12 Oakdale

Getting there:  At 3:33 AM, there were the fewest cars I’d  ever seen on I-4. Our drive to the Marriott Lakefront to park and the bus ride to the airport were easy, unlike for the people traveling on Sunday. Our driver said it took him 54 minutes from the hotel to the terminal.  Once there, an outside skycap grabbed our big bag and checked it. Inside, as he said, was a madhouse. I hadn’t gotten around to make a reservation for TSA, but the lines didn’t look too long. As we walked over, an agent said the position in front of him was open. Not a person in line. (Like lemmings, everyone had just gotten behind someone else. We were going to too.) We waited less than a minute. At the X-ray machine, an agent told me to take off my boots since they had metal zippers and would set off the alarm. Nope. I said I was old and had metal in me and would likely set it off anyway. I got patted down, not for my boots, not for my knee, but something suspected in my shoulder. Who knows....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!                                            2023   Our newest family member, Theodore Grant Basham, was born November 11th to Molly and Spaulding. All are well. We will get to meet Teddy in person when we visit right after Christmas. We are excited see Salt Lake in winter, however a little anxious about the cold and ice. In February, we birded with old and new friends in Belize, led by Glen, a native of the area. With his guidance, we saw 183 bird species, watched howler monkeys fight over territory, and learned about prehistoric and modern Belize culture. In December, our birding was local, with Orange Audubon’s North Shore Birding Festival at Lake Apopka. Patten joined me slogging through a saltwater marsh to hear black rails; Grant and I opted for dry-land trips to see raptors and Florida scrub jays. Early June, we flew to Calgary, Al...

We drove to Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland to met up with Kristina and her family who are visiting her in-laws for the holidays. Peg came over with Robert, Patten and Ryann drove up, and Stephanie, Kyle, and Clara joined us. An early Christmas picnic lunch in this brand new park. After sandwiches, my deviled eggs, a salad Peg made from veggies picked at Robert’s school garden, Patten’s 7-layer dip, and way too many cookies, at least on my part, we walked around for a while. (6,283 step according to my phone, but who’s counting?) I hadn’t realized most of my cookies were white and chocolate, until I put together plates to give away and bring to the picnic. Definitely need to plan better there.  Baking them is another project I must spread over more days. Trying to mix and bake on the same day is too much. Plus my attitude towards fancy decorating goes way down. I’d thought I’d make many-colored iced sugar cookies; they ended up all white. N the other hand, the pink and green pinwhe...

Saturday was supposed to be the culmination of my 9 weeks of training for a 5K. However, the weather didn’t cooperate. All week, we were warned of big storms over the weekend. Bad winds and rains were coming into Central Florida from the Gulf of Mexico then heading south. I got emails from the Santa Twilight 5K that they were watching the weather and would make a decision about cancelling.  As the week progressed, the weather looked milder, but not good. Saturday, we woke to 20 knot winds and rain sprinkles, then bands of rain. Our first stop was at a gated community for an estate sale which was touted as having good plants and great pots. All I saw was the sad detritus of people gone. We moved on to Gideon's Bakehouse to pick up my order of Kris Kringle (white chocolate) and Von Krampus (dark chocolate with Andes mints) cookies, half for us and half to take to Utah. I also bought 5 kinds of cookie bites, all for us, no sharing, unless the Christmas spirit hits me. In Winter Park, ...

 I’ve downloaded the app from Zen Unlimited Fitness. Free for a week, then $14.99/3 months. My plan is to complete the C25K, then run in the Clermont Twilight Santa 5K on December 16th, if I’m not in Salt Lake City, helping with the new baby. Every run starts and ends with a 5 minute warm up/cool down. Pace includes those 10 minutes. Wk      Date     Mileage     Run/Jog                                  Pace          Place 1      10/16     1.35               60 sec jog/ 90 sec  walk   18:34          Home 1      10/18     1.66                          ”                     ...

After obsessing, especially at night, yet not doing anything, last Monday, about 2:00 PM, I decided to start decorating for Christmas. My first project was my gingerbread house. Even if it were the only decoration, at least we would have that.  (Grant had put up the outdoor lights the previous Saturday, so that was done.) I was really tired. Perhaps from my jogging program; perhaps from missing sleep. But, whatever the case, my plan was to do a little, then set the timer for 20 minutes for a rest in my recliner. This actually made creating the house go better than usual. I carved out the windows, put in the broken LifeSaver pieces for the window panes, then let the candy melt in the oven. Rest. Check the light for the house and cover the cardboard in new wrapping paper. Rest. Decorate the house. Rest. Put the house together. Rest. Add the roof. Admire my work. By pacing myself, the panes had time to set, and the frosting for decorating and for gluing the pieces together had time to...

Wednesday , it was 47° when I went for my jog. I wore tights with shorts over, 2 long sleeved shirts, wool socks with my sneakers, watch cap, fingerless gloves (definitely going to try others), and a handkerchief around my neck. I figured if someone visiting from Chicago saw me, she’d laugh. Hey, I’m from south Florida. By today, Saturday, the temp was back up to 73°, and I was back to wearing just shorts and a short sleeved shirt.  The warming weather was a plus when Patten and I tromped out in the Saint John National Wildlife Refuge looking for black rails in a North Shore Birding Festival trip Thursday evening. The guide and black rail supreme expert,  Mike Legare, told everyone to wear knee boots which I don’t have. I also know I’m not going to die of hypothermia in Central Florida, and I figured my chance of snake bite was pretty low if I wasn’t at the front of the line.  After being trucked in a 1/4 mile, then walking/slogging cross-country through waist-high grass ...