March in Florida

A pair of sand hill cranes nested in our lake and have been parading their two chicks through our yard.  Amazing how fast they grow bigger.

Look familiar?  We got sick of paying $80 for a fill-up for the truck, so we bought a PT Cruiser from a guy we know here in Palm Valley.  I drive the truck, Tara’s car, and Stephen’s car, and I can never remember where the windshield wipers are in all of them.  So we bought a familiar car; it’s even bright blue like our Cruiser in Wisconsin.   The woody look and oogah horn make this one really fun.

Saturday we visited the Shrine of St. Michael in Tarpon Springs near Tampa. It is a holy place--I felt God there as we all prayed. I prayed for the Lord to reach into each spot of cancer in Stephen's body--the tumor in the stomach that started it all, the pericardium, then on to each vertebrae, the pelvis, coccyx and femurs. The delightful Greek woman docent anointed each of us with oil as she chanted in Greek, kissed us and said she loved us. She also took the picture.

After a fabulous Greek meal on the waterfront in Tarpon Springs, we drove to Tampa and biked its wonderful shoreline unbroken paved bike/walk/jog/skate trail. 

I have updated a couple pictures in the previous blog about our Florida cottage since we have continued to buy a few pieces as we find them in our now favorite resale/consignment shops.

Florida Cottage

We have been in Orlando since early December, living in our daughter’s driveway in the camper, helping take care of little Basil and Levi during our son-in-law Stephen’s three heart surgeries and cancer treatments.  If he had not had the fluid build-up in the pericardium around the heart, he might still not know he has stomach cancer that has metastasized.   He has a better prognosis in Germany with their holistic approach to building the body’s immunity and hitting cancer with a double whammy of chemo and heat—pinpoint heat aimed at each spot of cancer and whole body high fever during the chemo.  While they are in Germany, we stay in the house and care for the boys. 

But we couldn’t keep the camper in the driveway indefinitely, so we checked out many of the 55+ manufactured home communities around Orlando.  Finally one little house grabbed our attention with its fabulous view of a little marshy lake with lily pads and cypress trees and teaming with birds. 

So the camper is in storage, and we eat every meal on the lanai (Florida screen room with plastic windows) watching the ducks, cranes, and ibises.  When Tara and Stephen go to Germany again, we will move back into their house to care for the grandboys, but in between we have our peaceful refuge.

We bought new beds and mattresses, recliners, and a couple other new pieces.  Most of the furnishings are used though.  We have had a ball searching through consignment shops, antique stores, flea markets, resale shops and rummage sales for the shabby chic look.

The seven foot orange French provincial sofa and red rug sound shocking, but the effect is bright and fun.

My favorite place to sit looking out over the lake.

We eat most meals on the lanai.

Our bedroom is purple, of course accented with violets.

The guest room is ready and waiting.

The kitchen is part of the great room.  The whole house has been remodeled with new cabinets, floors and so on.

Sunrise from the lanai.  This is paradise.

Winter in Florida

Our winter in Florida has included a few fun outings in between the downward progression of our son-in-law Stephen's health.   Fluid building around his heart in the pericardium had to be drained twice; then doctors removed the pericardium and discovered cancer which proved to be stage IV stomach cancer.  He is getting treatment in Germany where they do much more than in this country--heating the body and the cancer points, and extensive holistic treatments.  We take care of Basil (age 4 1/2) and Levi (age 2 1/2) a lot.

We have gotten away for a couple weekends with friends Jim and Sharon in Arcadia.

Our son Troy came for Christmas for a nice long visit.  We went to Leu Gardens one day--a beautiful botanical garden a few blocks from Tara's house.

We also went to Disney Animal Kingdom one day.  Troy said he was putting them up on EBay--they are kind of screechy.

Taliesin and camping with little boys in Spring Green

Gram Gram with the boys at our house

Our son-in-law, a builder, has been wanting to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  So when their family visited, we arranged for the little boys’ first camping trip.  After we  packed the camper the night before, we realized Levi (age 2) had disappeared.  I searched the house for him and then looked outside.  He was standing on the steps of the camper waiting to get in again.

Tara, Stephen and the boys with our new rig.  Stephen loved driving it.

Basil and Levi had a great time being in the campground in the woods.   They ran around and around and around outside the camper.  They got to roast marshmallows at night and even cook their own breakfast of bagels and sausages over the fire. 

A great playground just down the lane from our site drew them often.

 Basil learned to putt a golf ball in the miniature golf course.

 Levi would rather use the putter to dig in the wood chips.

Taliesin was fascinating.  The house and studio wrap around a hill overlooking a valley near the Wisconsin River.  Our guide was a local farmer’s wife from a bit farther away.  Her husband and mother-in-law cannot understand why she “would want to promote that awful man.”  Wright was not well liked in Spring Green due to his arrogance and scandalous divorces and mistresses, not to mention his difficulty paying his bills.  However, his genius was universally recognized; his passion for bringing nature into his structures was magical.  Stephen and I did the long tour to see everything.  Tara, Don and the little boys did a short tour.  Levi was not impressed.

The cantilevered porches on the living quarters

The barns were important to the estate.  All architecture students worked the farm too.

The Romeo and Juliet windmill was contoured to withstand winds on the hill.

 

Stephen enjoyed the tour.

Northeast Wisconsin and Door County

We camped at Shawano Lake a couple times this summer while we attended family and class reunions in Gillett.  Sunset over the lake was lovely.

Gillett High School class of ’66.

Peninsula State Park near Fish Creek in Door County is one of our favorites.

We drove to Gill’s Rock at the northern point of the Door and parked the truck while we took the tandem bike on the ferry over to Washington Island.  We biked six miles to the other side of the island and locked up the bike while we took the next ferry to Rock Island State Park, a no vehicle, no services lovely spot of wilderness in the waters of Lake Michigan.  We hiked a few miles along the shore and ate a lunch we packed in. 

 

 A Chicago industrialist of Icelandic heritage owned the island at one time and built a fabulous Icelandic boathouse with a great room above, now used as a museum.  I love this place.

We took the ferry back, rode the bike six miles back to the other ferry, and stopped for a much needed chocolate malt and turtle sundae.  We were exhausted when we got back to the camper, but we did make it to the Folklore Theater in the State Park to see one of their funny, original, Door County based plays.

 Unlike most people who visit Door County, we did not enter a single shop. Yaaaay!!!