Spectator Sport

 This morning's activity was nine holes of golf.  We had one interesting spectator (behind Mardi).

He's about as big as they get around here before they're relocated.

We all broke 100 - oh wait, I forgot that we only played nine holes.

-------------------------------------------------

The pool and hot tub were next on the agenda.  Busy day 😎.

Tomorrow we're off to Mount Dora for their annual Art Festival.

Stay well.

Life Is Good

First off, we send birthday wishes to Bonnie Lougheed and my 23 year old twin grandkids, Sarah-Jean and Ewen.  Best wishes to all.

--------------------------------------------

We had a quiet day yesterday.  The ladies went shopping, then we headed over to the other Mini Putt location and had some fun managing the unseen slopes.  Had to have a drink after to recover!

 Today was a good day too.  Started out going for a swim/stroll at the Lazy River and then a dip in one of the hot tubs.  Then drinks again (seems to be a pattern developing here).

Then we headed to Disney Springs for dinner at Raglan Road.  While we waited for our reservation time we watched an Irish group perform in the outside patio.

Ed decided to do a taste test.....

The one on our left was his favourite.

At dinner we enjoyed more music.....

.......and dancing.

To complete our evening we headed to the House of Blues to see Casey and Tom...........

...................and that's where the drinking got out of hand.

Milkshakes for Pete's sake!!!

And then the brain freeze hangover.

He'll be fine in the morning!

Life is good!  Stay well.

Customs and Excise (sorry, Excitement)

 This morning's walk took us past the Fun Zone and we spent a bit of time watching the kids have a good time.  On the giant slide....

......and whatever this is called.

Looked like a fun zone for sure!

Then, this afternoon we headed to Orlando International to pick up Rose and Ed.  Got them settled and headed to Miller's for dinner.  Ed chose the baby back ribs (sorry Matt, your turn will come).

I chose not to show Ed's face because he may be on the U.S. Marshall's wanted list.  He brought a half dozen golf balls across in his CPAP machine and they were checked by Customs in case they contained explosives.  It was a close call!  I'm sure he will be followed by the FBI while they are here.  We're going to lay low tomorrow, just in case.

And, I don't know if Disney Security will let him in to Disney Springs on Thursday night.  Signing off with some trepidation.

Stay well.

Warm and Sunny

 Not much to report today.  Warm and sunny so we headed to the Lazy River.  Went against the current for about a quarter of the way around and then hit the hot tub for a while.

I figured that was enough to earn a drink.  "Miami Vice" please (rum and pina colada mostly).

Our apartment condo is very nice, especially if you are a swimmer, but next year we'll try to be back in the one level villas in the West Village where we can stroll out the sliding door and enjoy watching the silly golfers (and find their lost balls on our evening walks).

-----------------------------------------

Then we headed our for another round of Putt Putt.

Thanks again Mardi.

Good night from the sunny state.

Stay well.

Golf Weather

 We mailed Bonnie and Steve home this morning.  And today the warm weather finally showed up.  There has to be better timing next year folks!

----------------------------------------

President Trump claims that if we became the 51st state we would have better health care.  

About 20% of Canadians don't have a family doctor.  In the U.S. it's over 30%.  And, we already live four years longer than Americans.  How good do you suppose it could get?

----------------------------------------

We decided to try our hand at Putt Putt golf today.  We walked until we ran out of sidewalk and then took the trolley bus.  We were lucky to get Stan as our driver.

He sang us a song he had written for his wife, "Yo love is like a GPS - trying to tell me what to do".  Well done!  Apparently it is on YouTube.

Then we hit the course.........

......loser buys.

Thank you Mardi.

We should have brought Ron (a retired firefighting captain) and Jill to this bar when they visited.

Lots of crests!

Next time Ron.

------------------------------------

Dinner at Tradewinds on site and then we watched the Bills game on TV.  Nice day.

Stay well.

Bonnie and Steve are Heading Home

 Today was grandson Kyle's birthday.  All the best and hope that you had a great day.

