Saturday, June 4, 2016

March & April 2016

I have to go to my photos to see what we did in March.  I know it was St. Patrick's on the 17th, and the rest is a blur.

I feel we've sort of settled in here now and have established my volunteer work which makes me very happy.  I will be helping turtles with the Turtle Tracker organization and went to their new volunteer meeting in April.  I also will be helping the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking by writing a blog for them.  This is really great because I can be any place and still get that written.  It feels good to be putting down roots in our community.

Lots of walking since January.  Nature is so close here, so alive.  Here are some walks I've taken.

My neighborhood pond.  First turtle I saw in our ponds.

John Chestnut Park.  About 5 minutes
from our house.  Many walks with friends here.

Just Having Fun friends and my first time at
beautiful Anderson Park.

Little guy sunning himself at Anderson Park.

Just Having Fun outing at Boyd Hill Preserve.
We had a great nature hike.

We think lightening hit this poor tree
Boyd Hill Preserve

Serious sized alligator
Boyd Hill Preserve

This is Gaylord in pond by our house.
Just discovered we have another gator in the other pond too.

This is at the Veteran's Administration Hospital where
John goes.  Beautiful grounds and some great walking areas.

Neat tree limbs.  John Chestnut Park.

Just Having Fun at Dunedin St. Patrick's Day 
Festival.  Fun event, great Irish music

And they threw in some bagpipes.  Dunedin, founded 
by the Scots, is another name for Edinburgh. 

My first Florida Wedding.  Our dear friends Wendy and Gary
tied the knot.  They had a tropical wedding, lots of fun.

 Karen, Wendy & Gena.  Karen had the first
meet up, Delilahs of Dunedin, I ever went to and
that got me started with making new friends.

The joys of trash picking.  Both lamp and bicycle work great.  I sprayed 
lamp green and it looks so nice.  John bought me a bike rack.

Trying to sort through things, papers, photos.  What to scan?  Rips my heart out, but I've got to get rid of this stuff.  Papers everywhere.


So many memories, so hard to get rid of things, but
necessary to simplify our life.  

To scan all or not???  That is the question.  This is
my pile 1950 - 1968

Cool truck in our apt. parking lot.

Lovely Easter brunch in Tampa.

Brunch dessert, why can't I just have two!!!!

Tampa Bay Easter Sunday after Brunch

Oldsmar 100 year celebration
Oldsmobile car show

Such a pretty sunset


We had our trip to Savannah for which I did a separate blog.  Had an amazing time there.  A great city.

We had a Funster picnic on April 10th, good turn out and some new members joined us.  Perfect day and Dave was kind and brought his boat and gave us boat rides in the bay, a real treat.

Relaxing day at Phillipe Park

Captain Dave 
with Marilyn and Sharon

Thanks Dave for sharing your boat.

Race day at Tampa Bay Downs with Funsters,  John and I did OK, paid for our day and dinner.



Lovely weather, breezy
Sue, Donna, Jackie & Cindi


So many great walks this month.  Kathie was my number one walking buddy and is kind and will walk slow, but still pushes me a little.  Bob, my neighbor, walks exactly the same pace as I do and I love walking with him.  Europe would have been a disaster if I had not started walking in January.  We've discovered new parks, trails and it is fun discovering this part of Florida.

Walked three miles on 4/17/16, that was tough.  So hard to walk alone even with music.  Tomorrow I have Kathie to walk with, and schedule one last walk on Thursday.  So fun to go with people and visit.  I don't even notice I am walking. 

April 20th, the Funsters met at Pier 60 for the Sugar Sand Sculpture Festival. The theme was music and the sand sculptors amazed us all.  Hard to believe what talented artists can make out of sand.  Music was playing too so it added to the atmosphere.  Had a seafood lunch across the street and it was a superb day.


Jimmy Buffet - he's still big down here

One of my favorites



Clever - yellow submarine - the guy is still working on it.


Bob Marley

Baseball game and a very tasty brunch with Funsters.  Watched our local minor league team, the Threshers.  Our area hosts several minor teams for their training: Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.  Good place for baseball fans. 

Nice stadium for minor league.


Lunch with Funsters at Molly Goodheads and then John took me to the airport. This kept me occupied because at times I'd ask myself, "what am I doing?"

Much of April was getting ready for my trip to Europe.  I've had to do tons of research.  Much for than a "normal" person because I have to know everything. Will the computer work, the telephone?  Being able to communicate is essential.  Clothes, what to take, what to leave.  I only took a backpack so I will be wearing the same things over and over, sigh.  Shoes, most important.  I've bought 5 pairs and keep walking in them all to determine the best ones to take.   I decided I wanted all black and not flaming ones so I don't stand out.  I've discovered Sketchers and adore them.  I'm debating on whether to take an extra pair.  Every little item adds weight so I hope to make the right decisions.

I'll be blogging for each country and share some pictures.  I'm very excited to see Ireland and the green, then Paris and the Eiffel Tower......and my friends Julian, Chantal, Lina, and Claude. 

I wrote this before I left, but hadn't finished it.  So trip is over and I'm ready to begin blogging.  Gosh, what a trip of a life time.  John didn't starve and I think he was rather proud of his cooking accomplishments.   Funny too when I didn't have to cook at all because Julian and Claude are both excellent cooks.  I got a little spoiled and was treated like a Queen, so now I must come down to reality and start to make us some good, healthy food.  The food in Europe is so wonderful, mostly so pure and fresh.   

So, tune in as I write each blog.  I hope you will enjoy them.  


