Last Full Day at Ft Myers Resort...Laundry Detail

   We got up and had breakfast and then we emptied the hamper, stripped the bed and John took it to the laundry.  We got it all dried and folded and then headed to the pool while John did his walking and weights.  The Tiki Hut by the pool was open today from 11:30-1:30 serving hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and strawberry shortcake.  There was also entertainment...a guy singing, and playing a steel drum and guitar.  It drew quite a crowd!

Larry and his steel drum

 

The Tiki Hut

 

Our activities director, Michelle

 

It was a wonderful day for the pool...
food, entertainment, and sunshine!!

  John joined me about 1:00 while I was doing my exercises in the pool.  We left about 2:00 in order to get ready to go to Rhonda's condo in Cape Coral.  She's going to feed us.  We arrived there at 4:30.  Kevin was there also.  Rhonda's condo is beautiful with a large living room and high ceilings and a screened in porch overlooking a small boat docking area.  Her granddaughter, Ellie arrived about 5:00.  She is so cute!  It took her a while to warm up to John and I, but she finally let me hold her. 

Little Ellie Carder eating corn chips

Rhonda served us an amazing meal... chips and bean dip, veggies and dip, salad, pork chops, which Kevin grilled, sweet potato casserole, green beans, biscuits, and apple pie.  What a delicious feast!!  I actually tried raw carrots and liked them.  Imagine me being 60 years old and never tasting a raw carrot!! After dinner we played 5 crowns ( I won, but, of course, I was the scorekeeper), and then Catch Phrase, which the women won.  We had a really good time!  We said our good-byes and left about 8:30 so we could get back and start getting ready to leave in the morning.  When we got back we put a few things away, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Pix, Pool and Pork!!

  We had to set our alarms this morning because of the 8:45am MRI pictures of my foot in Ft Myers.  John cooked breakfast and we headed out at 8:15.  We got there early but they took me right back.  John went next door to the car wash to give the Jeep a much needed bath while waited for me.  They have a machine that they slipped only my foot into to do the MRI.  I was done in 45 minutes!  I'll get the results next Wednesday at my follow up appt.  We stopped at Publix and Kmart and got back to the CG about 10:30.  I made a bunch of phone calls.  Then John dropped me off at the pool about 1:00 while he took Kylie to the groomers just a few doors down from the CG to get a bath and have her nails trimmed.

Kylie is exhausted after her trip to the groomers!!!

  He did his weights, took a short dip in the pool and then went for his walk to put steps on his pedometer.  He's so diligent!  Ellen and Mike arrived at the pool and we made plans to meet at 6:00 to go to Sonny's.  John  picked up Kylie, finished his walk, and then picked me up from the pool about 4:30.  I cut off the soft cast (I only needed to wear it for 48 hrs) so I could get finally in the shower.   Ellen and Mike picked us up at 6:00 and we headed to Sonny's.  They had never eaten there and they loved it!  As usual, it was delicious!!  They came over to Harvey afterward and we introduced them to "Pass the Pigs" and "Up and Down the River" card game.  We had a great time learning to get to know each other a bit and sharing RV tidbits.  They are such nice people!

Mike and Ellen

They have  owned their own commercial and residential electrical contracting business in Illinois for about 30 yrs having bought it from the original owner.  Just like us this is their first extended trip with the RV they bought from one of their customers.  We exchanged email addresses in hopes that in the future we might meet up again.  They left about 10:45, I worked on my blog post, and we went to bed.  Can hardly believe that tomorrow is our last full day here!

Another Beautiful Day!

   Kylie got John up at 6:00 this morning to go out!  I slept right through it.  He went for a long walk while I slept in.  After breakfast we said our good-byes to our neighbors, Jim and Janine who were pulling out today and then headed to the pool about 11:00.

Jim and Janine
He was forced to retire from a CPA firm and
they became full-timers right away!

  While I was reading a moth landed on the corner of my book, "The Red Tent".  It read 2 pages before flying off :) 

See the moth on the upper right corner of my book!!

