DEWEY IN FLORIDA

I had a breakfast of stone crab and shrimp, and Mike took us to the airport.  The flight was full, but fully masked.  We were the only ones with face shields, however, and they seemed to work fine. I did take a wheel chair, but I sat near the front.  It worked pretty well.  The flight attendant sent me back once and I could not use the bathroom.  Soon after a young boy went, and I followed him.  The seat belt signs were still on, but the attendant passed me doing drinks.   Drinks were coke, diet coke, 7 up, or water.  You signaled the server with one to four fingers. It was a short flight and plenty for me.   Cory and Katie and Reid were waiting for us after out 8 minute walk.  Nice weather here.  Cool, but sunny and comfortable.  Reid was even more fun than we had anticipated.  I sang a la la song to her and held her for a bit.  So grand to see her and be here.

  Tomorrow we are off to Denver to see Reid. We are there a week, with me taking a side few days to Blackhawk to give Eliz quality time with Reid. From Denver I'll go to Vegas, and I already have Chris and Val picking me up from the Airport and feeding me Easter dinner.  I'll see their new one, Dorothy Gayle and have a grand visit. They were as welcoming and excited as they always are.  Great kids. Mike came and we told stories in the driveway.  Many of them were about the difficulty of women sometimes acting inappropriately.    He is especially attractive to women. I did some laundry and most of the packing.  Just a few things to remember tomorrow.  We are checked in, but I'll get a wheelchair at Tampa, so we will be able to board first. Driveway gathering tonight.

An amazing time tonight eating shrimp and stone crab, Michelle's lemon cookies, drinking beer and telling travel stories.  Incredible really where these folks have been. Jane made a fantastic salad.   I liked Doug better than ever before.  He just seemed more relaxed and fun.  He is quite a guy, a woodsman from Maine. I did some packing today.  I have to finish up tomorrow.  Then we are off to Denver to see little Reid.  Very exciting. Amazon delivered the last of our expectations today,  a huge box of salt free potato chips. We talked to Keith and it was a fine talk.  They may visit this summer.   I listened to Frank's album of Covers again while I packed.  Great stuff. We watched two more episodes of Heartland and they were good.  I'll be happy when Ty is home from Mongolia.   I studied video poker again and did okay, but not as well as I have done.  I also planned a bit around Vegas dining.  It should be pretty easy to get enough to eat. Blackhawk will be harder, but I&#

Jan and Jerry drove up from south Florida for a fine visit on the deck.  We served shrimp and then some spaghetti with my homemade sauce.  Seemed to be good. Michelle brought over some of her chocolate covered expresso beans, and they made a good dessert. We had a usual visit.  We talked about family and some old friends.  I learned John Robello died.  Too bad.  Such a fine fellow. They had not seen our house before and were impressed with how well it was constructed.  This was good to hear because Jerry knows much about house construction. Later I had a bit of left over pork loin with green peppers as my Mom used to cook pork.  She did not add turmeric, however.  I did. We watched a couple more Heartland episodes.   I've been tired and unhappy most of the day.  Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

We started the day by going to the blood drawing place.  They had no issues with our script or our insurance.  We'll see how it turns out. Rita came to give dance lessons.  She brought Paul with her and it was a successful lesson.  I just escaped to my room.  It was good to see them both. I slept in my chair most of the afternoon.  I think the blood draw left me very tired. We had stone crab on the patio and Mike and Michelle visited after we were done.  We have a date to have stone crab with them.  As always the supper was good and the visit was good.  Only bad thing was the dried out lima beans I tried.  I threw the rest of the frozen bag away. A couple more Heartland tonight.  Ty ends up going to Mongolia to save the Gobi bears.  I could not leave a pregnant wife, but I get the dedication of both of them.

 I did not sleep well last night again.   But I took a 3 mg melatonin and that captured some of it back, and then I had a nap before we went to Ken and Minnie's. We were to have an outside fire, but it was cold, damp, and uncomfortable, so we visited inside.  They cooked us a rib roast that was wonderful with a side of potatoes/carrots/ cabbage cooked in the pressure cooker.  They made more of their special crispy bread.  And the gravy, made with oatmeal, was absolutely wonderful. For dessert they had mixed berried and some fine chocolate squares. We had a good visit.  They explained that in Newfoundland everyone in the neighborhood eats the same on Saturday and Sunday.  Beans on Saturday and roast beef on Sunday. They shared a CD their son made.  Frank has a new album out today.  I'll have to listen tomorrow.   They also played some Newfoundland music usually played with accordian.  One song was "Between Two Trees". On the way we stopped at the Inverness Farmer's

