Packing up to leave as hurricane season moves in.

The summer weather pattern has arrived in SW Florida, rains every afternoon. Well, five months are up. Was going to stay for six, but Joe (landlord) sold his house in Philly and is headed this way. Worked out well as I'm headed for Puerto Vallarta in Mexico for a couple of weeks, a few days of which is for the International Living convention. A group of expats from all over the globe to speak on the in & outs of living in their new country. After that, the slow journey north, planning on the Gausmann reunion and a relaxing summer in WI - the first in about 40 years.
Got to see the Brewers in Miami last weekend, next time in good old Miller Park.
Heading back a little lighter than on the way down, sold the boat and a number of small items, there all piled up in the next door condo. Will pack up after Mexico and am hoping it all fits into the vehicle.

Cold temps - Warm Reception

It has been a couple of busy weeks. On the 22nd of April I headed up to Wisconsin, glad I kept a warm jacket. The rental car place had only one vehicle left, Dodge Caravan. Awesome!
Quick but nice visit with Trish & Dave on first night, then went to join Sandi at a conference in Elkhart Lake.  Stopped at Austin's on Thursday while Sandi was still in meetings. Great visit then off to Wausau. The big event was a retirement party for me at Greenwood Hills in Wausau. I was overwhelmed by the group and their good wishes. Crowd was friends, family, customers, office buddies, even some from corporate came up with the owner. Great meal and I was expecting a roast but they were all very nice. It was so nice to see everyone and I can't thank everyone enough for coming to share this with me and my family.
I also got in a couple of real nice visits with mom, she seems to be doing very well. She had moved into another building in the same center and it looks much nicer than her previous spot.
Two last days spread between Austin's and Sandi's then hopped the plane back south. Dave Ladick joined me on the trip back and spent a few days down here, "relaxing".  Right, we saw Tampa, Ft Myers, Key West, Miami, fished, airboat in the Everglades, and had pool time. For those of you that don't know Dave, the Energizer Bunny can't catch him. Took him back to the airport and then I slept, and slept.
This is my last month at the condo, so I am getting things ready for the next adventure, starting with two weeks in Puerto Vallarta.
Lost my last post, still trying to get used to this. Just plain old operator error. Hope this one sticks.

First Family Visit

My brother Jim and wife Kathy arrived mid-Feb.  It was great to see family again.  We did the Miami Boat Show, couple days fishing, visited a local nautical flea market (cool), local farmers market and enjoyed the area.  Kathy enjoyed free range of the kitchen and we enjoyed some good home cooking, I have many leftovers in the freezer, thank you.  We became curling experts watching the Olympics, almost every evening we had fun trying to understand the concept and strategy.  Jim brought a cold virus along but only suffered real bad one day.  It was a relaxing good time, Jim and I could not remember when we enjoyed so much relaxing time together.  He was even kind enough to leave the virus with me for a couple days after they left.

One month in.

I celebrated the last day of the month with a two plus hour trip up the coast to Clearwater to see Jake Shimabukuro play the ukulele at the newly restored Capital Theater.  As he started to play, I could not believe how many people waited to be seated till then.  I was getting quite upset as many were still filing in after five songs.  Then out came the cell phones to record and take pictures even after the intro speaker said none allowed.  Of course, most of the cell people were the same rude people that weren't there for the instruction.  I'm not sure who to target, the self absorbed patrons or the theater for not getting the people in place before starting.
But, regardless of them, Jake was phenomenal!  It amazes me the power of an instrument in the hands of pure talent.  The message he portrays gets straight to the heart.  I was very glad I came.
So again, on the last day of the month, I find myself driving south on 75  at close to midnight.  No fireworks this time, just the music on the radio and some light rain.  This is part of what I was looking forward to, having the time for events like this.  After all, like Tricia said, "what else do you have to do!"

Becoming Reality

So it's almost 2 weeks now since both retirement and the move to Cape Coral began.  Looks like I missed out on some major cold up north. 
Slowly getting all settled in and now starting to enjoy some of the local fare.  Last weekend they closed off 5 blocks of the Cape Coral Boulevard (four lanes) and set up 300 plus booths for the Cape Coral Arts Festival put on by the Rotary.  Talent poured in from all over, very cool.  No purchases except for a Cuban lunch, superb!  Farmers market is also only a few blocks away, good stuff.  Yesterday I strolled along a few miles of Sanibel Islands beaches, simply amazing.

But the big event was today, off with the old and on with the new:

Celebrated arrival

I don't know how they knew I would be driving down I75 just east of Tampa about midnight last night, but they shot off fireworks as far as I could see in every direction, what a welcome!  Personally, I was just quite content to arrive at the new homestead with temps in the mid 60's at 1:45am.  This is so cool, I know the best part will be in one or two weeks when I realize that i don't have to return to the cold.  Happy new year everyone, may your hearts be warm even if your digits are frozen.

The end of an era

Today I said goodbye to the Schofield area, and all those I know near, as I started the journey south.  It has been 50 years living within 40 miles of Schofield, where it started when Dad brought us all up here for his job.  We were actually looking for a place in St Point but there was no rentals available at the time.  I have really enjoyed the last years back in the area right where I grew up, but for now, warmer weather ahead.