No More Whining!

 Whining is unbecoming, don't you think? So why was my last post so full of it? 

Good question.

Once the mountains came into view, all of that negativity washed away and while I will be recounting a little more about the trip, being factual rather than emotional is my goal. 

Milking the photos of Christian and Fallon that I took for all they worth.

Most definitely a highlight of our trip! Our hope is to return in a few months when he has had all of his shots and the winter weather is gone. Yeah for Spring! At least as far as the nasty viruses are concerned. Have you read that there is a "quad-demic" going around?  (read all about it with the link)

While our bird feeders here provide loads of entertainment value, I was so hoping to see some big birds in Florida on this trip. Only an hour following our arrival, Bruce had a super good find and called out to me as I was unloading the car. Grab your camera!

This guy was pounding away at a tree near the mailboxes. Woo hoo! 

Driving home from the dentist I thought, why not go and check on the peacock neighborhood? It never fails to delight me.

I saw probably about twenty five on the couple of streets and it was not raining; truly a bonus. 

Have you guessed that I am in a bird segment? Oh how I wish there was more to share, however, on the free day we had to go to the Wetlands, it was pouring rain. To say that I was highly disappointed is an understatement! This is the time of the year the egrets, spoonbills, blue herons and cormorants are building nests. Not to mention the wood storks. All of the big boys! Of course I am using that term loosely because without girls there would be no need for nests would there?

As some already know our condo is on a small lake that usually is great for bird watching. Don't be fooled by the blue sky in this photo because there was very little of that on our trip. This is an Anhinga for those who could care less about birds.

There was a cute palm warbler in a tree.

A little blue heron checking his reflection amongst the aquatic plants.

A red winged blackbird was amongst the downed reeds and looks as if she is gathering material for a nest of her own. By the way, the first time I saw this bird I could not believe that it was a red winged blackbird because I saw no red. Turns out it is a female and as is so often the case, the male and female look very little alike.

One of my very favorite birds is the loud limpkin.

I just love the brown and white pattern! 

It was nice to see the lake again,

and the only thing that would have made it better was a sunrise. Not happening with the gloomy weather much to my disappointment. I am mostly a very simple woman who finds joy in the simplest of things. 

Speaking of lakes, there are two in our complex and it was not until the day before we returned to North Carolina that I went to the bigger lake to see what I could see, in spite of the cold and wet weather. Not a whole lot except for this great blue heron that was all tucked in, warding off the cold.

One last nature photo that might make you smile.

These days I drive very little but when I am home I do put the MINI on the road, and in this instance, I left at eight in the morning to drive all the way across town to have an oil change. 

Would you look at that! It is raining. Finally I arrived and I took a seat in the waiting room adjacent to Interstate 4.

My oil change came with some surprises as they checked the car and got back to me that there were some serious repairs that will be needed sooner, rather than later. Oh joy! I did enjoy my quiet time there reading a marvelous book called Tara Road by Maeve Binchy. My advisor said I could wait for a little bit, especially because the car is just sitting in the carport. Maybe after we get over the HVAC system replacement.

Bruce arranged for the new system and we were very fortunate that the contractor had a unit in stock and workers that could install it. Bruce emptied the closet for easy access.

The system is in the top of the closet and the fellows needed all the room that we could provide.

On the first day it was raining so they installed a new version of the inside equipment pictured above, followed by the outside equipment on Thursday when it was still raining but not quite so hard. The fellows were top notch which was a real blessing. Janet came by for a visit that afternoon, followed by Anne and then Mary invited us for a delicious roast chicken dinner at her place down the street.

We had lots of meals out with friends including Joe and Cynthia who met us a Chuy's for dinner. Fortunately the restaurant was not very busy, so our server did not mind us sitting there for nearly two hours. A lovely couple who we do miss.

A marvelous night out at F&D Kitchen with David and Michelle was our Monday night date. 

The food was delicious, the company even better with great service as well.

Both Bruce and I spent time going through our place and packing things to bring to our home here, including more sewing supplies, some art work, tools and kitchen equipment. Although we have had good luck with thrift stores, shopping in our own home was very satisfying.

Now that our cars are serviced, our teeth were cleaned, our condo cleaned and organized, our eyes examined, and our family and friends all visited, it was time to head north and wouldn't you know it, the sun came out for the first time in nearly a week.

It was an uneventful drive to Valdosta, only a little over 200 miles from home, but as was discussed in my last post, the site of a Drury Inn! Because we were there fairly early, we popped into a TJ Maxx across the street. Who do you imagine these tables are designed for?

The store was jam packed with merchandise that is for sure. Because the mall was right there we went into the JC Penny's store as well as the mall where I saw this that I thought was fun. 

Surprisingly the mall looked mostly full of stores and it won't surprise you in the least that Bruce had a chat with the manager of JCP who told him that it was nearly 80% occupied. Good for them! Maybe it was because we had just seen darling Christian but as we were walking into the store I was reminded of how I used to buy clothes for our little ones at the JC Penny downtown on Orange Avenue, just down the street from the Beachem Theater, all places from our childhood in Orlando. Long gone, replaced by plenty of bars that seemingly are the cause of some troubles in town.

Piles of snow were in front of most places and in the case of the hotel, on the furniture as well.

It still amazes me that the panhandle of Florida received so much snow! We saw the remnants as we drove out of Florida. Which reminds me, as we were driving south in Georgia, we began seeing loads of downed trees which Bruce thought was hurricane damage. Sure enough, looking it up, it was damage from Hurricane Helene on the destructive path toward North Carolina. 

Day two was mostly smooth sailing even through the mountains which also had remnants of the winter storms. Holy cow it looked cool! 

We arrived home with enough daylight to empty the car and put most everything in place. 

Whew!! The good news is that we now are better equipped for our next visit with our place all tidy and  a driving plan in place. I'm pretty confident that masks will not be required for next time.

Until we meet again little man!

your friend,

Gail