The calm AFTER the storm

Thanksgiving with the Hay clan -- or many of them -- at the club house here at Autumn Trace went perfectly well. Great food (All the Hay women are excellent cooks following in their mother's footsteps.), well behaved children, good conversation, and lots of help cleaning up afterward. In fact, Jackie has already suggested we reserve the party room for next year's Thanksgiving already.

Today, Jerry and I have peaked too soon for our trip south. Right now we're in limbo, waiting, waiting, waiting...

The last hurrah before snowy weather

Here it is November 8th, the tempertaure earlier was 73 degrees so we took the opportunity to drive with the top down for one final time before next spring. There's something so exciting about having the cool breeze whip through your hair, making it look like you used an egg beater before going out!

Burial rituals

Shawn's father, Chuck, died this past week, Tuesday, November 3. Everything that Amanda, Shawn, and Rita (Shawn's mother) have gone through has forced me to do some soul-searching. In the past, I've balked at the idea of cremation but I'm now seriously reconsidering it as an alternative. One thing that has come out of this is that Jerry and I will make a detailed list of where legal documents and finances are located for Amanda and Rob as well as for each other. It's something we've been meaning to do ever since Cleda died in May.

Florida, October, 2009

Being on the beach in the fall is the BEST. There are no lines in stores, the traffic is minimal, and the beach is quiet and not crowded. Yet, the weather is still perfect and the water is still warm. I worked with and became friends with a group of women at the 2000 Census Bureau. On of them, Tinker, (Yes, that's her real name.) owns a condo in Panama City Beach, Florida. The plan was for most of the group to all go together and stay at her place. What happened, however, was that three in the group had other plans and couldn't go so it ended up with Tinker, Rita, and me.

I drove all day on Sunday, making frequent rest stops, and we arrived at the condo after dark. First thing the next morning, I pulled back the drapes, gasped, and took a step backwards!! It looked exactly like the condo was built right in the water. It wasn't until after I went out on the balcony and looked straight down did I see the beach itself; we were on the 20th floor. All three of us spent some time on the beach but that was all they wanted of beach time. Not me. I went down every day for a walk, wading, watching sea gulls, pelicans, and sand pipers -- didn't see any porpoises this time. There's something almost hypnotizing about the surf rolling in then pulling back out. I like to find a "solid" place in the sand and just stand still while the water sloshes over my feet then sucks the sand out from under my feet. Or, I like sitting in a short, sand chair and letting the waves splash up on my feet and legs. What a great stress reliever!

We ate good fish, fixed a few meals at the condo, and drove around a little -- but we spent most of our time just relaxing and playing games. The TV was turned on a total of about an hour's worth of time for the whole week. Rather than TV, we played Boggle, tried playing Dominoes, and had a marathon of Yahtzee. We were going to stay a bit longer but poor Tinker began to have inner ear problems so we thought it best to get her to her own home. After we'd packed up all our stuff and were ready to load it into the car, she started feeling better and actually wanted to stay another whole week. :-)