Saturday - March 5

 Sunny and breezy.....walked to the clubhouse for breakfast (1st time this year)!    Always a good selection of pancakes (blueberry and regular) eggs (fried or scrambled), sausage, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, etc.    We sat with Larry and Jane from MA and enjoyed our visit.     So many people in the park we've never seen before.   

Last night when we were walking, a big white stretch limo was in the park - never saw who the lucky folks were that he picked  up for a night on the town?

Lots of little children/teens in the park lately visiting their grandparents for spring break.    We can't wait for ours (Luke and Maeve) to come see us in 3 weeks.     Walked but when that sun was out, it was HOT; but alot of clouds, too, which was a nice reprieve.    The wind helped today, too.

We picked Mark and Brenda up at 5 and we were off to P. F. Changs - haven't been here in years and 1st time for Mark and Brenda.    Love their food, but it was so noisy and very chilly and busy.    When we left at 7:30, there were many many people waiting in and outside.  But as always, enjoy their company and Brenda is so "in the know" about what is going on in our park.    She shared a lot of interesting stories.    Fun evening!

Brenda and Mark from Ohio

 

Friday - March 4

 We walked this morning - mornings before 9 and evenings after 6 are so pleasant out.   

I met Kathy, Claire and Beth at Cristof's (giving that place plenty of business this winter) for another wonderful meal + wine/sangria and dessert (that deeelicious chocolate bomb with spumoni ice cream and a fruit/nut crust).    Since I gave up desserts for Lent, I just watched smacking my lips - ha)!!!

We celebrated Claire's birthday (May 1st) since we won't be together for awhile.   Kathy and Paul leave Fort Myers Beach on the 7th.    So much fun together and we'll see them in Texas in June for their daughter's wedding.

Claire is ready to dig into her chocolate bomb

Beth, Pat, Kathy, Claire

On home, changed clothes and walked across the street to see the quilt that JoAnn is making for her daughter.   

Pink hearts in this direction; turn it around, purple hearts!

Envious of talented quilters

We said our good byes as they are leaving tomorrow for home (Candler, NC).    We will sure miss them.

Buddy and JoAnn 

Later this afternoon Ana (mother) and Sandra (daughter) stopped by to give me an estimate on a deep inside cleaning of Flo.     Sandra will get back to me tomorrow to set up a time!

Walked in the early evening and on home for a light supper and the weekend is underway.

Hope you have a good one!

 

Thursday - March 3

 Beautiful sunny Thursday.    We met Ron, Vicki, Bob and Linda at Buckingham Farms for delicious breakfast.   We girls shopped inside and bought cake rolls, chicken salad, crackers and jam.    They were giving away bags of romaine, too.   Everyone checked out Booger, the turtle and then said our good byes but looking forward to seeing them again next week in Lakeland.  It was a whirlwind 2 1/2 days of shopping and eating for the girls and a tour,   eating and naps for the guys,

Pat, Bob, Linda, Vicki, Ron

The siblings

Mark and I stopped at CVS for a few things and on home.   Did some laundry, caught up with texts and e-mails.    Enjoyed a quiet afternoon with walks, and visits with Jim and Lydia, and neighbors, Dave, Buddy and JoAnn.

Davis called a few days ago that he had gotten an internship for this summer in eastern NC.

👏👏👏

Today would've been Mark's Mom's 96th birthday.    Hope she's partying up there in heaven!

Today also marks 12 years since we had our pedestrian/car accident in St. Petersburg.    Shoulder is doing great!!!

Wednesday - March 2

 It's Ash Wednesday and the start of 6 weeks of Lent.    We went to 7:30 Mass at St. Francis and got our ashes.    Stopped at Peter's for coffees and muffins to go.

On home to enjoy our breakfast, change clothes and then I was off to pick up Linda and Vicki at their hotel.     We were on a shopping mission starting with Victoria in Bonita Springs.    This is an annual tradition to hit this wonderful shop which now is open only 3 days a week - business is phenomenal.    All these women trying on clothing (much of it personalized with the popular and varied Victoria logo designs.) and then standing in a long line to pay.    Crazy place!    Linda was the only one of us to make a purchase.

The plan was to eat lunch at Pinchers in the Wyndham Hotel on the beach.    But they wanted $20 for parking???    What????   No thanks...we went across the street, parked in the Santini Plaza and had a very good lunch at Fish Tail.    Then more shopping at Leani's and The Islander.    Linda and I had really good luck.

Time to head home and deal with the traffic.    We were 33 miles away but overall, not too bad once we got on I-75.   Ron, Bob and Mark went to the Oasis Restaurant for lunch and then a 2-hour tour of the Echo Global Farm in North Fort Myers.    They found it very interesting...

Tall bamboo trees

Pond that had Talapia and ducks working together to make more food

We all met back at hotel.   Mark and I came home; we changed clothes, had some drinks on the patio and then time to be off for our 6:00 dinner reservation at The Veranda.    This is one of our favorite upscale places to dine.    We had a lovely table with pretty view in the courtyard with fresh peach roses on the table and little lights hanging from the trees, etc.   The food, atmosphere and service are always top notch, waiters wear tuxedos, etc.   But tonight really disappointed in our server......started out good but downhill our salads were served    Took forever between salads and entrees, another long wait to get the bill, never refilled our water glasses, etc.     Oh well.....the food and drinks were  excellent.

Beautiful evening in the courtyard

Tuesday - March 1

 Welcome March - certainly came in like a lamb here in SWFL.....it was a mostly cloudy and cooler morning and no sun till later.    Beautiful in the afternoon.    My brothers and wives arrived around 10:45.   We girls took off shortly for shopping....Anthony's and then lunch at Bahama Breeze followed by more shopping at Wilford and Lee and Peltz shoes.   Success for all.

Back to Flo and met up with the guys.    They had lunch at the Farmers Market and had a leisurely afternoon visiting, napping, checking into their hotel, etc.    Mark picked Jim and Lydia up from the airport.    Glad to have them back!    

Tonight we had dinner on the patio at Cristof's - delicious and a beautiful evening although we were all wearing our jackets.

The girls in their matching Ruby Road jackets at Bahama Breeze

Pat and Ron 

Mark, Bob, Vicki, Linda

Dinner at Cristof's