The WIT Florida Sunshine Rally Begins

Thursday, March 31, 2016
This morning I finished up the church bulletin for Sunday, got it printed, folded and delivered to Shirley Brendel to hand out on Sunday since we won't be there.

Meanwhile Ken got suitcases out of storage and began preparing for the cruise portion of the rally which begins on Monday morning.

Then, I sent him off for the opening meeting and opening dinner at Lazy Days as my cold is in full force with lots of sneezing, dripping nose and burning eyes.  I didn't figure any of the people there would want to be exposed to my germs.  Besides, I have zero interest in doing anything but zone out and I did alot of that while Ken was gone though I did manage to make two dozen muffins that need to be frozen to take to the camp out at Cedar Key when we are done with this adventure.

We had been given a Key Lime pie but then had to cancel the dinner we had planned with the Cooks on Wednesday because of this cold so I sent Ken to Charlie Dent's RV with it and told him  to share it with his gang.  Ken says they will be celebrating Jerry's birthday tomorrow so it definitely will be used.

Hopefully by morning I'll be feeling enough better that I can join Ken for the Tampa tour tomorrow.  I sure don't want to miss that including the dancing and meal at the Columbia!!!!!!

We Are Cool Again

Wednesday, March 30, 2016
At 8:00 this morning our new air conditioner arrived and was quickly installed.  Oh how wonderful to be able to turn on the thermostat and get air conditioning once again.

Thank goodness this happened while we were here rather than when we were away for an extended time period.  AND we still had the motor home to move into while waiting for it to be fixed.

The past few days have been very hot (high 80s) with very high humidity and very little breeze. That truly calls for air conditioner, especially when you live in a motor home or park model with all that metal to allow the heat to get in.  The sun down here can be vicious and bake everything.

The cows spent a fair amount of time down our way taking turns under the shade trees down a few houses from us.  But even the calves didn't do a whole lot of bouncing around today.  Too warm.

They were entertainment for us as we did battle with all the weeds coming up due to the increased heat and all of the rain we've had.  Also we needed to clean up the front area because we've arranged to have concrete parking area there while we are away. Our drive has a bad deep in it which collects lots of rain water so we have to wade through deep water to get in and out of the car when it rains. Hopefully this replacement and addition will get rid of that problem.

We did make a trip over to American Condo today to enjoy the last hamburger lunch there with our friends the Foulkes and Wilsons plus a couple of other couples we have gotten to know that live over there.  What a nice break in the middle of the day.  The Wilson's will leave while we are away so gave then farewell hugs.

Yesterday we said goodbye to the Beers and Lenhardts when 13 of us got together for lunch at our favorite pizza place, Sergios.  The Beers left early this morning.

We sure will miss all the fun we've had with this Pennsylvania bunch this season.  Hopefully we'll see them all back again next season.

I worked on another church bulletin today so it can be printed and folded tomorrow and left with a friend for church on Sunday as we won't be here.

Oh No! The A/C is Broken!

Monday, March 28, 2016
As I write this at 10:00 at night the temperature in our house is 88 degrees and that is with all the fans going and the windows open.  When we awoke this morning we could hear the fan running in the outside compressor but it was warm and very humid inside.  After fussing a bit after Ken worked the breakfast and we attended the residents meeting, we realized a professional was needed.  He arrived and thought we just needed a new cap which was installed but within the hour after he left we knew that didn't solve anything.  AND the rains just kept falling so we couldn't leave windows open though I'm not sure that would have made any difference as we are experiencing weather that I remember happens down here in the summer (but not at this time of the year).  It has been raining every day for an hour or two or off and on and getting up into the high 80s.  Air conditioning is needed.

Anyway, after Ken went down to give blood, he called the company back and they returned.  After checking things out is was found the lines were frozen and the insulation so wet and bad that it was jamming the inards.  Diagnosis: A new air conditioner is needed.  So it was ordered and hopefully will arrive on Wednesday.

I enjoyed quilting down in the club house where the air was a bit cooler and we walked over to the motorhome, turned on the air and watched some TV.  We returned and I opened all the windows, turned on fans but to no avail.  It is just as hot out as in.  So I'm returning to the motorhome to sleep.
Good night!!!

Happy Easter

Sunday, March 27, 2016
What a beautiful day this has been from the early morning sunshine to the rejoicing in church to the friends around the table to the long phone conversation with our youngest.  It has truly been an uplifting day.

