First Presbyterian Church of Haines City

    Last year we met Jeff Winter and his wife Judy at our TUG get-together in January and found out he was pastor of a church in Haines City, just south of Orlando.  We wanted to go but seldom find ourselves in Orlando on a Sunday, but this year, we checked into the Magic Tree on Saturday so were able to go. It was wonderful!!!!  A very large but friendly church with three services.  Music was fabulous, with not only a small orchestra, but featured a flute and harp duet!  We encourage you all to visit there if you are ever in Orlando on Sunday. www. fpchainescity.org

Dinner at the Oasis Restaurant

    Right next to our resort is the “World Famous Oasis Restaurant.”  In fact, their billboards direct us directly to our street!  We ate there the first time we were here with Ron’s mother, and the food was average.  So we have not gone back, even though they boast of 40 some TV screens to show sports – which we could have used to watch the Seahawks since often the games were not broadcast here and we only heard them over an audio computer connection – which was okay, but….

    However, this week on the beach Ron met again the trumpet player who flies kites and said he plays with a band every Wednesday at the Oasis.  So we went to hear him and see how it was.  It was great!  Again, a small band that played the “oldies” like we like.  Maybe we’ll go again next year after all!

Ron and the trumpet player talk

Appetizer

 

King’s Brass Come to St Augustine

We’d heard about King’s Brass of course, and son Andy (Philip) has known about them even longer (as he had heard there was a trumpet opening even when he was in college,) so we were exited that they were coming to First Baptist Church Crescent Beach, where we have been attending. As they were asking for host families, we signed up, even though we are not members there.  Since we have a 2-bedroom unit in St Augustine, we were able to host Daniel, the bass trombonist for two nights.  He was happy to be able to do his laundry and walk on the beach with one of the few free days they had; usually they have concerts every day and sometimes, as they had had on Sunday, three times in one day.  We sincerely enjoyed meeting him and the concert was great!

Our bass trombonist

The group

How they pack up - all instruments, including tympani inside a trailer

Dishes! ... for Faith

We always have a fun day of “thrifting” when we are in St Augustine, with Ron’s cousin(s), Nancy, and anyone else who wants to come.  Joan always needs to buy some glassware to extend the dish offerings in the unit (then she’ll give them back to Goodwill when we leave – when we are here 6-7 weeks, it is worth a few dollars), but this time, she saw a set of dishes…. for Faith:  jungle animals!!  Sakura Oneida brand, okay in dishwasher and microwave….with tigers and leopards (and other animals) but Faith LOVES the big cats best. A set of 11 (dinner plates, small plates and bowls) for $12.  But….how to get them to Seattle?  We left that store and went on.

      But when she got back to the unit, she got on the Internet to check those dishes.  As she saw them on eBay, she liked them more and more, especially since sometimes just a single dinner plate was $12.00! She and Nancy discussed how she could get them to Seattle and so they went back to the store the next day.  The man said a lady had wanted them but had just left to get more money to buy them; unfortunately for her and fortunately for us, she had not left a deposit.  We bought them and brought them home, stopped by Goodwill and found a small L.L. Bean suitcase, so sturdy and almost new, to take as a carry-on in the airplane to bring a few dishes (at a time) back to Seattle.  That will be Faith’s birthday present this year.  She may or may not be able to keep them at her house (their cupboards are full) but at least she can see them and choose were to keep them (even in our condo??  Haha.) The rest we’ll leave in the van and can store them in the storage unit in Illinois, taking several back in the airplane each visit.

Annual timeshare owners (TUG) get-together at Golden Corral

We just returned from a great get together with other timeshare owners…TUGGERS.  So many new people came and with our “rule” of moving each time you get another plate (at Golden Corral) we were always able to meet new people.  Everyone was talking throughout!!!!  We had an attendance of 19.

    Sadly, we were missing three people, who were scheduled to come.  Alan and Carol Cole “Away We Go”, as Alan was having hip surgery, thus changing their January plans. 

  Then “silentg” had to change her plans as she went home to her mother’s side, and then her mother passed on Monday. We are so glad she was able to go to be with her, but saddened about the news.

The group

   Here are photos with first names and their TUG names.

Betty 'dreamin' and her sister Linda 

Bob  'BOBSC'

Carol  'Carol C'

Barbara and Les (no TUG name yet)

Marie and Mary 'paluamalia' 

Mike and Sandy 'webgriffins'

Cindy and Rick 'Rickandcindy23'

Stu of 'stuandnancy' and Ron of 'ronandjoan'

Nancy of 'stuandnancy' and Susan 'SUZY' (she drove up from Marco Island to come!)

Vicki 'vv813' (She drove over form Tampa to come!)

Sadly we did not get Gayle's picture (from Illinois and just joined TUG tonight, although a long time timesharer)
 nor Joan's picture.

We were able to meet two more TUGGERS on Thursday at Bonnet Creek, Jim ‘jmurp62  and Amanda (and her children) ‘InhisLove’

A Vero Beach Visit Again

Again we drove to Vero Beach in order to visit our Wisconsin friends.  This time, though, we reserved a hotel room right at the Driftwood Inn, and are we glad we did!  It was so large and beautiful.  In fact, it was in one of the buildings we have always liked (and wished we could stay in one).  It was unit 122B.

    We knew we wouldn’t need a suite since we could share theirs for talk and eating, and indeed, they had their table set already for lunch when we got there!!  Also for breakfast the next morning!  Of course, we ate dinner at Waldo’s, right there at the Driftwood Inn.

Vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows

it had a nice nook for sitting

We played shuffleboard again!!  It was chilly today.  We drove back to Orlando this tine instead of St Augustine, in order to stay in Bonnet Creek for the TUGGER meeting. 

Have you seen pictures of the Driftwood Inn?  We love it!  Here are just some.

Another Timesharing Today article

    I am so honored and happy that my article about Telemark was published in the Jan/Feb issue of Timesharing Today.  I can’t believe it myself – the pictures are so beautiful.

     And the nicest thing is that Cari, the reservations gal at Telemark is the one who showed it to me!  We are at the Driftwood inn in Vero Beach, FL for one night, having driven down from St Augustine today just to visit them  - they are staying here this week - and she is sooooo happy too - what a great PR push  for Telemark!

             -Joan

Panama Hatties’s -- How Great!

We have heard about this restaurant for so long but have never been.  Keenan and Emily wanted to treat us to dinner and on Thursdays, for the last fifteen years, the “Boson Connection” band is there for early dinner, playing “Oldies” and also letting patrons sing.  The band was great, the food was great and the singers!  Better than karaoke, imagine singing with a live band behind you.

Keenan and Emily Come and We Visit Blue Springs State Park

Once again we were able to have Keenan and Emily visit us here in St Augustine in January.  Keenan helped Joan set up her Kindle Fire and also some other electronic items.  Everyone has their electronic gizmo, of course!

       Ron’s cousin Paula suggested we all could visit Blue Springs State Park and see the manatees, so we went for the day.  There were not many manatees to see but we enjoyed being with the family and seeing the beautiful park again.

    It was just getting dark when we left and we were all hungry, so we stopped to eat and had a good meal.

Just had a wonderful visit and dinner out with new/old TUG friends, “new” in that we had not met before, “old” in that we have been corresponding for some years.  John-Peter and Tori are staying at Wyndham Ocean Walk in Daytona and drove up for the afternoon and evening to visit us.  We ate at Harry’s, a great restaurant right downtown with many heaters outside which enabled us to eat outside.  Afterward we could walk along the lighted streets.  So beautiful!

National Geographic Traveler magazine says these are the best in the # 10 USA Christmas lights 

Street scene very similary to early