Happy Thanksgiving!

Such a wonderful holiday.  A time to really reflect on how fortunate we are, a day to reflect and be thankful and grateful for all the wonderful things in our life - our health, our home, our friends, our family, the life that we've been able to share together for the past 43 years.   Our son Dennis posted this on his face book page.  

I enjoyed it and thought I would share this with our friends that I know follow our blog.............You are special people and the times we spent with you will forever be wonderful memories. 

Thanks Dennis - and as always, the highlight of our day was your phone call.  

We were not able to be with family - but we were able to spend the day with very special friends, Nick and Tonyia.    They arrived late morning, and while dinner cooked the guys did there thing outside and Tonyia and I enjoyed a couple of games of Mexican Train. 

Dinner was delicious..........Turkey, Sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, fresh biscuits................  Nick and Tonyia made us a new beverage - Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and Eggnog!  It was wonderful.   And Rich made some absolutely delicious pumpkin pie for dessert.  (Yes - his mother's recipe)

Weekly Update on the House

This past week has been busy, but we still found time to spend with friends.   Still trying to get used to the new lake and where the best fishing holes are.....  and still shopping and decorating.

Last Thursday we had dinner with friends at the Country Club here in Placid Lakes.  Al and Barb had been there the week before, said it was very good and asked us to join them this week.  Each night is a different special and Thursday was Barbecued Ribs.

Rich would like to go back again on Wednesday for the Pasta Special.

On Friday we took a ride out on the lake again for some fishing.  The lake was just beautiful.  Actually it  was so calm that it looked almost like glass.......... Here a few pictures.

 It was a bit overcast and barely a breeze.........

Only the wake from the motor put a ripple on the surface. 

These next few pictures actually looked to me like an ice covered lake - where in some places the ice was melting.  ( Wow! - sounds like I'm back up north)

By the time we headed back. ( And I was the only one who caught a fish today!) the wind has started to come up and the lake looked a little more like normal as we headed back for the canal to the house. 

On Saturday Al invited Rich to go fishing with him.  Rich was up early, enough time to drink his coffee and wake up before heading out just before 8 am.   About  11:30 I headed out for Bunco at the Clubhouse, and Rich had still not returned.  About 25 people showed up for Bunco and brought finger foods to pass.  Some really good stuff!  And I met some new people in the neighborhood, which was nice.  Had a really good time, and even won back the $5 I spent to play.

When I got back Rich was home - they had only caught a few fish; not enough for dinner so they through them back.  But Rich was very impressed with how Al set up the poles/boat for catching Crappie or Shell Crackers - can't remember which and he says he can find his way back to some of the better fishing spots.

On Friday the new rug arrived for the Living Room.  What a disaster!

We ordered the rung on-line through Home Depot.  The picture on the left is what we were expecting.  A rich black with bright white accents.  The rug on the left is what we received.  Actually it looked MUCH worse than this.  The white fibers would mix with the black and make very ugly gray patches on the rug -  and the design was not even the same. We laid it out on Sunday morning, and packed it back up immediately!

On Monday it was a trip to Home Depot to return the rug.  We did find another one while we were there - but the size we needed was not in stock.  Should be here Next Monday.  We also  found the carpet we wanted installed in both the office and guest bedrooms.  From there it was off to Wal-Mart for new hooks, sinkers, leaders, jigs and fishing line for rigging up the poles for our next trip out on the lake.

Wednesday was back to Sebring for a my check up with the Medical Oncologist, a little shopping and a final trip to the grocery store for some last minute items for Thanksgiving Dinner.  

I had picked up some wall decor for the family room - so we hung that....  It really looks much better than the picture........

The Wagon Wheel Rocker arrived for the front porch and the patio furniture for the back patio.  It's starting to feel like home.

Dinner with Friends then off to the Farmers Market!

After more than a week, Rich was finally feeling better.  It was Friday evening, the stock market was closed, it was still early so we called our friends Nick and Tonyia to see if they wanted some company.

They suggested that we try the "Mexican" Restaurant in Sebring.  They didn't know the name (and I still don't know the name!) but it's located right across the street from the Sebring Diner.  The food was good, but folks this is NOT a Mexican Restaurant!  We all had either burritos, quesadillas,  or fajitas (the only Mexican food on the menu!).  I don't know of any Mexican restaurant that does not have re-fried beans!  We only had a choice of Red or Black Beans and then had to ask for Salsa!  

