A Three-Day Stay Away

At some point this Spring Dear Diane and I realized it had been about three years since we’d taken a vacation (not counting spiritual retreats, which really aren't vacations). In our pre-COVID existence, every year or so we would join up with our good friends, Nancy and Dave Lee, meeting somewhere between our two homes. The Lees live in Northern Virginia and we live in Central Florida, so there’s a lot of territory to choose from. We've spent time with them in Georgia, North Carolina, Williamsburg, and other fun spots.

Dave & Nancy - Friends for 50 years

Because the Lees have children and grandchildren in Florida, we convinced them to join us on a mini-vacation in lovely St. Augustine, a truly historic city on Florida’s northeast coast south of Jacksonville. After a few days with us, they could then visit at least that part of the Lee clan that resides in Florida. Traveling from our home to St. Augustine involves only a two-hour drive, all on Florida’s picturesque back roads. But for our dear friends it meant a flight from D.C. to Jacksonville, then a drive in a rental car to St. Augustine. I think our next get-together will likely be at a more neutral site.

Diane and Me at Our Lady's Shrine

Although we spent only two nights and parts of three days in St. Augustine, we had a wonderful time. The weather forecast seemed a bit iffy, but the predicted thunderstorms never really materialized. We took advantage of the hop-on-hop-off trolley that runs throughout the city’s historic and waterfront districts. Of course, at our age there wasn't a lot of "hopping," but the trolley turned out to be a pretty effective way to see the sights. On each trolley ride we were entertained by a different knowledgeable driver-guide who related fascinating stories of the people and events that formed St. Augustine throughout the city’s long history. 

Chapel: Our Lady of La Leche Shrine

Diane and I had visited the city a few times in the past, so it wasn't all new to us. Our hotel was directly across the street from the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, which we visited on our last morning. We had hoped to attend Mass at the shrine’s church, but we had all misread the sign and couldn’t be there for the noon daily Mass. That was the anniversary of my diaconal ordination (26 years), but we celebrated quietly, thanking Our Blessed Mother for her constant intercession. The shrine, however, is a beautiful and very peaceful place -- a "must-see" if you visit St. Augustine.

We had a couple of wonderful meals in local restaurants. The first, right next door to the St. Augustine Distillery, was at the Fish Camp Restaurant, where we were served a lovely lunch. It's a popular place, especially for lunch, so get there early. And no, we didn't visit the distillery, simply because we were running late.

On our last evening together, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Conch House Restaurant, out on "The Island" as the locals call it. Fortunately, this particular island is connected to downtown by a drawbridge, so getting there is a breeze. Our dinner was just perfect, but even on a Tuesday evening we had about a 45-minute wait for a table. We spent the waiting time in the restaurant's bar, which is worth a visit. Halfway down a pier, it's decked-out in true nautical regalia, perfect for Dave and me, a couple of old retired naval officers.

If you occasionally visit Florida, and who doesn't these days, be sure to spend a day or two in St. Augustine. Just don't try to see everything on your first visit. It's one of those places you'll want to visit again and again.

Weather or Not

Every year I enjoy checking out the Winter Outlook of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as they try to predict the weather patterns we will encounter over the next five or six months. Sometimes they’re reasonably accurate, but  occasionally odd things happen to upset their predictions. Come April I’ll glance back in time and decide whether the weather fit their prediction, especially right here in The Villages. I really don’t care about the weather in Seattle or Las Vegas or Minneapolis or Des Moines. I don’t live in any of these places, nor do I intend to travel to one of them this winter. My only concern is for the weather where I happen to live, here in Central Florida, and any other places I might be tempted to visit between now and the arrival of Spring. I realize this might sound a bit selfish, but I’ll let the folks who live elsewhere worry about their weather while I focus on my own little slice of creation.

According to NOAA, “a developing La Niña” will cool the equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean. That, and the ominous sounding “polar vortex” which is thought to be weak this year are apparently the key influencers of our upcoming winter weather. As for the Southeastern USA, and that includes us, we are told to expect warmer than usual temperatures and below average amounts of precipitation. To me that sounds like a hotter, drier winter in Florida. 

