Michelle's Blog Candy

Michelle is offering some blog candy over on her blog. If you're interested in paper crafts (card-making, stamping, etc.), be sure to check it out. If you're not interested, check out her blog anyway - on Saturdays she posts the cutest pictures of her donkeys!! Her blog is http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com - enjoy!!

Pondering Florida

When we first got to Sarasota, my father-in-law wanted me to come outside to see the orange blossoms. I'd never seen orange blossoms before, so I took a picture. I wish I could have captured the smell of them - they are awesome! You can double-click on the pictures and they will enlarge.

We stayed in Sarasota for 4 days and on Thursday we left

for Fort Lauderdale. When we first got into town, we called our friends and asked them to meet us at Aruba's. The next day we picked them up and took them to the water taxi, where we enjoyed a leisurely boatride down the intercoastal. We got off at stop #9 (there are 11 stops) and met our daughter at Mango's for lunch. Then, after that we boarded the water taxi, rode down to stop 11 and then all the way back to stop #1. It was a long day, but very fun! Our friends hadn't been on the water taxi and we couldn't wait to share that experience with them! What a wonderful concept - you get on a boat any time of the day between 10:30 AM and 10:30 PM, you can get off and on any number of times, and you get a cutesy tour commentary too! I wish I'd thought of that!!

On our way down to Oakland Park, we stopped at Hillsboro beach and took some pictures. Isn't this a beautiful sight! It was early enough in the morning that there weren't many people on the beach yet - plus it was a little windy for sunbathing! Look at that surf! One of the most incredible things about Florida (especially southern Florida) is the color that you're surrounded by. The ocean is the most gorgeous blue-green, the sky is a beautiful blue, the greens of the palm trees and the blooming plants - it's sensory overload for those of us who left a brown and gray winter for the shores of the Atlantic!

More later...

On the way down to Florida DH asked me if I wanted to stop at Graceland. Since we'd already been there, I said I'd like to stop at Tupelo and see Elvis' boyhood home instead. So we did. Here's the "shotgun" house that Elvis grew up in. It's only two rooms and around the house they have a sidewalk in the shape of a circle with important dates for the Presley family, like the date Elvis was born, when they moved to Memphis, etc. There's also a museum there and a chapel. Along with all of this is the actual church where Elvis started his singing. DH and I were the only ones there that morning...it's very interesting hearing about his early life. Here's a picture of us in the church.

To get us in the mood that day, we listened to XM radio - the Elvis Channel - all the way from north of Memphis to Tupelo. Pretty cool!

Southern Missouri Ice

This is a picture (taken at 70+ mph) of ice damage in southern Missouri, around Cape Girardeau. It truly looks like a war zone down there. They had a big band of ice come thru before Christmas and this picture was taken in early February on our trip down to Fort Lauderdale. My heart goes out to these people.

I'll be sharing quite a few pictures from our Fort Lauderdale trip, including some of the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. I finally got all my pictures uploaded to Photoshop today, so now I can resize them and share them on my blog. Stay tuned...

Whew! Busy Weekend!

I still haven't gotten any pix uploaded from my camera - hopefully will get that done tomorrow. We've been super busy this weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner with our friends and then attended the IHCC vs SCC basketball game. SCC won :( and by winning won the right to play the winner of the North Dakota Region on Tuesday night. We'll be pulling for them, because the SCC head coach is a good friend! Whichever team wins that game will then advance to the Juco National Tournament. Then Saturday I went to stamp club and made some wonderful waterfall cards! The rest of Saturday was spent trying to get our c0stumes together for the 1776 Pirate Council meeting (a murder mystery dinner). Of course, I didn't take my camera, but some friends took pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to post pix of us as Lady Chastity Morgan and Blind Pew, the Black Widow's right hand man! The ladies who hosted the dinner did a wonderful job - we all had a great time. Today was church, a nap, and a Vintage Crusier Car Club meeting. Tonight DH and I are both trying to get caught up with our "daily" responsibilities!

Tomorrow is my youngest niece's birthday...she'll be 39! I can't believe she could be that old - she still looks like she's about 16!

We're Back!

We're back from Florida and glad to be home! Today it is 75 degrees in Iowa - we set a new record high today and everyone in town is out enjoying the weather. I've seen lots of people out walking, jogging, riding bikes, or just outside hanging out - what a nice respite from winter! Too bad it won't last!! I went to see my 102-year-old aunt today. She looked so nice; she knew who I was right away and introduced me to the other ladies as her niece. I always ask her how old she is today and she told me she was 102. I was happy to see her so alert. Before I left, however, she was talking about her children (she didn't have any) and about her grandchildren. She is so much more animated now that she's in "The Gardens" area...I think it's because she actually has people she can visit with. They do a lot of group activities and she's not so isolated. It was a good visit.

I've got pictures to share, but I haven't had time yet to upload them from my camera. Hopefully I'll get time over the weekend. Tomorrow I'm being installed as the President of my P.E.O. Chapter and tomorrow night some friends and us are going out for dinner. Then Saturday I have card club and we are going to a Murder Mystery Dinner that evening. Sunday, of course, is church and getting ready for the week ahead! Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all of this!! More later....

Short-timers

Ok, we're now officially short-timers...we have to leave S Florida on Friday. We've had a great time - enjoyed the kids and grandchildren, as well as the weather and being with our friends from Fairfield! Today we went to Shooters and had a slice of key lime pie - I think they have the best in town! We've decided we should try to eat outside every day this week if at all possible - won't be able to do that when we get back to Iowa! DH is outside doing some "daddy-do's" - he's cleaning up around the palm trees in the back yard. That's something else he won't be able to do when we get back to Iowa!! Gotta run...the sun is calling!