Florida Vacation, Day Three

Saturday morning was another blessedly relaxing one. I even dipped my feet in the pool. Sophie swings on the hammock so often I really wonder what she did before they added this feature to their lawn!

I eventually made scrambled eggs for everyone for breakfast, and we ate on the porch. The weather was so perfect.

In the afternoon we went to a high school girls' volleyball play-off game, Carrollwood Day School against Tampa Heat, a homeschool team. Wow!!!! They would play three or five games, whichever it took to determine the winning team. It took five incredibly close, intense games, the Tampa Heat finally winning. I have never seen such amazing skills. Both teams were beyond excellent. We were on the edge of our seats for three hours and absolutely exhausted when it was over. We felt like we had been playing too. Except that if I had taken even one fall like so many of those girls did (jumping right back up into action) I'd be out of commission for days!

We shopped for groceries afterward, and when we came home I made my Middle Eastern Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew, served with Garlic Naan Bread for our dinner.

As I cooked I would walk outside occasionally to take pictures. Sophie and George were swinging on the hammocks and throwing tennis balls for the dogs to fetch. Those dogs NEVER tire of that game. The people do occasionally, LOL!!

As we watched TV in the evening Sophie was busy doing something at the table. Later she modeled the result - she had altered a tee shirt into this cute shirt!

She reminds me so much of Lisa as a girl. She was always creating. A common thing I heard her say many, many times, "I feel like making something." She's made many beautiful things in her lifetime, including this girl who likes to make things!

Florida Vacation, Day Two

On Friday morning I was home by myself and took my good old time drinking my coffee, eating my breakfast, enjoying the lovely weather, getting myself showered and dressed - such a luxury for me!!  I decided to walk around the house taking pictures.

Soon after 1:30 my friend Tracey Kirksey arrived to pick me up. Tracey and I met about ten years ago through blogging. We felt like kindred spirits almost immediately. Six years ago when I was down here Tracey and I met for the first time in person. And Friday was our second time. What a precious friend!! She drove an hour to pick me up and then treated me to lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. We talked and laughed and shed some tears for several hours. I cannot exaggerate what a beautiful person Tracey is. It's obvious on the outside, but those of us who have walked through the past few years with her know her incredible strength and beauty. Her beloved music pastor husband Gary died of a sudden heart attack on Good Friday 2014. As she struggled through the shock and loss and grief and confusion, she shared almost daily her devotionals along with her raw personal angst and utter reliance upon her Heavenly Father on Facebook, encouraging and challenging US!!! I have nothing but total respect and admiration for Tracey and feel honored to call her friend and soulmate.

Later on Lisa and Sophie joined us at Longhorn and took some pictures. 

 
Sophie had fun trying to photobomb our pics!

Sophie selfies with my camera on the way home:

In the evening we went to a football game - Sophie's school (Carrollwood Day School) against Cambridge Christian School. The weather was perfect and I enjoyed sitting with and meeting some of their friends. 

 
Sophie loved watching the high school cheer leaders, especially since she has been a middle school cheer leader this fall. 

On the way home we were all starving, not having had dinner before the game, so we stopped for some take-out pizza at Little Caesar's. That was a yummy way to end a very good day.

Florida Vacation, Day One

I'm in Florida!!  I'm on vacation!!!  I can hardly believe it's true.  All through this crazy busy year I held out the hope that my life would calm down enough at some point for me to be able to do this.  At the beginning of September, when it began to look impossible I even took the drastic measure of turning in my 6 weeks' notice at my two-days-a-week church office job, and I went ahead and booked my flight.  The past few weeks I've been training a very proficient young lady and things are in good hands there.  I did plenty of food prep for Anthony and Lori earlier this week, and besides, they're going to visit her parents in NY this weekend, so they're good without me.  This Sunday there is no church service at Fillmore because there is a joint worship service at one of the other locations.  So they're good without me.  And Houserville has Wednesday evening worship instead of Sunday, so I was there to lead worship the evening before I left and will be there next Wednesday right after I return.  Whew!!  It all worked out!  The only thing that could be better is if Dick were here with me too. Hopefully next year we'll be able to come down here together.  He's pretty much out of paid vacation days for this year.