Dear Diane, on one of her little shopping trips yesterday, found two nice warm sweaters on sale and bought them for me. Unless we decide to head up the coast to visit family and friends at some point this winter I have a feeling these sweaters will remain unworn. Of course NOAA may be wrong and we might have to shovel snow for the first time since moving here in 2004. 

If you’re interested in hearing the NOAA winter outlook for yourself, here’s a link to their video:

https://youtu.be/cLrmyXVXum8

The Amazing Grace Notes

Our parish, St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Wildwood, Florida, is truly blessed to have some remarkably talented musicians who share their talents at every weekend liturgy, at funerals, and whenever we need liturgical music. Every so often these three women put on a concert as a fundraiser for the parish, and I thought perhaps my select group of readers might enjoy their latest. It was conducted live on both Facebook and YouTube earlier this week. They call themselves (and so do we) “The Amazing Grace Notes” for obvious reasons. Here’s a link to the YouTube video of their concert. Watch it all and enjoy it

https://youtu.be/DIxDmfWnpUY

A Mini-Vacation

Dear Diane and I needed to get away, if only for a couple of days. I've been a bit overwhelmed lately, with lots to do and barely enough time to do it all. And in the midst of everything, I've had to share Diane with a collection of doctors and dentists who have been monopolizing her time. Anyway, I managed to find a good deal and reserved a pleasant suite at a resort in Cape Canaveral. It was very nice and affordable  -- always a good combination for those of us pinching our retirement pennies. More importantly, however, it provided both of us with some needed down-time.

We enjoyed occasional lunches and dinners at a couple of local eateries, and took short drives up and down the Florida coast, stopping whenever the spirit moved us. Of course, I took photos of odd things and places and people. 

On our last morning we actually took a walk down to the beach following the resort's boardwalk. Neither of us are really beach people. In fact, we didn't even pack bathing suits. But when we stepped onto the sand I saw something that amazed me. The beach was quite large, easily 100 yards deep, and almost deserted. Only a few people strolled along the shoreline, but one woman sat alone in a folding beach chair. She seemed to be reading something on her smartphone, but she wore a mask! I don't think there was anyone within 100 yards of her. I've posted two versions of my photo below: the wide-angle shot and a close-up version so you can see her mask. 

This remarkable sight led me to realize just how much we have been overcome by the fear of this COVID virus. That someone would feel obligated to wear a mask, apparently to protect herself from the virus, as she sits on an empty beach surrounded by nothing but fresh air. Perhaps she has some serious health issues, but even so I think she needed to take off that mask, inhale deeply, and thank God for the healing power of His clean, ocean air. God bless her.

Bye-Bye Irma (Irma #6)

She's gone...sort of. In the darkness of the early morning hurricane Irma passed right over us here in central Florida. It's now mid-morning and even though a weakened and less organized Irma is already in Georgia, we're still experiencing  tropical storm force winds upwards of 50 mph. We're told these will be with us for most of the day. After yesterday and this morning these gusts are no big deal. She's still a huge storm, though, spreading her rains and winds over hundreds of miles. Here's a radar view, more or less current:

The winds and rains howled and hammered all night, but we seem to have come through with little or no damage. Our trees lost a lot of branches, but from what I can tell, most were very small. I might have to make some repairs to our garage door, but other than that all is well. I stayed up until 3 a, m, and then finally grabbed a few hours of sleep. I think an afternoon nap might be called for.

Millions of Floridians are without electrical power, but here in The Villages, at least in our neighborhood, we seem to have lost nothing. We still have electricity, telephones, internet --  the bounty of the good life promised by modern civilization. The only thing I lost was AT&T cell service, but it's already back, up and running.

Now we're just thankful that we came through this safely. Occasionally God needs to remind us of the power of His creation. The humble recognize this and realize that as inhabitants of this tiny planet we're actually powerless little critters, totally dependent on His mercy. I trust those who mistakenly think they are powerful might come to accept the truth of God's omnipotence.

There is one powerful gift God extends to us: the power of prayer. And Diane and I thank you for your prayers. We also turn to our two patron saints, the martyrs St. Vitus and St. Elmo (Erasmus), and thank them for their intercession.

We pray, too, for those who are still feeling the effects of Irma. We have relatives and friends in northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and pray for their safety.

As the hymn reminds us: "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow..." Yes, indeed, God is good.

With that, I'm finished with Irma -- no more updates.

Irma Heads Right For Us (Irma #5)

Well...the highly unpredictable Irma changed course after making landfall in Marco Island, Florida. Instead of heading off to the northwest as most of the tracking models predicted, she decided to charge ahead almost due north. The problem for us is that this new course will cause her to pass directly over us here in Sumter County. Arrgghhh.

The Villages, our massive retirement community of well over 100,000 residents, spans three Florida counties: Lake, Marion, and Sumter. Our home is in Sumter County and is apparently in Irma's crosshairs. According to the seemingly wise meteorologists of Orlando's Channel 9 (WFTV), we will experience some very high winds beginning around midnight and lasting for many hours. We can expect things to settle down around 7 or 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Right now I estimates we're feeling the effects of perhaps 50 mph winds, along with constant torrential rains. It's quite noisy so winds perhaps twice as strong should really keep us awake. No damage yet...well, no damage heard or seen, but it's a very dark night. I'll have to wait until morning to survey the exterior of the house. I'm still a bit concerned about the live oak trees behind the houses on this side of our street. Although I don't expect Irma to uproot these large tress, her strong, shifting winds will probably rip off some large branches. We hope none will damage any homes.

Diane and Maddie are both asleep. (It's now past 11 p.m.) As for me, the storm seems to have awakened me -- some sort of stimulant effect. I also feel a kind of manly sense of responsibility calling me to watch over Dear Diane and our home. I can't imagine going to bed while Irma roars just beyond our thin walls. And someone should stay awake in the event of a tornado warning, so we can all -- Diane, Maddie and I -- retreat to the guest bathroom, our only interior room with no windows. 

We still have electrical power and all the other utilities we've come to rely on. And for this we thank both St. Elmo and St. Vitus. Our diocese -- the Diocese of Orlando -- has placed a prayer on the diocesan website. I invite you to pray:

May God calm the storms of our heart.
Let us pray that God will calm the storms of our heart. May we remember to check on one another as the storms arrive – our coworkers, our neighbors, our friends, our families – to assure each other of our care and concern for our safety and well-being.

May He bring safety to all in the path of the storm

We pray for those in the path of the storm, for all evacuating to safety and for all who will work to serve our communities and protect the dignity of life. May we take care of ourselves, our loved ones and those God puts in our path.

Let us pray for protection

Lord of mercy, watch over and protect all of your children in the path of Hurricane Irma. Please protect us and guide us toward safe harbors as we take shelter in you. Amen.

It Begins (Irma #4)

The rains and wind have arrived in earnest. We're already on the receiving end of tropical storm force winds and the rain is coming down in buckets. It's hard to believe this is just a first taste of Irma's power. She is one very large storm, larger than any I've experienced, well over 500 miles in diameter. The forecast for our area is not encouraging. She will strengthen and hammer us throughout the night and into tomorrow.

A few moments ago I stepped out on the lanai and noticed that water is beginning to pool in the area between the houses. There's pretty good drainage back there but I'm not real confident it can keep up with a storm of this intensity. When hurricane Frances hit us back in 2004 we experienced some significant flooding behind our house, but it eventually drained off and did no damage. Water also seeped in under the front door. Fortunately we managed to sop it up with dozens of towels until the rains stopped. But we've had so much rain this summer that I'm afraid the ground is already waterlogged. We'll see.

Maddie viewing the empty lanai

Adding to the excitement are the tornadoes that accompany Irma. A dozen or so have already popped up in central and eastern Florida with several causing serious damage by uprooting trees and destroying mobile homes. One TV meteorologist commented that well over 10% of Floridians live in mobile and manufactured homes, a fact that explains why they are so often the target of severe weather: there's just a lot of them. The only good thing about hurricane-embedded tornadoes is their size and duration: they tend to be small and they don't last long.

Oh, yes, for those of you concerned about our lizards, on my brief visit to the lanai I noticed that Leo, the largest of our three lizards, apparently decided to come out of hiding. The below photo shows him comfortably waiting out the storm. We are pleased that all three seem to be doing well, and trust they will make it through the "dark and stormy night."  

Leo, the largest of our lizards

We still have electricity, telephone, cable and internet; and this is good. At my age the idea of reverting to a more primitive lifestyle is unappealing. Whether all of these modern conveniences will still function tomorrow morning is anyone's guess, but I'm hoping for the best.

Martyrdom of St. Erasmus (Elmo)

Interestingly, when it comes to things electrical or electronic, Diane always asks St. Elmo to intercede. This all began when I once described the phenomenon known as "St. Elmo's Fire," a form of electrical discharge that sometimes appears on the masts and rigging of ships. Because sailors considered them to be signs of St. Elmo's protective concern, they named the phenomenon after him. The patron saint of sailors (and I suppose that includes me), Elmo is more properly known as St. Erasmus of Formia. I suppose Elmo is just a nickname preferred by sailors. And here's an amazing  coincidence: St. Elmo and St. Vitus (remember him from my first Irma post) were both martyred in the same year, 303 A.D. Isn't that remarkable? Our two patrons -- Elmo, Diane's patron of things electrical, and Vitus, the patron of protection from storms -- returned to the Father at about the same time.

And so I ask that you join with us as we turn to these two saintly martyrs in prayer, asking for their combined intercession for all who are in the path of this devastating storm. 

God's peace.

Hello Irma (Irma #3)

We're still in an awaiting mode, with little to do but watch the easily excitable weather people on TV. They are, of course, in their glory since these significant weather events are relatively rare. But when severe weather does occur, the meteorologists take center stage and all other news fades into the background. I'm always amazed by their ability to come up with new things to say. After all, hurricanes are really just a lot of very strong winds and torrential rains, but these TV weather people dazzle us with graphs and charts and tracks and millibars and cones and all sorts of wonderful stuff to keep us watching. I especially enjoy the weather reporters in the field who stand in knee-deep water while they lean into 50-knot winds and tell us things we can't understand because the sound of the wind drowns out their words. Then they remind us to stay indoors because these storms are dangerous.

And yet I continue to watch.

Earlier this morning, after joining Maddie on her morning walk through the neighborhood, I took holy water in hand and blessed the house and the surrounding trees, asking God to keep us safe. Two of our three resident lizards watched me intently as I sprinkled the lanai and them. As you can see clearly in the below photos, both showed real interest. Lizzie, the smallest, clung to one of the screens, while Leonard watched from his favorite ledge. Leo, the big guy, was nowhere to be seen, but I suspect he's hiding under the grill, his usual place of retreat whenever I enter the lanai.

Lizzie on the screen

Leonard on the ledge

I hope that all three make it through the storm. Dear Diane suggested inviting them into the house, but I nixed the idea assuming Maddie might not accept them. She has never bothered, or even taken an interest in, our lanai lizards but asking her to share the house with them might be expecting too much.  

As you can tell, I seem to have far too much time on my hands today. There's nothing much to do except wait and pray and occasionally raid the cookie jar. Although this morning we've experienced a few passing squalls with some wind and rain, so far all is relatively calm. We're told this will change this evening. The worst will be with us throughout the night, so I expect I'll get little sleep. I hope Diane and Maddie sleep well, but someone has to stay up and keep an eye on Irma as she passes through.

As you can see by this fairly recent map of Irma's track (above), the experts still anticipate that she'll follow the Gulf coast as she heads north. If that actually happens, we will be just outside the eyewall and be subjected to some very strong winds. Should be a fun night.

Again, keep us in your prayers, and don't forget St. Vitus, who has a special way with storms.

Peace...

Irma Update (Irma #2)

With hurricane Irma less than 24 hours away, Dear Diane and I have been trying to prepare for her arrival. Our first task? Empty the lanai of all furniture, so it doesn't get blown through the glass French doors that open to the living room.

