January 22, 2012

We went to Hope Lutheran Church this morning. It is located in Bonita Springs and is part of the Missouri Synod.

This church has a large campus with the worship center, the education center and the fellowship center all in separate structures.

The coffee hour was held outside which I imagine can be done often in this warm climate

Three keyboard type instruments were played and sometimes all at the same time. There is a white grand piano which was not used today. But, there is an organ, some kind of keyboard near the organ and someone played another type of keyboard to the right.

They had a special service of inspiration, art and music. Artist, Paul Oman, painted a huge picture all during the service which included songs and scripture readings. It was a very different type of worship for me and quite amazing!

At the end of this service, they displayed the picture he painted at the earlier service.

link to Paul Oman site:

http://www.paulomanwatercolors.com/

There is an intersection that we have driven through several times that has 16 traffic lights strung across it. I have never seen so many traffic lights in once place.

After we got back to our room, we walked to the nearby flea market for the third time since we’ve been here. We finally saw all the “fleas” and had lunch. Then we spent an hour sunning at our pool. We watched the NFL championship games for the remainder of the day. It looks like we are getting the hand of this retirement thing!!

Januay 21, 2012

We enjoyed another nice afternoon around the pool--especially after seeing a photo of snow that my son in Mt. Airy shared with us.

Apparently a lot of people must have been traveling today because we had the pool to ourselves for the entire afternoon.

Cordell actually got in the water.

It’s still a bit too cool for me, but maybe it felt that way because I was so hot from sunning in the 80 degrees temperature!

Tonight, we went to the greyhound races at the track in Bonita Springs.

Neither of us knew what we were doing since we’ve only been to a horse race one time in our whole lives. But the employees at the track were very helpful and explained the basics to us.

We only bet on 4 races. In the third race, Cordell won when his dog came in second and I won when my dog came in third. In the fourth race I bet on #7 named Just Call Me Lucky whose odds started at 4-1.

Cordell bet on #3 named Brazo Brian whose odds started at 8-1. My dog came in dead last and Cordell’s was next to last. We decided we had spent enough money so we came back to our room to watch some college basketball on TV.

January 20, 2012

Today we drove into old Bonita Springs and stumbled across a huge banyan tree. It was planted in 1921 by Cordell Smith, a former freight car hopper and a well-liked settler in what is now the City of Bonita Springs.  We don’t hear the name Cordell that often so it was surprising to learn about this one.  Upon further reading, we understood that my Cordell does not resemble this man because Cordell Smith was known as a ” tenacious reader with a memory as long as the railroad tracks he often travelled”.

In the same park as the Cordell Smith banyan tree, we saw these interesting statues.

I had a craving for a hot dog so we drove around looking for a convenience store with the idea of buying our food and bringing it back to eat around our swimming pool. When we couldn’t find what we wanted we quizzed our GPS and got a hit on a place that sounded good.  We felt really silly when we were routed to a place less than one half a block from our room! It is a huge indoor flea market.

There are several places to eat. One place with hot dogs also makes homemade potato chips that are delicious! Our tab was placed in a small plastic cup and that is where we left our payment.

We strolled around less than one half of the flea market and decided we’d rather spend the rest of the afternoon lazing around our pool. After an hour in the sun, I felt a little guilty when I complained that I was too hot!

Resting in the Gazebo.

January 19, 2012

Before leaving Kissimmee today, we stopped at Orange World. We have driven past this place every day and I just couldn’t resist checking it out. We were given free samples of the oranges and grapefruits that are currently ripe in the local orchards. And my, my, my---were they ever sweet! We ordered some to be shipped to our neighbor who is watching over our house while we are away.

Here is a link to the website if you would like to order fruit. They have different varieties of oranges, grapefruits, tangelos and tangerines.

http://www.orangeworld192.com/

On our drive to Naples, we found it interesting how straight the road is. Lots of flat land here.  I am sure I would miss the mountains if I lived here all year round.

We are staying at a hotel for the time being. There a several statutes around the property.

This is an interesting plant--must be a cactus of some kind.

January 18, 2012

We enjoyed a lazy morning at our inn. We like it here so much that we extended our stay for another day. We can do that since we are retired and have absolutely no time schedule!

We sat around the lakefront while waiting for our laundry to be finished. We had nice weather again here in Kissimmee today.

After lunch, we drove north about 30 minutes to Longwood and visited with an old friend we had not seen since all our children were in grade school. 

 It began raining this afternoon so it was a good time to be inside. The locals are glad to receive rain because it has been very dry here.

My cousin, Ken, had his cancer surgery this morning. The upper lobe of his right lung has been removed. He is in considerable pain as is expected. We are thankful that he tolerated the surgery with no heart issues since he has had two heart attacks in the past. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

 Tomorrow, we plan to leave Kissimmee and head south. I have to completely repack my suitcase. I think I can put all my long pants on the bottom for it looks like we will be wearing shorts most of the time we are in Florida.

January 17, 2012

Wow, did we ever choose a good day to visit Disney World! We arrived at the Magic Kingdom shortly after the park opened. The weather was fantastic and the temps were wonderful--exactly what we came here to enjoy.

They said that “Whether you are 6 or 60, there is something for you at Disney.”  We found plenty to amuse two “older folks” who are still young at heart.

One of my most favorite attractions is the “Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse”.   We have a large tree in our backyard and I would love to have a smaller version of this house put there.

Cordell’s retirement may not be going as well as he hoped!

We seriously got lost in one of the caves on Tom Sawyers’ Island and had to wait until someone else came along so we could follow them out.

For lunch we ventured to Epcot.

We had lunch at Chefs de France in the French section at Epcot. All the employees are actual French citizens. For an hour we felt like we were back In France and had fond memories of time spent with our French friends. The food was fantastic, too.

We couldn’t resist having a chocolate éclair.

Back at the Magic Kingdom for the night shows.

It was the first time we had seen the Main Street Electrical Parade and it was very impressive. I was trying to figure out how I might use some of their designs for Christmas decorations at home. The street lights were dimmed for this parade as well as for the fireworks.  

By the time we got back to our room, we were tired and went to sleep early.

January 16, 2012

Beautiful, warm and sunny day in  Kissimmee! We spent the morning working on the previous day's blog and lounging around the lake.

We made a drive to Tampa Bay----

---but we never saw any Buccaneers.

We visited with my step-sister who lives in Clearwater and whom I haven't seen for year and years. I spent some time with her a couple of summers when she lived in Detroit and I was a tween. She greatly influenced a country girl who had much to learn! I am forever grateful to her.

Late dinner tonight at Red Lobster, but it was really good and we managed to stay awake---but not for long. I missed my afternoon rest so I was ready for bed!!