Tiffany

 Every year when we're down here we take in the Morse Museum to see the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  Today was the first of two days we'll be visiting it this year.  The museum is a tribute to his glass works, his art and his architecture.

One of his most famous works was the chapel of mosaics that he created for the Chicago World's Fair.

Including the baptismal font.

Tiffany lamps are perhaps the best known of his works.

And the process of their creation...

He did paintings and other stained glass windows.

And architecture, including his huge estate on Long Island.  This is a sample of about a third of his dining room.

All in all, if you are ever in Orlando, this place is well worth a visit!

Afterwards we headed down the street to the Orchid Thai Restaurant for lunch.

The three of us played a couple of Skip-Bo games this evening.  A nice way to finish a great day.

Stay warm and well.

Better Days Ahead

 Yesterday was just a shopping day.  Sunny but cool.

Today is a different matter.  But first, we have some birthdays to celebrate.  My grandchildren, Sarah-Jean and Ewen are 22!  Seems like it was just yesterday when they were this big!

Sister-in-law Bonnie is also having a birthday, and celebrating with a second hip operation.  Not my idea of fun!  All the best Bonnie.

Speaking of operations, our friend Julie Taylor is avoiding one, having chosen conservative treatment for her broken leg.  She'll be staying off the leg while mother nature knits the femur.  Our thoughts are with you Julie.

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Today's weather was much improved.

So Mardi and I headed to the driving range..............  

.................with mixed results 😓.  Better luck next time!

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Last night we played the dice game "Farkle" and each won a game.  Tonight it was Mexican Train and yours truly was the winner.

That's just fine, but my luck at Skip-Bo is turning sour.  Can't win them all I guess.

Stay well.

Pianos and Football

 Our first guest, Jo-Anne Vanstone, arrived today.  Once she had settled in we headed to Breeze's for the dueling pianos....

....and harmonica.

It was a good show, despite the Detroit Lions fans 😉.  And people joined in to dance.........

................and sing.

A good way to start our week!

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Tomorrow it's Seniors' Day at Bealls.  We'll be shopping.

Stay well.

Shite (Wordlers Will Understand)

 Another bird sighting this morning.  This Stork probably delivered a baby recently.

Then, we were off to the Lake Wales Flea Market.  Drove an hour to save money equal to the gas used probably.  But, I do look good in my new gear.  The fine print on the hat reads "Don't forget my".  We always buy sunglasses down here as well.

And, as you can see, we stopped off at Davidson's of Dundee Candy Factory on the way home.  Buy ten, get one free 😋.

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Just got the news that our friend Julie Taylor has broken her upper leg on the day that Mark celebrated his 70th birthday.  Julie is a Wordler with our group - I can think of a lot of four letter words to describe what has happened, but I had to work on the five letter version.  Julie's a Brit, which helped.

We're thinking of you Julie - make sure that guy takes good care of you!

And every one else take care as well.

Be Positive

 A quiet day today.  Sat out on the patio absorbing some rays this morning.   Then, walked over to Breeze's Bar for some crab dip and tacos and beer.

We were offered a free sample of "Nutri Vodka, Seltzer and Real Juice".

Not bad.  Not exciting either.  But the price was right!

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While we were there I saw this sign.

I think it kind of explains the philosophy that Mardi and I follow.

Stay well.

My Good Samaritan

 The weather appears to have righted itself.  Sunny and 28C today.

On this trip so far, Mardi has knit six toques for the homeless.

In marked contrast, I have been pretty useless 😎.

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We played the 9 hole Crane's Bend course again today.  The island green is always a challenge.  First game I made the green, second game the fringe, today - you see those boards?

On a good line, but I hit about six inches from the top of the boards.

Mardi has made it each time and has cleaned my clock on the scoreboard as well.  Nevertheless, a slight overall improvement in my game once again.  Have to keep on trying.

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Tonight, Mardi and I joined Jo-Ann and Kathryn at the House of Blues to see Jeff Howell.  Stayed for two sets.  We really enjoy his form of entertainment, especially when he recognizes us and yells out "Go Tiger-Cats!".

The girls start packing tomorrow.  They leave on Saturday for South Carolina.  Maureen and Matt move into the house after they leave.

Stay well folks.

Sunny and Warm

Birthday wishes go out today to fellow Tromper, Mark Richardson (70), and my grandson Malcolm's Esther.  Hope that both of you have a great day!

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 Joyce, I wasn't surprised that the balls disappeared quickly, although three of them had been in the water so long that their skin was bulging in a few spots.  I just wish I could have followed the person around to see the shots that resulted!

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We have a revelation to share with you all:

WalMart ice cream down here is not as good as Food Basics ice cream back home.  But we'll persevere 😋.

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Bingo today was a bust.  So was our visit to the driving range.

Thankfully, the sun was shining and we have Canadian Club left.

Stay well.

A Warmer Day

 First thing this morning (OK, maybe 9 a.m.) I placed our discard balls on the nearby tee.

Then, we headed to the bingo game.  Didn't win.

When we got back the tee was empty.  Not surprised.

Then we headed out for some shopping.  Stopped on the way back to pick up some goat milk fudge.  Mmmmm!

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Tonight we watched Nikki Haley during the vote in New Hampshire.  Quite a performance.  Trump will win the state, but she is still in the race and I think she will slowly creep up on his numbers and eventually be the winner.

Could be bad news for the Democrats.

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Stay warm and well.

Shopping

 My friend Wayne sent me a series of sayings and pictures - too many to include in the blog, but the following one intrigued me.  Take your time.

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Food prices down here are puzzling.  For example, I like a glass of grapefruit juice to start my morning.  At home it's usually just over $5 Cdn. for a bottle, on sale sometimes for around $4 Cdn.  Down here we have paid over $6 U.S. at WalMart and over $9 U.S. at Publix - and this is where it's grown and made!

