A mile Stone

This is one of my favorite pictures of the last year.  Terry and I have now been married one year.  It is been a very good year.  It has been full of new things, fun things, many decisions, much travel, a year of learning, a year of changing, a year of growing and for sure a year full of conversations!!!  I can add that it has also been a year with many challenges.  Some have been kind of easy and some have been very difficult.  I am proud of the way Terry has handled so much in such a good way. 
We will spend March 27th in a quiet manner. It looks like a movie, a lunch out and then dinner at home.  We have found that even though we have traveled a bit and seen much home is what we treasure the most.  We delight in spending time together, taking walks, playing tennis, reading, riding bike and it has even been fun to work towards getting order in our new lives and in all the paper paper paper work that needed and needs to be done.  We put "a year" out there as kind of a mark and decided after that some decisions would need to be made.  Some of the questions we have are: can we afford or rather do we want two homes?--Where should we spend our time?--How do we meld families and finances into one?--How should we spend time and relate to two sets of siblings, two sets of children and two sets of grandchildren? 
In the weeks and months ahead we will be talking about how to spend time, where to spend it and how to love and serve those around us.  We are up to the challenge and are excited!!  With that I will contemplate some shut eye and a fun day tomorrow.

Florida rats grow to be very large!

Well it really is not true.  The Villa pool is near our home and there is a large pond there.  These otters were on the grass sunning themselves when Aaron/Amy were here.
Like a snail we are getting some things done, some more paper work in order and at the same time starting to think that the trip to MN is getting near. 
Kind of a lazy week so far but yet some things have gotten done.  The lady who made the roman shade for the kitchen came with it yesterday so that is up.  The banquette, the cushions and the shade have certainly transformed the kitchen.  Now there is a need for a table.  We have gotten some, not enough, biking in this week.  Rode to the library Monday to return the Hemingway books that we finished.  I have played tennis twice and Terry once.  I have been saying that I need to play against someone who is really good as the person I usually play with is more badder than me.  Well in doubles yesterday one of the guys was REALLY good and go figure it took me an hour to settle down and actually play OK.  It was fun and a learning experience too.
Today we have a meeting in the morning and then from 6-8 this evening Terry organized a finger food party at the pool. 
Tuesday was actually a really fun morning.  We decided to bike to a place for breakfast, a place we wanted to experience the food.  Well they had changed their hours and they open at noon now.  So we biked a bit farther and had breakfast--I would give the food a B- maybe.  As we were going around the condos on the way home there was  bocce ball play going on on three courts.  We stopped and watched for about an hour.  The condos there are 500-550 square feet so very small and I would guess very ordinary. The people were having so much fun and they were so friendly.  They were grilling hot dogs, playing bocce ball and just enjoying themselves.  Before we left two people made sure they invited us for a bit to eat.  It sounds a bit strange but it just was so fun to see elderly people outside, laughing, having fun and just enjoying life.  The only time I have played bocce ball was at camp or at home where you may threw the little white ball anyplace and then play.  We have a sister play here that I think has bocce ball courts so we need to go see them and maybe try it. 
I am still waiting for brother Dave to send me some pictures taken with his new camera.  I think he needs to stop reading about it and use it. 
Today probably will be some more paper work taken care of, the morning meeting, the afternoon pool gathering and maybe some reading as I have to read the book for our next and last book review next month.
One last thing.  I got an e-mail yesterday from a woodworking place that contained a video of hand made rasps made in France.  All the tiny tiny bumps on the rasps are hand made!!  It was fascinating to see how the guy made them--almost like a human machine.  We maybe only a 65 year old woodworker would find it interesting!!
End of coffee and end of story.

It is in!!! well not finished yet but---

storage in the banquette



tops down and ready for the cushions



cushions and pillows--waiting for a nice table!!



The kitchen seating (banquette) came into the house today.  I made the seating with storage as the top picture shows.  Then Terry picked out the fabric for the cushions and pillows and she is having a roman shade made for the window to match as well.  Our plan is for me to make a maple table this summer in St. Paul and a bench that would fit on the side without seating now and have the bench top match the pillows that were made.  It will be a huge improvement to the kitchen and also give us much needed storage space as this home does not have a lot of that.   I say it is not finished because I will make some custom trim pieces this summer, the kind that I do not have the tools for making here.  In the fall we will put the trim on and then put a finishing coat on. 

