Better late than never - Memories of 2021

As I open this draft that I began over two years ago, I try to convince myself that I must stop procrastinating and "git er done." I almost thought of ending my blog since it is a lot of work, but I don't want to lose the memories, so I will be brief as I go way back to 2021 to recap what I remember before they fade like a well-worn pair of jeans.  

I am including descriptions of the photos below to make this huge process a little less daunting. This will be a "Photo Novella" and each photo brings back all the memories....the good, the bad and the ugly.

PHOTO BELOW: In July, we were at Black Bear Campground. 

We got to spend a day with cousins Lisa and Maurizio 

(who makes the most amazing pizza). We are NOW ready to plan our visits for 2023!  

While still at Black Bear, a great day was spent with my dear friend, Berni, her husband, Ron and Charlie. I think our smiles explain it all.

Most of the summer we were parked at Croton Point due to its proximity to our NY house. There is always something to do to a house you don't live in - although there is a lot to do in an RV when you full-time, so, the summer was twice as busy.

Some of my time was spent caring for Georgia when her mom and dad had events to attend 

Not many memories remain of 2021, except for those in my last blog written about my dear friend, Laurie. 

Our northern visit ended and we made several stops to break up the monotony of the I-95 boredom. We had planned an extended stay in Myrtle Beach, so we looked forward to relaxing for a couple of weeks.

Below  Stella checking out campground 1. 

Here is campground 2.

Myrtle Beach, SC was finally a reality. We stayed at three different campgrounds, Lakewood Camping Resort, Ocean Lakes Family Campground and Myrtle Beach Travel Park. I liked all three resorts for different reasons.  Lakewood was older and dustier, but it had very easy to access to a rather empty beach. Ocean Lakes' beach was very crowded, yet it was a bit more physically appealing. Myrtle Beach Travel Park was the most modern with a lovely pool. We didn't have the best weather, but we enjoyed whatever sun we received.

 

We took a day trip to deserted, yet gorgeous Pawley's Island in South Carolina. Since George was a good boy, he got an ice cream. Unfortunately, the Ice Cream wasn't that good. 

While in Myrtle Beach, we were able to meet up with friends, Shirley and Tom Kelleher. We spent a lovely lunch together chatting about our kids and of our years working together. 

The time at the beach ended without the weather improving that much.

As the photo below will attest, we finally made it to our first Buc-ee's! If you haven't been to one, imagine a Cracker Barrel on crack. It's an upscale Truck Stop where no trucks are allowed. This Buc-ee's housed 104 gas pumps and 1,000 parking spaces.  You really need to see it to believe it.

Beautiful Big Bertha at Buc-ee's.

We arrived back at our home base in October and Big Bertha was treated to a hot shower and wax by Jose, the only person allowed to touch Bertha besides George. He asked us where she got all the sand! He did such a great job making her sparkle and shine.

We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas in Oldsmar with the Tampa Crew. 

December brought slightly cooler nights. I got to bake "Grandma's Cookies," with some help, and they were a hit.

We all went to the Tampa Convention Center for the "Enchanted Lights" show. The photos didn't come out all that well, but the night was a great way to get in the mood for Christmas.

Still masking-except for photos. My lightbulb cup is still working!

COOKIES

My mom's Pecan Sandie recipe

Grandma's Cookies the lazy way, but still as good.

Christmas dinner minus the cook.

Our baby!

The year 2021 ended quietly. Neither George, Stella or myself were able to remain awake, but at midnight, the crazy Florida tradition of fireworks woke us in time.

Finally...2021 is completed. The next blog entry will be full of many different places and memories. I hope it doesn't take me as long to get it composed and posted. 

Deep thought for the day: If you've gotten this far, choose your favorite "Deep Thought" from below and let me know in the comments your choice for the Deep Thought.

1. "Tis a lesson you should heed Try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again"......Popularized by William Edward Hickson (1803-1870)
2. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it." W.C. Fields' Legendary Counter quote.
3. "If at first you don't succeed, you may be at your level of incompetence already." The Peter Principal (Dr Laurence J. Peter)
4. "As my old Pappy used to say, 'If at first you don't succeed, try something else." Pappy Maverick's Wisdom, as per Bret Maverick (James Garner-see below).

Such a handsome guy.

THE END. For now.

LIFE: racing past and then suddenly in slow motion

I've caught up with our comings and goings up until New Year's Day. I never took the time to make any resolutions or set goals for myself as I usually do every year. I think the fact that I was alive and well were enough.