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We headed over to the main building to report that the phone in our unit is not working.  Did some shopping along the way.

Collected 26 balls, 9 of which were abused and will be left on a tee for some desperate fool.  Mardi and I shared the rest.  Sounds good until you work out that we averaged over 450 steps to find each ball.  Now, the challenge is to walk that many steps on the course before we lose each of them!

We weren't the only shoppers today, although this guy was looking for a different product.

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Stay well.

Duels Again

 We were visited by a turkey again this morning.

He is lined up for a practice swing.  His ball is about four feet closer to the patio.  But he made a great recovery to the green from there.  Fun to watch.

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Golfed on the 9 hole Crane's Bend course again today, with a couple from Niagara Falls.  We both improved our game, but still lots of room to get better.

Then, this evening we went out for dinner with Jo-Ann and Kathryn, before heading to the dueling pianos.  

Great music once again, even though it was hard to hear at times because of Buffalo Bills fans cheering.  It even got a couple of  drunks up to dance at one point.

OK, only one of them was drunk.  I should have paid attention to the sign.

All in all a fine night!

Stay well.

The Natives Are Restless

 I know that you folks don't want to hear any weather whining, but........Mardi's telling me that if we are forced to stay indoors we could have saved a lot of money by staying home to do that.

We've had mostly cool, overcast and wet conditions this month, and there is a frost advisory for overnight tonight.  Mardi's only made the outdoors bingo once, we haven't seen a swimming pool yet, and we've had a total of about two hours sunbathing.

OK, that's out of the way.  Sorry to burden you with our issues 😢.

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That aside, we have been enjoying Florida's bird life.  Recent visitors have been an iridescent Little Blue Heron.....

...........and some Turkeys.

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We did get to the driving range today.  My knees are working better, but I still haven't found a golf swing.  Pretty pathetic!

Stay well.

A Night Out

 Seems to me that I said we were fairly safe from golf balls.  Then, this afternoon we heard two thumps on the roof and a ball ended up just off the patio.

But it must have been my imagination, because nobody came to claim it.  

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We headed to Sakura Asian Fusion Restaurant tonight, with Jo-Ann and Kathryn.  Love that place - great food and wonderful wait staff.  Joy is our special friend, but tonight she had different tables to look after.

So we had Kathy from Vietnam, an equally nice lady.  It's a great spot.

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From there we intended to go to Disney Springs to see Jeff Howell.  But rain interfered (it's outdoors) so we headed back to the condo where we allowed our Kathryn to clean our clocks at Mexican Train.

We've invited them back for Sunday and the Dueling Pianos.  Remind me not to play that game again.

Stay well my friends.

Moving Day

 OK.  When the sun is shining but it's still cool, what do you do?  Why not move?  

We were happy that Charlton got us a home for the 57 days we're here, but we were on the main street entering Orange Lake and road noise would be a real issue in the second bedroom.

So we headed back to the front desk to talk to Charlton again.  He managed to get us into a preferred unit and talked management into waiving the plus $200 cleaning fee for the move.  Mardi bought him his favourite drink, a Caramel Machianoto from Starbucks, for his good work.

Orange Lake has a renovation schedule for their units.  Every seven years the soft goods are replaced, every fourteen years the appliances are replaced, and every twenty-one years the unit is gutted and completely renovated.

The unit we were initially in was probably in its 20th season.  The one we were relocated to was totally renovated last year.

Big improvements in layout and furniture.  We're happy campers!

The view is still great.  Matt and Maureen will recognize this hole (there's a tree in the middle of the fairway to the left of this shot).

We'll get good sun exposure and minimum danger from stray golf shots.  Happy campers once again.

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But, that was enough excitement for one day.  We're eating in tonight.  Tomorrow is a Jeff Howell night.  

Stay well.

Shopping Day

What do you do when it is supposed to (but doesn't) rain?  You go shopping of course.

And come out with an outfit that immediately attracts admirers.....

......including the guy on the camera!

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 They have a new project started here that will be ready for sale next year.  It will feature 5,575 square foot houses, with six bedrooms, six baths, screened in pool and hot tub, fire pit, chef's kitchen, outdoor kitchen, personal golf cart, game and fitness room, and 85 inch TV's throughout.  They'll sleep 20 people!  Just the thing we all need!

I'm guessing that owning a week will cost north of $100,000.  Any takers?

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Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Stay well.

Weather Woes

 Typical January weather for Florida.  Yesterday, 27C and humid.  Today 12C and overcast.  But we braved the cold 😉and hit the golf course.

Took a few strokes to get going, but I had green in regulation and par on the island green so all is good.  My knee is sore, but not unbearable, so Jill you can book a time at Cleveland Heights anytime.  Our schedule is wide open until the 28th.

We only saw two other golfers while we were out there, but did have some company along the way today.

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Tonight we headed back to Breezes for the dueling pianos.

Good voices which complement each other, excellent piano skills, and they played music that we could understand.  All the old favourites.  We'll be back next week!

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The temperature for tomorrow is forecast to be 24C, but rain most of the day.  We'll see what plans will work with that.  

How's the weather back home?

Stay well. 

A Work Day

 Today's big event was a presentation trying to get us to buy more points and upgrade our package.  If we were a lot younger it would have made sense, but not at our advanced age 😁.  So we had to settle for a $120 gift card and discounted golf fees.  Not bad for an hour's work!

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Tonight we headed back to Breezes Bar and Grill to hear some Latin singers.

Some of their songs were great.  A nice evening.

Tomorrow we test our bodies on the golf course.  Fingers crossed.

Stay well.