Counting down to 2018.

Here are a few more photos to document the activities of the Grands first full day in Florida.

Happy New Year!

Guests Arrive!

Yesterday was a really nasty day where I usually live.  LH sent me a couple of photos to remind me of why JB and I are in Florida instead of Michigan at this moment.

She also provided a real time report of a 40 car pile up on Highway 31 near Muskegon.  Road salt doesn't work in single digit temperatures, and my grandchildren were going to be on the roads yesterday.  Having them visit us here this week sounded like a good idea back in October, when the reality of winter travel seemed remote. Fortunately, Oslo and her significant other delivered them safely to the airport in mid afternoon, and we tracked their travel from GRR to PGD throughout the early evening.

PGD is a local, sort of funky, airport near Punta Gorda, with direct flights from Grand Rapids via Allegiant Airlines.  When I got to the airport the arrivals board listed their flight as tardy.  I doubt the FAA would approve of the term, but it made me laugh.  (Allegiant seems to specialize in regional airport travel.  They also have a direct flight from St. Cloud, MN to Punta Gorda.)

Their mother, who had also been tracking their progress on line, requested photographic evidence that they had arrived in Florida.  I texted her the two photos above -- post travel refueling.  They settled in quickly.

The girl brought a couple of books with her to read while she's here -- this is book one of the Wicked series.

The boy, relaxing on the porch/lanai.

Traditions

JB and I had a quiet Christmas Day here.  We like quiet, fortunately.  There was a flurry of text messages early in the day with the rest of our Michigan family before they headed out on the snowy roads to spend the day with the other side of their family.  They had a good day by all accounts.  We had plans to reconnect in the evening --

It has been our tradition (for the last four years) to watch the Dr. Who Christmas special on BBC on Christmas night together via Skype -- this year it was Facetime.  This time around it had special meaning for the girl who spent her summer in England and who had visited the Dr. Who Museum in Cardiff, Wales while she was there.  We caught up on the last couple of episodes from the last season before the Christmas special began, so we spent about 4 hours watching Dr. Who "together."  What can I say?  We had fun.

The end of 2017 is in sight.

Almost Christmas

This afternoon I Facetimed with OSLO and the college kids as they were in the midst of baking and decorating Christmas cookies.  OSLO gave me a virtual tour of her house, all decked out for Christmas.  OSLO loves Christmas and her house always reflects that passion.  She does a very nice Christmas theme.  It occurred to me -- not for the first time -- that Christmas looks different this far south than it does in Michigan -- or Minnesota.  Here's a photo that I took this afternoon along a street quite near the local beach.  (Yes, the house is pink.  It's Florida.)

Restraint wasn't part of their decorating plan, apparently.  It doesn't seem to have any religious significance as far as I can tell, more of a Disneyesque theme than anything.

Sea grape leaves for Barbara.  And Opal.

My Mother's Birthday

On the one hundredth anniversary of our mother's birth, my brother Jim posted this remarkable story and tribute to her to mark that occasion.

During the most recent November blogathon, my brother GZ posted a number of old black and white photos on his blog, and has thus been preserving some of the family history and photos.    The one I'm using today was one that GZ used on his blog on November 29th of this year.

Mom was born on December 21, 1913.  104 years ago today.  She left this world on March 1, 1955.  We don't forget out mothers, though -- and if you put "Lillie" into the search box on Jim's blog you'll find too many references to count.  I did that yesterday, and again found this photo posted there in June of 2007.

When GZ posted this photo in November, I commented that the  photo was from the time she went to Chicago for the World's Fair.  It's the story I've associated with that photo for a long time.  I was wrong, as the following quote from the back of the photo -- in her handwriting! -- proves quite convincingly.  I do want to get her story right, though -- to the best of my ability, anyway.  So here's the real story of that photo from Jim's blog.

