats and finished her `Carol Doak`final block. If you remember her summer project last year where she along with 5 other quilters from here at the Plantation built quilt rows and passed it along to the next quilter on the list – called a row robin. Barb has now arranged the rows and added a border to create the quilt. Here are some photos of her work.

1302001 Feb  03 Gift For Pat Carolyn Sons Wedding1302002 Feb 04 Mugmats From Carol Doak Hearts1302005 Feb 04 Bag End Block1302006 Feb 04 Carol Doak February BOM1302014 Feb 06 Weathertop Quilt Block

1302161 Feb 16 Barb Measuring Her Row Robin Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been a coolish winter here and I haven’t had much ambition to work outside on the gardens or the rig. Lots have to be done – we want to improve our gardens so we don’t have so much work on them when we get back in the fall and the rig needs a wash and wax.

Bond Jame BondWe have received air tickets to fly back to Toronto to surprise Mark for his 50th b’day party and what a party it was. We flew out of Pensacola on Friday with plans to meet at their local favourite restaurant to surprise Mark. On the way to the airport, we were notified by Delta Air that the plane is delayed by 30 minutes but that should not impact our connections or our arrival by dinner. Unfortunately, one delay lead to another and of course, a weather system slowly went through and we sat on the runway for 2 hours – apparently FCC rules say the airline can not hold us like that so we had to taxi back to the terminal so people could get off if they wanted to make other arrangements. So to make a long story short, we missed dinner with Mark & Terri and didn’t get into Toronto until about 1:30 AM, standing at the foot of Mark’s bed singing ‘happy birthday’ to him – some of you might think that would create nightmares!  Maybe Mark thought so too.

The party was on Saturday and the theme was James 1302185 Feb 23 Mukesh And MikeBond and we needed to go to the party/costume store for finish Barb’s costume, complete some set up at Terri’s house before over 50 guests started to arrive. It was a surprise 1302199 Feb 23 Oh What A Partyon how many actually dressed to the theme. The party was in full swing with the help of the bar tender mixing Bond’s favourite cocktail – a dirty martini, shaken not stirred. Being the ‘older’ Bond characters there, I’m sure you can guess that Barb went as ‘M’ and I was ‘Q’.

 

 

1302205 Feb 23 Terry Sue Playing Bond Roles1302211 Feb 23 Diane Mike Sue Terri MikeM With The Russian Spy 

The flight home was uneventful – of course, we didn’t have a deadline to meet anyone. We flew into Washington DC for our connector to Pensacola. This was the first time we left a terminal building and got on a bus to our airplane. Up the steps and into a small plane – I couldn’t stand straight – for the ‘stormy’ ride to Florida. The plane was so small that we had trouble getting our carry-on in the overhead compartments. We landed in wet stormy weather, similar to what we took off in on Friday.

1302227 Feb 26 Elvis Is In The Building1302233 Feb 26 Elvis Back Up GalsElvis has left the building….. Yes, that is correct, we had an evening with an Elvis impersonator. He is a vice principle at the local high school. He would venture out through the crowd and hand an excited audience member with one of the many silk scarves he carried around his neck during the performance. It was good entertainment.

 

1302236 Feb 27 Starting Quilt For JimOur good friend Jim, is enduring chemo treatments and we thought we could help keep him warm and cozy with a hand made quilt from Barb. We decided an a golf theme and printed some pictures of the 4 of us on the back. Jim and Lydia called us the 1302241 Feb 27 Top Jim Quilt Finishedevening they received it with lots of emotion and thanks that we lost it too. This is a very difficult time for Jim & Lydia`s family and friends. Their mantra is to Stay Strong and 1302243 Feb 28 Jim Quilt Complete BackStay Positive.  However you derive your spiritual strength, please remember Jim and Lydia in your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Well, that`s it for February, stay tuned for March….