Strawberry girl in a Strawberry world......

Yesterday was a beautiful Florida day (as it usually is) and we decided to do the beach after our trip to the Deland flea market.

We ended up at New Smyrna and enjoyed a long walk in the sunshine and fresh ocean air. I am now starting to really look forward to our 10 days at Virginia Beach. As difficult as it is to leave our home here I am "OK" with our early return to the river.

This bird was so funny to watch. He lost a leg at some point and has learned to get along just fine without it. At first we thought he just had it tucked up under his wing. Then we saw the little stub of the one that he lost. It was like watching a jumping bean.......

Farmer's market this morning before joining the Luce's for lunch at Stavros. The market is what we will REALLY miss. Here are beautiful Plant City strawberries for $8.00 a full flat. We are taking an entire flat to VA. i am going to grab them next week and freeze them so when we have 9 of us to feed for the 10 days we will have them on hand. I am also planning our meals so we can pick up all the fresh fruits and veggies the day before we leave......

Of course it will be a long time before we see seafood this fresh......

Off for a bike ride and then dinner out with friends.

When Irish eyes are happy, all the worrld seems bright and gay...

Happy St. Patrick's Day....

Tonight was our second annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner. Last year I cooked one brisket and had some leftovers. Today I cooked 4 (about 15#) and we have one little slice left. We did send a couple of plates over to some neighbors who were not able to attend (sickness) and sent a few leftovers home with Bob. Since I had so much to cook today, Salt went to the motor home and got our outside cooker and we used that. It was nice to cook out on the patio and not heat up the house.

We had the traditional corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots....and of course Soda bread.

Darlene was busy today, so Doug made desert. .. It tasted just as good as it looked. We also had orange pineapple cake (thanks Susie) and cream puffs compliments of Jim!

We have decided after the fun we had tonight that this will definitely be an annual event. We were joined this year by Gene, Barb, JoAnn and Harvey. Clarence, Maryann and Karen went to the Tavern for dinner (which Clarence says was a mistake)....but joined us for dessert and tons of belly laughs.

Susie and Terry clowning around.....We have had high 80's weather all last week and today, it cooled down a little...enough for Susie to want her blankie!!

Work, Work all day long, past my bedtime and still going strong......

As I had a very boring (but productive) day, I will blog some of the miscellaneous pictures I wanted to get posted. These are Salt's orchids that are finally blooming. I was afraid they wouldn't bloom before we went home but they are beginning to open and are absolutely beautiful!

Here are a couple of pictures Betty sent....This Emma (in front) being fed ice cream by one of her girl scout friends. They had a gathering last Saturday, and this was one of their games (challenges). As you can see they are having a great time!!

I love this picture .....She has the most beautiful eyes and Angelina Jolie lips!!!

In just another two and a half weeks we will have some updated pictures of the other granddaughters. Robin has been so busy with school and Mike working his two jobs, they haven't had much time for snapshots. Grandma will have the camera on them for the 10 days we are there. Rachael is so excited for us to get there.....she texts us every day asking when we will be there. We are afraid to give her a date/time in case the schedule changes a little she will drive Mike and Robin nuts!!!

I have been packing most of the day.....filling the Easter eggs for the hunt and getting the goodies together for the kids baskets. I am so ambivalent about going home....I can't wait to see the kids and want to get the house and beach ready for the summer, but really hate leaving all our friends and beautiful weather here. I know once we get in the motor home and start down the road I will be excited. Our friends will start coming to the river for weekends at Easter and many of them will be moving there for the summer some time in May.

We did go to BINGO tonight (my reward for accomplishing what I set out to do) and I hit one of the coverall jackpots!!!

3, 2, 1 IGNITION....off on some "Space Shuttle" mission...

Last week we drove over to Titusville to watch the Shuttle launch.....shortly after we arrived, they scrubbed the mission. Consequently, we decided to watch it from the park last night.

Here was the first flash....

and then.....she took off!!!

speeding along leaving beautiful contrails....

We were so surprised how well we could see it and how long we could follow it.......

and we were shocked when we could actually see the power boosters separate....

To me, every launch is just as exciting as the last......

After the launch, we all gathered at the Muldoons for awhile before ending another fun filled day in sunny FL. I love this group of people....they may have a drink or two, but it isn't the center of their entertainment. Consequently the gatherings are filled with stimulating, intelligent conversations without any of the belligerent, boisterous nonsense....(well, of course there are many jokes intertwined)... Love you guys!!

Since Terry and Susie don't have a fire pit...we had to settle for the poor man's version of a fire....a candle in the middle of the crowd. Don't worry Terry...the market's coming back, pretty soon you will be able to buy some new toys!!!

Doug and Gene trying once again to avoid the camera.....

Strolling down the river on a lazy afternoon.....

We have had the BEST weather this last week. The temps have been about 10 degrees above normal. As you can see from the picture of Terry relaxing, we have all enjoyed it immensely.
Yesterday morning we went to a "Breakfast Bowl" and then took off for a cruise on Gene's pontoon boat.
I am thankful every day for the wonderful life Salt and i are able to experience. We have the best of both worlds. The Florida, wildlife in the winter and the beautiful St. Lawrence river with it's thousands of islands in the summer.

Yesterday we cruised in and out of the water lilies that are all in bloom now.......



Watched all the beautiful birds along the shoreline.......

Can you tell from the candid smile, how much Salt enjoys this lifestyle????

Whoops, there's a big guy. He was just sunning himself looking ever so lethargic so we asked Salt to drive closer to the shore for photos.....we took a couple and he got "pist" and dove into the water faster than a race car. We laughed til we had tears watching everyone react. We were kidding Susie that she looked a bit like a pole dancer hanging on the pole to the canopy....

This is our adopted "Dad".....Bob lost his wife in June of last year so we try to include him in as many of our activities as we can. This was one he thoroughly enjoyed....especially when we let him be captain!

Pig roast it's my favorite meal...Pig roast it's a heck of a deal....

Saturday we traveled to Clermont to the annual Pig on the Pond festival. It was a variety packed day and although we had planned on staying into the night so we could watch the fireworks display, by 6:00 we were all in agreement it made for too long a day.

The entertainment was continuous throughout the day. We watched such performers as the ones below who were gospel jazz singers......

Gold's gym had a demonstration where they had a guy bench press 600 lbs., a guy break a baseball bat over his knee and another who tore a telephone book in two. I don't plan to join the gym, but if I ever need body guards, I would certainly consider checking there for a candidate.

The gym also had these "spin off" contests. Now mind you, it was close to 90 degrees and these people were out to win!!

We collected a bag of free "goodies' from all the vendors. Blackberry was there but he wasn't offering any freebies....only information!

Emma would not have left the first booth. They were letting the kids do all kinds of crafts and displayed/sold many of the items the kids had previously made.

Never wanting to miss the opportunity to stick our heads into a photo op......

There were all kinds of competitors vying for the championship trophy for the BB-Q competition.This particular business had won many, many championships in the past so we decided to eat lunch here.

This was a particularly interesting booth. This woman takes dogs into the schools and teaches kids to read to them. It encourages kids to read and of course, the dogs love the attention. It is a more detailed program than I have time to explain but it is a wonderful concept.

Of course. they had pig races....these pigs even swam to get to their treats.....

All the meals were purchased with "Pig Bucks"....I am guessing as a way to keep track of the money coming in. The entire event is a fund raiser.

There was a great karate demonstration......

Here is a little 4 year old who showed us how to break a board with his foot...so cute!

This guy is a world champion....he was breaking stacks of bricks.

And breaking 2x2's across the body....

Lots of music...this was the Clermont middle school band...awesome!

And of course my favorite.....the little ones!!!!

All in all we had another great time,....and that's NO BULL!!!

Don't get nervous cause at your service the local GHOSTBUSTERS...

So, Friday the 13th, a full moon....what a great night for a "Ghost Walk". It just so happened that Mt Dora had one to offer, so away we went!!

Ruthie and Karen standing outside the old prison which now houses the historical museum.

We had a quick tour of the museum, including an old stile which later in the tour led to one of the famous ghost stories. It seems that during prohibition, there was a gentleman (?) who was big time into bootlegging. Trying to make as much money as he could as quickly as he could he cut many corners, including using old parts and pieces of basically junk. Long story short, he ended up with poisonous moonshine killing several people and leaving others deathly ill. when he was finally caught and put in jail.......

This is the actually prison cell he was in which has a window open to the outside. Story goes that one night while he was sleeping a posse of people who wanted to see him hung, decided they would do the next best thing which was to put a string down his throat while he was snoring and drip molasses laced with arsenic down the string and into his system.

This guy was the funniest magician....he did not talk but managed to get Ruth to give him her ring. It disappeared before our eyes and ended up in a tied pouch in his pocket and on a hook within the bag. None of us could figure it out!!!!

Jill....this was SO your thing.....one of the woman even had a detector on her cell phone ....

This was Dr. and Mrs. Nutter (and folklore has it he was a NUT). Story goes he worked with black lung back in the mines of PA. It was believed he did some very nasty experimenting on live patients and killed others to use them for experiments. Since there was a huge fire in Mt Dora years ago, the facts are not able to be proven. We visited his house, which is said to be haunted. When the law started to close in on Dr. Nutter he simply disappeared. However, the story goes they dug up some floorboards and found body parts.

After a quick puppet show (about ghosts, of course...) we started our tour.

This was our cute little guide. She was very informative, but we all thought one of the guys might have been much funnier.....

We started tour on Royellou Lane. Royellou was the original name of Mt Dora. Named for one of the founders three children. I am not sure exactly when the name Mt Dora came about.

This magnificent house is now the home of the Masonic Temple. It was originally owned by Mr. Donnelly, one of the richest men in Mt Dora. The story goes that once a woman came into town, wanting to buy a piece of property. She met with Mr. Donnelly and asked him who owned this house and he told her he did. She then pointed to a parcel across the street and asked who owned that...he replied "I do". this went on for one parcel after another. Finally she asked, "is there anything in this town that is not owned by you?" He told her the lake across the way did not belong to him and she asked to whom it might belong. He said "why that belongs to God"....her reply "well how did He ever get that from you?"

This was supposed to be a good place to see orbs but I didn't!!

This is the old Renaissance Hotel which is now used primarily for shops. It is also believed to be haunted and orbs and figures can often be seen in the windows.

Another haunted house.....see any figures or orbs????

This picture hangs in the Frosted Mug....a tavern which has open air rooms so one can enjoy the evening while imbibing. They also sell (are you ready).....fried black olives. They are filled with mozzarella cheese, dipped in a coating and fried. No we didn't try them.

Anyway the story behind this one is that this little girl stood in front of a fireplace in the Lakeside Inn in this red dress. She told her mother she saw her father standing there smoking a cigar. Her mother told her that was impossible as her father had died several years ago. The little girl walked out of the hotel and was never seen again. However, there are claims that people will walk by and all of a sudden got a strong odor of cigar which then immediately disappears.

This is the Woman's Hospital which has now been turned into a restaurant. It is believed to have many spirits. Carolyn, the woman standing in the blue taking a picture took her picture at the same time I did from the same place and got a much different picture than I did?????

So whether you believe or not....it was great fun on a beautiful evening and a very, very good history lesson of Mt Dora.