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Published: December 11th 2022
Where is the time going? Itās truly flying by, thatās for sure. Itās December now but guess what? You have to get back in your time machines and back it up to the month of November. We have been very lax in our blogging. Let me think of a good excuseā¦..hmmmmm - I have none. Give me credit for honesty. If not creditā¦I love cookies!
If one hurricane wasnāt enough to survive, we were faced with a second one during the month of November. Hurricane Nicole managed to hit the entire state of Florida. We arenāt used to this in the North, you know. Maybe you got a few remnants of it where you were located. Hope you stayed safe. This time, we decided to weather it out in our RV as most all our friends did, also. The previous hurricane, we battened down the RV but stayed at the Disney Swanā¦āmember that blog episode? We did the now ritual prep work. Cory took down our canopy tent and put everything awayā¦.just like when we leave here in the spring. He strapped and anchored everything down securelyā¦ā¦ using his best Boy Scout knots! We brought in our slideouts and put
up the levelers. He filled our water tank to make it heavier. Our black tank (septic) always has something in it!! Heehee. He charged up his power pack. We were all set and ready for whatever was coming. Bring It On! And then the rains and winds began. They were heavy and strong but tolerable. Our rig rocked a little off and on but it also does the same when I run our washing machine. The pouring rain flowed harshly down our roadway but fortunately, we sit up high in our rolling house. The view is great! The torrential rain pounding on our roof was quite deafening. Lucky Mr. C could turn down or off his hearing aides. Meā¦.I could stick my fingers in my ears as necessary. Amazingly, we never used the power pack or generator as the power stayed on the whole time. Yippee! By the next day, the sun was shining and heating the air for another toasty day in Florida. Everyone and everything was safe and sound. Thank you, God. There was some tree debris around but nothing that caused any major issues. We had survived again! Cory had bought a Survival shirt after Hurricane Ian
ā¦..now he needs one for Nicole. Only problem: I canāt pry his Buffalo Bills shirt off of him! Go Bills!
Our morning coffee group had to adjust temporarily after the storm. We had no gathering tent so we just set up the chairs in front of our RV. It worked fineā¦.nice and airy. Being with our friends each morning is a terrific way for us to start our day. Thank you, dear friends. We have solved many of the worldās problems at this coffee timeā¦..just not able to get our solutions through all the red tape. Oh, well. In the words of Frank Sinatra āš¶Thatās Lifeš¶.ā
Many ā¦.or mostā¦.of our activities center around food and eating. There is a group from TP who play outdoor games together. They enjoy one anotherās skills while playing cornhole, bocce ball and shuffleboard. On Tuesday, they award themselves by going for lunch at a local restaurant. Even though we are only cheerleaders from afar, they invited us to join them at this happy event. Thank you! It was fun! You are all winners!!
Time to take a trip. Noā¦.donāt panicā¦.you donāt have to pack a bagā¦.itās a short trip. Why drive
when you can take the train? And thatās what a group of us did. Our activity director, Janet, arranged for us to meet and board the Sunrail Train and take it to Winter Park. It was about a 45 minute ride. All aboard! We viewed that various sites along the route while listening to the Clickity Clackity of the wheels on the tracks. Click-Clack, Click-Clack, Click-Clack. Once at our destination, we all meandered along their classy streets. Sandy, Cindy, Cory and I headed to a boat ramp for a boat tour around their lake. Whaaaaat? The sign read that itās only closed on Christmas Dayā¦ā¦but guess what? It was closed THIS day because of flooding!! ā¦..but..but..butā¦..itās a boat that floats! No goā¦.we werenāt going on any boat ride today. Put your life jackets away. Suck it up Buttercups! We had to be content with just our train ride. We dragged ourselves back into townā¦..dejected and hungry. We were able to satisfy our hunger at a nice Italian restaurant. That was enoughā¦..we hopped the next train back to our waiting vehicle and on to Tropical Palms. It was funā¦.next time maybe weāll try the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Haha.
Along came Thanksgiving.
So much to be thankful for: our family, our friends, our health and our lifestyle(the happy wanderersā¦.joyful nomads). We miss our Thanksgiving gatherings with our family terribly. Holidays compound our longing to be with them all. Instead, we spend Thanksgiving with our Tropical Palms family. Thatās nice, too. Our park provided the turkey, pies, rolls and drinks while we each took a dish to pass. The enormous bounty was superb. Lots to be thankful for hereā¦.and we are!
