Month: December 2019

Now that we have moved to Lake Placid, the routine has become more important. To go on a cruise we have to drive 3 hours and park a car and then get a shuttle bus. Allow 4 hours. So our routine is …. "What time do we have to leave the house and what time do i set the alarm for?" I’ve learned long ago, don’t argue about this second question and answer. The driver knows. I will fill up the car before Mass today. The tires are OK and we are packed. We are off for our last "booked Cruise"! Meaning I’ve not called our travel agent to book us a cruise nor have I used "Cruise holidays" on the ships to book. We are going cold turkey for an indeterminate amount of time. i have to change some credit card billing now as Bank of America changed our credit card number as one of their agents did some bad stuff. Off to do work on this beautiful Saturday before Christmas. Sail away tomorrow! God bless us! Happy Christmas. Welcome Christ. Angels with us!

Good morning gentle readers! I just looked at my last writing and it was Saturday morning 6 days ago!!! Where did time go? The 4 of us, Jane and Steve, Chuck and I enjoyed a day of ceremony (the submarine memorial), and raffles and gift giving and banquet. Then Sunday morning Chuck and I headed south back to Lake Placid. The roads were good and we arrived home about 5pm. Jane and Steve took the coast road stopping in Appalachicola, St Petersburg, Treasure Island and … Places Chuck and I haven’t been to! I can’t tell you what we did except unpack, laundry, clean up our rooms, and start packing again for the cruise this coming Sunday!!!! When Jane and Steve arrived we went out for meals and drank champagne and went into town for all kinds of shopping. Lake Placid is a little town with a crossroads of Main Street and Interlake Boulevard with wonderful shops branching out from the 4 corners. We broused and found some gifts and then I went to get my hair done and we had lunch at Schooni’s (a pizza and burgers place among other interesting meals). While Chuck fixed my car tire (out of which a Lake Placid tire repair guy pulled a nail and then repaired the tire), Jane and Steve drove me to church for an hour of adoration (taking the place of my friend Elsie). When they picked me up they had found me a dresser in a thrift shop. I’ve been complaining and moaning about having my clothes (especially long pants and sweats) spread all over the house and I need a proper dresser for them in our bedroom…. This is a proper dresser with really heavy iron scrollwork on the feet part and a nice light brown wicker. The top needs sanding and I’ve been fooling with the idea of sanding and painting the top which has a big scratch…. paint and make a little mural on it! I’ll start that right now…. So my $50 thrift find got me a new friend named Corky (who volunteers at the thrift shop that supports elderly care) whose husband wants to look at a 20 foot pontoon boat to see how big that is (we have a 20 foot pontoon boat). They live 1 block over on Anderson. New friend, thrift store dresser…. Lots of fun. Jane and Steve just took off. It’s a 2 hour drive north to the Orlando airport. I’ll say a little prayer for their safety. We sent them early at 10am and flight is at 6pm. That gets them through the roads and turns, the rental car return, baggage drop off and the dreaded TSA safty inspection and hope it leaves plenty of time to check in by 3pm and have a snack. So we leave you asking for prayer for our travelers back to England, and a little prayer for Chuck and I driving over to Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning where we will meet Peter and Karen Skipp and their 2 beautiful daughters Catie and Rebecca at the Vintages wine bar on the RCCL Harmony after noon on Sunday!!!! Happy last days of Advent my dear friends and May the Peace of Christmas and celebrating the (thank God) birth of Christ be with you! Angels with us.

We have gathered "upstairs" in the banquet room / restaurant here at the Hilton in Panama City Beach for the tolling of the Ship’s Bell for lost submarines. We will remember boats and men lost from the American Navy and boats and men lost from the British Navy. After the Navy hymn, we will go to lunch and then back to the hospitality room for celebrating Christmas!!! Jane and Steve, English friends, are welcomed and loved! All is well with the world with these wonderful veterans! God bless us! Angels with us!

I’m watching and listening to coffee drinkers and sea stories… I just heard, "and the captain said…’dont touch anything!’" to a visitor! And everybody laughed. They had Marines come on board for transport. The Marines would say, "I didn’t know we were going under water!" I guess it’s a bit scary when "Dive! Dive! " Is alarmed, and Chuck said you can feel it and things start to slide…. I’ve never done that. I’m the stay at home submarine sweetie.
Our English friends arrived last evening about 5pm. They followed the GPS and finally arrived safe. We walked down to the outdoor bar where the young bartender was lighting gas heaters. It was good enough to keep the 55 degree winds off of us. Due to the time change, when I went to bed at 8:15 it was actually 9:15! We were Up at 7am, 10 degrees warmer, and I’ve been drinking coffee and listening to stories ever since. When our English friends finally get here to the hospitality room, I’ll be ready for bed and a nap again!!!