Our choir at church is now down to just eight of us but we really loved sharing the wonderful music Shirley had selected for us including doing a choral reading to share the marvel of Christ's rising. The Alleluias and joy filled words truly made the day extra special.  Emma Jean did a beautiful solo - Rise Again - and Ken shared the scripture and prayer.  Beautiful lilies graced the candlelit "altar" as well as the base of the cross.

Since the person who usually does our church bulletins has left I took on the challenge of creating it on Microsoft Publisher which I haven't used in quite a few years.  It took some major fussing but I finally pulled it off.

Frank and Bette Foulke, Al and Dorothy Beers, and Jim and Jackie Wilson arrived around 1:00 with sweet potatoes, broccoli salad, asparagus, and Key lime pie to go along with the spiral sliced ham I had in the oven and green beans mixed with red pepper.  It was wonderful being able to gather around the table together, and have loads of time to just relax, eat and share stories.

Then shortly after everyone left around six o'clock, Janet called and we were able to chat for over an hour on the phone.  We seldom have an opportunity to do that since the kids are anxious to do stuff with mom but today they were busy with Dad and we could actually have time together.  What a treasure that was.  She is getting excited about coming to the memorial gathering for Margie and seeing everyone just as much as we are.  Hard to believe that after three years we are actually going to have all our kids in the same place for 24 hours - with us and gobs of cousins!!!

Another Quilt is Done

Saturday, March 26, 2016
Several things were completed today.  The person who usually does our church bulletin left this last week so I ended up taking on the task.  It was a bit of a challenge as it requires using Microsoft Publisher but I've also been working on a newsletter for the park on the same program so have been getting comfortable with it.  So with input from the pastor and choir director and a template created by one of our members, I got it put together, printed and folded for services tomorrow.

I've also been tackling the job of preparing food for our Mid Florida Winnies campout that will be held in April at Cedar Key.  We are expecting 66 people and have only a small kitchen in the club house where we will meet so much of the food needs to be prepared in advance.  I've been busy making a variety of muffins and freezing them.  I also bought a flat of strawberries from the local farm market and got them all clean and cut up for part of the mix of fruit for breakfast one of the mornings.

A friend came over to do a bit of sewing on my machine.  Then once she was done I tackled the last steps of binding a quilt I've been working on.  It will be going to a child at the Shriner's Hospital in Tampa - one of the places our missions group supports.  I've been using lots of donated material scraps to create this one.

In the late afternoon we took a break and went to the local theater to see Miracles from Heaven. Truly enjoyed that movie and obviously picked the perfect time as it started to spit as we were going in and by the time we came out the rain was over but it must have come down hard as there were huge puddles everywhere.

Beth called today to tell us that Don Thayer was doing a little better but is still on a vent in ICU up in Midland.  He has been diagnosed with myasthinia gravis and is in a major crisis - unable to even breathe on his own.  Today they removed all his blood and cleaned it before putting it back - not sure how that process works but it did perk him up a bit.  They expect to have to do this several times over the next week.  Beth and Dean had driven through an awful snow storm Thursday night to go to Petosky for a special weekend only to get in after a harrowing drive and only a few hours later get a call saying that Don had a stoke so they raced to Midland. It really wasn't a stroke but certainly was a crisis.   Twelve inches of snow made it a couple of harrowing drives for the two of them though.  And this is suppose to be spring.

I had a wonderful long chat with Jen today as well.  She had called to see how Don was doing and then we had time to just catch up with each other.  Noelle's archery team did well enough in the state competition that they may be going to Nationals in Louisville, KY in May.

 Sadly it is the same weekend as the family memorial gathering being planned in Ohio at the Lakehouse for my Aunt Margie

which means they then wouldn't be able to come to that - but Dan will be along with our other three kids.  Really looking forward to time with them and lots of cousins.

I called and wished my good friend Mary Elizabeth Luttenbacher a very happy 95th birthday today. All I could do was leave a message as the family was having a huge gathering to celebrate and she of course was tied up with that.

Then tonight I found out that long time friend Dick Dusenbury died this morning.  He had a bad fall last weekend and never recovered from it.  He sure will be missed!  They are long time members of our church in Royal Oak and were part of our couples bridge club.  

Its been a full day!

Happy Hour Fun

Thursday, March 24, 2016
Probably one of the most popular activities in the 55 and over parks in Florida is Happy Hour.  It seems that is one of the best ways to get a bunch of people together to just sit and gab and it comes late enough in the day that most of the chores and regular activities are over with and before it is time to fix dinner.

