This is Nicky giving our next door neighbor at Venice, Pat, some sugar.
Nicky really enjoyed Pat and Rob and so did we. Next year we are going to try to get in this same spot so we can visit more with all the lovely people we met in this park.

Each morning Nicky got to play with his friends Liam and Sadie. Jack and Mike and Lee had fun together too.

We are now in Peace River again and back to playing Pickle Ball with the group here.

The collage below is made up of pictures taken at the Pickle Ball Mixer at Dean and Margie's. What fun, good food, good conversation, music and line dancing.

Over the years as we've wintered in Florida we have made some really good friends--these are just a few of them.

We have not seen Will and Ella since Palm Springs last year. It is so good to see them again. We were invited over to their place and Ella had made a Pecan pie that is just out of this year!!! They introduced us to Steve and Lauree friends they have made along the way.

Venice, FL 2010

Here we are in Venice, FL. at the Rambler's Rest. We had been here a week when Jim and Tracy Tull arrived. We were able to get side by side sites. It's remained cooler but we have had several nice beach days.
This is one of the beach accesses we go to and as you can see we have it pretty much to ourselves.

Lee and I drove to Lemon Bay Park which was quite nice.

Nice places to sit and relax and nice trails to walk.

Nicky has had some really nice dogs to play with here. Liam, Sadie and Goldie. I don't have pictures of Sadie and Liam yet but Goldie a 2 year old Golden doodle is below and she is gorgeous.

Nicky loves her because she likes to play ball as much as he does.

Tracy fell in love with her too. She feels like silk.

One of the things I like about this park is this development which is close by. I take my 5 mile walk here with Nicky. Tracy is with us today.

Today we went to the Venice Area bird sanctuary. Lots and lots of birds.

This time of year they all have their babies.

This is where we play Pickle Ball while we are here. We have had some really good games with Jim and Tracy. The courts have a really nice finish on them.

As you can see, there is shade and a nice place to sit in between games.

Peace River #2 visit 2010

This is a picture of a Pickle ball get together hosted by Sally and Stan over at Torey Oaks a campground just down the road from the Peace River campground.
It was a lot of fun to see some of our friends who have been staying over at Torey Oaks.

It was Jane's birthday on Feb. 18th and Rick's birthday on Feb. 17th so we celebrated their birthdays also.

For those of you who have been involved in the last 1 1/2 years of hair growing as you can see I made the decision to go short again. One of the main determining factors was the promise from my husband that if I cut my hair he would get rid of the beard. Most of you had given the opinion that you preferred my hair short. I had just gotten it to a decent size pony tail too!

Check our Lee in this picture look how good he looks with the beard off. I know our niece, Brooke, will be happy. At Christmas time she told me, '' Do whatever you have to but get Uncle Lee to shave that beard". So I guess we are both back to what everyone thinks of as normal for us.

Jane over at our house for a birthday party. We had Carmel pecan cake, which was to die for, from the Java Cafe.

Wauchula has started having what they call Friday Night Live. It is held on the third Friday of each month. Each month it is a different theme. Last time it was American Idol and this time it was Grilling and Chilling. They had main street lined with antique cars also.

Look at those T birds!!!!

Do you think these two could fix this one up?

Jane's favorite is this little truck.

Lee, who never spends any money on a raffle ticket, bought one of these. He would love to win this and take it home to the farm. The drawing is the end of February.

There was a nice band playing in the gazebo.

Ribs, ribs and more ribs plus pulled pork and side dishes.

Look at the contented smiles on the faces of Jim and Jane as they finish their dinners.

We ran into Stan and Sally at Friday night live and Sally looked so cute in her hat I had to get a picture.

We left Friday Feb. 20th for Venice, FL for three weeks. Here's hoping that the weather stays warmer. This is our chance for beach time. On the way there we went through Arcadia and I took a couple of pictures.

We have been watching the Olympics religiously and had little time to read of late. We are also tired often due to the fact that 12:00 midnight is not our usual bedtime. One more week to go.

Feb. 8-Feb.14 Wauchula, FL

Remember our good friends, Lou and Carol Hands, we met up with them for the second time this winter in Wauchula, FL. Last time we were together the girls whipped the boys at the card game Hand and Foot. We got together on a rainy day and played cards again and this time the boys beat the girls. We had a lot of fun and then went out for oven baked pizza.
Had Jim and Jane Rankin and Ed and Janie Jenkins over for BBQ ribs. So good to see all of them again.

Jim and Jane had a renewal of their wedding vows and a blessing of Jane's new wedding band. Jim and Jane are the English couple we talk so much about to those of you back home. They are very special to us. Jane is my English sister with whom I share a very special bond.

Ed Jenkins is officiating the ceremony at the Peace River campground chapel.

Jim is putting the new wedding band on Jane's finger.

Jim kissing his bride!!

On Jane's charm bracelet above is the melted down first wedding band and on her hand the new wedding band.

You've got to enlarge this picture so you can read this original wedding certificate. Under the column condition Jim is listed as bachelor and Jane as spinster.

This is Jane in her new coat. Doesn't she look like Little Red Riding Hood?

Driving here from Vero Beach we took all back roads it was a lovely drive. All we saw were cattle ranches, orange groves and cabbage farms.
Wauchula is know for its cattle ranches, orange groves, and watermelon farms.

We did get to see the last night time shuttle launch. It was scrubbed on Feb. 7. After sitting in the parking lot from about 11:30 PM to 4:20 AM It was called a scrub. So we stayed another day at Vero Beach and we drove to Titusville again the next night and sat in the parking lot again all night and the launch did take place at 4:14 AM. We lost a lot of sleep for about 5 min. max of spectacular.

Lift off

It sure lite things up

This is the rocket launcher heading back after separation.
Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I looked the launch up on the Internet the next day and I could see it better and I didn't have to lose 2 days of sleep to do it. It continues to be below normal temperatures here but I'm just thankful we are not dealing with what you are.