Today was kind of busy.  I got the car in for it's first oil change, we rode to the library to take some books back and then worked on the banquette.  Terry got a run in this morning and we did our daily walk with about 45 minutes of working out in the fitness center in the middle of the walk.  We do that Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I will have tennis Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  I think Terry has as least one tennis time on her schedule.  Terry mentioned today that she would really like to do a century bike ride this summer--ouch!  That is 100 miles.  IF we were to do that we would need to get some parts of our body in much better shape than they are now--will see if that happens.

I think it will be kind of an early bed tonight--not yet but kind of early.



A neat way to fish

When Jerry and Susan were here we went to the Naples pier and watched the pelicans fish.  They looked like they have it down to a science and I suspect they do not go hungry!
It is hard to believe we are now on the down side of March.  Kind of summer like weather has been here in Naples for a while now.  But is that not true for many many parts of the country?  Here the temps have been mostly in the low to mid 80s with sun but NO rain.
Some of the events in the last few days:

• Turned on the computer Saturday morning and looked at the weather.  At about 8:00 AM it was 61 in Naples and 62 in St. Paul!  Am I really in Naples to get out of the cold?
• Terry and I rode our bikes downtown to the St. Patrick's Day parade.  Enjoyed the 2 hour parade alone with 40,000 other folks.  When we arrived home we realized our round trip was 27.4 miles.  With the traffic coming home for part of the way we rode in the bike lane and I am sure we passed well over 100 cars.  Bikes are nice!
• Enjoyed dinner at the fish house with two other couples last night. 
• We went to the movie "A Separation".  I highly recommend the movie.  If you are into watching and then discussing the movie this is worth a million!
• Got the seating stained and are ready to put it back into the kitchen.  More about that at a later date.
• I finished "For Whom the Bells Toll" by Hemingway.  At the beginning of the book he is about ready to bomb the bridge.  So 4 days later (in the book) and 447 pages later the bridge is gone!  Each time I sat down to read I wondered if the bridge would be blown up! 
• Got some tennis in on Friday.  I have come to enjoy tennis a lot. 
• Contacted a gal who wrote a book about a pony she saved and then trained.  We will drive over to her place when John/Mary are here to get her signed book and take a picture of the kids with the pony.
• I have managed to keep my weight below my second to last goal number for about 3 weeks now so maybe it is time to try and attain that last goal.  Not sure I am up for it but try--maybe.

No the coffee is finished and I have an oil change time coming up so best sign off.  The car shows the oil is down to 40% and with that the miles are up to the level I like to change it.  Gone are the days of looking at the oil stick, scratching the head and wondering if I should go one more gas fill up before the change.  So it is off to Collier Car Care to see if the $19.95 oil change coupon is going to be under $30.00!

Flowers

These are some flowers around our house.  If I could spell the names I would say what they are but----  I am thinking brother Dave will be taking close ups like this with his new camera and with that ND weather it may be soon!  I can hardly wait to see some of his pictures.

It appears as if summer is coming early to many places.  Here it was 88 yesterday and I think in the Twin Cities it was in the 60s.  Way to warm for March 13 but then will anyone complain?

Terry and I woke up too too early this morning.  As I blog she is reading a book in bed.  I have checked for the paper several times but it is not here yet.  Those darn paper carriers, one could never depend on them!!  I have tennis at 7:30 this morning.  I played at the same time Monday and I know that it is just barely light enough at that time but the temp is so nice compared to afternoon.  Terry has tennis at 10:30 and it will probably be warm then.

We picked up our cushions for the kitchen yesterday and they look very nice.  We plan to sand and stain today and then it will be as done as it will get until next fall when we bring the trim back.  The lady who sewed made a mistake on the roman shade so she will redo it.