-----------------------------------------

This morning the ladies headed over to the bingo game, while Steve and I took a pass on that.

Turns out that Barbara's plane got diverted and came in late tonight, so our group gathering at Sakura got scrubbed.  Nevertheless, the four of us went there anyway and we'll tease you with our food choices.

To close the evening off, Bonnie, Mardi and I played Skip-Bo.  Very democratic - we each won one game.

So it's early to bed so that we can get our guests to the airport by 5 a.m. or so.

Stay well.

Garbage Picking

 Yesterday was the anniversary of A.J. and Michelle and today it's birthday greetings to Malcolm's Esther, and to fellow Tromper Mark Richardson.  All the best!

----------------------------------------------

Any of you who know Bonnie and Mardi won't be surprised, but the rest may be blown away by the knowledge that our two "ladies" had planned to go garbage picking today.  Really!

Full disclosure:  They were shopping in the Ross store yesterday but when they approached the checkout the line was long and slow.  So, they tried to preserve their choices by stowing them in a garbage bin.  The store was so short staffed that they were sure their selections would be there when they returned this morning.

Surprise!  Gone!  😖

----------------------------------------------

So they gave up and we all headed to Bok Tower.  Edward Bok was an immigrant from Holland who ended up being the editor of Ladies Home Journal.  He obviously made a lot of money because he bought a big parcel of land, had a magnificent tower built and donated it to the American people.  He had a wonderful attitude to life.

Beautifully coloured marble, limestone, and with iron grills.  Those are Herons on top.  Behind the upper grilles there are 60 carillon bells totalling 60 tons.

And you can watch the carillonneur play on closed circuit TV.

 Pretty neat!

And the gardens are pretty sensational as well.

And that's not the only nice scenery.

Below the sundial is the dedication stone.

Quite a day!  And we followed that up by stopping at Davidson's of Dundee for candy, at WalMart for Canadian Club, and at Webb's for fudge.  Fun shopping!

Stay well.

Welcome to (Wet) Florida

 What do you do when it's a dismal 9C day?  Head for Disney Springs of course!

I think that those are pretend smiles folks.

But, we weren't the craziest.  How about this long lineup, in the rain, just for cookies for Pete's sake?

No good seats at the theatre, so we eventually smartened up and headed for Raglan Road.

Bonnie chose a fairly exotic Bailey's shake 😋.

Mardi, Steve and I chose beer.  Mine is a selection of Irish beers.

Bonnie and I had the Shepherd's Pie.......(you'll notice that I've finished one of the beers already and the meal hasn't started😏)

..........Mardi had Atlantic Salmon.

Steve chose Chowder..........who takes a picture of Chowder?

We did a walkabout for a few minutes and then headed home drenched.

Tomorrow we plan to head to Bok Tower.  Still will be cool, but sunny.

Stay well.

Louis C. Tiffany

 Today we took Bonnie and Steve to one of our favourite locations - the Morse Museum in Winter Park.  It's main feature is the honouring of Louis Tiffany, artist, sculptor, glass blower, stained glass master and interior decorator.  The man was amazing.  And the Museum always has new exhibits so our visits are never boring.

I'll bore you with some pictures that were taken today.

You four heroes, a selfie in a mirror.

And our ladies.  

In this picture, note the fountain outside the window and the green glass tiles in the interior floor, which would have covered water channels in his home. They went through the inside of the house and also to several water features outside.

Part of the chapel he built for the Chicago Exposition.

After the exposition, it was bought and installed in the Cathedral of John the Devine, then at Tiffany's 37,000 square foot home in Long Island, and finally after his death and years of neglect, at the Morse.  That cross fixture weighs a thousand pounds.

These light fixtures are what the man was mostly remembered for...

...but he was far more than that.

A fireplace hood.

A partial reproduction of a room in his Laurelton Hall mansion.  The rugs match, exactly, the stained glass pattern in the overhead light.

And, his final work, The Tree Of Life, which took three years to complete.

A true genius!

-----------------------------------------

Tomorrow we plan to visit Downtown Disney.

Stay well.