Settling in…

July 17, 2022

Lots of work, a lil’ fun and a new toy!

Would you look at what Mary found just minutes from our home and with zero grocery tax, only 67 cents a cup! (Maybe Danny and Anita or Miranda and Tito can pick up some on sale from the Pig for us!?!)

Looks like Mary took a better picture of the “new toy” than D. Nice job!

We’re getting a little more settled in every day as Delton’s new school year approaches. This week included paperwork and fingerprinting at the Lake County district office, and he also attended his first staff meeting at Treadway Elementary where he met some of the ESE (or Exceptional Student Education) staff – all very nice and welcoming as is everyone we’ve met here in Leesburg and the surrounding areas, so far.

Thursday was our one-month anniversary at Scottish Highlands. We celebrated with a couple of the most romantic dinners (just kidding, y’all) – a return to Red Lobster and Chinese takeout as this week’s DoorDash order – and we also had our first couples’ night at some new friends, long-time Florida residents who live three doors’ over. They invited us for dessert and a new card game neither of us had ever played, Hand and Foot. It was a very nice evening out, the apple pie à la mode was maybe the best ever served in these parts or anywhere, and the ladies easily won the card game. D. challenged them to music trivia next time!

On Thursday, we went to unconnected activities here in the community. Mary helped with getting this week’s bingo game going at the Clubhouse and stayed and played and WON!! She has a nice little “bingo kitty” started and sounds like she might be a regular. Delton ducked out of the late afternoon showers and into the Community Center for cornhole games and admits that he was overmatched by several of the men and women who have obviously been playing a lot longer than him. It was his second go ’round with the Highlanders throwing the little bags with synthetic corn pellets toward a rectangular board with a target-like design and an open hole near the far end. It took a good while to get into a rhythm and actually help his teammates in the some of the last games of the evening. The way the game is played here is with teams of two chosen by a random draw competing against another two-some. The first team to score 21 points wins, but it has to win by two or more points. You’re moving around the large room and joining up and socializing with almost everyone there by the end of the night. Good fun!

We did an afternoon swim outdoors earlier in the week and ended up with our first Florida sunburns we can remember, taking turns with the aloe vera to ease the sting of staying in the pool at least a half-hour longer than we should have. Mary actually peeled on her back and arms, but D’s skin is just red and fading with a little less stinging now than early in the week. Did you know that aloe vera can be used for much more than sunburn relief and household décor? Read more about it here.

The indoor pool in the community is absolutely stunning in its size and appearance. Unfortunately it’s closed for renovations with a lot of uncertainty about the timetable of its reopening and depending on who you talk to, it could be this week or next month or whenever the company doing the work gets back to the Highlands. We expect it to be a very popular recreation spot when it reopens even with many residents away for the summer (the snowbirds).

This is D’s pic of our first golf cart – and NOT a toy!!

Scottish Highlands is a golf cart community, and Mary spotted what looked like a very good deal on a used one listed on Facebook Marketplace. We drove over to Tavares and visited with the third “Steve” we’ve met here. He had a beautiful red cart (think Nicholls State University red!) almost completely restored with new or newer batteries and seats and an AM/FM Bluetooth radio and room for Gumbeau and a heavy-duty wall charger and WE BOUGHT IT! Price was around $5,000 less than we budgeted, and the owner delivered it to us! We’ve been out and about on it every few days or so. but we haven’t been able to get Beau to ride on it. He hops in, but the moment the electric pedal is engaged, it’s Gumbeau out!

Weather forecast for tonight: Dark. And probably raining early on. Half of that forecast courtesy of George Carlin (1937-2008), but the days have been absolutely beautiful with rain showers in most late afternoons and early evenings.

View from our living room window, our little piece of paradise here in Leesburg

Mary has been a real workhorse putting together at least six sets of shelves and the adjustable bed in the guest room, and even found time to work a good bit on the back side of our property. Delton helped a little back there and cleaned some windows and the golf cart, and he is getting better organized with school starting in about two weeks. Our daily routine of unpacking, chores, and shopping will likely continue for a while and rumor has it that our first house guests from back home in south Louisiana are on the way and we’re so excited!!