At 9:30 we left for Punta Gorda. We had a nice lunch wit Bill Barb, Corrie, Shane and the baby. We had chicken salad croissants. We walked the marina which was lovely. The weather was perfect and the marina which has a sidewalk all around it was very scenic. this is a very attractive location. Bill's condo is spectacular with floor to ceiling windows and 9 foot high ceilings, all of it overlooking the Gulf. We chatted a little then left the building around 4:48. It was a quick drive back to Sarasota. We stopped in the clubhouse and had a blackened rib eye for dinner with a very nice Coastal Ridge cabernet. Excellent.

I added 2 more years to the photo index and 2 more names to the committees on avsa,org. I spent the day getting the stereo and VCR put back in place. I had to run out and buy two packages of audio cables to finish the job. We found a yoga DVD somebody left in our player. It was great to use as a test. We went to the WI party at 6 and sat at a table with an older couple, Joyce and john. The WI people were very friendly and we did a lot of dancing. We got complemented on our dancing. It was amazing. The dinner was a buffet of a mustard covered salmon and prime roast with all the trimmings. I added a salad and sweet potato. We had house Cabernet. It was nice.

I spent more time researching eBikes and reading about batteries and motors. At 12:30 we went over for our 1 PM gold lesson. Thanks to susan we did much better hitting the ball. In the evening we went over to rib night. It wasn't too crowded. I ordered prime rib with baked potato and veggies. We had funnel cakes with a chocolate dipping sauce for dessert.

This was a day of doing little. I learned a lot about batteries watching videos. I'm confident that I can build and eBike and battery pack. In the evening we went over to pub night where I ordered pot roast with mashed potatoes and veggies. It was beef yet again. I'll have to make up for this when we get home with some serious diet and exercise as well as more Salmon.

Bill and Barb arrived this morning at 10 AM. I previously removed the bike carrier and also attempted to install a wiper blade which was not successful. The Michelin 16 inch wiper I installed slips off too easily. I can't trust it. We had a nice drive to Dunedin and did the fabric shopping. We stopped for lunch on the trail in Dunedin opposite the old train station at La Fresco. Libbie and I split a cuban sandwich which was incredibly yummy. I enjoyed the day in Dunedin - it rained while in the Fabric shop but the sun came out when we got outside. Bill and Barb were delightful to be with. I enjoyed the woman in the shop who assisted our cutting. She knew where every fabric was in the store, mainly because whe puts the bolts back after people cut them. She also loves her job very much. On the way back we stopped in Siesta Key for a sweater Barb left in Bradenton. Cort left it with a friend. At Stoneybrook we took a 2 mile walk and then the Condon's left for Punta Gorda. Dinner tonight was spaghetti in the Condo with Raspberry Chip frozen yogurt which was excellent.

Today is MLK day. We went at 10:30 to pick up our eBikes and learn how to drive them. I love them. The power switch is wonderful to add an assist when needed. We took them to Myakka via I-75. Warm day so i changed to a short sleeve shirt and we were off. Fist stop was where the road crosses the river and many gators are on the bank. Very pretty. The park was crowded with visitors since it was a holiday and school was out. Next Libbie led us off trail down an unpaved road with cabins. we easily did a combo of pedalling and motoring. Many more stops along the way for pictures, bird watching and to the front gate. We had lunch at the Outpost, splitting a turkey and swiss sandwich with a bottle of water. Then it was time to head back. We had been out 4 hours. At the visitors center we let another couple ride our bikes - they seemed delighted. We had some troubles going home - the bikes kept getting loose on the rack. We made some adjustments each time we stopped alonside the road. Discovered that Bee Ridge goes to the park without taking I-75. Nice. It was a great day. In the evening we went out to Spanish Point Pub and Marina across from Walmart. Pretty cool dump on the water - it;s on the dock with a Tiki Bar roof. We both had fish and chips with a Yuengling. It fit our mood.

This morning we went to the ballet live from the Bolshoi at 10 AM. The performance was the Balanchine jewels which we enjoyed thoroughly. Katarina once again was the host and conducted interviews at intermission. The dancing was pretty spectacular. I couldn't believe it was over so fast. I thought getting in would be a problem since the manager got there at 9:50 to unlock the theater. What a surprise. he let us in and told us to settle up with him later for the admission price. After the theater we met Bill, Barb and Cort at a Perkins between his place and the theater which was convenient. I had blueberry pancakes which were excellent. We drove back down Tsmiami to get home. We went out later in the evening and picked up a carry out pizza from Valentinos which we had with Trader Joe Shiraz.

