Time with Leah Anne Froehling

October 13th -23^rd Atlanta, GA.

Ten days with our 20 month old granddaughter, Leah, was busy, busy, busy! Michael and I played & played & played with Leah, took her out for lunch, bought some new toys and a new outfit (the little black dress). We “read” her books before bed or rather tried to read, as we have yet to see Leah sit still for more than 5 minutes all day long! Perhaps that’s why she is such a good sleeper (12 hours a night straight through with a nap in the a.m. without any complaints going in). But the moment she’s up she's off and running, usually with my kindle. It’s amazing to me how today’s babies catch on so quickly to the world of technology! Obviously, we took many pictures, here’s a bunch of them.

BUSY DAY SHOPPING & CLEANING

 

 

 

 

A LITTLE PLAY TIME WITH GRAND PA MIKE

 

AT WORK

 DINNER PARTY

 

 

WITH A HAND OF CARDS

 

SO MUCH FUN, SO MUCH LOVE!

Florida Whirlwind

 

Phew! 18 days! We crossed into Florida on 9/26/14 from Georgia and then we crossed back into Georgia 18 days later.  We had an absolute whirlwind of activity and a great time. Here are some of the highlights…

·         We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn for 6 days in Tallahassee where we visited Brent, Michael’s son, who’s working on his Masters in sports psychology at Florida State.  Had Indian food (Love that Spinach Paneer) and organic pizza, saw the campus, went to an art show of up and coming artists of FS and walked some of the public gardens. Saw Larry Garner (Blues artist) at a small venue waaaay out in the boonies….Brent said ’Deliverance’ came to mind! The music was great! It was so good to be with Brent. Thanks for the fun!

Brent & Dad

·         Next stop, Tampa for 5 nights in an Airbnb in Ybor City (for those of you who don’t know what that is check out airbnb.com). Beautiful place, all brand new! It was beastly hot outside but we still walked a lot. That’s what you do in Ybor.  Made it to the Tampa Museum of Art where Michael bought me two necklaces for my birthday. Love!! We also checked out lots of different areas of town, including Hyde Park, SoHo (we found a great breakfast place named Pinky’s!), Bayshore, Brandon, St. Pete’s Beach & Madeira Beach. We love eating fish on the water!



Ybor Condo

 

·         Then just an hour south is Bradenton. We spent 10 days with Michael’s brother and his wife Pete & Karen. Okay so yes they are wonderful! 10 DAYS and so much more.  4 or 5 nights of blues music, 2 dinner parties at their house and another at a friend’s house, went to Anna Maria Island’s beaches, checked out Sarasota and met many of their friends. Thanks SO much Pete and Karen for all you do for us and for showing us the good life!

Blues Lady

Vivian, Patricia & Karen

The Blues @ Aces

Jim, Patricia, Colleen, Mike & Karen

Doc Mumbo & BC @ Luz's Birthday Smash

 

·         We have officially set up residency in Bradenton, Florida and as of this writing it will be the proximity of our future settlement. That sounds like we’ll be setting up a new world, but I guess for us it will be. Lots of music, art, & swimming with gorgeous beaches and beautiful sunsets!   

I repeat… PHEW what a whirlwind! It was great fun!

We are now in Georgia where we are now spending concentrated time with our granddaughter, Leah, my daughter, Casey, and her husband, Brian.

 

Next stops – Tuscaloosa, AL stopover then Memphis, Tenn. & Clarksdale, Miss. all for the sake of the blues (music that is)!

Early Morning Walk

Dorothy P. Oven Park, in Tallahassee, on a cloudy, cool morning with Michael.

Dorothy P. Oven House now used for Weddings & other events.

This is a web built around a knot in a tree.

Extended Travel Sub-Culture

Michael & I left Ashburn, VA, on 9/15/14 and have stayed at 5 places as of today, 9/24/14. That means we have brought suitcases, etc. 10 times, back and forth, up and down (remember those carriage house stairs!!!! ), from car to living space in 9 days.

We have packed the following:

·         2 large suitcases

·         2 carry-on suitcases

·         2 smaller suitcases on wheels with things we want to do (art, genealogy, reading, etc.)

·         2 small coolers (fit on floor behind each front seat instead of a bigger one) 1 for liquids & 1 for refrigerated edibles like fruit & cheese

·         One duffle bag for dry goods such as coffee, tea, sugar, drink mixes to add to waters, crackers, etc.

·         Man-bag carrying case for necessary papers we need just like everyone else except they have a permanent file cabinet in their permanent home.  (Jeffrey, NOW Michael thanks you for his “Man-Bag”!)

·         2 Computer cases

·         1 long tube for Patricia’s art work (presently only has one in-process art piece in it.)

(Is there a plural of etc. because we have a lot of etceteras.)

So, this morning I was explaining to my friend, Deb, how we have to be choosy about what we bring in from the car and how confusing it is to constantly describe which ones are which. Keep in mind, we have a lot of chotchkies crammed into all the little holes around the above described items. Therefore, Michael and I have come up with names that help us to describe what we need from the car. Deb told me it sounded like we were starting our own sub-culture language. Who knew? Thanks Deb. Here’s a sample of how we…talk?....now.

“What do we need to bring in today?”

"Let's bring in the short term bags, comp. bags, dry goods bag, liquids and solids. We don’t need extended stay bags, biz bag, entertainment centers (my personal favorite) or tube."

Short & Sweet….DONE! :-)

Above the Garage

 

We are on our way to Bluffton, SC, about 25 miles north of Savannah, GA and have chosen a place to stay from Airbnb. Our criteria has been price (trying to be frugal as it’s a long, long journey…), proximity to places we want to see or even just pass through and, lastly, the originality of the type of housing. We’ve seen places for rent such as lighthouses, stationary trains, yurts and adorable little houses on the waterways. (We did pass on the ‘cozy apartment above a shop’…oh please…I have my standards!)

So, today we are heading towards Bluffton, to a place that was labeled a ‘carriage house'. The price was right and the pictures looked quaint. Imagine my surprise when, a few miles out, I read some reviews and they said something about “above the garage”. Truly, I started to hyperventilate!   We have already paid, too! My quite frazzled words to Michael were  “Michael did you know this place is on top of a garage?” His response was “so?”  (totally expected)!

“Michael after 11 years of marriage you should know I DON’T DO ‘ON TOP OF GARAGES’!”

No choice…I must go forward with this, we are almost there…. but I am not happy!!!!!!!!!!

 This is what we found…



Hmmm...

Uh Oh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, I guess you get the idea...LOVELY!

 

Lesson learned!   

 (maybe I should be checking out the ‘cozy apartment above the shop’)