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Published: November 17th 2023
There is always so much to be thankful for: our family, our health, our friends and Lulu! Actually what Pooh and Piglet had to say, says it all! We are thankful for today. Today is our favorite and we hope it is yours, too.
Get your time machines back out again. We have to back up before we can go forward.
Cory and I finally got our new tent set up. Actually, the friendly fellows next door to us lent their hands and strength in the process. Thank you, Dave & Vinnie. Lulu even pitched in….best she could…..she has limitations remember. She checked the roof for any issues. All was good according to Supervisor Lulu. We are able to set up extra chairs so our “coffee klatch” can accommodate more friends. “If you build it, they will come.” We are still waiting for some of our regulars to return. Pick your seat!
Halloween was a festive time here at Tropical Palms. They had activities at the pool….such as bobbing for pumpkins! An alligator might be able to win at that game! We sat on the edge of our site to receive the many trick-or-treaters who came by. Lulu
wore her beautiful mask because she didn't want to frighten them away…..she is so thoughtful! God, we love her! They had a golf cart parade here but we were not able to participate…..read further on for the sad reason why.
We had our favorite RV technician replace all the sealant on our RV roof. Quinn is the best! He is so smart, capable, honest and kind. Yay, Quinn! One morning we heard a roaring sound right above our RV. No….it wasn't Quinn! Hot Air Balloons were going over our park. I borrowed this photo from another resident here who took a much better photo than we were able to get. It was like being home again…..Wellsville, NY has a big Balloon Rally every 3rd weekend in July. We are able to see so many, many beautiful hot air balloons!
Cory suggested we go to Disney Springs so I could indulge in one of my favorite meals…..can you remember what it is? I was in the car with drool coming from my mouth before he could start the engine. Off we went to this fun park so I could run to the Earl of Sandwich and get my all-time
favorite: their tuna melt. Chew, Chomp, Oooo, Soooo good! YippiKaiYay!
We do appreciate hearing from our family and receiving pictures from them. Our 3 Great-Grandchildren are growing up so fast. Did I tell you we will have a fourth great-grandchild to be born in February? Ryan and Amber will be giving Henry a new brother or sister. How exciting!
Our friend, Art, has shared with us over the years the name of the fellow he contacts to discuss various Internet, etc., issues. We feel like we all knew Moose through Art….yep, that's right: Moose. We could only imagine Moose in our minds. He was like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Finally, we hear Moose was coming to TP to do some repair work. Cory discovered the Yellow Brick Road and followed it and found Moose hard at work. It was like finding the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. He raced back and got me. Oh, woweee…..I was finally going to meet “Thee” Moose! Running at breakneck speed, we got to where Moose was doing his magical work. I asked him if he was Moose…..he said NO! What!?!? He lied! He had Moose
embroidered onto his shirt! He couldn't trick me! Of course, our talk was all about Art and their good friendship. Another fellow showed up who was working with Moose. He was Mike. Yes….Art talked about Mike, too. Wonderful! We finally have met these two gurus of the Internet world. Sadly, Art hasn't arrived back at TP yet. What a great threesome photo I would have gotten had he been here to see his friends. At least, now we have a face to go with the name!
Cory and I decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants: Harry’s. It's located in Lakeland which is a good hour away. Cory was dreaming about their grouper and I was salivating thinking about their jambalaya. He sped faster and faster and I kept my mouth shut (amazing)….I was anxious to get there, too. The downtown area was busy as usual. Cory finally found a parking spot but we had to hoof it to get up to this fabulous restaurant. There was outside work going on at Harry’s. No big deal…….We like sitting inside with their great ambiance. Whoa….!! What's this? What's going on? The inside was all in shambles! They were
renovating the entire place! Nooooooo. You have to be kidding! We have our hearts set on eating our favorite foods here….now….today! Not going to happen! Dejected and depleted, we dragged ourselves around the block, hoping to see another wonderful restaurant to meet our needs. Nope….not even close! The drool on our faces now turned into tears. Back in our car, we sat in shock. I never thought about checking online about this place….never. Now I did…..Rats! It read CLOSED in red! Live and learn but it hurts bad! Driving aimlessly out of town, we were lost as to what to do. Cory headed to Lake Alfred. Here they have a homestyle restaurant where all the locals go. We felt better….whew! They have great specials and great food. It wasn't grouper or jambalaya but it filled us up and tasted good. We recovered and were able to return to our RV feeling okay. Update: we just got a notice that Harry’s has reopened! Hooray! We’ll be going back. Oh, yes we are!