We did a series of stops today. First up was dropping the old vacuum cleaner off at Goodwill, then a trip to Yoders looking for Honeybells. No such luck. Next stop was the Freedom Bike shop to check out electric bikes. They are going away on Tuesday to the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks so the next few days is it for them. After talking about a guided tour of Myakka we decided we would rent 2 bikes on Monday morning. There are 2 types, the Pedego is full time power or full time pedaling and the EZ Ride has a power assisted pedaling scheme where you can pedal or have it assist your pedaling. This what I thought I wanted as a personal bike - a power assisted bike. We came back to the golf course and did the driving range for about a half hour. I used the #3 driver and didn't too bad. I was happy with how I struck the ball. Most of the time the ball went airborne and a distance which was satisfying. After golf we had a large lunch which we are calling lunch and dinner. I had the half rack of baby backs with potato salad and a large Yuengling which was very good and a lot of food. We had cheese and pita crackers with wine for the sunset but did not have dinner this evening. Libbie spent some time on the phone with Bill making arrangements to meet him and Cort tomorrow in Bradenton for lunch after the ballet.

It's chilly today but the sun is strong and there is no wind so it's fine. I wore my new Christmas pullover for a walk today along the bayfront. The Season of Sculpture is now on until May. There are 18 large scale sculptures on display. After walking the bayfront and taking lots of photos of the sculptures we came back and had lunch. I had the leftover Pad Thai from earlier in the week. It was still quite good and made a very nice lunch. I worked some more on the computer until it was time for us to go to dinner. We had a 7 PM dinner reservation and a very nice table away from the band and the speakers but still close to the dance floor. I had the pot roast special with mashed potatoes and cabernet. For dessert later I had NY Cheesecake with berry compote and coffee. Nice. The band was the Royz Duo which were quite good. A husband and wife provided some very good vocals in a wide range of dance music. We had enough room to do Rhumba and Cha Cha, even our Cuban walk. It was a fun night, made more fun by the fact we were able to really dance instead of hang on and sway. I'm so glad we signed up for dance lessons a while back.

After breakfast we went onto the driving range and tried chipping a few and then we did some driving. We were pretty terrible. It's a little chilly today but sunny. We went back at 1 for our lesson with Susan and it made the difference. She critiqued what we were doing wrong and for me it made the difference. I started having pretty good hits lifting the ball and getting some distance. After our lesson we had lunch at the clubhouse. We had a Yuengling and a BBQ Chicken Quesadilla which was outstanding. We went back to the condo and read while I worked on the FC for Android program.At 7 PM we went over for rib night. I had the Prime Rib with baked potato, rolls and a glass of Cabernet. Came back and listened to Butterfly while working on the computer. Before we went out to dinner we saw the AMI truck at our parking spot. An employee named Alex had patched the hole with a few bags of cold patch. Although the material is a loose fill it does a nice job at preventing tripping. The fear is tar on our new carpet.

It's a gorgeous day out. We went to Selby and enjoyed the plants and art in the Selby house. The theme today was art in the garden, two artists painted various orchids, etc. One did his work in oil while the woman did her paintings in watercolor. The Selby house was divided with one side being the oils and the other side contained watercolors. We had lunch at the clubhouse then went back for dinner which was pub night. I had Mahi Mahi with pineapple mango salsa covering the fish. Very nice. Topped it off with a glass of Cabernet. Our parking spot has yellow caution tape now since we sent an eMail to the board mentioning that a hole has developed behind our parking spot. Todays delight was the various foliage of the ferns at Selby and the art in the Selby house.

It rained off and on all day today. We went out at 11 to return the Comcast equipment. I couldn't believe we had number 115 and they were only on 86. It took an hour for them to get to us and only because 2 guys showed up with a cart to collect equipment from people only returning stuff in the waiting room. I was glad to be done with this stuff. After this we went across the street to Target and purchased thank you note paper, socks and a bed skirt. The bed skirt was an impulse purchase. They had one Libbie was looking for so we got it. Our last stop was to Sports Authority down one exit on I-75 but we took Honore instead of 75 to get there. Libbie got a set of beginner graphite clubs. She got the whole set which included a bag for $200. We went to lunch at the clubhouse on the way back and then discovered the golf course will be closed from May 1 until Oct 1 for rebuilding. Even though the owners voted this down they are going to do it anyway with the railroad right of way settlement. Dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce and cheese. We had Moose Tracks ice cream for desert. I found today our Toshiba TV doesn't play movies on the USB drive. I still can use the secondary HDMI channel however. La Boheme is live from the Met tonight on Sirius.