 But, having said all that the food was very good and the Margarita's were even better!   After dinner we just went back to their house to visit for a while.........Always great company!

We are finding that Lake Placid is really a very nice small town and really has more going on than we had imagined.    The town has two nicknames -  "Town of Murals" and "The Caladium Capital of the World."  It has more than 40 murals painted on buildings all over town and 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs come from Lake Placid!

One of these days I am going to take a day and just go visit the murals, AND the Old Lake Placid Atlantic Coastline Railroad Depot, AND  Toby the Clown Foundation, the only American Clown Museum in the World which is right here in downtown Lake Placid.

There is weekly games and line dancing, and the beautiful lake to fish on and  just sitting on the lanai and enjoying the view!  And yes those ducks were back again, this time selecting the boat house for their daily entertainment!

Now that winter approaches and the snow-birds are back in town there will be even more activities.

Last Saturday was the first of the Lake Placid Farmers Markets in downtown Stuart Park.    There were at least 30  different vendors selling plants, vegetables, wine, food, crafts and more!  This has been going on here for about 5 years, and will continue this year the second Saturday of each month from October through May.  The next one is scheduled for November 9th......and opens 8:00 am.   I will definitely go again!

Some Backyard activity

Thursday found Rich feeling much better, but I still managed to keep him from jumping in to a lot of physical activity. Relaxing out on the lanai having morning coffee we noticed several duck sitting along the water's edge in the back yard.

As we continued to watch, more and more duck arrived and settled in between our yard and the neighbor's.  We tried to count them; there were somewhere between 50 and 60 ducks in the yard.  And they were there all day long!

Early in the afternoon, Nick sent an e-mail to see how the Sick Guy was doing and asked if he felt good enough that we could join them for dinner.  We met them for an early dinner at Dock 633, right here on the Lake June.  It was such a nice afternoon that we decided to sit outside.  We were not there long before our neighbors Al and Barb showed up and so we asked them to join us. So the six of us had a very enjoyable evening. 

Hopefully Rich and I can get back out fishing, now that he's feeling better.  Actually - We could just fish off the dock here in the canal if we wanted.  We generally would take the boat out to the lake, but they say the fishing is good right here................I guess it must be - this couple was trolling along slowly out back today!  Rich went down to say     How Ya Doin...... and see if they were Catch'n Any!

More shopping.....

This past week has been pretty hectic.......for me anyway.  But Rich has been down with a really bad flu/cold; fever, cough, congestion, achy all over, no energy...... Like everyone else - he hates not being able to get up and around and get "stuff" done.  I managed to keep him down for the first two or three days, but once he started to feel a little better, he did a little more than he should having working on the boathouse and paid for it the next couple of days.   It hung on for well over a week, and just yesterday he was up and around for most of the day and feeling more like himself.




I on the other hand (after making sure he was comfortable and well fed!) have
been busy shopping.

 I found the perfect rug for the family room where we decided on the brown leather reclining couch and matching reclining console love seat.

 Unfortunately they are currently out of stock, so we have to wait until the middle of December for delivery!!!!

Oh well...........a nice Christmas Gift!!

We had been looking all over a patio set for outside.  Our lanai is very small so
the typical 42 in round or the nice rectangle table sets would not work.  We looked at several styles, including the aluminum, which we really liked, but we decided on the  PVC.  We had this style at our last house, and while it is very stylish, it is also very durable and will last forever!  We elected the putty color instead of white this time  with the modern back chairs and a driftwood color fabric.   Hopefully that will arrive  before Thanks Giving.

We also bought a Wagon Wheel Bench for our front porch.   The porch/entry way is very long and this should fit nicely.  It should be here sometime next week.

On Wednesday the living room furniture was delivered. 

  

As you can see the walls are bare, and the area rugs are not down - still lots of decorating to do.  But it's finally starting to look and feel like "home".  

New Family Photo's

Dennis and Crystal sent these pictures of our grand-daughter a while ago.  As I checked to see what Dennis was up to today on his facebook page.  I found the picture of him and decided it was time to update our Blog........





Not sure who's the kid in the family.......

but this is typical of Dennis just being
Dennis.








 However - he does clean up nicely!  Here he is (wearing the Sergeant Audie Murphy Medallion).   And he shares the picture with our grand-daughter who recently turned 17, and is shown dressed beautifully with her best friend for Home Coming.