Our previous next-door neighbors, Theresa and Grant, invited us to come for a visit. Wonderful.… we are on our way! They live in their 5th wheel in a
beautiful RV park in Brooksville, FL. We chatted for quite a while, catching up with one another. They toured us around their park…..very, very nice. Grant drove through the main part of Brooksville…..it had the Old Florida look which was gorgeous. Just a short drive from here was all the shopping and restaurants you would want. Grant drove us to the huge complex of condos where he is in charge of the construction. Awesome. They are getting close to being completed. They selected a great place to eat. They had foot-long Coney Island hotdogs. To die for. The restaurant was decorated with so much memorabilia. We loved it. Cory took photos inside the men's restroom…..not appropriate for our mixed company blog. If you see him in person, he will gladly show you!! Typical man! No….we will not be using it for our Christmas card! We had such a nice time being with Theresa and Grant. Thank you….we miss you!
Along the route we took to go to Brooksville to visit Theresa and Grant, we noted two quite unique roadside “attractions.” A fairly large portion of the route was rural…..very rural! I always say “Where do the people get their
groceries?”. There is nothing.…nothing….around!! A few sparse houses but no restaurants…..nothing!!! But look what we came across! On the side of the road, a woman had a cooking trailer and a tarp set up. A couple folks were dining at the tables under the tarp! A true outdoor, airy restaurant! Good for them! They did find a place to go. Further down the pike, we had to do a double-take. We couldn't figure what we were seeing! What the hell is it?? How did it get there? Why was it there? On the side of the road was a big “something.” Had it been complete, it would have been an even bigger “something”! We decided it was half of a dinosaur statue! The back half….it had no neck or head! Why? Where? How? We will never know. I was kicking myself that Lulu was at home. She would have loved to have her picture taken climbing all around this monster. I can hear her squealing with joy right now. Will we go back with her? Only time will tell
Okay…. here's the sad story about our golf cart. It's so much fun to cruise around the park on it,
hoping to see a friend or two. One day, after cruising around and we were kind of close to home…..the golf cart just stopped! No lights…no warning. It just died. Cory tried putting it in reverse because sometimes if the battery needs charging, you can go backward to get where you are going. Nope! Nothing! Nada! Dead! What to do? Superwoman Sandy bounded from the cart and with all her strength and power, pushed Cory the Driver home on his dead cart. Yep! I came through when needed most! Once parked, our dead cart just set there. Cory started his mechanical mind working. He tested the batteries. They seemed okay. He checked this and that. He went on YouTube for hints. Nothing was working. He called our friend Art who solves all problems. It was difficult for Art to work long distance on it. Fortunately, John Zimmerman came up to offer his assistance and knowledge. Thank you, John. Cory and he worked several days in the hot weather, trying to get it running. They took everything on the cart apart. Nothing! Finally, they decided we had a bad battery. They headed off to the Battery store but it was closed.
Sam’s Club had what he wanted. They returned and put in the battery. Hopefully, this would do the trick. Cory gleefully called for me to come and we would take a golf cart ride. Oh, goody! I positioned myself in the passenger seat while Cory turned the key. So exciting! He stepped on the pedal and ZOOM…..we went straight backward in a flash. Whoa, there fella! This doesn't seem right. He checked his levers and gears…..all were good. Why wouldn't it go forward? Would we have to travel backward forever? After conferring with his sources, he switched some wires. Perfect. Now we can go forward….. but we can't go backward. So for the time being, when we are cruising around, we are always going forward. Maybe that's not too bad. Always move forward….. that's the direction we should want to go. Maybe someday, we will get the cart fixed but for now, we go in only one direction. Feel sorry for us? Hope so.
Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at the movie theater. Cory and I saw “Killers of the Flower Moon.” it was in their XD theater. We had no idea what that was. We found out! We
sat too close to the big screen so we felt we were in the middle of the movie. And the sound! Oh, my…..Cory thought his deafness was cured……he could hear so well without his hearing aides. A miracle! A miracle! Me….now I think I need his hearing aids cause it was so loud, it made me go deaf. Jeez! Since going to this movie, Sandy Foreman has arrived back at TP. It is so very good to be with her again. We all miss Sam. So many things remind us of him. We are blessed to have these memories. Sandy went with us to see the movie, Priscilla, at the theater. This was not in their XD theater….good. We couldn't take it again. They both had reclining lounges which is super nice. Both movies were good but as we say: they were “a one-timer.”
The Cinemark Theater is in Dezerland Park on International Drive. We wandered through a portion of it to see some of the unique vehicles they have on display. It's an interesting place.
Remember how Cory suffered from the bad side effect he had from the medication he had taken? We discussed it in our
last blog in detail. He ended up with tendonitis in both legs and his shoulder. Fortunately, his legs improved so he could walk like a human again. Thank God! His left shoulder continued to bother him though. Was it still the tendonitis or something with his repaired rotator cuff? He went back to the doctor. They x-rayed his shoulder. His rotator cuff looked okay and the doctor felt the issue was probably arthritis. He gave him a cortisone injection in his shoulder. They sprayed the area with the freezing spray. Cory said he didn't feel the shot. That's good. He says his shoulder feels so much better. He's glad he had the shot. Tomorrow we go to the eye doctor who did our cataracts. They all seem to keep us coming back and back and back….good income for them…..but probably good for us, too.
Across the main highway (192) that we travel on when leaving our area, there is a huge place where there are many, many food trucks. It's like a village of these trucks. The majority of the food offered is all Latino. We can't read their menu on the side of their trucks. They do have
pictures next to them. We visited this place last year. It was very crowded and confusing. This time, it had just opened so not crowded at all. All the trucks had new wraps on them which were colorful and pretty. Still couldn't read them but great pictures. We never buy anything but nice to walk around.
We were happy when our Canadian friends, Mike and Terri, came for a visit recently. They are staying at Lake Magic. They were glad to see Sandy again. We planned to take them for lunch but they brought lunch for all of us with them. It was tasty and thoughtful.….thank you, friends. I was lax and didn't get their photo. The picture I'm using was from last year. It works!
We laughed when we read one of our texts from our TP resident webpage. Our friend, Joe, posted a picture and funny comment about using a tool that Cory had created and given to him. When you enter into TP, residents have a plastic card that they have to touch to a machine that lifts the entrance gate. You almost have to have arms like an orangutan to reach it. Cory bought
a tiny, round mirror with an extension arm on it (at the Dollar store) and stuck the card to it. Now, he just extends this mirror holding the card to the machine and violá, the gate goes up. No more straining, falling out of the window or even having to get out of the car! What a genius! What a great invention. Congratulations, Cory. 👏👏👏 What more can this glorious man do?
Rain, Rain Go Away! And it did just in time for us to eat at Bar Harbor. We had to mop off the picnic table but when you get to eat two Maine lobsters, who cares! Sandy and I sat there enthusiastically cracking those crustaceans while Cory enjoyed his shrimp. It was so good….a dream come true for both of us. Two lobsters each! Oh, yeah!
Changes are happening at our park. Our dedicated and enjoyable activity director, Janet, has resigned. We are sad to see her leave this position. She worked very hard and tried to make sure everyone was happy and having a good time. Now we (the guests) are on our own. We will have to make our own fun. We had thought
that the park would provide the turkey and pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Nope. They said they would only provide us the place. That's a bummer. So we are all going to gather together, bring a dish to pass and enjoy and be thankful for the friends we have here. So what if we don't have turkey.….we’ll survive and we will know there are a couple turkeys that will live to see another day. Thankful!
We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Everything. 21 pictures for you to check out. Remember to scroll way, way down.
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DeAnne Mckay
non-member comment
Happy Thanksgiving
Enjoy and be thankful for good friends,food and family!!!!!