Lately.....

 

our front door

Things have grown a little quieter around here of late. The snowbirds are gradually locking up and heading back to their summer homes up north in Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennessee, and New York, escaping Florida's balmy H🥵T!!! weather until October or November. I've counted several times and concluded I almost have more friends who are snowbirds than those like us who stay here year 'round!!

door repair

While people pack up and move out, we are here dealing the circumstances of ordinary life. The weather stripping at the bottom of our front door needed replacing. Gary tackles a lot of the Honey-do's around here, but for this one a repairman was called in. He did a good job.

I've been in the kitchen a little bit of late (Gary is the Chief Chef in this house). A request was submitted for Rice Krispy Treats. I made up a pan of them and in the blink of an eye they disappeared. (it's clearly been too long since I last made that!)

The Chef has been very busy lately pulling out bushes and planting new ones, trimming the landscape, and so forth. I gave him a break by cooking lunch yesterday and serving the leftovers for a light supper. Sloppy Joes. 

Internet photo
2026 Kentucky Derby

We watched the Kentucky Derby this weekend. Since our town is known as The Horse Capital of the World, it was only right that we showed some interest in the race, although the actual competition is only 2 1/2 minutes long! We had the options of watching the race at our community center and also at the World Equestrian Center, just down the road from here. But we would have had to get fancy hats for the occasion, and we are not party animals, so we enjoyed it all from the comfort of our recliners (where the food and rest rooms are just steps away 👍🏻👍🏻).

Ocala International Airport
May 1, 2026

The last piece of news I'm sharing today is that the President flew in just 5 miles from our house (closer as the crow flies 😉🤭). He then took a helicopter to The Villages where he spoke to a huge crowd.

Our runway is not long enough for his Boeing 747 to land here, so a 757 was designated as Air Force One for this trip. One of the residents in our +55 community took the above photo, which really shows off our annual wildflowers as well as the President's transportation.

me in 2016

Those of you who are on Facebook know how the app pops up old photos, asking if we want to share them with [the world]. Usually I do not. 

In the picture I'm climbing the stairs to a ranger station at Colorado's Devil's Head mountain. It's located in the Rampart Range, which is southwest of Denver. The elevation of the lookout tower is 9,748 feet. 

Devil's Head historic fire lookout tower

It's been nearly 9 years since I moved to Florida from Colorado. I kinda doubt I could handle the elevation of such hikes now. My dear friend, "Sister D," led me to many hikes in Colorado's Front Range; this was one of them. I loved getting up high, being able to look far and wide. To quote a tune by Barbra Streisand, "On a clear day you can see forever."

Speaking of mountains, this comes to mind:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains --

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

This is a reminder to pray. We live in a day when the evening news is shockingly horrible. Let's use the headlines as prompts to pray. 

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara