Another Week in Florida!

Wednesday, February 5, Ken left at 6:45 to meet a group of men for breakfast and bible study.  When he returned, I went to Lowe's to exchange some lights I had bought for our bathrooms with different ones.  The ones I had previously purchased came too close to the ceiling.  Fortunately I found 2 that will work well!

That afternoon we went to Harbor Lakes Campground to spend the remainder of the day with Ernie and Noela.  After chatting, we headed to the shuffleboard courts to play 2 games and we each one a game!  We had salads for dinner and then it was time for Hand and Foot.  It was a victorious evening for the women!  What a fun time with special friends.

Thursday morning Ken helped at the Food Pantry unloading trucks and they got a lot of food.  I worked around the condo and then we took a walk.  We spent time prepping a large salad to take to dinner this evening at the mother of Marilyn and Gene Martin, friends from our church back in PA. in the community of Pinecraft near Sarasota.  Frank, Barb, Lloyd, Deb, Rick and Joyce were also there.  Marilyn had made her "famous" potato corn chowder and it was delicious.  Ken and I provided the tossed salad, while the others brought dessert and bread.  What an enjoyable meal.

After dinner, all of us took a walk around the Amish/Mennonite community with most of the folks coming from Ohio, PA, and Indiana.  It really is a unique area with no cars but lots and lots of adult tricycles.  It is such a "throwback" area!  After a great evening, we were back to our home by 10 with the prediction of major storms.  Fortunately, the storms were very minor in our area!

Friday Ken and I went to the Church's Food Pantry and worked there from 9 till 1 with 87 people coming to get food!  It is such a special time for Ken and I and we really try to bring a beacon of light to these folks, but they end up brightening our day.  Our work crew was invited to Debbie's home (she is one of the Food Pantry Team) for lunch and we had signed up the week before to bring one food item to share at the luncheon.  There were about 18 of us and we had such a variety of delicious food - pasta, sandwiches, veggie casseroles, Italian sausage, fruit tray, garlic bread, pasta salad, etc.  I had taken an ice cream sandwich layered dessert that was a hit - I didn't like sharing the recipe because it is so easy! 

We were back home by 3 and by 6:00, Ernie, Noela, Jim and Joyce came for the evening to play Hand and Foot.  They had brought the treats for the evening and everything was so good.  The women won the 1st 3 rounds, but the men finally won the last one, but it was too little too late!  What a fun evening with some wonderful friends.

Saturday morning Ken and I met Mick and Susan at the Hometown Grill so we could buy them breakfast to thank them for hanging the wallpaper border in the guest bedroom.  But, now we owe them another meal, for they came back to the condo and Mick hung our new lights in both of our bathrooms and boy, it certainly makes a difference.  They left around 11 and I took Ken to Panera Bread to have lunch with a spiritual advisor.  It shopped for hardware for the two pieces of furniture in our DR.  I wanted to change the antique brass to satin nickel.  When Ken and I returned, he patiently helped me change all the hardware on the furniture and both of us are extremely happy with how it improved the look!  We took a walk around the property and someone scolded us from his balcony for picking up some oranges on the ground under the only orange tree I think we have in our community.  Ken and I were just ready to say that we only got them off the ground when we realized it was our friends, Burt. So we went up to their home to visit for about an hour.  The rest of the evening was relaxing, but we were in bed rather early!

New border and lights in Ken's/Guest Bathroom!

New lights in mine but rather hard to see!

New handles on the furniture in the DR -
took off the old colonial brass and added
brushed nickel!