I had a really tough night, waking at three thirty and awake until about six thirty, napping another hour, and then up. I had a grand breakfast of oysters.  (See oysters in butter on the recipe blog.)  For lunch I had a nice sheepshead fillet in butter and spices in the microwave, and for supper the rest of the salmon.  A fish day for sure. Mike K came over while Elizabeth went to Paul's for dancing.  We had a grand chat.  Most of it was inside, but then it warmed up a bit.  It is supposed to be warm tomorrow. Mike listened to my old teaching stories. We heard the saga of the tough time he had after the polio.  Operation after operation.  In casts for months at a time. I napped again. Then Elizabeth and I decided not to go to the arts festival. We watched four Heartland episodes.  Usually we just do three.  It is hard to quit.  At the same time a good bit gets resolved in each episode.  Rarely do they leave us hanging.  I love seeing the horses.   I did two loads of dishes while Wi

  I  did not sleep well last night in spite of melatonin.  I made it up with a couple naps, but one was full of bad dreams.  Anxiety about my future gambling travels. We went to Shelly's and bought a ton of seafood:  shrimp, oysters shucked, sheepshead fillets, a grand salmon piece,  It was both grand and a little sad to see the river and remember our pontoon days.  Pelicans passed by.  Shelly's was crowded and some did not have masks. We had the salmon for supper with a pasta dish Elizabeth concocted of Michelle's newest noodle find, peas, mushrooms, and some tomato sauce.  It was really grand. We stopped to get Elizabeth's part for the car, found it was on recall and would be free.  We have an appointment to get it done next week.  Good news. At four we met at Mike and Michelle's for a driveway party which was fun, but not as delightful as some other gatherings.  There were some new people there.  Stan and Rita were there.  Dick talked a long while with Ernie.  Af

 Elizabeth has trouble with the cataract eye today.  It comes and goes.  So, we just stayed home.  I rode the recumbent, swept the patio, planned some more food in Blackhawk,  practiced a bit of VP, and we had a midday dinner of pork loim, red potatoes, and peas all cooked by Elizabeth. The biking went well, but the hill is still a struggle.  I went down the other way today as well.  My stout order arrived today and is being chilled for a later taste.  The order to Denver is supposed to arrive tomorrow.   I can't hook up the internet radio to WRVO for some reason.  Today I heard a bit of news while exercising  from an upstate station.  I did not catch the source. Just as good, I guess.  As long as I don't have to listen to Chartok, I'm contented.  Nine days left in Florida before we fly again. . The biking w 

 Mike and Michelle gave us a tour of their motor home.  It takes up their entire driveway, so it can't stay long.  I guess it goes tomorrow. So we had the St Pat's party on our patio.  In attendance: Mike and Michelle, Dick and Patty, Denise, Jane, the woman who sold this place to us.  Good gathering. We cooked up some shrimp that we bought earlier today.  Well, actually the woman gave them to us because she had so few of what we had come for, and not enough of these.  We may go back tomorrow for a piece of fish and some shrimp on a good deal that came from the Gulf.   Dick was more friendly to me than he has been sometimes at prior parties.  I really thought that in some ways I had offended him, but he was fine with me, and whatever it was, it isn't now. For supper I cooked up some lamb and eggs and had some rye crisp with it.  I had a Claushauser as well.  My Athletic stout comes tomorrow.   We watched Heartland on the television.  We had not seen it since a couple years

I woke up at 3 am and went out on the patio.  It was cool, but my shell was enough to make it comfortable.  I could not sleep even when I went back to bed and so I'm tired.  I got a bit more sleep around 5 am to 6 or so. The coffee was good and I made tea for iced tea. We have a bunch of errands today. E's car shifter lost a part which we finally found.  She slipped it back in and it seemed to run okay. I took the recumbent for two turns around the circle.  The hill is a challenge, but gradually my legs will work up to it. I have been sedentary too long. We watched a movie together last night.  TCM Four Daughters (1938) - Turner Classic Movies (tcm.com) I know I have seen it before, but it was good anyway. Lots of landscape activity this morning.  It was pretty noisy.  I talked to Suzanne next door who was trimming her bushes and Carol and crew were walking the neighborhood inspecting. Peter called to talk over plans for going to England to see this girl he sings with on line. 

 Elizabeth and I flew from Albany to Baltimore and then on to Tampa yesterday.  The Albany flight was uncrowded and easy, but the Baltimore flight was full.  The only empty seat was next to Elizabeth. I was comfortable on the flight.  There were only 3 hours in the air and since that was broken up, I did not even have to use the bathroom on the place. I did not like the crowds in Baltimore.  It was unreal.  I guess everyone was busting out of lockdown.  I am happy to be fully vaccinated and would not have wanted that experience before now. Elizabeth packed some lamb sandwiches and we had them while we waited for maintenance to fix the exit sign.  We had been boarded first as I was in a wheelchair.  So, we had a fine uninterrupted time to eat and clean up before the rush. Mike K. was right there to pick us up from luggage.  The guy who wheeled me down actually got our bags for us as well.  I tipped $5.  Once home we unpacked and then Michelle and Mike came for supper.  Michelle had made