So early yesterday morning Dick dropped me off at the nearby State College airport in the cold rain. I decided to bother with a small umbrella, as much as I did not want to have more things to carry.  I was thankful I did when I had to wait in line outside to board that little plane a while later!  Perks of a small airport, ha!  But you just can't beat the convenience of one so close to home!

My layover was in Detroit, and I had to walk a very long way to get to my next gate.  I was actually glad for the exercise.  And besides I had plenty of time.  I ate a yummy breakfast at Max & Erma's close to my gate.   It was a dark, foggy morning in Detroit.

The flight from Detroit to Tampa was longer, and I slept soundly for a while, then woke up feeling much worse!  Lisa picked me up from the airport, and we went to their house first to unload my stuff. Later we picked up Sophie from school, went to Whole Foods for a few groceries, grabbing dinner from their vast, scrumptious buffet, then came home to just hang out and RELAX!!

Now enjoy my pictures from the day!

My lovely guest quarters. 

Their beautiful, peaceful outdoors.

The doggies - Stella and Nilla Bean.

And the people - Lisa, George, and Sophie.

I was trying to swing my hair like Lisa does, but it just wouldn't swing!

Sophie and I stayed outside on the hammocks until after dark.  So much fun.  My times with her are so far and few between, and so often with all the other grandchildren around. I just loved finally having her all to myself!  

Floods, football, and fun

It's so late, but my day is packed tomorrow, and I know I won't have time to post before I leave early Thursday morning for Florida.  So I will try to make this quick!

I'm sure most of you have heard about the extreme rain and flooding that took place in our area last Thursday night and Friday.  As the rain pounded on our roof hour after hour Thursday night I was really remembering tropical storm Agnes in 1972.  This was not as bad as that had been, but lots of people around here did have water inside their houses last Friday.   Our community ended up with a new lake!  Dick had to drive through water when he left for work that morning.  It was not as deep when I left later on and took this picture. 

On Saturday evening there was a football game here between Penn State and Ohio State.   It was a very cold, rainy evening, but we watched the game warm and dry.  Anthony put up his big screen inside his heated barn.  We sat on inflatable couches!  It was great!

Even Hunter watched occasionally!

On Sunday we made a day trip again.  I wanted to spend time with Destiny since so many weeks had gone by since we'd seen her.  It was a gorgeous sunny day!

On our way we stopped at Jenn's parents above Harrisburg and picked up these two cuties!

When we picked up Destiny we decided we were in the mood for going to the movies.  Of course, Destiny and I had to take our traditional bathroom selfie!

How about all that popcorn??

After the movies we went to Red Robin to eat.  SCRUMPTIOUS, juicy burgers!  I forgot to get a picture.

The sky was amazing that afternoon!

On Monday when I was doing food prep for Anthony and Lori I got a text message from Lori.  Our conversation ended up like a comedy of errors and I just kept giggling as I worked.  I decided I had to save it!

This is the incredible beauty behind our house right now!  I took this photo from my bathroom window.

This afternoon I was deciding what clothes to take on my trip to Lisa's and doing some mending, etc. I looked at the forecast both for here and for Tampa.  On Thursday morning when I leave from the State College airport at 6:30 it will be in the 30's.  When I arrive in Tampa at 12 noon it will be in the 80's!

I will wear a sweater, but I probably should wear a coat.  I remember once before I left from the State College airport early in the morning, and the plane had not even been started yet when we boarded.  Then they needed to de-ice it for half an hour.  Let me tell you, that plane was like an ice chamber and I was not a happy camper!

And now I'm off to bed!  Good night!