A Veterans Day Salute

Mysterious woman in the pool

We frequently came about this scene in the swimming pool near our Florida home.
She looked somewhat familiar...

OMG..it's Kim! This was her favorite place to relax while visiting us for a week...this is the life.

Getting ready for the 'Big Launch'

We had the opportunity to witness the shuttle launch of the Endeavor..and were very excited!
We left our house in Florida at midnight and got to the launch site around 2:00AM. We sat and watched the beautiful sunrise.

And then at 8:39AM the ignition began...

The magnificent blast off that literally brought tears to my eyes!

The ground began to shake and about a minute later..the sound was deafening!

And now the long ride home....what a thrill to be able to witness this shuttle history.

Fred Howard Park

Tarpon Springs is also home to a beautiful beach called Fred Howard Park.


The beach hugs the coast of the Gulf of Mexico

White sands glitter in the sun.

A beautiful hideaway.

The main recreational activities here are sunbathing and fishing....ahh the life!

Tarpon Springs

Rated as the "sponge capital" of the world,Tarpon Springs is a beautiful Greek community filled with wonderful restaurants, markets, and bakeries.


One the many boats filled with natural sponges.

Tarpon Springs is also home to some nationally recognized restaurants. I snapped this photo across the street from one of them. It was called Parthenon.
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While waiting for our order, we sampled tasty sangria cocktails.

We ordered a Greek pizza..very yummy. Fun afternoon..

Baseline Golf Course

I think we have found the prettiest golf course ever! It is just outside Ocala Florida. Our friends, Bob & Diane took us there, not knowing how it was.
Here I am teeing off on one the holes. It's hard to concentrate with the spectacular background.

Diane & I smiling for the camera.

A waterfall just off one of the fairways...so pretty.

I never knew there were so many different variety of palm trees. I think we saw them all on this course. It was a fun afternoon...will visit there again.

Some more pictures of our Florida hideaway

This is the street in front of our house...beautiful landscape everywhere.

Some of the "wildlife" in our backyard!

I hope you can make out the huge turtle we spotted in one of the lakes.

And right along side of the turtle was this guy. We found out that alligators don't eat turtles. Guess there isn't enough meat on one to go through all that trouble.

Our First Florida Party

We got together with 8 of our Franklin friends and gathered at our place Sunday for an informal party. One of the gals brought me these beautiful roses. The gentleman with the beard sings next to me on our church choir

Bob & Diane are our former neighbors who moved to Florida about a year and a half ago. It was alot of fun having all of us together ..just like home!

Our home away from home!

Here we are in the Sunshine State We arrived on April 1st. and are having a wonderful day.This is a tree in our front yard.

Front view of our rental house

The view on the lanai in the rear of the house. We are on the 6th hole of Nancy Lopez golf course. Bob is in heaven!

The very comfortable living room.

My lovely kitchen.

Tired of Winter

This is a photo of our backyard

I am really getting tired of snow..

This was our biggest snowfall of the season

33 days and counting until we head down to Florida!