We struck up a conversation with our lounge chair neighbors, Ellen and Mike from Illinois, and before we knew it we had invited them to go along to Sonny's BarBQue tomorrow night!  We left the pool at about 2:00 because we had to get ready to meet Bonnie and Ken at their CG in Naples at 4:00 which is about 55 minutes south of here.  Club Naples is beautiful!  The sites are a bit close but certainly manageable.   We talked outside for a while and then Ken and John grilled while Bonnie and I got side dishes and salads ready inside.  Then it was game time!  We played Skip-O which the women won and then pinochle which the men won.  We ended the night with Sequence Dice and the women won that one!  It was sure nice to spend time with my sister and her husband again.  We always have so much fun!  Of course, we forgot to get pictures.  We hope to get together again a couple of times in the next few weeks so we'll get pix then.   I talked with Michele and TW when we got back about 10:00 and then we went to bed.

Much Better Weather Day...BINGO

   We actually had to set an alarm today to make sure we were up in time for my 9:00 podiatrist appt.  We had to leave by 8:15 to travel to Estero, so we decided to get breakfast at Marko's, next door to the CG when we got back.  I had so much paperwork to do at the dr. appt that I didn't finish until 9:30.  I finally went back at 9:40 and the nursing asst took xrays-3 views of each foot and 2 views of each ankle.  The dr came in and asked what trouble I was having and is suspecting some minor tearing in a tendon on the inside of my heel, just under my ankle bone.  He gave me a shot of cortisone and put me in a "soft" cast. 

"Foot fault'...I've obviously been watching too much tennis!

I will be having an MRI on Friday morning and a follow up appt next Wed.  If the MRI shows some minor tears the dr told me that he will inject some sort of concoction that repairs the tears without surgery.  He said they have had real success with it.  Thank goodness my hip is better because I probably will not be able to stress that foot very much if getting that treatment and I'll have to rely more on my repaired hip.  May have to check with my Ortho doc about that!  The follow up appt will be so inconvenient because by that time we will be in Venice about 2 hrs away!!  Oh, well, I'm not allowed to get the cast wet or walk on the beach, so there's not much else to do anyway.  And we're so bummed that we can't go to the beach with Bonnie and Ken tomorrow.  Instead we're going to spend the evening with them at their CG in Naples about 50 minutes from here. We left the office about 10:40.  I was kind of boo-hooing about the whole situation and my dear husband reminded me to keep it in perspective.  He said he's sure that 2 people walked out of a dr's office today and were told they have terminal cancer.  That shut me up fast!!!  We had breakfast at Marko's...sooo good!... then went back to Harvey to change for the pool.  John did some routine maintenance outside and I worked on oiling the shells we have collected so far.

Kylie waiting for us to come home from the Dr.
  That's her favorite spot under the table!

 


Look at the difference between the right side that I have already oiled
and the left side that I have not!!

  We got to the pool about 1:00.  It was delightful!  John went to the weight room for about a half hour.  We left at 4:00 because John wanted to walk since he hadn't done it this morning.  Gotta get those 10,000 steps in!  I'm so proud of him for being so diligent!!

9,998, 9,999, 10,000!!

  I worked on my blog post while he was gone.  We had supper and then went down to the activity for BINGO.  No wins again, but we both got close.  Then we went for ice cream next door at Love Boat.  It wasn't very full tonight most likely due to the chillier weather.

The sign outside

 

Look at all the flavors!  We actually prefer a long line
cause it takes a while to figure out what flavor you want!

 

 


Some of the flavors and the variety of coated cones

Love this poster on the wall!!!

  When we got back we turned on the fireplace... it makes it so cozy!  I talked with our granddaughter, Alexandra about a job interview and with her mom, Michele about how the viewing/funeral went for her dad.  We talked for about 40 minutes.  Bennett, our 3 yr old grandson was staying with Michele overnight, so we got to talk to him, too.   John went to bed and I worked on finishing my blog post while watching the Australian Open.  The Williams/Keys match just started at 11:30!  This might be a very late night if it's a good match (and so far it is)!!  It's 12:55 am and Serena William's just won...darn it.  Good night!

