QC91-13 A pause in Englewood

March 5, 2009 (Thur) Englewood, FL (3) - It's beginning to warm up a bit but still too cold to swim in the morning. So we spend most of our time inside reading and visiting. It was good to see Gail even for a short time. Living on opposite coasts like they do makes it difficult for sisters to see each other. Two days is a gift. Gail left for Seattle this morning with promise of visiting us in the summer.

March 6, 2009 (Fri) Englewood, FL (4) - A positive aspect of Gail's leaving, if one needs to be found, is that we have been able to move from sleeping in the living room on a sofa bed to the privacy of a bedroom. A welcomed change. Joy took advantage of the afternoon lull to ride her bicycle over to the quilt shop - alway an enjoyable, if costly, experience.

March 8, 2009 (Sun) Englewood, FL (6) - We seem to have settled into a easy relaxed routine. We have a 3 1/2 mile that we are walking as soon as we get up. After breakfast, Joy sits at the table with her mother reading the morning paper or working a crossword puzzle until it's time for them to walk over to the pool for a swim - although it's barely warm enough. Then she's back to the crossword puzzle or her quilting. Mark spends the morning at the computer processing the mail, both email and smail, and catching up on the many jobs neglected while we've been isolated in remote campgrounds.

Joy and her mother have set up a jigsaw puzzle out on the back porch where they can enjoy watching the wildlife and listening to the fountains in the small pond as they work. They may spend some time in the morning out there but usually it's an afternoon activity. After lunch Mark retreats to the motor home out in the bank parking lot where he can play his guitar without fear of disturbing neighbors. He might be caught reading or napping too if a visit is timed right. He enjoys the time alone. And with Joy out working the jigsaw puzzle, Bom has her condo to herself for a while too - important for someone who is used to living alone.

In the evening Joy and her mother play Skipbo (a card game) while Mark reads.
 
March 9, 2009 (Mon) Englewood, FL (7) - As last year, and apparently for many years, a group of mostly experienced (retired semi-professionals and serious armatures) musicians get together every Monday night in Indian Mounds Park to jam. And as last year, Mark rode his bicycle over to hear the live music. Billed as "bluegrass" the numbers they played were more country/western than bluegrass - although there tends to be a fine line between the styles.  In addition to those who seemed to know every piece of music anyone chose to come up with so played almost every time and sounded pretty good, there were some, mostly out of the audience, who brought karaoke to mind. Almost everyone there, both performers (15 - 20) and audience (75 - 100), seemed to know everyone else - there was much handshaking,  hugging, and air kissing as people came and went. And the chatter is constant. At one point a professional who had performed at the Englewood Elks Lodge Friday night was introduced and sang three numbers (and hawked his most recent CD). In spite of the amateurishness and the Rocky Horror Picture Show/Gong Show atmosphere at times, the music was mostly pretty good and Mark enjoyed being there and listening to it. Might he sit in sometime? Not likely. Some that did shouldn't have either!

March 10, 2009 (Tue) Englewood, FL (8) - This being a retirement area second hand stores abound. They range all the way from junk shops to fairly high end consignment shops. It might be surprising to learn that a high percentage of the clothing is "winter" type - wools, heavy cottons, coats and such. It was for us until we thought about it. People move down here not realizing that how little it will be needed. So off it goes to be recycled. It's not all winter clothing though. The change in lifestyle for retirees encourages a downsizing of their less casual attire. As a result some real bargains can be found. Joy took off this afternoon - walking instead of riding her bicycle - intending to find some of them. And she did, a backpack full, in a new consignment shop open only since mid December.

March 17, 2009 (Tue) Englewood, FL (15) -  Another week of relaxed routine. The weather has been spectacular - cool for the most part in the evenings and at night and comfortably warm during the day. The sun has dominated the skies the whole time we've been here except for today. Although it threatened rain most of the day, we never got more than a few sprinkles. It's been a good 2 weeks with one exception.

There was to be a manned space shot from Cape Canaveral last week. Although quite a way from here, these launches are sometimes visible so we were all set to go out that night at 9:00 and watch the sky. But it was scrubbed and rescheduled for Sunday night. OK we'll do it then. We forgot! Well that was disappointing but not too bad because we've watched for them from here before and they've not been visible. We probably wouldn't have seen anything this time either. Wrong! This morning's paper had pictures of it taken by some local people. #@!*#! :-(

Tomorrow we're back on the road bound for Plant City, FL.

Q048488 Englewood, FL, SunTrust parking lot parked. (x15)