No Snow today... or tomorrow!

Yes life is delightful in Vero Beach, where we can always find something to do.  Pictured below with friends at the Quilted Giraffe, a local restaurant/club with a terrific band/dance floor.  Pictured without Sue since someone had to take the image.  Sorry for the half-face Lois!

 

Happy Birthday Sue!



Below the Merrill Barber Bridge

Reclining in a consignment shop

Lady waiting for action!

 The weather has been cooler this past week (Feb. 8-12) but it always warms up before 11!  We've been looking at homes down here just thinking about getting away from the winters, and have found a few.   The action lady to the left would be excited to be a home owner in Vero Beach. More pics to follow.




Super Bowl Sunday

relaxing at a re-sale shop

As the days roll by living a snowbird life in sunny Florida, we find it isn't quite as hot as expected. Certainly not as warm as 4 years earlier when we lived on our sailboat anchored in Georgetown, Exumas, which was a few miles from the Tropic of Cancer.  Today we woke up to 47 degree temps and tonight we could see it go as low as 39.  This doesn't upset Sue or I since we brought warm clothes and of course when we left it was getting cold in Delaware.  A recap since arriving on January 3rd has us excited to be in such a warm-hearted town.  Everyone is so friendly and share info about shopping & any items we need. 

small doggie park

dinner at Vero Power Squadron

We go to dinners and dancing quite a bit.  There are the same old fashioned block parties I remember having when I lived in NJ.  Since I am a past commander of the Wilmington Sail & Power Squadron, we stopped at Vero Beach's local squadron and were warmly welcomed.  We were invited to their Founders Day Dinner where we met over 150 members and enjoyed a filet mignon dinner with a bottle of wine.  Each day we are treated like "best friends" wherever we go.  There are so many churches here that I think we could go to a different one each week and never attend all in a year.  Daisy really enjoys Vero since there is a large and small dog park here.  She is able to run with dogs her size, chase balls (she usually doesn't do this) but she likes to sniff around all of them. 


Windy day for lunch at the Lemon Tree

We met Ann and Dave Benfer, from Wilmington, for lunch a couple of weeks ago, and will see them again on Feb 9th.

The climate is so nice here that we have thought about living here again next winter.

We're headed over to a super bowl party at a friend's home here in Vero.  I'll post some images on this blog later next week.



Our First Week in Florida

We arrived at our rental property in Vero Beach at 4 PM on Monday after leaving on Sunday afternoon at 1 PM.  We travelled a little over 1050 miles in 15 hrs.  We stayed overnight in Santee, SC; two fill ups and approximately 42.2 mpg. 

Most of the time since arriving we have seen cloudy weather... until today, Thursday 7 January.  Today we visited the Hutchinson Island area to take a dip and baptize our new little girl, Daisy.

Daisy isn't sure...

Joan & Harry Skilton, sister Yvonne & Tom and Friends Nancy & Tom

Taken by Harry at Yvonne's back porch



Daisy loving it!
 

Happy New Year!!

Usually we don't have much to do on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, but since we will be leavin' these parts for a warmer climate, there is much goin' on!

Cabin top covering cockpit area

There is of course the boat that is being left behind...no one to watch over it, or maintain the ice or snow.

Bow cover keeping everything rigid

Just enough air to circulate over the cabin top

Merry Christmas!

 Attending the Night before Christmas has always held some magic for me.  This year we met the folks coming into the lobby with our caroling and even asked if they wanted to join us.
The candle-lighting is so warm and friendly while we sang Silent Night, but prior to this, the message from our Pastor Kathi Busch clarified our relationship with GOD.

The Worship Team singing "Joy to the World"

To You and Yours!

 

How the cover photo was created.  The last image we took of Daisy in September needed some artwork to maintain her looking at the camera.  This time was no different.  Daisy needed to be prompted to look at the camera, therefore I snapped the image of she and Sue together (first one).  Unlike the September image seen earlier in this blog, we did several images of all of us together, knowing that Daisy wouldn't have the "look" that we wanted (see below).  Instead of dropping another image of Don or Sue and layer masking it to fit, we just moved another head of Daisy into the image to add that special look.  The border I used was from a beautifully lit tree from Longwood Gardens, also below.

Daisy watching me (used her head)

Daisy not looking (used us)

Decorated Tree from Longwood Gardens





Down to the Wire...

As we all go about our shopping, wrapping and preparing for this years' Christmas, perhaps we should reflect on some of the outstanding times of our life that occurred this year and how we can thank the LORD for each.  We are thankful for our health; the church in which we worship (RiverCross) pictured here; the time with spend with our family & friends; and most importantly, each other!

Feeding the hungry in New Castle has been my desire for the last year.  I have began a team of caring individuals who have similar feelings. Our RiverCross Food Closet has fed over 100 families in the last year and I thank the team members and our church congregation for bringing the food for all to enjoy. 



Milk & Cookies for all the kids....even some big kids!

Each year we celebrate the birth of Jesus so we can give each other a gift symbolizing the gifts given to Jesus as he "laid in the manger."  Perhaps this year we could make this gift of caring for others in our community, our gift

throughout the entire new year.