Thursday - February 19

 HAPPY   HEAVENLY   BIRTHDAY

Sweet memory from November, 2016

Patrick would have been 61 today.   We sure miss him and sending love and hugs!

Mark and I were off to Dr. Friedrich's (eye surgeon) office for my follow-up.  He was pleased with how they look and the blurriness and swelling is all normal.   Today I change from the antibiotic ointment to Aquaphor several times a day to keep the incision moist and another gel at night time.   I'm to continue with the icing 3x a day.

On home and got the ice mask on.       Doris arrived at noon flying in from Chicago early this morning.    So good to see her and had a nice chat before Jim and Lydia picked us up and off to Fancy's for lunch.   This is such a pretty place and other than it being chilly inside, we all enjoyed our lunch.

Jim, Mark, Doris, Pat, Lydia

Back to CT and shortly after, Joe and Joan arrived with their Cricket (mini golf cart) which we'll store for them.    Mark, Joe and Jim switched the air conditioners around in the she shed and then some of us enjoyed Joan's delicious brandy old fashions.   We sat around the patio and visited and later Doris wanted to head back to her hotel as she had been up since 2:45 AM for her early morning flight.    Soon everyone else was leaving by 4:00.    Tomorrow we'll all be together celebrating my birthday.

Joan doing her muddling of the oranges and cherries

Siblings:

Jim, Doris, Joan, Mark

We played euchre tonight - 5 tables but no winnings for this household!  

 Fun time as always though!

Wednesday - February 18

 It's Ash Wednesday and the official start of Lent.   We picked up Lydia and off to St. Vincent de Paul's 9:00 Mass.   The church was packed with standing room only.

Mark took us to Jim and Lydia's and we were off with Jim to furniture shop for their new home at Shell Point.   Mark worked on tax stuff while we were gone.    First stop was Rooms to Go and while Lydia and I started browsing with Andy (salesman), Jim went to Starbucks to bring back some treats.

We were with Andy a few hours and several tentative purchases were made for their living room, 2 bedrooms, dining table/chairs, so a big success.    So many things to look at and consider.   

Then to Panera for lunch.   It was a fun outing and glad I could be with them as they made all these decisions which Mark and I will be going thru someday.

Quiet afternoon.    Luke and friends went caving (spelunking) in Tennessee this past weekend covering 3 miles exploring!    Here he is with his fellow cavers (if that's the correct term)?

Luke is 3rd from left in back

Mark's sister, Doris arrives tomorrow for 3 days of family fun!

Tuesday - February 17

Happy Mardi Gras

We were off to Cracker Barrel for a hearty, hot breakfast with some leftovers (me).    Then to Publix and on home.    After we put the groceries away we went for a walk.    Stopped in to visit with Jim and Lydia.  They are excited about their new home coming soon at Shell Point (CCRC - continuous care retirement community).   We will sure miss them here at CT, but know this is a really good move for them - our time will be coming in NC.   

The brothers discussing ???

On home and a quiet afternoon in the AC....this afternoon is big Mardi Gras party here in the park.    Claire and I were to get together today for some girl fun, but she's still a bit under the weather.    There's so much sickness going around - Covid, bronchitis, terrible long-lasting colds and coughs, etc.   

We walked later in the afternoon and I did more planning of get togethers with friends - calendar is very full but doing my best to see those near and dear to us!   😄

Monday - February 16

 80% of Florida is in a drought - very serious so we were happy to hear the rain coming down on Flo around 2 AM but only got 2/10".    But this morning and all day, everything so fresh, sunny with a high of 79.

Mark and I walked around 9 - haven't been doing much of that lately!    Then he set to work on the taxes and I played canasta (wore my sunglasses for part of the time).    My partners (Cheryl and Linda) lost to Barb, Margaret and Patti.    First time I've played in a while and will be 3 weeks till I can play again....arghhh

Back home, fixed lunch, did some laundry and more icing, icing, icing!!    My left eye looks better than the right which is a little swollen with some bruising.

Today was the Mardi Gras parade at 4:00 here in the park - always fun and today there were 15 golf carts and 2 bikes decorated throwing out beads and candy.    We sat with our neighbors, Buddy, JoAnn (and granddaughter Autumn) and Gary and Brenda.

We were supposed to get together with Barb and Roger today, but Barb is still dealing with Covid.

We had orange chicken with vegetable rice from Trader Joe's for supper - sooo yummy!

Sunday - February 15

 Nice sunny Sunday, but very windy.    We went to 9:30 Mass at St. Francis with Father Robert.   We had planned to go downtown for coffee/light breakfast, but....oh my, police were everywhere including a SWAT vehicle on all the streets going downtown and blocked off with barricades.    Not sure what was going on???    But decided to get away from that area and went to Starbucks on Palm Beach Boulevard.

On home and back to the icing....I've got a little bruising going on and starting today, have an anti-bruising cream to use 2x a day.

So sad to hear that a good friend (Lisa) of our NC kiddos who lives at Lake James passed away after a long valiant battle with cancer.    Lisa was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 10-12 years ago, then in remission for 8 years when it came back very aggressively.    Lisa was only 60 and she and Andy have 2 sons and 2 daughters.   I met her at the camp - lovely lady.

Jim stopped by this afternoon and he and Mark discussed various cruises and cruise lines.

Ten siblings on zoom tonight - Doris had an accident with her 1-year old Lexus (hybrid) and then a fire started and car was totaled.    Quite the story.     Janet is subbing for another math teacher and has a terrible cold; Tom and Beth are in Orlando (Tom's last official business meeting with the bank before retirement); Joan talked about her little getaway to Marco Island and Theresa talked about Mike and her visit to a reptile museum which she really enjoyed.

So, that's it for me.....nighty night!    Enjoy your week   Doris will be joining us here in Fort Myers Thursday-Sunday.