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!

One our favourites is McGuire's in Pensacola. The girls `needed` to find 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 continues to put the finishing touches on the quilt for Jim. It is a labour of love and besides having 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 seats. 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.

 

As the weather warms up, we turn our attention to the yard work on our site. We are trying to prepare 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 frog! We thought they only ate bugs etc!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barb & 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 much 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 when 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 on 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.

 

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 quilt 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!

 

The 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 having 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….

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!

The ladies are back to  their quilting fun and projects. 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 quiet 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

We 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 Bond 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 on 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’.

 

 

 

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.

Elvis 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.

 

Our 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 evening 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 Stay 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….