The task is complete, but I didn't expect the reaction of the three little lizards that have been living in our lanai for several months. I named them a few weeks ago, from smallest to largest: Lizzie, Leonard and Leo. It just seemed like the proper thing to do since they had become permanent residents. Anyway, I think they're upset about all the unexpected activity. Every time I moved a chair or table, they ran for cover, seemingly very concerned about these sudden changes. Now, with the lanai completely empty, they have no place to hide. They have been sitting together on a ledge and staring down at the large void that was once their adopted home. Sad, but I suspect they'll recover once the storm passes...assuming they survive.

I feel confident that we've prepared as well as two old folks can. We have gallons of fresh water, enough batteries, weather radios, ice for the coolers, flashlights, candles, two full gas tanks for the grill, ice cream, cookies, and the most important item, good neighbors. I also have a little Irish whiskey for myself in the event of an emergency.

Here's Irma's current location and anticipated track:

We're still hoping that Irma -- now moving rather slowly along the north shore of Cuba -- will continue on her westward course for a while before making that anticipated turn toward the north. If she skirts Florida's gulf coast we will receive some very high winds here in Sumter County, so I'd prefer her farther out to sea.

The latest forecast for our area calls for hurricane force winds upwards of 100+ mph for a rather extended period: 5 pm Sunday through 2 pm Monday. That's a long time to be battered by so much wind. The forecast also predicted 8 to 15 inches of rain. To emphasize the seriousness of all this, the forecaster told us to expect power outages, flooding, and tornadoes. All very encouraging.

And so we continue to ask St. Vitus to intercede for us and for all who find themselves in the path of this huge storm. And I ask you, my tiny but holy remnant of readers, to keep us in your prayers. Praise God!

Here Comes Irma (Irma #1)

I can think of no better place to live than Florida...except during a hurricane.

Irma, apparently a hurricane of historic proportions, has set her sights on Florida. Dear Diane and I happen to live smack dab in the middle of this great state, something which causes me more than a little concern. The latest predictions by the weather-guessers show the storm smashing into South Florida and then moving north, right up the spine of the Florida peninsula. If these forecasts are accurate, Irma, still packing hurricane force winds, should reach us sometime early Monday.

Because we live in Central Florida, between Orlando and Ocala, we will be spared the destruction caused by the storm surge that affects coastal areas. But the high winds and heavy rains could still take their toll. So much depends on the path Irma ultimately follows. If she makes a slight right turn and heads north along the east coast, the damage here will be lessened but the people of coastal Georgia and the Carolinas could find themselves facing an even stronger storm. She could instead take a left turn into the Gulf and run up Florida's west coast. This, too, would be better for us, but might hammer the folks who live along the Gulf Coast and in the panhandle. There's really no good scenario, so the best we can do is pray that God will be merciful and keep us all safe.

We have not received an evacuation order -- at least, not yet -- but if we do, it might be a challenge to convince Dear Diane to leave. Where would we go? she asks. Drive north to stay with relatives in Georgia or friends in South Carolina? From the forecasts it seems the storm will simply follow us. She intends to stay put and assumes that our central location will limit the damage that a weakened Irma could inflict. I pray she is correct.

In truth, The Villages tends to weather bad storms fairly well. We can only hope the community will withstand Irma's fury when she arrives. Back in 2004, shortly after we moved here, three hurricanes -- Charley, Frances and Jeanne -- visited The Villages, one after another, and caused some damage; but our well-constructed house survived all three storms. The large live-oak trees behind our house were not so fortunate, but despite all the lost limbs, the trees survived. Because all the utilities -- cable, telephone and electricity -- are underground here in The Villages, we didn't suffer any outages back in 2004. (Actually, as I recall, we lost cable TV for about 30 minutes, but that was the extent of it.)

My biggest concern is the potential flooding that could result from 10 to 20 inches of rainfall. We have excellent drainage here but I can't imagine any drainage system coping effectively with such high levels of predicted rainfall. We'll see.

But because I always want to be prepared, I stopped by the local Publix supermarket this morning and loaded up on the essentials: ice cream and cookies. I also bought  40 pounds of ice and stashed it in the freezer. I own an "enhanced" ice chest that will keep ice nice and icy for five days. I also have two full tanks of gas for the barbecue grill in the event we cannot use the kitchen range. And if we must leave, the car's gas tank is also full. I think I'm ready for whatever Irma throws at us.

