Christmas in Punta Gorda, Florida

We left Indiana on Thursday, stopped to pick up Deb’s suitcase and then spent the night in Atlanta.  Friday we drove on to Clearwater, Florida and picked up Deb at the Tampa airport in the late evening.  We spent the night at a motel.  Saturday we visited DeSoto State Park so we could see the Egmont Key Lighthouse even though it was at a distance. 

 Then we went to Desoto National Memorial.  We learned how obsessed DeSoto was with finding gold and how the Indians kept telling him that is was further north.  He spent about 3 years looking and he wasn’t a very nice person. 

  We ate lunch at Five Guys and then continued further south to Punta Gorda and checked into the timeshare at Fisherman’s Village.  All of the condos were on the second floor with stores underneath.  We were right at center court where all the entertainment was located.  The first concert was that evening by a group of tubas playing Christmas music.  It was really neat.  All we had to do was open our door.

Looking up at our door.

The view from our front door

View from our balcony

Sunset out our door.

We took a trip to the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress Swamp National Park.  We walked along some boardwalks

and could see manatees,

 lots of birds and in another spot lots and lots of alligators. 

Babies sunning on a log.

What large legs and feet.

  It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day.  Deb and I worked on crocheting chemo caps while we rode in the car.

This is the smallest post office in the US.

 

The strangler fig actually strangles the host tree.

We saw an osprey at his nest. 

 We also saw a pair bald eagles at their nest but they were too far for good pictures. 

Christmas day was 80 degrees and sunny.  We had turkey, dressing, gravy and sweet potatoes.  We went to see The Hobbit.  It was an excellent movie.  We also played some games of Ticket to Ride.

Wednesday we went to Ft Myers.  We drove to Sannibel Island to see the lighthouse. I believe that it was the first time we have seen one decorated for Christmas.

  We stopped at an Indian River Citrus Farm and got fresh grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes and strawberries.  Then we toured the Edison and Ford estates.  The homes were decorated for Christmas and very beautiful.  

On my birthday we stayed in the area but took a three mile round trip walk to an ice cream place where they served Blue Bell. 

 Many of the mornings we did walk when we first got up.  On Friday we met Jodee Martin

 and her sister and 4 kids in Port Charlotte and went to the Boca Grande Lighthouse

 and Boca Grande Range Light on Gasparilla Island.

  The range light was tall and the light house just on top of a building.  There was a real nice museum inside.  

Saturday found us packing, loading the van and driving to Orlando.

Home to Warren

We left Alabama and headed north.  We spent two nights with Deb in Nashville.  It was a relaxing time as we worked on some crafts, put up new mini blinds for her and went to church.  I started to crochet some chemo hats for Heritage Pointe to donate for cancer patients.  I also finished reading Lorna Doone.  

We got home the day before elections and unpacked.  The next day was 3 doctor appointments, one for Dad, one for Bob and one for me.  I started working on the blocks for the class that I started in June.  The blocks take a lot of time as each one has quite a bit of applique and I was way behind.  I did get mostly caught up while we were home.  I also made a pair of lounging pants and a robe and did some mending. I made a Christmas table runner and two tea towels for January.  

I spent an unplanned couple of days (one night) in the hospital (unusual chest pain) and was diagnosed with pericarditis, inflammation of the sac around my heart caused by a virus and treatable with non-steroid anti-inflammatory medicine.   I was better very quickly thanks to the many prayers and God's goodness. The doctor did have me come in for a stress test and those results were excellent.  I tried some new recipes in the crockpot - Potato Sauerkraut Soup, Black Bean Soup and Chicken Noodle Soup.  I also got my Thai cookbook out and made some Thai dishes.  We were both really hungry for Thai food and it tasted delicious.

We took Dad and went to Chicago to see my nephew Sean play basketball.  We really enjoyed seeing the games and Dad did also.  There was a game on Saturday and one on Sunday so we spent the night at a Residence Inn.  We also spent the evening at Ron and Cindy’s for dinner and a game of Tic.

Thanksgiving was a big family time with our meal in the Calico Room at Heritage Pointe.  Michael fried turkeys for our dinner.  We had so much food it seemed that we hardly put a dent into it.  

 Those who were able to come were my dad Clarence,  Bob & I, Mavis & DeVon, Eric & Martha, Lloyd & Heidi.  Then there was Debby, Michael & Tina with Alana, Matthew & Melissa with Eden and Kai, Jeremy & Meagan, Chris, Shelley and Nick. 

Mavis & Eden

Alana

Jeremy & Meagan

Dad playing his harmonica

Kai

Matthew & Melissa

Tina & Michael

Lloyd & Heidi

  We had a delicious meal and I really enjoyed the time together and I hope everyone else did too.In the evening we had a sing-a-long at our house for a couple of hours.

 On Saturday morning we had homemade cinnamon rolls.

While Deb was there for Thanksgiving she and I started on another project.  We got the boxes of pictures out and started sorting so that we can get them put on CD's.  We sorted quite a bit but there is a lot more to do.

We went to Taylor for the Silent Night Game.  It was lots of fun and very unbelievable.  We had not heard of it before.  The crowd is dressed up (could be Halloween) and when the game starts there is silence until the Taylor Trojans score 10 points.  At the end of the game the crowd sings Silent Night.  There was a new record attendance of over 2,700 and the team set a new record for 3 pointers, 17.   We went to a White Elephant exchange at church.

Bob saw a new project and started working on woven baskets.  He is hoping to sell some of them. 

  He also completed a couple more quilt tops that we will send back to ILC.  

 We attended some of the programs at Heritage Pointe and sang in our Christmas cantata at church.  The time went quickly and soon it was time to begin packing again as we were to spend Christmas in Florida.

Alabama - October 2012

We haven’t spent much time in Alabama so we decided to stay at a resort in Alabama.  It certainly is not one I would return to but it worked fine. 

 It was in the hills and very close to Logan Martin Lake.  We didn’t have internet except in the office so we played games and read.  There was not good enough lighting to do much with our crafts so in the evenings we played Ticket to Ride.  Of course the weather turned cooler and we needed our jackets.  We enjoyed seeing the leaves falling outside.  We did get to see two national parks but rested the rest of the time.

We drove to Horseshoe Bend National Battlefield.  It is where Andrew Jackson defeated the Creek Indians in 1814.  The river shaped a horseshoe and the Indians were in the center of the shoe.

We drove further south to Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site and the Tuskegee Institute.  Between 1941 and 1945 black servicemen participated in the Army Air corps program to train African Americans to fly and also maintain aircraft.  They actually lived on Tuskegee Institute campus and were bused to the airfield.

Tuskegee Institute was started by Booker T. Washington.  They received a grant of $2,000 to begin but nothing else.  The institute had to be self-sufficient so the students built buildings with bricks that they made, raised crops for food etc. George Washington Carver also became involved and taught there.  We toured “The Oaks”, a three story house built by students where Booker T. Washington and his family lived.  There is a George Washington Carver Museum but unfortunately it was closed for renovations.