I keep making a plan to start dieting but when one of our planned activities is DESSERT Nightā¦..how can I follow through with this plan?? My sweet tooth would never let me miss this eventā¦ā¦never! So I pumped in more calories while savoring each sweet and tasty morsel. āFatty, Fatty, two by fourāā¦ā¦and never mind the rest!! And if that wasnāt enoughā¦..the following evening we were entertained by a Frank Sinatra performer while we devoured free dessert provided by the park. OMG! Even though it was a very enjoyable time, I have to stop eating! No āands, ifs or BUTTS!ā Iām serious. Cory is putting me to shame as he goes out for long walks everyday while I snuggle up in
my comfy nest, playing on my iPad. Whatās wrong with this picture? If you see a picture of meā¦.you can quickly tell. My retirement job will be as the Fat Lady in the Circus! I must lose mega pounds soon ācause I really want to be a Walmart Greeter.
āš¶Itās Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmasā¦..Everywhere You Goš¶ā including here at Tropical Palms. We have decorated our front window, golf cart and canopy tent along with other people in our park. Some folks have magnificent decorations on display. There is a pretty Christmas tree in the lobby where you can find the Toys for Tots boxes. They are filling up nicely with donated toys. Sandy found a wonderful Christmas display at Loweās. I had lab work done at the Celebration hospital and we oooooed and aaaaaahhed over their huge tree in their lobby. The āpiece de resistanceā is found at the town of Celebration. There, in the middle of their town, is their awesome, monster sized Christmas tree. It is surrounded by an ice skating rink and a āsnowyā play area. It smells so squeaky clean over there (the āsnowā is a soap paste). Of course, many of
the homes are decorated to the hilt. Too many to photograph so Iām sharing just one with youā¦.better than none, right?
Alas, the Christmas spirit continues. Last evening, a large group of folks from a nearby campground, drove their fancy decorated golf carts to Old Town for a holiday parade through it. As in the past, Sam, Sandy and us found a parking spot outside of this busy area where we could watch these sparkling carts as they passed by for their lineup. Only, this time, we rode our golf cart up instead of our carā¦.it was a warm night. It was wonderful. The many uniquely decorated carts rolled past as we hollered back and forth āMERRY CHRISTMAS!ā As the last cart moved out, Cory drove us along behind them. Whoa, Big Fellaā¦..what are we doing? Next thing we knew, a pleasant policeman was behind us on his patrol bicycle. We were part of the parade! The cheery cop was protecting us from behind with his little flashing bike lights. As we rolled along with his face in ours, Sandy and I chatted to him about the COPS show on TV and the other TV show called LIVE PATROL.
He said it wasnāt all what you see on TV. Really? It looks authentic. Soon, we were in the thick of things. Crowds lined the sidewalks along the main roadway down through Old Town. They were shouting, waving and clapping and feeling the joy of it all. I quickly started my Royal Queen wave while wishing all of them a Merry Christmas. I had stored two Santa hats in our golf cart so Sandy and I could kind of look festive. Cory held steady as he carefully followed along behind this other campgroundās entourage. Sam was his navigator. Before we knew it, there were many other decorated golf carts coming up behind us! Look!! Itās the folks from Tropical Palms! They decided to join in the fun. Oh, WOW! They were dressed for the part, both in their costumes and carts. They were fabulous! We saw many of our friends who were participating in the parade as well as many who were observing. A truly exciting time for all. As the parade finally came to an end, Cory found a spot to turn off. Our friendly policeman hollered to us āYouāre making a wrong turn!ā Cory kept goingā¦.fearless and determined
to get us back home. The policeman had told Sandy and I earlier that if he couldnāt catch someone on his bike, he would call for a patrol car back up or even a helicopter. Go, Cory, Go! He knew Mr. Policeman wouldnāt chase us. I think the cop was glad not to have to talk to us about the TV shows anymore.
The fun events arenāt over yet! Our park is going to have their own golf parade (actually two of them). We will participate in one of them. Then, on December 16th, a group of us are gathering together to ride our golf carts over to the town of Celebration. They have a long street there where all the residents go all out BIG TIME in decorating their homes. We will probably have to wear our sunglasses cause itās going to be so brilliant. Iām excited. Itās going to be soooooo beautiful! They did the same at Halloween but we didnāt know to go. Magic is all a glow at Christmas time. Yippee and HoHoHo!
Cory and I and even Lulu, wish you love, joy and peace ā¦ today, tomorrow and always. Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year. 24 photos for your viewing pleasure.
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Galen & Betsey Stout
non-member comment
Merry Christmas
Enjoyed your blog and remember the feeling of being away from family during the holidays but being in Florida at a fun park helps overcome the feeling. We wish we were able to be in Florida again. Love, Betsey & Galen