This depicts Lillie Anderson on Wabasha Street in St Paul, sometime in the late 1930's. This picture appeared in the Dispatch, one of our local newspapers at the time and Lillie got a copy of the photo somehow. On the back of the photo, in her handwriting: "hidden[?] camera picture taken of me walking down Wabasha St. Taken by a Dispatch cameraman. I was whistling and I didn't even notice he was there. Aren't I the funniest looking thing you ever saw. Must be about 6 weeks ago." I've been on Wabasha, but I don't recognize the spot pictured. There have been lots of changes in the last 80 years.


I am sticking by my World's Fair story though, as being a part of Lillie's story.  Wikipedia backs me up in the sense that there was a World's Fair in Chicago in 1933-1934, when she would have been about 20.  Childhood memories are vague but often turn out to have at least a grain of truth to them.

I am occasionally amused by my own daughter's version of my stories.  She remembers some things differently than I do, and some things -- well, she's just wrong.  But she's likely to be the one telling my stories to the next generations.  Oral history.  How families remember.

On at least two occasions Jim included the recipe for her Red Devil's Food Cake on his blog.  This one.

From Lillie Anderson Miller (1913-1955)

Lillie's Red Devil's Food Cake

cream 1/2 cup butter
add 2 cup sugar
" 2 eggs - beat in well
" 1/2 cup sour milk
" 2 cup flour (measured before sifting)
Mix to paste: 2 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup hot water - add to batter
Add 1/2 cup hot water (making 1 cup in all) in which 1 teaspoon soda is added. 
Add 1+ tsp vanilla.
Batter is thin, but that is as it should be. (Bake 40 min at 350 F.)

"She is still remembered, and her memory treasured."  Jim Miller, December 21, 2014

Solstice Sunsets

I've been neglecting my responsibilities to provide pictures of Florida, liquid water and "warmth" for my daughter.  Here are two photos, one taken last night just after sunset from our dock and the other one was taken tonight from one of the new bridges.

Bridges Are Indeed Sequentially Numbered Here

My brother GZ noticed that the two bridges that were the topic of yesterday's post were sequentially numbered. 014143 and 014144.  Three new bridges were built as part of the Edgewater construction over these past three years, so I checked the third bridge today on my way to the beach.

Bridge number 014145.  As a bonus we have more evidence that waterway is all one word.

This new bridge makes the trip to the beach pretty short so I added on a trip to Live Oak Park, the linear park along the Peace River just downstream from the big bridge to Punta Gorda.  Photos for OSLO.

It was a nice day to be outside in Florida.

Carved in Stone by Floridaman (Or perhaps by Florida Man)

I took a walk a day or two ago, and was very entertained by the names on two of the new bridges on Edgewater.

East Spring Lake Waterway, or is it Springlake Waterway?

West Springlake Waterway?  I guess perhaps Springlake is all one word.

Or maybe not.  Both Spring Lake and Water Way are two separate words here.   Ah, Florida man.

And some photos for OSLO...

To quote my brother Jim, "I don't want any of your damn insurance."

These last three photos are from yesterday's bike ride to Ollie's Pond Park.

Not As Far to Go

The widening of a two mile of stretch of Edgewater, along with three new bridges on that same stretch, has changed how easily I can access many of my usual destinations by bicycle.  Today I rode to the Port Charlotte Beach, Sunrise Park and Spring Lake Park.  In prior years those three destinations were never part of the same ride -- it was too hard to string them together.  Today it took only 6 miles to ride to (and through) all three.  It's definitely a game changer.

About my Michigan bike -- it is so nice to have it here.

Settling In

Even though I was here in October, there were still some glitches to deal with when we got here.  Case one, no electricity in the house when we got here.  Case two, no cable TV when we got here.  Both were fixable and we now have both electricity and cable TV.  It will be Wednesday at the earliest before we have the internet speed that we're paying for, but we do have internet.  Thus this morning when I called the bike shop where I had shipped my bike, I was not surprised that they had not yet gotten around to putting it together.  (At least it was there.)  So I pumped the tires on my old, heavy bike and took a ride over to Ollie's Pond during JB's nap.  Ollie's Pond is different every year, of course.

