Band - Table Pool - St. Patricks Day

 Shalimar, FL (Hi 56  Lo 47)  Last cold blast?

I want to thank those that sent an app for bird calls. The merlin!  Wow that's a good app. I have a cardinal and house finch that's here every day. It's wonderful to know. 

I hope you liked the first couple blogs telling about my new life. I'll continue the blogs it's great to look back on what I do especially new things. I don't like routine, the more it changes the better I like it. I guess that means I'm not old enough yet to  stay in a routine. 

Sunday: It started out rainy and the threat of tornadoes north of us. I got a couple phone calls that helped pass the morning.  I worked on a few things then my neighbor and I went to the Emerald Coast Community Band concert here on site. They are all volunteers and lots of different types of music. It was very enjoyable. (Click on the photos to enlarge). 

The rest of the evening I caught up on shows recorded and started some new ones. 

Monday: There was no hurry to do anything today, but at 12:00 I wanted to see what drumming on balls would be like. No one showed up so I looked up the gal that knows something about chimes. I thought it was Handbells that I used to do in Adelaide Shores but it's chimes, which are quite different. I signed up for it and will be there Sunday for practice or to watch. I was going to play pool with my neighbor but that room was busy with people doing taxes. Yep, next year I'll have them do my taxes. At 5:00 I learned how to get the WII bowling setup and will practice that sometime before the next leagues start. My neighbor came over and we played table pool. We're pretty much matched on skill level but loved playing a couple games before we went back home and I had zoom meeting. Anne was doing quite well. 

All day we had the F35A's flying around. There were usually two at the same time. It's really loud but that's what you call Freedom. I love it.  (Click on photo to enlarge). 

Tuesday: I had a haircut in the morning. The lady has been cutting hair for 44 years. She's quit working a few times but keeps coming back. I love the way she cuts hair, she's old school and uses a razor. My hair does well with razor rather then scissors. It's a really a good cut, another plus for living here. 

When I got back, the UPS dropped off my COX WIFI box. I was worried about getting online with it, but it had great instructions and I'm up and running with my own box rather then the village WIFI which keeps dropping my zoom meetings. 

I went to the meditation group early afternoon. There were 9 of us. Very good and well worth it. That's going to be weekly on Tuesdays. I had to leave a bit earlier to go to balance class, I did better but still can't balance without the chair. I'll have to do more at home. When we left there the neighbor said we could drop off my "stuff" at the thrift store, but when we got there we were too late, they closed. I still dropped off the stuff I can't use here and then decided to "look" to see what Ashley Furniture store would have in  a dresser, nightstand and love seat. Well, looking paid off I bought all three. When it gets here I'll have pictures. It was 44 deg this morning and it didn't warm up much but there was still some in the pool doing exercises.  brrrr

Wednesday:  At noon we have a craft gathering in our village and we bring what we're working on. I brought my crochet and worked on a cat toy mouse. We basically just talk about food and the upcoming events.  At 2:30 there was a counsel meeting. I was surprised very few people come out of 500 that lives in the four villages. There's lots of info and questions answered thru the villages.

 When I left there, I sat outside in the sun with a few gals and visited and met a few more of the ladies. 

Thursday: I got up later this morning, nothing to hurry for today. I did go to the lounge to help make St. Patties Day cookies. One of the gals made the dough and we baked them at the lounge and put frosting on them. 

I'm not good at selfies, that's why I seldom do them. But the cookies taste good even if the picture isn't good. 

It warmed up a bit today so I walked just our village to get used to which direction I'm going. I can get to the mailbox and lounge and over to the commons, but that's about it. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching storm chasers in Texas. 

 Friday: I got up early and a good thing I did. The boys from the base were here by 8:00 to put up Jim's shadow box (medals) and work on the patio. There were quite a few all over the village working on landscapes and odd jobs for us ladies. They come once a month. The two I had for the shadow box were here a week ago from a base in Japan. They were very polite and did a wonderful job. They also did a great job on the patio, taking out all the weeds and leveling it out. 

When the shadow box was up they had the gang come in to be sure it was straight. 

                                            Then they took the weeds out the front door area. 

It looks so much better and I don't plan on planting anything. I'm thinking of a couple statues. 

The area of Jim's memorial. The shadow box, description of time in the service and all the bases plus the flag from the funeral. It's going to stay awhile. 

Happy hour was from 3 to 5 to celebrate St. Patrick's day. We went over early to get a seat, there's only 150 people allowed in the "ballroom, dining area". It's something you have to sign up for but we were first. This is the group I've been with, but meeting more people daily. 

                                                This is Anne, my next door neighbor

                                                Vodka and orange juice with food coloring,  very good. 

                                                This is a picture of half the room. 

I got home in time for the North Carolina with  zoom friends. That's every Friday. We got a storm and it rained hard. I looked out on the patio and water was coming up really close to the patio door. I'll have to find out is that normal, if it rains more then that I maybe getting water in the living room. This view is after it went down a bit. 

Saturday: I woke up a lot later then the past week. I figured there was nothing going on till later in the day so slept in till 9. When I checked messages on the phone I had a text from one of the gals to come over before 10 to see how the WII bowling was setup. I got there to watch them play after 10:30. I may be helping out in April. They don't play in the summer. I'll be in the league I think in October. 

At 3:30 I went to wine time and a gal made corn beef and cabbage with potatoes, onion, and carrots, another made home made bread, someone brought ice cream and we had the cookies we made on Thursday. There was a group of 22+ and at the end of the evening they tested me for names. I named them all and I've only been here 2 weeks. 

It's been a fun week and more to come. I'm so relaxed. There's BP checks every other Friday and mine dropped from 140/101 most of the time to 135/83 this Friday. No wonder people live to be over 100. Stay tuned for more blogs to come. Thank you so much for the interest.