Naples

These are pictures from driving around Naples yesterday. You can see the pier in the distance in the first picture. Everyone is kind of bundled up with the still much cooler than usual weather.


















I thought this pink and white building was really pretty.

Today Aunt Dana and Uncle Dale are visiting. We all went to lunch at Alice Sweetwater's.

Sunny Florida

I got to Florida the evening of my birthday and Aunt Jan had made a butterscotch cake for me.

We all had breakfast out yesterday at First Watch. Then Mom & I drove around the old part of Naples to see all the things I remember from family vacations.





Ahhh, palm trees!!

We talked to people at the pool who said that yesterday was the nicest day they've had here since Christmas. They provided our entertainment by jumping into the freezing pool! The sun was hot though with temps. around 65.

Our wireless connection here is sporadic so not easy to get blog posts done.

Deep Snow

These are all pictures taken last weekend. We had hoar frost again Fri. and Sat. I'm amazed at how deep the snow is on the sides of the sidewalks (first picture) and in the yards in town. The 2nd one shows how deep it is against the old school.

Yesterday afternoon I headed north to Minneapolis to catch a flight at 1:00 today. It was a slick drive half way but about 2 hours from Minneapolis, the roads were bare. Saw a few overconfident drivers newly in the ditch along the way early on the drive. I was glad to get here and not have to do that drive this morning like I was going to. School at home is delayed 2 hours again today. My shuttle from the hotel to the airport is in an hour. I'm parking my vehicle here at the hotel for an extra $20 (vs. about $70 at the airport).

I'm leaving this white stuff and cold behind to go stay with my mom and aunt & uncle for a few days so the next pictures here will be of palm trees!

February Sunset

Bill was just calling to tell me to check out the sunset as I had noticed it and was grabbing my camera! This is similar to the picture I took in June and had for my blog header for a long time! This morning was church and then seems like we've been watching the NASCAR race alllllllll day! Now looking forward to the first episode of the new Amazing Race season tonight.

It's 12 degrees this evening after a sunny day with some drifting on the gravel roads. The roads to church this morning were slick and snow covered (it snowed about 3" last night).

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Nice ?

In amongst the envelopes in the mail today was this card from brother-in-law, Jim. I thought, wow, he knows when my birthday is (and sent a card?)? Nope - I opened it and out drops this SAINTS logo (that looks like he painstakingly cut out smiling all the while probably) - and it's a Sympathy card! (I tried to find the picture of him with his bike during a past Ragbrai ride next to the Road Kill sign to post with this . . . ) :)

Dominoes

This is a good picture that I didn't get posted in December. While we were at Mom's for Christmas, we played a few games of dominoes. The boys really like to play. This is Mom on the left, Rob, Ross, Bill & Reed.

Tonight Bill and I went to the funeral home and then to Emmetsburg to Sum Hing for our Valentine dinner. My fortune said "You will take a pleasant journey to a place far away." :) and Bill's said "An unexpected windfall will be yours". I think at least one of them will come true!