Carbon Copy of Yesterday...Weather Wise

   We slept in a bit today, so John didn't get back from his routine until about 10:00.  I had taken Kylie out shortly after he left and our neighbor, Gary came over to chat.  Pretty soon his wife, Mary Lou and their King Charles Cavalier doggy, Charlie joined us.  We talked until John got back... over 2 hrs and then at least another 45 minutes after he got back.  They are so nice (He's the gentleman who had the same vocal chord cancer that my dad had). We invited them over tonight to teach us to play Farkel, a dice game they play a lot.  We ate some leftover potatoes and eggs for breakfast and then at the suggestion of our neighbor on the other side, Janine, we headed to Bunche Beach which was only 10 minutes down the road and FREE parking for now.  It was a cute little beach used mostly for fishing and kayak and canoe launching.  It didn't look too good for shelling, but I didn't have a chance to even look.  Between my sore foot and the chilly, blustery wind, I never got out of my chair!!  John took a short walk, we got some pictures, and we left.



It's hard to see, but that's Sanibel/Captive Island in the background



Bunche Beach from both sides

The bridge into Ft Myers

Some pelicans flying over the beach

I was playing Yahtzee waiting for John to come back.
I must have been having a bad game... I'm really frowning!!
Or maybe it was because I was so cold?

This is a picture of the bridge over to Sanibel/Captiva

 

Wow... look at the old man's new muscles!

  We got back about 2:30 and went to the pool until about 4:30. We spent most of the time in the pool because it was too chilly outside.  I was able to move my podiatrist appt to tomorrow morning at 9:00 in Estero, so I called my sister to let her know we were on for the beach on Sanibel on Thursday.  YEA!!  When we got back to Harvey we got cleaned up and made an early supper.  I made some red pepper dip for our evening with our neighbors and we relaxed in front of the TV while waiting for Gary and Mary Lou to come over.  They came at 7:00 and we played 3 games of Farkel and 4 games of Pass the Pigs.  We had a great time!! (of course, we forgot to get a picture, but we will before we leave on Sunday!). They left about 9:30, we went to bed and John read while I watched some of the Australian Tennis Open then went nighty night.

Windy, Chilly Day in Ft Myers

   We woke to very chilly winds but temp in 60's.  Within the first hour that we were up it started to pour so John made pancakes while I iced my foot.  But 2 hrs later the sun was shining brightly although it was still very windy.  John went for his walk while I worked on my blog post.  When I was finished with that I soaked all the shells we have found thus far in a weak bleach solution to clean them.  I'm going to let them dry real well and then maybe tomorrow I'll rub them with mineral oil to bring out the color.  Then I called a local podiatrist to make an appt to have my foot looked at.  They can see me on Thursday afternoon, but I'm going to call tomorrow to see if they have any cancellations so I can get in sooner.  We had lunch and decided to go to the pool.  I started in the hot tub to do some exercises, then went to my lounge chair for the rest of the afternoon.  The sun was nice and warm but when it went behind the clouds I got goosebumps!  John got in the pool for a while, but after he got out I was ready to go.  He laid out to dry and we played a few games of electronic hand held  Yahtzee and then we left about 3:00.  We planned to go out for supper to Pastabilities, a local Italian restaurant that was highly recommended, especially for their veal.
While we were getting ready to go a girlfriend of mine from my high school years that I have been getting together with for the past year called me.  She had seen the obituary for my ex husband and asked about it.  It was nice to talk with her because with my surgery and all we haven't gotten together for a while.  We left to go eat and, oh my, it was delicious!  We both got the veal parmesan, but John had a salad and potatoes with his meal and I had cream of cauliflower soup and pasta with mine.  YUM!! 

The restaurant was just down the road



Here's the veal parmesan... it was solo good!

Then we did some shopping at Dollar Tree, Sally's, Publix and Big Lots.  We really just needed a few things at each store and we were back by 8:00.  My sister called to make some plans to go to the beach together on Thursday, but because of my dr appt it probably won't work.  Then I called TW to see how the funeral went.  Luckily they made it home from NY safely but did run into slippery conditions in NJ and on Rte 222 in PA.  Then I called my dad to tell him about the woman we had met from Strasburg.  Unfortunately, he didn't know her, but we had a nice conversation.  He's doing great and he told me some parts of mom's bldg. are still quarantined from the flu and an intestinal bug.  Then John and I played Nerts.  He won pretty handily..shucks!  I worked on my blog post and we went to bed.

