Blogs from Englewood, Florida, United States, North America

On Friday the 13th of March our Regent cruise from Miami to Barcelona was cancelled and four days later Florida was put into quarantine. And here we are seven months later still dealing with the ramifications of this vicious virus. This has been a very difficult time for everyone, not just in this country but around the whole world. For us personally, it has been a real eye opener. This is our longest time in one place since 1966. Fortunately, we happen to be in a place that has allowed us to make a smooth transition to the Covid 19 lifestyle. In 2016 we decided to become bi-coastal and purchased a home on the Gulf Coast of Florida. After living on a boat in California for the past 35 years we became landlubbers in Rotonda West. ... read more

Like so many dreams and adventures this one started months ago . Once the seed was planted it took on a life of its own , everything just came together ! From the start I want to thank ALL my friends and family for being so supportive , especially Greg , who did an amazing job of helping me get the camper ready and teaching me to drive it ! Truth be known i am still learning backing up ! Lol. Kathy is here to go with me and be my co-pilot . We haven’t done a sisters road trip in over 45 years ! We will leave early Friday morning , I will keep everyone posted and updated . Vickie’s Ventures ... read more

Englewood, Florida, United States Thursday, July 12, 2012 This is not a story of our travels but rather one that belongs to our children and grandchildren. When I married Bob almost 34 years ago, I promised him we would move to the beach when the children were grown. We left Springfield, MO, and settled in Englewood, FL in 1992. Our oldest, Kirsten Marie, remained behind, our middle child, Jeanine Carol, moved to Pine Island, FL, just 70 miles south, and our youngest, Evan Lyle, went to Boulder, CO, in 1995. It had been eight years since we had all been together at the same time, not since Kirsten’s marriage in 2004! That is much too long and, thankfully, we were able to meet at our home last month. Evan arrived first on June 8 in a ... read more

After four months at sea circling the globe, we arrived in Ft Lauderdale on May 1 and spent the summer in Florida. We bought a car and rented a house on the Gulf Coast and watched all the snowbirds head north as the temperatures rose. We had a wonderful LaGraff family reunion here with 35 brothers, sister, in-laws and out-laws and children and grandchildren. Lively dinner parties, beachcombing and boating excursions filled the agenda. We flew home to Sausalito at the end of July and spent four months catching up with friends and family, boating around the Bay and enjoying San Francisco Giants baseball games. In early November our sister Judy hosted an Atkins family reunion in San Luis Obispo. It was a great time for reminiscing, card playing and cooking favorite family dishes. We spent ... read more

Preparation is everything It is amazing how much you can put into a well designed RV. When I informed Paul that I took up only one-half of the closet in the bedroom, he insisted that I was never good at math - what a boy thing to say! Just because I need to take most of my clothes; I mean who knows what it's like in the Grand Canyon in April? We're from Florida. Reports range from a low of 26 degrees F to a high of 75 degrees F - jeans to shorts - Tee's to sweaters - must have them all. Besides, one big advantage to RV'ing is that you can't be charged for extra baggage (except in gas mileage). Paul can do with three pair of jeans and maybe some shorts to ... read more

More on our monastery travels soon ... we made it to two in North Dakota before the snows came and we have photos and stories to share (once we learn how to post photos!) But at the moment we're enjoying a unique kind of retreat. In November we got a letter telling us we'd been nominated to spend a month at an artist's retreat on The Gulf of Mexico. February in Florida sounded excellent, so sight unseen we accepted. Quite a delight to arrive in a tropical paradise on the edge of the sea, with 4 weeks to work on whatever creative projects we liked. The only responsibility is two presentations to the local community on our work. Everyone is interested in hearing about our Sanctuaries book series and all the monasteries we've visited, so we've ... read more