The Verizon guy came as planned at 8 to install FIOS. We have a fiber cable in our box in the Bedroom which was just installed a few weeks ago but we would be the first in the building to get a hookup. It took all day, the guy was finally finished at 4 PM. It tied us up all day. I like the FIOS service but hate the remote with more buttons than necessary. I just want channel changing and volume and possibly the guide. We went out to Bangkok Thai for dinner. I had Chicken Pad Thai with a Spring Roll and a glass of Shiraz. We came home pretty tired and fell asleep right away. It's pretty warm out - 72 degrees at 9 PM.

Tossed the suitcases in the car, had breakfast and got on the road at 7:25 AM. It's a beautiful sunny day for a drive. Traffic was pretty light as far as I95 traffic can be light. We stopped in Florence for McDonalds. Gas was 2.98 but we only needed a few gallons. Next gas stop was in Baldwin where 301 meets I-10. We decided to take the route 301 way down to the west coast instead of I-4 since I-4 is under construction between Daytona and Lake Mary and weekend traffic around Disneyworld and the shopping centers is usually a mess. It was a good choice. We continued to have easy going and got in around 6:30. We ordered a pizza from Valentinos and had it during the Golden Globes. It was a nice day and we are here in Florida.

It's warm outside - almost 70. I filled the car with gas for our trip tomorrow and picked up Kansas City ribs and Ravenswood Zindindel for dinner tonight. At home I set up the violets for long term watering on a lattice over water with wicks. I also did some minor grooming. Got the two pictures ready for Sarasota. The bedroom needs 2 picture replacements so I'm using two of my photos of Selby in 16x20 frames for Stoneybrook. I'm totally enjoying listening to Fledermaus this afternoon live from the Met. What a great opera. It's a good feeling spreading joy and happiness on a glum day like today. Although warm, it's dark and raining.
At 7 PM Libbie turned on the grill to warm up and then opened the ribs. We discovered the ribs I bought in Kroger were not fully cooked. They would need 2.5 hours of oven time!!!! I immediately hopped into the car and went to Kroger and picked up a package of finished ribs, Tony Roma brand. They served us in an emergency but they were not great. They had a lot of high fructose corn syrup and salt. uggh. It was the best we could under the circunstances. We had the ribs with mixed Asian veggies and Ravenswood Zin.

It's raining but mild today. Our plan was to drive Saturday but that may be Sunday due to a lot of rain on the way. I started reading through the Basic 4 Android book that I purchased. It's pretty good and explains quite a few things that I wasn't aware of, specifically what a View is and how Views can be created with the Designer or via programming. We had a dinner of ham, potatoes and onions all scrambled together. Very nice and a great way to use up leftovers.
We went to the Ballroom tonight for the Friday night party. I'm still having trouble with the waltz. We did OK on the Rhumba with Cuban turns. We also tried what we learned of the swing. This too came out correctly. We stayed all the way until the end which was around 9:45.

Lib vacuumed our bedroom then I took the mattress and frame out of the way so she could vacuum under the bed. We also cleaned the bed frame pretty good. Nancy arrived around 10 to help with Violets and the guys came with the mattress around 11. They quickly dropped off the 2 pieces and hauled off the old ones. The new mattress is pretty high. The sheets of course don't fit. We went out to Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohls, Pennys and eventually Sears where we found Cannon 425 thread count sheets on sale for $65 each. We bought two sets and got an additional $20 off with our points for a total of around $117. Dinner was Salmon, salad and broccoli with a glass of Shiraz.

It's a little warmer today but not much. We had a great dance lesson today at 3:30 with Robert. We went over some of the fine details of the Cuban turn and a few pointers. He also gave us a few pointers for the Swing. Overall it was a good lesson. Dinner tonight was more Chili from yesterday.