Hang Around the CG Day

   It was too windy and chilly to go to the beach and my foot was hurting so we decided to have a leisurely morning in Harvey to rest and ice my foot.  John did his walking while I iced my foot.  He made breakfast when he came back.  I called TW and Michele to see how things were going in preparation for the viewing/funeral for their father tomorrow in Gloversville, NY.  Most things were in order.  I'm very proud of them for handling everything so well!  I worked on  my blog post and then we went to the pool.  It was windy but very pleasant.  I did my exercises in the pool (which is like bath water), and then just lounged.  We left about 3:00 because we planned to Skype with Emma and Ellie at 3:30 and we had to get ready for the Sandi Patty concert.  It was so good to see their little faces and talk with them and Dustin and Cathy, too!!  Then I got my shower while John made steak sandwiches from a leftover flat iron steak he grilled a couple of days ago.  They were so good! Not long after John got ready for the concert one of the ladies in charge of the concert tickets asked if we were using all 4 of ours because she now needed one.  Since Bonnie and Ken were already on their way John gave up his ticket so someone from the CG could go.  The 3 of us left for the concert about 5:15 and traveled to the First Assembly of God church on Summering Rd in Ft Myers.  There were hundreds of people already in line because seats were on a first come first served basis and they couldn't get in until 6:00.  Thank goodness we already had tickets and we could go right in!  Turns out John could have gone after all because there were 3 empty seats in our row before they left the non ticket holders in :(. Let me tell you the girl still has it!!  I haven't seen her for quite a few yrs. And she still has a voice that makes the hair stand up on my arms.  It's so inspiring, too!  Her 27 yr old son who had a traumatic brain injury when he was 2 was there also.  He overcame all the problems he had and he, too, sings like an angel.  Reminded me of Josh Groban.  The auditorium was huge... probably held 2,000 or so and it was packed!  The concert lasted 2 hrs and we got back about 9:30. Sandi Patti was phenomenal!

  Bonnie and Ken stayed about 20 minutes and then left to drive back to their Naples CG about 50 minutes away.  It was sure good to see them!!  We hope to hook up with them again in the next few weeks.  John went to bed while I watched the end of the Miss Universe pageant.  Then I got a peek at the horrible weather you guys are going to get tomorrow and Tuesday.  I small part of me is sorry I'm missing it because I've always gotten excited at the prospect of a large snow storm!  I'll get over it, though.  Hope things don't get too bad for you all, really.

Cindy Gets Her Shopping Fix and Performs!

   We woke up to a beautiful morning even though it rained pretty heavily during the night.  There was even a tornado that leveled a camper about 40 miles from here!  Part of that weather pattern is still hovering over us because it is still very windy!  We ate breakfast and then I got ready to meet Rhonda @11:00 outside TJ Maxx for our shopping day.  Costco was right around the corner so I returned the infamous sweatshirt that I had forgotten the receipt for a couple of days ago.  We were in TJ Maxx about 2 hrs!  John was very happy to hear that I took half of the things out of my cart just before going to the check-out!!  From there we headed to the University Grille right next to FSW (Florida South Western Univ.), but it didn't open until 4:00 on a Saturday.  So debated whether to take me to Coconut Point, which is higher end shops, or Miramar Outlets where there is a popular hamburger restaurant named, Ford's Garage.  I'm not much of a "higher end" gal, so we went to Miramar.  We had a 30 min wait to get into the restaurant, so we window shopped.  There was a candy store across from the restaurant named, Norman Love Confections.  OMG!  I've never seen anything like it!!  The picture tells the story.  All the individual flavored chocolates are poured into painted molds that remind you of the flavor.  They are beautiful and expensive...$3.00 a piece!!  But they left you taste anyone that you wanted.  So, of course, we each had an appetizer before lunch!!  We decided we would come back after lunch for dessert.

Aren't they beautiful!  Rhonda had cinnamon roll and I had dark choc mousse

  We went over to the restaurant and ate outside by a tall heater.  We were glad for that because it was a bit chilly in the shade with the wind.  The whole place had an auto garage theme.  The menus were leather like upholstery, the menu items were named after car/garage parts, and the waitresses had uniforms that resembled repairman.  We both ordered hamburgers which were delicious!  By the time we were finished it was almost 4:00!  I used the restroom before we left... check it out.