We received the not good news of Jerry Wind.  He has been battling kidney failure for some time and had hoped to put off dialysis.  It is complicated but with his accident a year ago and the healing that takes place--I can not and need not try to explain but the bottom line is his kidneys did shut down and he is currently in the hospital for a port and then a couple of days to heal and some dialysis.  A transplant is down the road soon and then hoping the dialysis can stop of course.  Some times it is difficult to understand why things happen the way they do but of course we trust in the Lord and live as best we can.

We are having our next door neighbors over for dinner tonight.  They have a home near Toronto and will be leaving in a couple of weeks. 

I got my tennis racket restrung yesterday.  My elbow and arm have been hurting and the tennis pro thought it might help to get softer strings and a damper on the bottom.  When I play this morning I am in a win win situation.  If I win I can say I knew my racket needed an upgrade and so that is why I won but on the other hand if I lose I can say I just am not used to these new strings!!!  Actually we will play doubles.  One of the guys is quit good and is about 6 feet 6 inches.  It seems like he has a reach about as wide as a 747 so one has to try strategy on him.  I am not very good at it but it is fun.  It could almost bring me back to the 50s when I would clear the south barn yard smooth, throw the rubberized ball againist the barn and make believe I was Johnny Logan or if it popped up I could catch it like Hank Aaron.  My strategy was always perfect when I played like that.  Maybe I am too old to fantasize but then I think if one can not fantasize maybe one is too old to enjoy life.  Actually I do still fantasize that I am good in tennis!!!!!!

My french press coffee seems extra good this morning---maybe that will spill over to an extra good/fun tennis match.

We did get in a 17 mile bike ride over the weekend.  We rode south and east to a neighborhood we had not been in before.  It was so interesting to see the different houses.  I am guessing that there were houses that would sell for 200,000 and houses that would sell for 1,000,000++ next to each other.  Fun to ride by and look.  We are looking forward to doing some bike riding when John/Mary and family come in April.  I think we will need to rent one bike and a carrier for Audrey and then we will have enough for everyone to ride.

We have 4 birthdays in the family this month.  Amy started things off the 12th, Mary's is the 16th, Terry's son in law Dave on the 22nd and Terry's son Brian on the 26th. 

Naples has a big St. Patrick's Day parade so we will go downtown Saturday for that.  It lasts about 90 minutes or more.  We need to get there early and find a place by some cute cute kids because they always get a lot of candy thrown to them.  I find that my hands are really quick in those situations!  Really, you do not believe I would do that--well.

The paper finally came and I brought it into Terry.  She had turned off the light so maybe she can go back to sleep.  I hope so as I think she woke up about 2:30 or so. 

The coffee is gone and the mind is empty.

Here are some closeups of people who visited us in February.  From top to bottom are Ruby eating calamari, fifteen year old Sam, Terry's daughter Kim, Leo, 11 year old Josh and 13 year old Tori.  We will be guestless until April 7 when we pick up John/Mary/Henry/Liam and Audrey in Ft Lauderdale. 
Life continues here in FL.  The weather is nice, the activities are fun and Terry and I are already looking towards going up north in a few weeks.  We plan to arrive in St. Paul April 28 with camper in tow.  For many it may not even be labeled a camper as it will be 5 feet wide, 10 feet long and looking like a mini horse trailer!!!!   I have a feeling that there will be yard work and garden work waiting for us when we arrive. 
Here for now and in the 5 weeks ahead it looks like some running, some tennis, some walking, some working out in the gym along with work around the house and saying good-bye to friends as many will head north for the summer. 
Time does go so fast that it is hard to keep track of the day, the week and even the month. 
One last thing.  I had another first!  I played tennis on a Thursday morning, then on a Thursday afternoon and then on a Friday morning.  The sun was out and the temps were in the mid 80s or so.  I came home Friday a bit dizzy and weak.  I think it was a slight bit of sun stroke.  What the heck I really did not play that hard but I think I had better be a bit more careful in the future.
Lastly, I experienced a bit of heaven this morning.  We were directed to a store that could mix a custom stain for us and there right before my eyes was a real man store.  It had clamps, saw blades, tools and everything a man could ever dream of---HERE IN NAPLES.   It made me giddy for a bit as it was so exciting!!!!!
Enough