March & April 2016

I have to go to my photos to see what we did in March.  I know it was St. Patrick's on the 17th, and the rest is a blur.

I feel we've sort of settled in here now and have established my volunteer work which makes me very happy.  I will be helping turtles with the Turtle Tracker organization and went to their new volunteer meeting in April.  I also will be helping the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking by writing a blog for them.  This is really great because I can be any place and still get that written.  It feels good to be putting down roots in our community.

Lots of walking since January.  Nature is so close here, so alive.  Here are some walks I've taken.

My neighborhood pond.  First turtle I saw in our ponds.

John Chestnut Park.  About 5 minutes
from our house.  Many walks with friends here.

Just Having Fun friends and my first time at
beautiful Anderson Park.

Little guy sunning himself at Anderson Park.

Just Having Fun outing at Boyd Hill Preserve.
We had a great nature hike.

We think lightening hit this poor tree
Boyd Hill Preserve

Serious sized alligator
Boyd Hill Preserve

This is Gaylord in pond by our house.
Just discovered we have another gator in the other pond too.

This is at the Veteran's Administration Hospital where
John goes.  Beautiful grounds and some great walking areas.

Neat tree limbs.  John Chestnut Park.

Just Having Fun at Dunedin St. Patrick's Day 
Festival.  Fun event, great Irish music

And they threw in some bagpipes.  Dunedin, founded 
by the Scots, is another name for Edinburgh. 

My first Florida Wedding.  Our dear friends Wendy and Gary
tied the knot.  They had a tropical wedding, lots of fun.

 Karen, Wendy & Gena.  Karen had the first
meet up, Delilahs of Dunedin, I ever went to and
that got me started with making new friends.

The joys of trash picking.  Both lamp and bicycle work great.  I sprayed 
lamp green and it looks so nice.  John bought me a bike rack.

Trying to sort through things, papers, photos.  What to scan?  Rips my heart out, but I've got to get rid of this stuff.  Papers everywhere.


So many memories, so hard to get rid of things, but
necessary to simplify our life.  

To scan all or not???  That is the question.  This is
my pile 1950 - 1968

Cool truck in our apt. parking lot.

Lovely Easter brunch in Tampa.

Brunch dessert, why can't I just have two!!!!

Tampa Bay Easter Sunday after Brunch

Oldsmar 100 year celebration
Oldsmobile car show

Such a pretty sunset


We had our trip to Savannah for which I did a separate blog.  Had an amazing time there.  A great city.

We had a Funster picnic on April 10th, good turn out and some new members joined us.  Perfect day and Dave was kind and brought his boat and gave us boat rides in the bay, a real treat.

Relaxing day at Phillipe Park

Captain Dave 
with Marilyn and Sharon

Thanks Dave for sharing your boat.

Race day at Tampa Bay Downs with Funsters,  John and I did OK, paid for our day and dinner.



Lovely weather, breezy
Sue, Donna, Jackie & Cindi


So many great walks this month.  Kathie was my number one walking buddy and is kind and will walk slow, but still pushes me a little.  Bob, my neighbor, walks exactly the same pace as I do and I love walking with him.  Europe would have been a disaster if I had not started walking in January.  We've discovered new parks, trails and it is fun discovering this part of Florida.

Walked three miles on 4/17/16, that was tough.  So hard to walk alone even with music.  Tomorrow I have Kathie to walk with, and schedule one last walk on Thursday.  So fun to go with people and visit.  I don't even notice I am walking. 

April 20th, the Funsters met at Pier 60 for the Sugar Sand Sculpture Festival. The theme was music and the sand sculptors amazed us all.  Hard to believe what talented artists can make out of sand.  Music was playing too so it added to the atmosphere.  Had a seafood lunch across the street and it was a superb day.


Jimmy Buffet - he's still big down here

One of my favorites



Clever - yellow submarine - the guy is still working on it.


Bob Marley

Baseball game and a very tasty brunch with Funsters.  Watched our local minor league team, the Threshers.  Our area hosts several minor teams for their training: Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.  Good place for baseball fans. 

Nice stadium for minor league.


Lunch with Funsters at Molly Goodheads and then John took me to the airport. This kept me occupied because at times I'd ask myself, "what am I doing?"

Much of April was getting ready for my trip to Europe.  I've had to do tons of research.  Much for than a "normal" person because I have to know everything. Will the computer work, the telephone?  Being able to communicate is essential.  Clothes, what to take, what to leave.  I only took a backpack so I will be wearing the same things over and over, sigh.  Shoes, most important.  I've bought 5 pairs and keep walking in them all to determine the best ones to take.   I decided I wanted all black and not flaming ones so I don't stand out.  I've discovered Sketchers and adore them.  I'm debating on whether to take an extra pair.  Every little item adds weight so I hope to make the right decisions.

I'll be blogging for each country and share some pictures.  I'm very excited to see Ireland and the green, then Paris and the Eiffel Tower......and my friends Julian, Chantal, Lina, and Claude. 

I wrote this before I left, but hadn't finished it.  So trip is over and I'm ready to begin blogging.  Gosh, what a trip of a life time.  John didn't starve and I think he was rather proud of his cooking accomplishments.   Funny too when I didn't have to cook at all because Julian and Claude are both excellent cooks.  I got a little spoiled and was treated like a Queen, so now I must come down to reality and start to make us some good, healthy food.  The food in Europe is so wonderful, mostly so pure and fresh.   

So, tune in as I write each blog.  I hope you will enjoy them.