Chuck and I have moved into the quiet lanes! The "biggest road" we have at home is 2 lane route 27 and now (930 am) we are taking route 19 / 98 north into the Panhandle to Panama City Beach for a Submariner’s Christmas party. We should enjoy sunny and 60s… Warmer would be better for me but we plan Beach walking and restaurant and bar sitting to prop up the local economy. The small fragile beach town was badly damaged by hurricane Michael in October 2018. That’s why we will shop and eat a lot to help the economy. I remember when we visited Waveland Ms after 20 feet of Katrina flood surge wiped out Waveland. We have all been hurt by storms; let us try to take care of each other. The drive on route 19 is peaceful and quiet with lots of trees and one other car. God bless us! Angels with us!

We have greeted our English friends, taken them all around Lake Placid, eaten way too many meals! And consumed mass quantities of tea and left overs!!! and gone to the Lake Placid Saturday morning market and a concert in our Main Street park… and we also watched some "American Telly" and put everyone to sleep! Yesterday was market and concert day and I served at the Church for a healing Mass and then the 4pm vigil. I met the family for the market and lunch then I rushed home to clean up the refrigerator and freeze some leftovers and to "prep" dinner for 9. Kathie and George brought up our pontoon boat from Miami and joined us with former Miami neighbors and now Lake Placid residents.. Laz and Ingrid and their handsome young son who helped us so much during the move so we had 9. When I drove in from vigil Mass (since I served as Sacristan I didn’t get home until 545) and the party was rousing out on the dock!!!! I heard them from the street and I thought! "Thats the Peabodys in your town you quiet Lake Placid friends!!! " We ate and drank and talked health care, politics and religion; all the things to be avoided at a quiet dinner party! but we had a mixed group and everyone wanted to know "everybody else’s ways." I poured us into bed and got us all up again for a good bye breakfast with George and Kathie. Then we mapquested and did Booking.com in prep for our English friends’ visit to Sarasota and Tarpon Springs. We will meet them in Panama City on Thursday. Off they go and off Chuck and I go to a party at the church. It’s men and women and Chuck has met a man or two so I figure if we bring wine as snack food…. it will be fun for all!!! After that party there is a Christmas concert at the Presbyterian church we will try to attend. Have a wonderful, prayerful Advent my friends. God bless us! Angels with us!!!

We played winter yesterday and sat outside at 5pm with English friends and across the canal neighbors. We all had jackets and I had a leg blanket but I got cold around sunset! We went inside and held a vote and Italian dinner at Sammy’s won. After dinner I served ice cream and everyone fell asleep while we watched FBI. I woke everyone up and sent them off to bed. After a good night’s sleep the sun is bright and beautiful!!!

I wrote the last paragraph while waiting for my new internist doctor to see me. He asked a lot of questions and supports cardiac doctor prescribing beta blocker to soften the punch of blood in arteries. He wants blood pressure to drop about 10 points and he will see me to take blood pressure every week. Also did a carotid artery sonogram. All points examined. Following up. Chuck and I have had flu and pneumonia shots so we are covering bases. I need to lose weight ( my own diagnosis) and get back to painting!!! So you. What do you need to do? Love one another ❤️. Stay warm! God bless you. Angels with us.

I got results from Cardiologist today that the aneurism has not changed… and "with technological developments this can be fixed….just not today" . The doctor is cautious on diving into surgery… I will get another test in a few months: an echo cardiogram and an MRA that has less radio waves in it and doctors will consult…. and we will go forward from there. I’ll get a cardiologist in Lake Placid and use Baptist Hospital in Miami as my "Directors and Producers"… We already have an Internist here in Lake Placid who has recommended a dentist and eye doctor….

We are home and it is a little chilly! 59degrees with a nice breeze. We have the windows open and Chuck is wearing jeans for the first time this year! I have chickens in the oven and we are waiting for our English friends who are lost…. They called from a gas station using someone’s cell phone and they got it all sorted out. It’s dark so I say a little prayer for travelers on I95!!!!! Oh dear Lord protect our travelers! Time to get to my unpacking and laundry piling… Dear December celebrationers be safe! God bless us. Angels with us!

Ever 🐝 n left standing to guard the luggage… for an intermidible time? It reminds me of the movie when the Russian passenger (Tom Hanks) spends months inside the airport! Chuck disappeared through a door marked suites to pick up his pocket knife that was confiscated from his suitcase 14 days ago and he’s been gone for a while … I wonder if a beagle got him for the second knife he has in his pocket. But beagles snif stuff and Chuck is clean. So I watch the door as people stream by me…here he is!!! And we are in a taxi! Our ride Rick is in Daytona so we are taxiing it to our car. Beautiful day! God has blessed us!