Going to Ollie's Pond always reminds me of my first trip there, nearly 8 years ago, when my brother Jim and I discovered it for the first time, and walked around it twice.  March 3, 2010.  It became one of his favorite places here, and over the years we took a lot of walks around the Pond.  Always with cameras in hand, naturally.

Around 4 this afternoon I got a phone call from the bike shop here -- my bicycle was ready to be picked up.

I rode it around the parking lot at the bike shop, and around the block once I got it home.  It seems to have survived the whole cross country shipping experience without any damage.  I also spent some time this afternoon looking at the College Girl's website.  I guess I'd have to say it was a productive day.  We both seem to have recovered somewhat from the rigors of travel, JB by napping and me -- well, taking a bike ride is a good sign.  More later.

Yesterday Morning I Was Shoveling Snow

No snow this morning here.

It isn't warm here today by Florida standards -- 49 degrees when JB and I went out for breakfast and to deal with car rental details.  But it is a lot warmer than yesterday in Michigan, so I'm willing to wait a few days to drink my morning coffee outside.  Travelling is hard. 

And for the record, here are photos of our newly refurbished dock.

Bicycling Milestone

I have returned to using this space to record things I might want to remember.  Or something like that...  Thursday, the last day of BEDFAMM/NaBloPoMo, I rode my new bicycle far enough to cross an imaginary line.  The one that says "Last Year's Total Miles."  Plus 3 miles, in fact.  It seemed blogworthy, but not last day of November blogworthy, so I saved it.  Today I added another 17+ miles to it, to account for any math or rounding or measurement errors, and visited a couple of places that weren't accessible during firearm deer season.  Which was over on December first here. 

The PSPS on December 2.  Late in the year for a ride up there, but I don't think it's a record.

Numbers are just numbers, with one ending in zero having no more real significance than one ending in 2 or 7, so I'm not going to challenge the weather gods much more than I already have.  But... sheesh, isn't the light great this time of year -- at least for those few minutes here and there when the sun actually comes out? 

Movies from memories

 And this ends November blogging.  Officially known at NaBloPoMo, National blog posting month, but also referred to by some of us as BEDFAMM.  Blog every day for a month, month.  It is a tradition that was shared  with Jim, which is, perhaps obviously, why I did it again.  It's a good tradition to honor, for that reason.  Thank you to all of you who commented during the course of the month.  I would have done it anyway, but it makes it a good bit easier to feel like there are other people in the room.  Here are some photos, pretty much in order, from the years when we were a nation of four.

And a final Thank You to my brother Gene, who did such an outstanding job of holding up his end of the stick.  (I know, I edited this.  I like this ending better.)

Food is Fuel, even when it's Cauliflower

I want to do one more food post before we're done here for the month.  I'm trying to use up what's in my refrigerator while also eating well.  "Mindful eating" my doctor calls it.  So here's what was on my plate tonight:

It looks a lot like fried rice, and it even tastes reasonably close to what fried rice tastes like.  The base is that fairly new product (at least to me) frozen riced cauliflower.

Here's the ingredient photo, minus some onion and a little bit of pepper.  I microwaved the riced cauliflower for the minimum time and put it in a strainer to drain.  (Sometimes it seems to have a lot of moisture in it, but not tonight.  I could have skipped this step.)  I microwaved a cup of the frozen peas and carrots -- any mixed veggie would do, I think.  I sauteed a little onion in some olive oil in a big skillet, added the peas and carrots and some butter.  I then scrambled two eggs in a bowl, pushed the skillet contents to one side, dumped in the eggs and scrambled them until well done before stirring them into the veggies.  I dumped in the riced cauliflower and added a bunch of soy sauce and some pepper.  A big pat of butter also went in at that point.  Stir and eat.  I'd worked up an appetite with a bike ride taken earlier in the day, to Quincy Park.

 
I've logged more miles on a bike this month than I have in any month since May of 2015, so for now it seems that a new bicycle as a motivational tool is working.  Also, I emailed the above photo to Bike Laura who loved it and asked if she could use it.  I said yes, so it may end up on their website, or maybe just on their wall somewhere.