Patron: Protection from Storms

Anyway, we ask that all you folks who live up in snow country keep us in your prayers. And pray, too, for those in the Caribbean who have already suffered so much devastation from this storm.

We thank God for all that happens, knowing He turns everything to good for those who believe in Him.

And, lest I forget, the patron saint of protection from storms is St. Vitus, a martyr of the early fourth century. And so we pray too for his intercession.

God's peace.

The Weather According to Matthew

The ubiquitous media has truly altered the way we observe and experience weather events. A week or so ago we began to hear about Hurricane Matthew as it formed, strengthened, and moved slowly through the central Caribbean, eventually becoming a dreaded Category 5 storm. Once its movement indicated a potential threat to Florida and the U.S. East Coast, the "weather establishment" shifted into high gear.

As it traveled north the storm caused catastrophic damage to poor Haiti, but this seemed a secondary concern. Yes, we're told that several hundred Haitians lost their lives and thousands more lost their homes and their few possessions, but isn't this to be expected? After all, it's Haiti! They're real poor down there, and backward, and live in shacks; they have poor construction codes, and probably don't even have a national weather service. Anyway, Channel Whatever Eyewitness News doesn't have a news crew down there; and if it's not on TV it mustn't be all that important. After Haiti Matthew scraped the eastern edge of Cuba and then rolled through the Bahamas, but we heard little about its effects in these places. All eyes were focused on Florida.

Hurricane Matthew Approaches Florida

Reporter in the Storm

The media frenzy really peaked yesterday, and hasn't ebbed a bit. At some point every local TV station in Orlando (the ones we are blessed to receive on our cable system) preempted their usual programming and offered round-the-clock hurricane coverage. One station even replaced Thursday Night Football with several meteorologists sharing their thoughts about millibars, storm surge, eye walls, forecast models, digital radar, and other wondrous things. Every station pre-positioned reporters and camera crews wherever they expect disaster to strike. This, of course, led to an interesting contradiction. As some poor, 100-pound, young woman reporter is battered on camera by hurricane force winds and driving horizontal rain, the studio anchors tell their audience not to be foolish by leaving their homes during the storm. Go figure!

As is often the case, the TV meteorologists focus on their worst-case scenarios and discuss other possibilities only in passing. This creates a sense of impending doom, that this storm will be like no other. I suppose such warnings are useful since they probably convince some reluctant people to evacuate threatened areas, but they also cause others to believe the danger was grossly overstated. 

The 24-hour coverage generates another problem: constant repetition. There's only so much to say about a storm. And now -- thanks to the internet, hurricane apps on our smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and push notifications -- information pours into our homes unceasingly. No doubt this flow of information has saved many lives, lives that would have been lost in the days when hurricanes appeared with far less warning. But an inundation of data and opinion can also confuse and lead folks to turn it all off.

Matthew's Coming!!

The media also provide a venue for our politicians to communicate their advice, concerns, and demands. Indeed, every few hours the governor, surrounded by his emergency management team, a collection of very serious-looking people, appears on screen and gives us an update. The governor and his team have apparently spent our tax dollars well and done an excellent job preparing for Matthew's arrival. Governor Scott, I am told, is a very nice man, but his reports seem so very gloomy. I suppose that's to be expected since he likely feels responsible for the safety of the people of Florida and hopes they will take the storm seriously. Even though the storm has obviously weakened -- it's now a Category 3 storm -- and has drifted slightly seaward, the warnings remain severe. At the same time, however, the meteorologists are almost apologetic because Matthew hasn't fully lived up to their expectations. They truly enjoy storms. It's all very interesting.

Governor Scott Updates the State

Here in The Villages we are on Matthew's western fringe and have experienced only periodic rain and wind -- nothing very substantial. But in anticipation of the storm, most local government offices and many businesses have closed. We even closed the Wildwood Soup Kitchen today. Yesterday Diane and I and our wonderful team of volunteers prepared a tasty meal for our guests, and then prepared an additional double brown-bag meal so no one would go without food today. We all went home tired but satisfied that the hungry would be fed.