Rhonda by the car outside the restaurant

 

They heat stamp all the buns

 

This is the sink...Cool, huh?!?

  We went back over to the candy store and shared a chocolate caramel mousse tort.  I thought I died and went to heaven!  We decided that this would our very special get-together place every time I come to Florida!

Everything was edible except the bottom gold plate!

  Rhonda had to be home by 5:00 to babysit her granddaughter, so we headed home.  Can't believe we only shopped in one store!!  Oh, well, we caught up on each others lives.  It was pretty neat... felt like old times.  We're going to try to do it again before we leave.  Hopefully, we'll get more shopping done!  When I got back I had to practice my song for the talent show tonight.  John, my sweetie, had already gotten the words printed out for me down at the office.  He ate some supper(I was still too full from lunch) and then we headed down to the activity building for the show.  It was mostly musical comedy, so I decided to tell my "Jakey and Sadie" PA Dutch joke before singing Sandi Patty's "In the Name of the Lord".  I didn't win any of the prizes, but both were well received.

See, I told you, I really did it!

This is the activity director, Michelle, and a camper as Dolly Parton
and Kenny Rogers lip-syncing to "Island in the Stream"
 

  The neatest thing that came out of it was one of the campers came over to me to let me know that Sandi Patty was doing a free concert at a nearby church tomorrow night and the CG had a block of tickets for reserved seats.  They had extra if John and I wanted to go!  I certainly jumped at that (although I hesitated a bit when I remembered the Miss Universe Pageant was on that evening, too.  Those of you who know me, know how much I've loved those beauty pageants!)  I've seen Sandi Patty in concert at least 3 or 4 times but it's been a while.  Bonnie and Ken were headed this way to a new CG, so I called them to see if they wanted to go also.  They did, and I was able to get tix for them, too.  We got back to Harvey about 9:30.  My foot was killing me so I iced it a while, watched TV and then we went to bed.

A Nice Relaxing Day

   Since the weather was a calling for possible rain sometime today we decided to hang around the CG, do some shopping and laundry.  We had a late breakfast and headed to the pool.  I did my exercises while John went to the weight room to finish up his exercise routine then he joined me in the pool.  Now it was time for some lounging!!  It was very windy by the pool, but sunny and warm.  By about 1:15 all lounge chairs were full and so was the pool!  Most people were floating on "water noodles".  We stayed until about 3:00 then cleaned up and got ready for our shopping venture. We had gotten a call this morning from the Christian Music store that the CD I had ordered was in.  The store is beside Costco and I had a sweatshirt to return there, so we headed there first.  We were also hungry for pizza so we thought we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone and splurge on dinner at Costco.  Well, it turns out we went to Costco just for dinner, because I forgot the receipt for the sweatshirt!!  Then we went to Kmart and Publix grocery store and got back about 7:00. Then it was laundry duty.  Since the laundry room is right next to the shuffleboard courts we played 3 games while waiting for the laundry to finish.  John won the first one by a landslide and I won the 2nd one pretty handily.  The 3rd game was a fight to the finish and John was the victor!  We got back to Harvey about 9:30.  I called Rhonda to see if she wanted to do some shopping tomorrow, and... we're on!!  We watched TV for a while and went to bed. 

Another Perfect Day!

  We took Bonnie's advice, ditched our exercise routine, and left for Captiva at 9:00 am.  The bridge onto the island gives a beautiful view!

 

 

 

 

These were all taken from the car on the bridge onto the island

  We didn't run into too much traffic, but it seemed to take forever to get to Captiva!  We realized we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because we seemed to still be on Sanibel.  About the time we realized that, we passed a sign for Bowman's Beach Park, so decided to go there instead.  We arrived at 10:15.  It was beautiful!  Turquoise, clear blue water, gentle waves, and lots of shell beds just inside the shore line.  And the weather was gorgeous, too...80 dry degrees and a breeze.  The water wasn't too cold either.  Using my "Florida snow shovel" and just my plain old eyesight to search for shells, I never sat down until about 90 minutes after we got there.  John took a couple of long walks and between the two of us we found a lot of neat shells, especially Auger shells (the long pointy spiral ones) and some conch.  I'm not sure why, but I have a special fondness for the skinny insides of conch shells.  They do add interest to a jar full of other shells!  