Things began to slowly improve in January and then mid-February found George with a nasty head cold. Since being in Florida, we've missed celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and then Valentin'es Day flew out the window.

February found members of our New York RV group staying at Elite Resorts and good friend, Charlie, at Thousand Trails down the road. We didn't get to do too many things together due to my foot and George's illness, but the few times we did, food was usually involved and we always had fun.

Dinner out with some of the Hudson Islanders, sans George.
Starting on the left side and up like a “u” we are:
Walt and Fran, me and Charlie, Tony and Doreen and Kathy and Ray.

I was continuing the slow recuperation from my bunion surgery and looking forward to each accomplishment along the way. I went into a boot with crutches, then bearing weight on the boot and crutches, then to a cane, and finally into an orthopedic sneaker and crutch.

I rushed myself along the road to recovery (what's new) and put the cane in a corner way too soon. I have taken it back out and use it anytime I need to walk more than a few dozen feet. The foot is still swollen and painful. My surgeon says June should be the month that will show less swelling and more progress. Keeping it elevated and wearing a compression sock helps quite a bit. As we creep closer to June, we shall see how I progress.

A deadly wolf in sheep's clothing.

The middle of March found the world faced with an unimaginable health crisis. COVID-19. This acronym was soon to become a household word, and life, as we knew it, was a thing of the past. Even when the diabolical virus' threat is reduced, I don't believe we will ever live our lives the same. We will all be changed in ways yet to be determined. Some changes will be for the better and some will be for the worse, but I choose to face this enemy steeled with faith and hope.

Finally, a holiday meal where
I wasn't in the hospital!

A perfect break in he global crisis found us quietly celebrating Easter with a home-cooked dinner. Here we had many friends around, food to eat, but we all ate separately.  

My next blog will begin my documentation of what we are doing, how we are doing things differently and why I make it a conscience choice every day to find joy in little things.


Deep thought for the day:  Be sure to stop and look when you smell the roses. Don't run by too fast. Experiencing them using both senses envelops you with their true magnificence. Life is kinda that way too.

Ketchup post. Lots of catch up.

I decided, after the long absence from our New England Adventure, that I needed to document how life has unfolded since then. After a brief check of the photos on my phone, it seems like I neglected to keep the chronicle of my life up to date, which is the only way I can guarantee I don't forget the special "days of our lives."

Savannah with 2 sets of grandparents!

 In mid-September we headed south and made a stop in North Carolina to celebrate Savannah's 11th birthday. We had a great time visiting and got to have a spectacular birthday dinner together. This lucky girl got to spend it, not only with her immediate family, but with both of her grandparents!

Even a rainbow to celebrate a special girl!
Good grief, Charlie Brown, she will be taller
than me before next birthday!

Dessert caused a bit of havoc on my insulin reserves, but it was well worth the sacrifice. I was unable to upload a video of her breaking the pinata, but believe me, it was a sight not worth missing. 

We don't often get to spend birthdays, watch plays or musical or dance performances with them, so anytime we visit is special and was worth the risk of extra insulin and running "high."

My fire cracker getting ready to break
her chocolate pinata!

We only arrived in Florida a couple of weeks before getting on the road again to spend Thanksgiving in St. Pete's Beach, FL. There, we would spend the holiday with three of my grandchildren and their mom, Meily, who would be flying into the area from snowy Colorado to spend the holiday with my ex's family. As usual, we were invited and welcomed with open arms to stay and celebrate the holiday together. As Meily worked in the Tampa office of the company she works for, I was able to take the girls to the pool or beach and spent some quality time as we enjoyed perfect weather. We went out for dinners as a group, got sand in our suits as a group and shared germs as a group!

Love this one with sisters holding hands.

Lola looking happy and beautiful.

Nina enjoying watching the boys stare at her.

Me with three of my five precious girls
on Cousins Aaron's and Karen's boat.

Confident and a cutie, Emma with Uncle Gregg.

A sunset from the balcony of the condo at St. Pete Beach, FL

Boston Market Turkey Dinner

The night before Thanksgiving found me with the start of a sinus infection that required a trip to an urgent care facility and a script to knock it out of my system. George ended up picking up my prescriptions along with two turkey dinners from a Boston Market. We were thankful for many things despite missing celebrating with family.

The next day we headed back to our Florida "home base" where I could recuperate and not infect anyone else. I missed out on "apartment hunting" with Meily, who is seriously considering relocating to the Tampa area to be closer to family!

I ended the month of November sneezing, coughing and miserable, but I had already finished my Christmas shopping on-line, had it all wrapped, boxed up and ready to ship out by December 1st. I tend to always be a step ahead, just in case!