As Matthew heads north we pray that it drifts farther out to sea and spares the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. We also look forward to a little less weather and far less weather news.

Our Owl

The two owls continue to return to our tree each afternoon, so I can only assume the nocturnal hunting in our neighborhood is good.

They perch high up in our large live-oak tree, probably 60 or 70 feet off the ground. And like our previous resident osprey, they are camera shy and tend to fly off when they see me with my camera. I've had to shoot quickly and because a tripod is too unwieldy the photos aren't as crisp as I'd like. But they're not too bad. I took this photo a few minutes ago. Just seconds later the owl flew to another, more concealed perch. Beautiful birds.

Grandchildren, et al.

I haven't posted much lately, but I have an excuse. We've had visitors...special visitors.

Dear Diane and I had two wonderful weeks to enjoy our elder daughter, Erin, and five of our grandchildren who came here to Florida for a visit. Our son-in-law was unable to make the trip because of work so he was absent from the picture we had made during his family's stay with us. I suppose I could "photo-shop" him into the picture, but that might be beyond my limited capabilities. He'll just have to wait until the next family photo-op. Here's the photo of Mama and her five little ones...

At the same time we were also blessed by a visit of our younger son and his bride of six months who spent several days with us on their way to a vacation ever father south in the Florida Keys. Because every square inch of our modest home had been claimed by the grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law stayed at a nearby hotel and spent their days with us.

On one of our excursions we spent the day at the Homosassa State Park in Homosassa Springs, Florida so we could see the manatees and other critters and birds native to our state. We all had a great time and enjoyed a nice lunch of seafood at a nearby waterfront restaurant. That's where the below photo of our son, Brendan, and his wife, Amari, was taken.

The good news about retiring in Florida is that our children and grandchildren like to visit, especially when the northern weather is cold. The bad news? They don't do it often enough.

We miss them all.

Gators in Paradise

One thing that always seems to shock visitors and newly arrived retirees when they first arrive in Florida is the number of alligators crawling and swimming around the state. I believe -- and I'm not positive about this -- there are upwards of 2 million alligators living in the wild in Florida. I'm not exactly sure how they count them and I certainly wouldn't want to be one of the state's alligator census-takers, but I will assume this number is reasonably accurate. Whatever the number, it's big. There are a lot of alligators in Florida.

During our first week here in The Villages back in early 2004, in the course of one of our unguided get-to-know-the-area drives, Diane and I came across a small state park just a mile or so from our home. The park, located along the shore of a local lake, also included a small beach and swimming area, complete with a nice dock. (see the photo below).

Lake Miona State Park

In the center of the photo, just beyond the sandy beach, you will notice a large white sign. It lists the park's rules, and I have included a photo of the sign itself below. Reading through the list of rules, we encounter nothing unusual until rule number 10: "Do not feed alligators or wildlife." Now, this might seem normal to Florida folks, but to the rest of us, doesn't this seem a bit odd for a rule posted at a swimming area? Seems to me you run the risk of violating this rule simply by taking a swim.

Park Rules (click to enlarge)

Since then we have encountered (always from a safe distance) dozens of these nasty-looking creatures, both here in The Villages and elsewhere throughout the state. I've even come across gator roadkill on Florida's Turnpike, so you know these critters get out of the water occasionally and roam around where we'd least expect to encounter them.

This past week, during our grandchildren's visit, we were enjoying an ice cream down by Lake Sumter Landing, one of The Villages' two town squares, when we spotted a relatively small (perhaps six or seven feet long) alligator basking in the water near the boardwalk...apparently waiting for a careless, unsuspecting grandchild to topple into the lake.

"Cute" young gator at Lake Sumter Landing, The Villages

And so, even here in our artificial paradise, evils lurk. But, perhaps I shouldn't be so judgmental about our toothy friends. After all, God did create them, and as my granddaughter, Camilla, said when she spotted the gator swimming just a few feet away, "Oh, look, Papa, he's so cute!"