Orlando and back home

We left town on Sunday, Feb 16 and drove as far as Birmingham, Al.  The drive was uneventful, and we stayed at a cheap one night stand place, an extended stay motel that would put us in a good position to start the next day's drive.  We found a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, for dinner and had Pho.  Scott's Ex who is an excellent cook had introduced us to this noodle soup some time ago, and I wanted to have some again.  We weren't disappointed as the basic dish is a huge bowl of beef broth with rice noodles.  Ours also had strips of beef, anise leaves, mung bean sprouts and scallions.  Very good and mild dish.

We drove to Orlando Monday and stayed at the Rosen Inn, better known to us as the "quality" or "soup kitchen".  Several of our friends joined us for dinner at the "soup kitchen".   We traded "winter" horror stories as all who joined us were snowbirds from Long Island.  Tales of having to dig out driveways in order to escape to Florida were common.  Tuesday was spent with the Bocce players at the Somerset clubhouse, followed by "pickins" for dinner, accompanied by BYOB.  The Beaches were kind enough to provide Ginnie and I with a bottle of Rum and coke.

Peg and Ginnie with a Camelia grown by Peg

Peg is the most accomplished gardener.  She has a refrigerator in their garage which she keeps full of blooms, Roses and Camelias.  Somehow, despite the Florida insects and hungry deer that "invade" Somerset, Peg manages to grow lovely flowers.

Ron, Peg, Pete, Jane Art and Carol

Rose,  Connie,  JoAnn,  Fred, Joe and Annie

Happy Hour

Bob and Helen

Carol, Roy and Maureen

Me, Larry, Jill, Helen and Jean

Tuesday was a full day.  Wednesday we shopped in the morning and took Carol Englander to Andy's Nice House, a Chinese favorite of ours.  We had a really nice visit with Carol, who being a Jewish Grandmother, brought us up to date on all her grandkids.  I especially remember her Granddaughter Jessica, who plays the Clarinet, and is a performance major, now a Senior in College.   Carol is going north for her recital soon.   Wednesday evening we went to the clubhouse to watch "The Family".  Thursday was Plant City and strawberry shortcake day at Parksdale farmers market.  The Henry's took us down there, and then offered barbecue at their place.  We had a fun day and evening with Joe and JoAnn.

Joe, the neighborhood bartender who stocks everyone's favorite booze

 Friday was more shopping, a Chico's for Ginnie, the International Food Club for lunch (greek salad) and Jam from Lebanon.  We dropped in on our good friends and former neighbors Nick and Teri after lunch to find that she is mending from a sinus infection, earlier feared to be the flu.  Teri and Nick are just back from their annual anniversary cruise.   Friday evening we went out with some of the bocce bunch to an Olive Garden for dinner.  Saturday was a late lunch at our favorite Mexican place, Garibaldis with Teri and Nick.  We left them in time to attend Mass at our old Church.  After Church, we called it a day/week, and went to the motel where we packed up in preparation for an early start Sunday morning.  The weather was beautiful all week, hi's in the 80's.  It was actually hot, turning on the air in the car.  We hated leaving and heading north, but we will be back.  We visited a couple of extended stay places and are thinking that we will come down for 3 -4 weeks next year.  

That's all there is to say.  We had a great time, and relief from our cold cold winter.

Look out Florida, here we come

...that is if we can get out of the frozen north.  We have solidified our plans to spend a few days in a warmer climate, with reservations for six nights at the Rosen Inn in Orlando.  We are covered in snow and ice, once again, but at least we think our heat pump problems are in the rear view mirror.   Our first year here, I thought it would be prudent to replace one of the original heat pumps, as I didn't want to have to pay for repairs should it develop a problem when we needed it most in the dead of winter.  I got four quotes from different contractors, and chose the cheapest, a Rheem, which was my first choice, due to consumer reports reliability reports and my own experience with Rheem equipment in Florida.  Our contractor has replaced the original new unit twice, the second time with an upgraded unit courtesy of the manufacturer. The final piece of the puzzle was solved when the contractor rewired the thermostat, so that all works as it should. High heating bills are becoming routine with the harsh winter we've experienced. I'm hoping that fixing all the problems we've encountered will lower the future bills as well as keep us warm.