The couple in the RV next to us here at Hillcrest had the Happy Hour of all happy hours today - they invited all of their friends here at the park, bought a bunch of appetizers and got them set up on the patio of our Clubhouse 2 and the party began.  Most everyone who came also brought goodies so none of us needed to go home and fix dinner tonight.  What a spread!!!!!

John and Nelly Drost have been our back door neighbors for about the last five years

Many other of our neighbors were also there including Jerry and Tom who are talking with Charlie who is directly across the street from our motorhome.

We were all grateful that the gathering was so big that we needed to be on the patio because at least we were under a roof to shield us from the hot sun - it hit 88 degrees and was super muggy.

Once this was over - and we had to quit cause it was time for Bingo and they needed the tables back inside - groups gathered at various RVs throughout the park.  Ken and I went back to Glen and Lana's place and sat chatting till after 9:00 pm!  It was such a relaxing afternoon and evening - the last hurrah before people head off in many directions for the spring and summer.

Thanks Glen and Lana for this last chance to all be together.

A Happy Birthday and Farewell

Sunday, March 20, 2016
Happy first day of Spring!!!!  Here we had a delightful day of partly cloudy skies, light breezes and temperatures in the mid 70s.  BUT we called our granddaughter, Abbi, in Pennsylvania to wish her a happy 18th birthday and learned it was snowing there.  They've had a very mild winter and now with official spring got snow.

Abbi will be graduating in June.  She was homeschooled so will not have a graduation ceremony to attend but some of her courses have been on the computer through Veritas which offers a special week each spring for their students with many activities including a formal dance.  She will be attending that and actually meeting in person some of the kids who have been in her various classes. Then later in June the family will be putting on a special party for her. (Here she is with her mom and dad)

One of her achievements this year has been working on drawing skills and then putting them in an art show that was held this past weekend.  It is so neat to see what she has accomplished - while we couldn't be there her parents and grandparents posted many shots of her work and the displays.

Below she is posed next to her "eye" drawing labeled Window to the Soul

And this is one of her photos

This huge drawing done for her sister Rachel's bedroom door (she has a Harry Potter room) is of the Fat Lady.  For the show they actually took the door to the showing.  Rachel is admiring it.

Because of some major health problems she will not be working or going to school immediately but hopes to have time to work on some of her drawing and photography using a brand new digital SLR camera she received for her birthday.

After church and talking with her, we joined ten of our friends at Ruby Tuesday for a lunch together as part of celebrating our friend, Bette Foulke's 75th birthday which is also today.  Following dinner they all came to our place along with one other couple, Ron and Kathy Alesin, who were busy packing to leave tomorrow morning so couldn't fit in the dinner but did enjoy the rest of the celebration and time for one last gathering together.  They all are part of the Keystone Winnies, an eastern Pennsylvania club.  A good many of the members now winter down here in Florida and this bunch is either at our park or one just a couple of miles away.  We've been blessed to be included in many of their activities over the years after meeting a few of them on a caravan back in 2005.

Ron and Kathy leave tomorrow and Jan Reed leaves later this week.  The Beers will leave at the end of the month and the Wilsons shortly thereafter.  Frank and Bette are now living full time down here but will be making a trip to Pennsylvania in late May as they too have a granddaughter graduating from high school.  So this was our last chance to all be together one last time for this season.  Can it really be that late already.  Gosh the time is flying by

An Amazing Thank You Concert

Saturday, March 19, 2016
The Huron Family presented the most beautiful concert especially for the residents of Hillcrest RV Resort - our winter home -- on Saturday night.  The head of the family, Santiago Huron, and a couple of his sons have been doing a lot of the cement work in our park including our patio which we put in a couple of years ago.  They are hard workers who simply radiate their Christian faith in all that they do and say so have been a blessing to many of us here in the park.  But the amazing thing is this family wanted to thank us for blessing them!!!! Yet they did the work!

At Christmas time they all came to the park and caroled throughout spreading a great deal of cheer.

But they felt they needed to do more so we were all invited to the church (Heritage Bible Church) where Santiago is the pastor for a concert presented by the entire family - well all but two of the children who are married and live elsewhere and the one child that died shortly after birth. The other 12 children (yes their are 15 children in the family), especially the older girls shared their faith and love of music with us all.

Through many of the short stories they shared along with the music we learned that Santiago

was the 10th child in a migrant family that suffered greatly through his formative years not only because of how little they had and what they had to do to survive but because the father during drunken rages would beat his wife while the kids ran and hid.  Eventually he left them all.  But at the age of 15, Santiago who says he'd turned into a hoodlum yet one day an older women picked him up and invited him to a revival at her church.  There he fell in love with the Lord and completely turned around. His amazing faith just oozes out of him and every member of his family.

