Florida 2008

A beautiful winter's day in Central Florida.

We were fortunate to once again visit Orlando for my annual business expo and trade show last week.

The show itself was well attended, and worth the time and effort business wise.

Highlights of the week included a visit to Bok Tower and Gardens in Lake Wales.
This was a favorite place for the Queen and I whenever I visited the old homestead in Bartow while we were engaged.
It had not changed much, with the exception of all but one Swan remaining in the pond there.
Polk County itself has changed, and not for the better unfortunately.
Sprawling urban strip malls, concrete and congestion do not remind us of the Florida of our youth.

We were able to spend a delightful evening at Downtown Disney.
Dinner at Fulton's Crabhouse was wonderful.
We could never have afforded it when we were young.
I guess there are some advantages to getting older, albeit few and far between!
We had our hot chocolate at Giardelli's (an annual tradition) and shopped in the huge Disney Store.
A movie (National Treasure, loads of fun!) topped off the evening.

We then headed for St Augustine on Thursday, our traditional stopover on the way to Savannah after the BICSI conference.

This year we stayed at a B&B right in the historic district.
Dinner was at the Columbia, a famous group of Florida Hispanic eateries.
It was a nice walk to dinner from the Inn, and I particularly enjoyed some of my favorite Cuban dishes that my best friends Mother used to fix for us in Hialeah.
I was also able to enjoy a Mojito with the Quenn, which I cannot normally do when I drive to dinner.

Friday we stayed over with my Aunt Kitty in Savannah.
We took her and my cousin Mike and his wife Cheryl to the Pirate's House for supper.
The food was great and a good time was had by all!
A highlight for my Aunt was driving by "Lady and Son", Paula Dean's restaurant in the old downtown area. She is a huge fan of Paula's homespun Suthern' humor and cooking.

We had to skeedaddle early due to threatening weather forecasts back here in Raleigh.
Nothing much happened, we got a tiny dusting of snow that was gone by lunch time on Sunday.
Typically when we so much as see snow on TV here the local roads are virtually closed, so better safe than sorry when it comes to Winter precip.

There are pros and cons to my business, but a definite plus is going to Orlando every January.
Nothing beats post holiday depression like a trip to good old FLA!

App Daddy with some 'friends'













A Massive Lego Transformer would no doubt impress my Super Nephew Papaya!
This is one of the 'good guys'













Ahoy the boat!













The Queen on her own personal River Queen.













Disney at Night.













Can you spot Tinkerbell in the picture?







































My lovely Queen before dinner in St Augustine.













Were the spectral figures seen here tourista on the ghost tour of Castile De' San Marcos, or Spanish Conquistadores still patrolling their fort?













A stormy winter day at Pointe Vedre beach, just south of Jacksonville.
We had lunch at a wonderful place right on the beach.

Off to Florida!

We are just fixin' (southern talk, y'all!) to leave for my annual business conference/expo in Orlando.

It's always a bittersweet trip when we return to the State where I lived all of my formative years, from age four until the Queen and I married and left for Tejas over 24 years later.

The weather is normally at it's best in January in Florida.
Their cold 'Winter' might drop temps in the 40's at night. Brrrrrr!
After making fun of them all of my life, I am now a 'Snow Bird' to a minor degree myself.
One of life's many ironies!
Time permitting I will do a post from the Sunshine State.
I really am getting too old for the 15 hour days that are normally required to work these shows.
There will be some fun though. We always go to Disney's Boardwalk to wander around and eat at the ESPN Zone there. Wall to wall sports, and we sometimes get to watch a live broadcast on ESPN radio while there. One night we will go to Downtown Disney, a really cool place which includes Planet Hollywood, the Rainforest cafe, House of Blues, and many many unusual shops. The largest of those is the Disney store. Some of your young un's have received cute things the Queen Auntie finds there.

On the way home we are privileged to stay with my favorite Auntie, Kitty, in Savannah.
She is my mom's youngest sister, and has always been one of my favorite people on this Orb.
A marvelous singer in her day, (mezzo soprano) she directed choirs in large churches in Richmond and Savannah until just a few years ago.
Her three boys and I were the only males in the family, and remain close.
Dave lives in D.C., we saw his family over Christmas.
Rob, the eldest in still deployed overseas in the combat zone as a civilian security expert after a 26 year career in the United States Air Force.
We will see Mike and his lovely wife Cheryl when we visit, as they still live in Savannah.

For many years we have talked about taking everyone to the Pirate's House, the oldest house in Savannah, now housing an eatery that remains a favorite for both locals and tourista alike.
This year I decided to 'seize the day' as it were, and we will eat there next Friday.

My Aunt is as excited as a young school girl that we are finally going to go.
Should be the highlight of our trip, I think.

Our soldier is preparing to go back to Boone as we leave.
He has reserve duty tomorrow, and the semester starts in earnest on Monday.
He had a wonderful five week holiday, and we really enjoyed the time with him.

I am going to bug him to do a guest blog next weekend, describing his adventures with three of his closest buddies at the opening of the new Chick Fil-A here in our area.

Local media coverage and all, they had quite the time camping out for over 34 hours.

Have a great week!

Christmas 2007

Chip the Wonder Dog visited his "cousins"









Teddy Bears on Parade.




















As I write this on the Day of Epiphany, Christmas 2007 is now a ghost of Christmas Past.
For the first time in almost twenty years, both of my sisters were with us.
Kate, the youngest is a special Christmas Elf, and every day is special to her.
We had a great visit, and everyone had more than one Ho Ho Ho to remember.

The Queen and Ariel were happy and healthy.
We both realize that it will not be too long before he is away from us at Christmas time.
With his calling to serve and protect in the military, it is enevitable that he will have overseas postings in his career.

We had far too much stuff, but as the Apostle Paul put it, and I paraphrase "I have had little, and I have had much. Be content in the Lord."
I prefer too much personally, but there have been many past Christmas times when we had very little.

As always the Holydays are a time to remember those we have lost.
My father, my mother, most of our aunts and Uncles, and Nana Wheeler have long since left us. They are now part of "That great cloud of witnesses."

We treasure our times with all of you in the family, and if we are blessed we will see you in 2008.

Happy and Healthy New Years, and enjoy the pictures!