Wow is it cold. Went out at 9:30 and it's 10.4 degrees!!!! I had to get the bathroom sink from Home Depot for the installer today. They are coming at 1 and take the sink with them to mount it under the cabinet. I also picked up groceries which included ingredients for Chili while I was out.
After lunch a guy named Izzy arrived to measure the bathroom cabinet. I signed a lot of papers and he drew a sketch of what they needed to fabricate. He took the sink model number but did not need to take the sink. Libbie made her chili and cornbread but she accidentally left the sugar out of the corn bread. What a difference without sugar. We went over to Carolina Ballroom for a Rhumba Almagamations class. The place was really busy - lots going on and a large group class. We learned 2 versions of the Cuban walk. One with an under arm turn and a second with a cross body lead. Robert needs to help us with this tomorrow.

Today is closing for the Visa account. It's over $4500 this morning. I went to work on the ceiling again. I did some light plastering of a few more pock marks then hit it all with the paint. It's not perfect but it looks pretty good. The job is complete - Lib waxed the floor as the final touch. This is our last day of 50's before the artic blast tonight. They're predicting a low of 9 degrees tonight. Dinner was curry chicken over spaghetti with broccoli. Listened to Falstaff live over Sirius. Cecilia of Carolina Ballet was at the performance in NY. We exchanged a few words on Facebook. Amazing.

Sanded and plastered the foyer ceiling. What a messy job - there is dust everywhere. I attempted a cleanup but Libbie did a better job with the vacuum. Lunch was the ham and cheddar delicious sandwiches with a little Dijon mustard. Dinner was Lib's incredible pizza once again.

It's cold outside!!! It went down to 20 last night. Went over to home Depot at 1 and got the new lock rekeyed as part of the effort to get all the exterior doors on the same key. After Home Depot we went to Trader Joes which was crazy. We parked out in the Boston Market parking lot. The lines were long. We got our wine, Libs oatmeal and my oranges. For some reason Trader Joes has the nest Oranges compared to Kroger. I came home and after a lunch of ham and cheese I did the first coat of plaster in the foyer pock marks. I also installed the new lever handle on the door going from the house to the garage. Bad news in the spare bedroom - the ceiling is cracked and covered with popcorn. The popcorn will have to come off for the repairs. Dinner was Thai shrimp and Shiraz. It was spicy and good but not very filling. There wasn't much food there. I tried to do a recording of Boito Mefistofele from the Met but the satellite receiver was programmed to turn off in 45 minutes. I forgot about that.

Worked on the bathroom today. Changed the outlets and switches, put back all the towel bars and shower curtain, hung the pictures. Went to Home Depot for ceiling paint and get a lock rekeyed. They couldn't rekey the lock because their locksmith was not in. Told me to come back tomorrow and see Albert. We went home tired. Had a dinner of Salmon, salad and Yam with water, no wine. Left at 8 for the "Secret" party at Carolina Ballroom which was kind of fun. Andrew opened the ballroom for friends of his parents that wanted a place to dance. We were glad we came since it wasn't so crowded. Had a nice time dancing, still not getting it but we must be getting better. met the owners of the Cary Pub.

It's raining outside. I removed the sink and counter from the downstairs bathroom. the caps we bought didn't fit the pipes so I ended up putting the faucet back in after removing the sink. With Libbie's help I tossed the sink out the side garage door for a future dump trip. There was a ridge of caulk on the wall that I scraped and sanded then Libbie painted the room while I Painted the ceiling in the foyer. I'm pretty unhappy with the paint job. I'll need to go in there with plaster and sandpaper to fixup the pock marks and bumps. We were so tired by the end of the day that we chose to order Chinese takeout and an eggroll which we had with water. It was a tiring day.

We watched the Rose Parade this morning which started at 11 AM. Lib had to pause it midway so she could call her parents. This was a good break since we were watching it on HGTV which had no commercial breaks. The announcers were not plant people, they did not know how to pronounce anything for the floral materials. This was too bad since it is the garden channel. Watching the parade made us both wish we were there again. Mary and John called about some trip planning they are doing for Costa Rica. We told them about a Groupon I found which seemed to be pretty good. I'm not thrilled about traveling again, I was hoping to stay home in February. Dinner was leftover ham slices, yams, peas and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. We went out late in the afternoon to get home Depot pipe caps then Kroger for wine and salmon for tomorrow.