They have not had an easy life but have raised these children including two who are very handicapped - one with very little brain - to love the Lord and give of them selves in many ways. This church was an old cucumber barn used to make pickles.  The building itself is beautifully paneled with gorgeous banners hanging at the front all completed by the children primarily with dad and mom's coaching.  The contents have all been created by the family through donations or just been well cared for like the grand piano.

Mom, Anna, (in the middle) has homeschooled all of the children and continues to do so with the younger ones with the assistance of the older children.  Everyone has chores that are rotated weekly.  

Bill Williamson, in the middle, is from our park and has been weekly enjoying time singing with the family while playing his guitar.   

NOTE the banners in the background made by one of the girls

The oldest daughter is not only an accomplished singer but piano player

And these two on their violin and viola provided some marvelous music as well as sharing stories.

They even gave out several gifts including an incredible framed rendition of Amazing Grace fully wood burned on polished wood - words, staff and musical notes included.

Following the concert we were invited to socialize and enjoy refreshments provided by the family and members of the church including a variety of sandwiches, fresh fruit, raw veggies and dips, punch and a many cakes and cookies.

Truly we were blessed by the experience!!!

Awning Installed Just in Time

Saturday, March 19, 2016
After moving in to this house we became aware of the need for an awning over the front sliding glass door to keep us covered when moving in and out in the rain but also to cut the amount of sun and thus heat pouring into the front room.  Well, we finally ordered it and today was the day to put it up.  The former owner of this park model stopped by to help with the process and before we knew it several other guys had also gathered to help make it happen.

 Thanks to all of them it was up quickly and being slid in place as the rain drops began to fall.  In fact, the last steps of bracing it were done as it sprinkled.

But it was all in place and everyone gone before the rain got serious and now we have protection so we can even leave the screen door open and not have to worry about rain getting into the room.

We'll have to wait for another day to see what that means for cutting sun load but that is all right.  We were ready for a bit of grey and rain to cool things down a bit.  It has been mighty warm the last few weeks.

In fact, it is nice to have a grey day such that we can just relax inside and get a few things done. We've just returned from our Mid-Florida Winnies campout that was held at Lazydays so today I've been able to get the minutes written as well as the monthly newsletter that needs to be sent out in a timely manner.  This month we had 31 RVs gathered for all our activities that included several fun activities like a Poker Walk

that had us walking around the clubhouse 4 times getting a card each time after getting one to start to create a poker hand.  The winner got half of the collected dollars from each participant and our charity got the other half. (The gal who one had four of a kind!!)  We also played card bingo with prizes of a paper bag filled with a $5 gift donated by each of the rigs) Amazingly, I won twice!!

We also did a digital scavenger hunt finding all kinds of interesting items as a result of our list and taking a picture of each.  Our team won missing finding only one item, the bald man with Happy Birthday written on his head.  (One team got very creative and wrote happy birthday in mustard on one of their teammate's head.)

Then yesterday we were off to celebrate March birthdays in the PA bunch we hang out with.  Unfortunately Bette couldn't make it (hers is tomorrow) because Frank ended up in the hospital diagnosed with gall bladder problems.  He'll have surgery on Monday but we did enjoy celebrating both Jim and Dorothy Lenhards birthdays at the Olive Garden.  This may be their last year down here (he was 94) so it was especially important to do that with them.  Sadly none of us thought to take a picture though.

Music, Sweet Music

Sunday, March 13, 2016
Ken and I have both enjoyed opportunities to sing with choirs since we were in elementary school.  In fact, we met when he joined the choir at First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak.  I had joined it a couple of years earlier when we moved from the east side of Detroit to Pleasant Ridge a week after I graduated from high school.  It gave me a chance to get to know people in my new neighborhood as well as continue to sing which I'd done all four years in high school.  Ken was living in a home in Royal Oak with a bunch of friends from General Motors Institute on his work sections (four week periods of work between four weeks of school).  He and one of those guys decided to come to our church.  Since Ken, too, loved singing, he joined the choir and sang with us when he was in town every other month.

When we came to Hillcrest RV Resort, we decided to attend the non-denominational church that met in the club house each Sunday.  There was  a very small choir that sang an anthem each week for the service and that quickly attracted Ken's attention.  Long story short, he joined and I followed a little later.  Now ten year later we are one of the most senior members of the group.

