Cool and Cloudy in Naples - 14 Jan 2015

It's a cool, cloudy day in Naples, Florida--the perfect kind of day to stay at home and get caught up on banking, emails, or to just sit by the big window and read a good book. I'll do all three today. Wayne has gone to the gym and to run a few errands so I have the condo to myself for a few hours.

The crew came yesterday and removed the last of the giant fans and dehumidifiers. Everything registers 'dry' on their magic monitors and I have to admit I'm happy to be able to hear myself think again. We were determined to run them 24 hrs and deal with the noise but it sure is nice to have the quiet back. One of Wayne's errands is to Home Depot to get some nails and calking to replace the few baseboards they removed to facilitate complete drying and I'm sure he will appreciate the chance to cruise through one of his favourite haunts. He and his buddy Al probably visit there once a day when working on a project in the workshop at home and Wayne has been 'HDFree' for almost 2 weeks now. The plumber comes next week to replace the water pipes and connections to the washing machine.

I went to the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday for the Writer's Group and it was wonderful to connect with the girls again. There were a couple of new people attending that day and we all enjoy having different ideas and perspectives to add to the group. Once again we will be helping the students at the Culinary College with the resumes so that they can get a head start on summer employment or internships at the local restaurants. The students spend a couple of days a week at the Botanical Gardens learning how to cultivate and use vegetable, herbs, etc. and our group was asked to give them some advice on doing their resume. That will take place sometime in March. The Lego exhibit is on again and Sean Kenney's creations are incredible!

I went back to the Gardens yesterday to take some photos. I'm always amazed at how there is something blooming all the time. By March there are so many things blooming, including the cactus, but even now the water lilies are showing their colours and will continue for the entire time we are here. A few Orchids were in bloom but it is a bit cool for them to be outside the green houses right now. It was cool yesterday as well and I was not dressed for an extended stay so headed home after and hour or so. I want to try and visit at least 3 days a week, not including the day I go to the Writer's Group, and do some photography. If the weather warms up I will also go to the new Yoga group on Sunday morning. I can't think of a more wonderful spot to do Yoga than in the Garden.

We watched the movie 'The Revenant' last night and I can see why the movie and Leonardo di Caprio is getting lots of Oscar buzz. It was quite a movie!

We haven't been to the beach yet...just too much going on in the condo and not warm enough for me. I don't mind the cooler temperature but the wind has a bit of a bite to it. I absolutely refuse to go to the beach in my winter jacket! Yes, I've been watching/listening to the weather in Ottawa and I know that it's still easier being here than at home. However, at $1.40 Cdn, I'm really wanting to get my moneys worth of sunshine this year. The future of the Cdn dollar doesn't look much better...I'm not sure what next winter will bring for us!

That's our week so far. Gillian lost her first tooth and that's always an event to remember. It doesn't seem that long ago we were excited because she was getting her first tooth!

Oh...we are as poor today as we were yesterday and so are all the family/friends that we got Powerball tickets for...somebody won but it wasn't any of us.

Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx