Anniversary Week

While I had originally planned to play basketball in Houston, I changed my mind because it meant being away from my husband of 48 years. Instead, Arne and I had a wonderful three days in St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL. We drove down Tuesday afternoon and checked into America's Best Inn, only 22 rooms, and very friendly hostess with whom Arne got to practice his German. The inn reminded us of an old European hotel. 5 PM was happy hour and in the morning a substantial Continental breakfast was served.

Tuesday evening, we spent a few hours at The Pier, which is surrounded by Tampa Bay. It was nice to be by the water to watch sailboats and people fishing.

Wednesday morning we went to Sunken Gardens. The Gardens began in 1903, when plumber and avid gardener George Turner Sr. purchased the site, including a shallow lake 10 feet (3.0 m) below sea level, which he drained to form his private "sunken" garden. Over the years, the gardens became the property of St. Petersburg. It was a very serene, tranquil setting with large tropical plants.

In the afternoon, we went to the Salvador Dali Museum. Arne had been to the old one with our kids several years ago. He was somewhat hesitant to go again but I wanted to see it so he tagged along. We spent three hours there and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a new building, not the one Arne was in previously. We learned much about Dali from the Docent who gave interpretations of many of Dali's paintings. I was surprised to see paintings which were before his surrealist period. Before this visit, I only thought of him as a surrealist artist. He certainly was an interesting character and, I would say, a creative genius.

Wednesday night, Arne and I went to a restaurant over by the Gulf for our anniversary dinner. I had a delicious salmon dinner but Arne's grouper was pretty bland. The waiter removed the charge for the Calamari appetizer to compensate. After dinner, we drove to a spot where we could walk out to the beach and watch the sunset over the Gulf. We didn't realize it initially but we were right by the condos where we had stayed when our niece, Amy, got married. That brought back some happy memories as all three of our children had joined us for that special event.



Thursday we checked out a day earlier than planned. The reason being we had tickets for Cirque that night. While the performance was at St. Pete Times Forum, I didn't realize it was actually 23 miles away, in Tampa. Since those 23 miles were in the direction of home, we decided to drive the remaining 80 miles after Cirque. Checkout was 11, Cirque at 7:30, lots of time to kill. We decided to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. We spent 5 hours there with hundreds of children in tour groups. It was very educational and we both learned some new things. We saw "Tornado Alley" in the IMax theatre. This 45 minute movie told about the researchers of VORTEX 2, the most ambitious effort ever made to understand the origins and evolution of tornadoes. They hope the data they collect will make possible earlier warnings of coming tornadoes.

That night, another great performance by Cirque du Soleil. This show titled Alegria (a Spanish word that means happiness, joy and jubilation). While there were many outstanding acts, we had difficulty seeing some of them due to our seats. I ordered our tickets six months ago and paid a premium thinking we'd have the best. While we got to enter through the VIP door, our seats were on the floor, third row. We had to move our heads according to the people in front of us. Very disappointing.

Pain and NO Exercise...Happy Birthday!

Three weeks ago I had surgery on my back near my left shoulder to remove a pre-cancerous growth. The stitches came out the day after we arrived home from Arizona. Two days later I played the best basketball I've played in almost 50 years! Unfortunately, I overdid my shoulder and the wound became infected. After four days of trying to get the doctor to look at it, I finally got in last Thursday. He worked on the area, pressing down hard to force out the poison. Ouch! I had surgery on my right thigh scheduled for Friday. After that surgery, the doctor addressed my shoulder and pressed even harder! I can't believe I didn't cry! It REALLY hurt! Arne had to change the dressing and clean the wound twice a day over the week-end. I went back to the doctor today where a nurse irrigated the site with hydrogen peroxide. The doc gave me a different antibiotic as he didn't think the one he prescribed last Thursday was doing the job. I have to go back Wednesday afternoon for another look see. Meanwhile, no Fitness center, no pickleball, no golf...nothing physical! I'm bummed! The few pounds I lost last month will probably come back double. Then I remind myself that this too shall pass and before I know it, I'll be back in action.

Today was my 69th birthday and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. This morning I got a perm so am now very curly. This afternoon I had a manicure and pedicure. This evening Arne took me to Outback where I enjoyed my usual 6 oz steak with sweet potato and salad. Oh yes, I had a martini before we left and two glass of wine with dinner which along with the chocolate cake when we got home put me at double my calories for the day. But hey, it IS my birthday. As long as I don't make it a habit of eating like this...and someday soon I'll be able to exercise again which really helps with those calories. :-)

Thank you to all who sent birthday wishes through email and Facebook. Thank you for thinking of me!

Our week in Arizona

Arne and I flew to Phoenix last Friday, May 27. Erik and the girls flew in a couple hours later and we had adjoining rooms at Phoenix Mesa Marriott. This location was chosen because it was next to Mesa Convention Center where Lisa and Erik were putting on an education conference May 31 and June 1. As Arne said on our way home from Orlando, "It was a good trip." Time with all of our children and most of the grandchildren, priceless! We pray that in the future Lil E will be able to join us.

We spent lots of time by the pool as Kadin and Gracie still love to swim. A little too much time I'm afraid as all three kids were a little red Saturday night. (By Tuesday, the girls were VERY TAN!) Kadin complained of a tummy ache all afternoon so about 9 PM Arne & Erik went to Walgreens. While they were gone, Kadin vomited all over her bed. In my attempt to carry the duvet into the bathroom, for what purpose I'm not certain, it poured onto the floor making a bigger mess. A gal from the front desk helped me clean it up and then suggested we move to the rooms across the hall. We had to give up our view of the pool and while we could have moved back after the rug was shampooed and room aired out, the girls wanted to stay where we were. Probably a good idea as I noticed that window open for several days.

Kadin is getting so tall and at 10 1/2 can almost see the top of her mother's head. I went shopping with Erik and the girls one morning. Arne decided to stay at the hotel and use the Fitness Center, which I used every morning before the others were awake. We spent over two hours in the girls' favorite store, Justice. Usually high-priced clothing for kids and young adults but for Memorial Day they had 40% off and a clearance rack with another 40% off. Erik gently guided the girls to the clearance rack and they were able to find several outfits for starting school. Kadin picked out the navy and white sweater but otherwise pretty much tries on whatever Erik hands her while Gracie, the fashionista, assembles outfits, in this case four, and then goes to try them on. I bought them each a pair of sunglasses and another item.


Sunday night we went to Peter Piper Pizza where Aaron1 and Ted joined us. Ted is DD, developmentally disabled, and while he's 29, he behaves like a mature 9 year old. We kind of adopted him into our family years ago and he joined us for several holiday gatherings in Terravita. He, Kadin, Gracie and Taylor had a blast seeing who could win the most tickets. I believe it was Taylor. Back at the hotel, Erik was the entertainer, using one of Taylor's prizes as a prop...

Monday afternoon, Arne and I drove to north Scottsdale. We had a nice visit with friends, Trudy in the Boulders, Tim and Marilyn in Terravita. When we got back to Mesa, we went to Lisa's office where they were getting things lined up for the conference. Kadin and Gracie were good helpers.


On Tuesday, while their parents were busy with the conference, I took Taylor, Kadin and Gracie to Jump Street. Last year they spent almost two hours jumping on the trampolines. This year Taylor was only interested in the Dodge Ball pit so guess where the girls also spent their time. They did spend a few minutes in the foam pit. I tried to post a video but kept getting errors so you don't get to see the big foam cubes into which they jumped. :-(

Erik and the girls left early Wednesday morning. I missed sharing a room with them as our room seemed smaller and quieter. We went to the conference and joined in the lunch which was held outside. Aaron entertained.

Wednesday night, Lisa had a meeting, so Arne and I took Nick and both Aarons to the Brazillian restaurant in Scottsdale, Fogo de Chao, where Nick works as a server. Dinner includes your choice of 16 different meats, many varieties of beef. They have Gauchos who bring the meat and you can eat as much as you can hold. I had 2 lamb chops which were wonderfully seasoned and then several cuts of beef. I entered the "meat coma" as the server called it. I just couldn't eat another piece but did manage to eat dessert. Dinner is $50 plus drinks and dessert. $$$$$$ I figured it was going to be about $350 but when our bill came, we had only been charged for three salad bars and the boys' alcoholic drinks. Certainly pays to go with an employee and the best friend of the assistant manager, Aaron2. :-)

Thursday afternoon was our 4:30 flight back to Orlando. Lisa and Taylor took us to the airport and we stopped for lunch at Tempe Marketplace. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of Lisa that day as she looked more rested and beautiful than the previous days.

Our flight home was uneventful, landing at 11:30 PM. It took a while to get our luggage so was about 1:30 AM when we arrived home. I got to sleep at 2:30 and slept until 9:30! Today, I slept til 8:30. It's never taken me this long to adjust to the new time. I think getting in so late made a difference. Anyway, here we are, back in our cocoon known as The Villages. :-)

St. Augustine

Last Wednesday, Arne and I drove over to St. Augustine, a two hour fifteen minute drive from here. After checking into our room, upgrading to a suite with an ocean view, we walked on the beach and in the surf. Arne pointed out a young couple playing "pickleball" in the surf. After dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we settled onto our "divans" to read and look out at the ocean. Oh, yeah, we watched American Idol even though we said we didn't care who won after James was gone.

Thursday, we bought tickets for the Red Train Tour of St. Augustine. We rode by the oldest jail, the oldest house, and lots of other old buildings and forts. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. We toured the Lightner Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not. On the way back to our hotel, which was on St. Augustine Beach, we stopped for a tour of the Lighthouse and Museum. We spent over an hour learning the history of the lighthouse. I climbed the 220 stairs to the top. As I came out the door, I was hesitant to look over the railing and stuck close to the wall. After about 5 minutes, I was feeling more comfortable and worked my way over to the edge and waved to Arne down below.

Friday, we checked out of the hotel and drove up the coast about 15 miles to Sawgrass where The Players Championship was played last week. We had a wonderful tour of the beautiful clubhouse. Our guide was an elderly gentleman who told many interesting stories as we toured the building, looking at the many paintings and photographs. This clubhouse was opened in 2007 and is 77,000 square feet. There's a dining room and locker room exclusively for past winners of The Players tournament.


From there we drove half an hour to the World Golf Hall of Fame. We spent a couple hours reliving golf history and viewing items given by those players in the Hall of Fame. There were two special exhibits. One was a tribute to Bob Hope while the other was to Nancy Lopez.

We got home around 8 PM Friday night. Arne had been having trouble with his right foot while we were gone. Saturday morning he told me he hadn't slept because of the pain. His foot and calf were very swollen. I took him to Urgent Care where he was told he had overused it. I think there's something more going on and he's going to go to his VA doctor for further evaluation. At least he was able to sleep last night and is walking much better. Yesterday he actually used a cane Aaron had given him for Christmas several years ago.

Good News and "Bad" News

Good news -
Wednesday night, Arne and I went to listen to the State of The Villages. The developer spoke about future developments, the biggest of which is a partnership with University of South Florida in Tampa. USF Health will conduct a major health study that examines the current health of Villages residents. They will also conduct a “concert series” in which various medical experts at the school will visit The Villages to share the latest medical tips with residents and meet with small groups to “listen and learn” from residents. Another goal of the partnership will be to work with those in the current health care system to ensure that patients here have the latest and best technical treatments available for enhanced care. Arne and I are very excited about this opportunity. I told Erik recently that we've found the "fountain of youth" here in the Villages. Even so, we're going to St. Augustine next week to see Ponce de Leon's Fountain.

Bad news -
James was our favorite on American Idol. Last night he was voted off and we're not excited with the remaining three. James should have a great music career but we would have liked to see him as THE American Idol.

Remember "The Truman Show"?

Remember "the Truman Show" with Jim Carey? He lived in a bubble and his life was being broadcast on live television. I feel like we're living "The Truman Show" here in The Villages. Arne and I were talking to a young man who came to look at a problem we were having on our lanai. While talking, he told us he worked in TV (The Villages) eight years ago, then left to form his own pool company in Orlando. Now he's back in TV and said he's working 7 days a week but outside TV there's no work. This is as close to Utopia as anyone can get. My children keep me in reality by reminding me of what's going on in the "real world."

While it was quite warm and windy yesterday, over 150 of our neighbors gathered for an International Dinner and dancing in the street to Rocky & the Rollers, an extremely popular band in the Villages. We began at 3 with the dinner and Rocky played from 4-8. They are already booked to perform for us at next year's dinner.

Our evenings have been gorgeous. On my after dinner bike ride through the neighborhood, I spotted the full moon shining on the lake. I took this picture from the yard of a lucky neighbor.

Arne joined the Orchid Club over a year ago with just one orchid. At last week's meeting, he bought his 7th and 8th orchid. His newest acquisitions.

Close-up of flower


We also have a fern which loves the humidity here. We've had this plant for about 18 months.

Arne's tomato plant

Pretty Routine

My life has become pretty routine which is why I haven't posted in three weeks. One major news item is that I decided not to play basketball in the National Senior Games as I would have been gone for our anniversary, June 22. I don't recall Arne and I being apart on our anniversary except when he was in VietNam. I'm hoping we can get away for a few days over on the Gulf.

I'm playing lots more pickleball and went to a ratings clinic Friday afternoon. I self-rated myself at 2.5. After going through the evaluation drills, I was told I'm a 3.0. Ratings go from 1.0-4.5. It will probably take me a year to move up to 3.5.

When Kadin and Gracie were with us last summer, Arne spent time giving them art lessons. Today, Erik sent us a picture of Gracie's latest creation as well as a picture of Jeffrey, whose wearing a tee shirt which says "Daddy thinks I'm the #1 BABY."