Valentine Card Boxes for Lola and...

Emma. Early, but promised last April.

The extravagant Valentine Card Boxes were part of their Christmas gifts. I made them after seeing the ones they had used the year before. I promised I'd make them real pretty ones for next Valentine's day.

Almost forgot to include my new car!

Decided to buy after leasing two prior to this one.

Geo

As soon as we had arrived in Florida in November, I needed to trade in my Nissan, Sentra. That Sentra had been my second lease and I liked the car so much I decided to go ahead any buy this one.

George and I decided that December would be better. Bunion surgery, that was originally scheduled for the 3rd needed to be rescheduled to the 10th so I could recuperate from the sinus infection. After that I'd be spending the rest of the the year just resting and healing. Poor George would have the honor of being my caretaker. Life (as we knew it) was good.

Lucy, feeling bummed out after realizing
we didn't have apple pie for dessert on Turkey Day!

Deep thought for the day:  "Go ahead an make all your plans you like, but never forget that we are just pawns on the chess board of life." ~ vc

While this was written after the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had too much information to document leading up to this devastating time in history. Once we hit my "surgery" date, the story gets even more complicated before we reach the point of "LIFE AS WE KNEW IT."

Happy Valentine's Day 2018 - Florida Style

"Howwwww-dy" to all the dedicated followers of my blog. Yes, all seven of you.  As you know, it's been FOREVER since my last entry, which was from way back in the spring of 2017. I'll eventually finish up my draft of our "Summer Sojourn," but for now, I'm feeling creative so I'll try to generate something worth reading now.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and George and I hosted our first official, big bash, dinner party on our pretty little piece of heaven here in Florida. We started with a small list of tried-and-true friends and little by little my list grew to allow us to fill our lot with old, new, newer and newest friends who melded together ever-so-smoothly.

I'm my own worst critic, but even I have to admit the night was totally enjoyable, made possible by the food, the friends and fun. Can't beat that combo.

Thanks to Charlie, one of the "old" (Webster Dictionary Definition: adjective - long-time) friends, a photo documentary of the evening follows. Today, I had a less-busy day than he, therefore the publishing of my blog entry will beat out his, however, it's his photos that will tell the actual story in the end. A huge thank you, Charlie, the longest-known friend of the bunch.

This first group of photos consists of the appetizers. I came to find out that, in the future, I need to instruct my friends to NOT make spectacular "main course" appetizers.

Veggie "Pizza"

Spinach Dip

Dungeness Crab Dip

Uh, just a little Italian Antipasti....

Picured left, Amanda.  Not pictured: Amanda's delicious appetizer - just simple rounds of  Polenta topped with caramelized onions, cranberry jam and goat cheese.  OMG - simple, yeah. The caramelized onions alone took 8 hours in a crock pot and the homemade cranberry jam...yummmmm  Remember folks, we're living out of RVs. There were leftovers of this app, but I ate those before composing this entry.

George, Tricia, Me, Connie, Randy and back of  Rob's head.

Randy and Alonzo

Kristin, Connie, Ray and Leona

Bob, Rob, and Randy-not a musical trio, but entertaining, nonetheless

Tricia and Leona

Dinner followed just as the sun set.  I failed to realize that it would be difficult to see the food on the black tablecloth.  A handy-dandy flashlight saved us from having to feel our way down the table of food.

Meat sizzling on the monster grill

Surf....

and turf.

Healthy sides: Green and yellow squash, mushrooms and onions.

Craig, The "Great Grill Master."  I heard a comment that he resembled Mark Wahlbergh and that he smelled good.

Kristin and Connie

Leona, Bob, Kristin, Alonzo and the back of Amanda's head.

"Fair Weather" friends. Me, Tricia and Charlie.

Last, but not least, Kathy!

Tricia's Crumb Cake

Tricia's back-up cake, just in case the crumb cake was a flop - it wasn't

Recreation of the bride cutting the cake. PS:  Husband waiting for a piece - of cake!!!

Kathy's Healthy and Tasty Fruit Salad

Connie's "Cupcake Lover's Heaven."

Lucy, the only one happy to see the night come to an end.

At the end of our official "first big bash," we got the site cleaned up with "a little help from our friends." Miss Priss (AKA Lucy) was the only one happy to see the night come to a close. She was hankering pretty badly for her daddy's lap. 

Now to start planning the next.....

Deep thought for the day:  It's the friends we meet along the way that helps us appreciate the journey. ~ Unknown source.