Today we not only sang the anthem for the worship service but then went through a two hour afternoon rehearsal for an evening performance in our larger clubhouse.   Each Sunday evening there is an ice cream social that includes an hour of entertainment.  Tonight we were it!  We sang all the old gospel hymns either as a choir or in solos, duets, or small groups.

Ken sang Old Rugged Cross in a duet with Karen

He also sang "It Is Well With My Soul" with all the rest of the men (and Shirley who sings tenor)

While I sang "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"and played the Anklung (wooden instruments from Indonesia that one of our members brought back after visiting her missionary son over there) with a group of the ladies

The Gift to Ourselves Has Arrived!!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016
On our cruise back in January, we attended an art program giving some of the history of Thomas Kinkade paintings and sharing some of the symbolism common to his pictures.  Ken and I have always loved his work.

Well, they had some of his work in giclee format with acrylic embellishments on canvas, signed and numbered.  This format while it is a copy allows for the transfer of so much of the various shades and colors that it appears to be the actual painting.  We simply couldn't resist this beautiful rendition of his Forest Chapel. And Park West Galleries who handle the art on ships agreed to frame it as well.  A frame that really sets off the picture.

Today it arrived and Ken hung it in our living room.  WOW!!

Our new little park model here at Hillcrest has just become more OUR home than the home of the previous owners, Dale and Emma Jean Cook.  Slowly but surely we are making it our place with our things.

March Brings Birthdays, Birthdays and More Birthdays in the Ledford Family

Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Today is our grandson, Reilly's 15th birthday.  It is hard to believe it has been that long since his dramatic entry into our world while his daddy raced to get to the hospital.  Reilly couldn't wait and ended up being born during the drive there.  And life has been filled with all kinds of surprises and joys ever since.
(More to come)

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, our youngest granddaughter, Dagny, celebrated her 7th birthday with a birthday brunch at the American Girl Doll Store with her mom.

We sent her a huge cupcake cookbook filled with all kinds of interesting ways to decorate them along with all the decorating tools and other needed items to make them.  She created apple cupcakes with a worm coming out of them as her first baking treat.

Dagny got to celebrate a day early at her school with her daddy acting as teacher for the first few minutes of the day as well as sharing cookies with her whole class and of course wearing the birthday crown. 

Tuesday, March 8, our grandson in North Carolina will celebrate his 15th birthday.  He LOVES sports, especially football (he is on the freshman team at his high school)

and is blessed with the ability to catch on quickly to all that athletic stuff.  His dream is to own a hoverboard which he hopes to be able to buy with birthday money and other money he has saved.  Hopefully our gift will help him reach that goal.  To celebrate his big day, he chose a Japanese meal with the grill at the table. Here he is with his family enjoying it.

Friday, March 11, will bring our grandson, Scott's 18th birthday.  He is eagerly looking forward to graduation but meanwhile is loving playing in his rock band which just recently performed in Memphis, Tennessee at an International Blues Festival.  Leah and the Troublemakers had won the local competition in Michigan and earned the chance to go.

Punk rock music is his favorite, though, and he has wanted to have his own record (yes record) player so he could play old 75s, 45s and 33s.  Who knew the young kids would want what we grew up with. Anyway, on Friday he will get just that - a brand new record player he can use any time he wishes.

And here he is getting it

And finally, the following week on March 20, our oldest granddaughter, Abbi, will also celebrate her 18th birthday.  She will be attending a homeschooling week long celebration in Virginia that is capped by a USO themed dance for the "seniors".  Her greatest desire was for an outfit to fit the theme including specator shoes.  She'll have it since that is our gift to her.

Meanwhile, several of our good friends here and around the country including Canada also have already celebrated birthdays or will be in the next couple of weeks.  Our good friend Bette has her 75th on March 20th right along with Abbi and two others in our Keystone Winnies "gang" Jim and Dorothy Lenhardt.  We'll be celebrating their birthdays at a planned lunch at Red Lobster next week with about 16 of us in attendance.

Our next door neighbor, Lana Buchanan, (that is next to our motorhome) celebrated at a small "neighborhood gathering" on her special day, March 2nd and our good friend, Lucy, who no longer can make it down here from her Canadian home celebrated on March 3rd.  Later this month two other good friends, Bill Patton and Mary Elizabeth Luttenbacher, will celebrate their 85th and 95th birthdays.  These are just a few that make March an extra special birthday month in our lives.