By the way... these are the real new bathing trunks!



John got into using the "Florida snow shovel" too

It's so much fun looking for shells.  See the starfish in the middle
and the coral on the left

We left at 3:15 but didn't get off the island until about 4:15.  The traffic is awful!!  But the drive over the bridge at the end makes it all worth while because it's just so pretty.

This is the entrance part of the bridge that we're headed to
after leaving the island.  I took it from the car window.  I love this picture! (I got lucky)

  When we got back we ate an early supper because we hadn't eaten since breakfast (except for a couple of snacks at the beach).  Then John went for a walk while I downloaded pictures and worked on the blog post.  We decided to go next door for ice cream but on the way there he was acting a bit strange (even for him) and he detoured me to one of the permanent trailers on the CG.  I realized that he must have found the owner of that truck I talked about in a previous blog post that had a sticker on it from our hometown car dealer.  Turns out the wife is from Strasburg and she is very indirectly familiar with my dad.  She went to school with the daughters of Dad's first employer, Frank Herr, after he got home from WWII.  She knew that there was an "Althouse" that worked for him.  And she only lives about 1/4 mile from "Gobbler's Knob," the house that my Dad built for my Grandfather.  Small world, huh?  We got our ice cream and then headed for the shuffleboard courts.  John won the 1st game and I won the 2nd one.  (He was up 21-7 at one point but got 3 minus 10s!). We watched some TV when we got back and then John went to bed.  I finished up my blog post while watching about 2 Pawnography game show episodes and 6 Pawn Stars episodes.  I've really learned to like that show!  Then I went to bed about 1:30 am.  I guess I'll sleep in tomorrow (today).  Not sure if we're going to the beach or staying at the pool tomorrow.  Guess it depends on the weather.
.

Darn Near Perfect Day on the Beach

The weatherman got it right today!!  It was near 70 when we got up!  John did his walking/exercising outside of Harvey and I did mine inside.  When he got back we freshened up and went next door to Marko's Diner for breakfast.  It was absolutely delicious!  We'll be going there again!  It was about 11:00am when we headed for Bonita Beach about 6 miles south of Fort Myers beach.  It's a very pretty view from the bridge into the town.

 

 


That's a couple parasailing in the background

 


This is one of the cute shops in downtown Ft Myers Beach



Once we finally got into Bonita Springs (the traffic was horrendous) we couldn't find a parking space anywhere!  We even drove into Barefoot Beach County Park (which was about a crawling 2 mile drive) and were told that we could pay the $8 entrance fee but there was no guarantee that there would be a parking space.  So we turned around and drove back toward Ft Myers beach.  It was now 1:00 so we decided to check out one of the parking lots we tried to get in before, and lo and behold we found a spot!  By the time we got on the beach our 11 mile drive took us 2 hrs and 20 minutes!  It was very frustrating!!  We ended up on Little Hickory Beach and it was really nice...Lots of shells and lots of beach for John to walk on.  John was sporting his new haircut and new bathing suit.

See how much younger and cooler he looks with his new do!



Sorry it's so blurry, but he wanted to remain anonymous
and not show off too much!

  The temperature got into the high 70s and there was a small breeze.  It was glorious! 

A nice person snapped this picture for us as we were leaving

We left about 5:15 and got into another traffic jam.  We got back to Harvey at 6:10.  We grilled for supper and then skyped with TW, Arlena, and Bennett.  It was good to see their faces and talk with them!  I also talked with my sister, Bonnie and told her we want to go to the beach on Captiva tomorrow.  She advised us to leave early because there is only one parking lot and it gets full by mid morning.   I worked on our blog post a little bit and then we went down to the shuffleboard courts.  I'm happy to report that I was not only able to play now, but I won both games!  My hip is coming along pretty well.  I think I'm about 70% there.  I'm actually having more trouble with my right foot and ankle.  I think the fact that it has been bearing most of my weight for the last 2 mos has taken a toll on it.  Hopefully, as my hip recovers, so will my foot/ankle.  We came back to Harvey, took showers, I consoled John, and we went to bed.