28 Mar: Archival work commenced once again at the Lutheran Seminary of Philadelphia. It will take us awhile to figure out where we left off last spring.
27 Mar: What a surprise! We were astonished and delightfully surprised to receive Fellow of the Swedish Colonial Society status at the annual Forefather's Luncheon. The organization thanked us for archival work with a Fellows Pin and Award. Thanks really goes to the late Dr. Peter Craig for his outstanding contribution to the history of the Swedes on the Delaware or we would not have this honor. The "fellow-ship" and food were quite marvelous; we loved seeing Rambo/Bankston cousin Jill D' with her delightful hubby Michael.
26 Mar: Yup. Still chilly. Free breakfast coupons warranted a five dollar tip to the server. Nice day for staying indoors. Very nice!
25 Mar: A high of 45 is forecast for Philly today with minimal increase over the next few days. We are ensconced at the Hilton Garden Inn following a delicious dinner at Bone Fish Grill.
24 Mar: Columbia, SC departure ca. 4 PM; on 81 in VA by sunset with marvelous views of spring en route. Everything at the Gowdy's has been organized ten times over with the recycling taken to the dump, too.
23 Mar: Columbia, SC.
22 Mar: Columbia, SC.
21 Mar: Columbia, SC.
20 Mar, 2011, Sunday: Breakfast at Lizard's Thicket was wonderfully enjoyable again. Dick was suitably disgusted with my hot-sauce smiley faced grits and broiled fish and egg whites. Susan was again the delightful waitress and the coffee helped. Once I knew the names of the other waitresses, but too much time has passed for my memory. The two additional 12GB hard drives have been paid for ($26 including shipping), a bag of pine straw provided impetus for the daily walk, but the knee is still complaining. (Insert) Smooch Smooch Ahoy in Texas! She is finally over a bad cold and appears to be ship shape for arrival in Philadelphia Friday at 2: 40 PM.
19 Mar: Columbia, SC. Awakened before dawn to avoid the neighbors' barking dog. Late afternoon I tore into Donna's computer and exposed most of it's innards without breaking anything (I hope). Ruby Tuesday's salad bar provided a filling meal although light on the protein. Clark & Elizabeth, Greg & Donna proved entertaining as usual.
18 Mar: The 12GB hard drive is ordered from eBay and totals a mere $17 (PayPal-ed). I shoulda done this three days ago. It was a big surprise that another laptop bid for $30 succeeded (add 15 shipping). Two other bids are still highest with a day of bidding left. The administrator password for my XP system still eludes me, so today's project is thrashing through all the paper hereabouts hoping to come across that password while separating recycling for the next dump (& recycling) run. Today's other goal is to surprise Mary Lou with a gift bag of pine needles. Third goal is to mail a few things.
17 Mar: Amazing how big a holly bush can grow when neglected for an entire year. Dick was sick, so today's exercise was a shorter walk & talk on cell phone to smooch who is still sickly. Donna and I enjoyed a pleasant lunch and afternoon with Mary; her back yard landscaping is looking wonderful with spring in the air, flowers blooming, and trees leafing. More mending until sleepy at 11 PM.
16 Mar: 6:40 AM in Columbia, SC. I woke up at 2 and was still awake at 3, so got up & found the clone computer, cleared space, dug for stuffs, and am now set up for the day. 72 degrees forecast for high today; 48 degrees now. It rained gently last night as I was setting up the tent to sleep out. The tent leaked, so I threw tarps over it.
15 Mar: Smooch is off to Texas for ten days. She started missing me upon awakening, 10 hours before the plane left. Our exercise program is recovering: 45 good minutes on the elliptical machines, upper body weightlifting, and a couple of dozen sit-ups preceded by IHOP omelets and followed by Ruby Tuesday salad bars. (Ashley from NJ is general manager and was indeed at the Lexington IHOP last year.) Once Cynthia was en route at 4PM, the lawn & shrubs occupied me until Greg came home with bad news about his vertebrae - 5 discs are trashed. My threadbare "Key West" shirt is now completely mended.
14 Mar: Smooch's sunglasses mysteriously disappeared for a time, then showed up in an impossible place. Gold's Gym was incredibly noisy.
9 Mar: Good grief - where does the time go? There are just so many fun things to do daily ... and having a smooch smooch in tow reduces available time to zip. We have been having lotsa fun and are now in Lake Wales, Florida. I'll post a picture of my brand new Fla driver license as soon as I have one. The clerk at DMV in Key West was delightful and helpful with all the paperwork, the machine testing my eyes obviously enlarged the letters to my benefit, and my smiling face did not break the camera (even though it had to exercise its craft twice).
8 Mar: We got on the road in Ft. Meyers early to deliver "Mom" - our mobile home - to the Lexus dealer for her 30,000 mile maintenance. Don't you wish you could have your joints tightened and fluids refreshed in a couple of hours? The nearby IHOP had just fed us egg white omelets (not as good as the Big Pine Restaurant), and we had paid $2 to cross the bridge onto ?? when the dealer called us to return the 2011 loaner Lexus hybrid. We scooted up the coast to St. Petersburg and into the Dali Museum for a few hours - MARVELOUS. Vic and Nola insisted that we stop in to visit in Lake Wales and treated us to a fine Grouper dinner at the Cherry Pit. Wonderfully fun couple.
1 Mar. Tues: "Raindrops keep fallin" on my head..." anndd intoooo the car, (despite windows cracked down the tiniest bit). A mop job and Ron's ON THE ROAD AGAIN by six-thirty AM. Nearing Tampa at eight, patches of blue sky hold forth promise of clear skies for seven sunny hours to Big Pine Key; nearing Naples at eleven the skies are pure Willie:
"Blue skies keep smilin' at me, nothin' but blue skies do I see...
Never saw the sun shinin' so bright
Never saw things goin' so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly by."
By-passing Naples at noon-thirty, Ron talked his way down the Tamiami Trail....arriving in Big Pine Key before seven to surprise Greg, "Happy Birthday, Greg!"
Smooch is dismayed to find HER lost day: she arrives in Key West a day later... Thursday and not Wednesday. We have reservations at Parmer's in Big Pine Key.
