Greetings from the heat and humidity of central Florida! I flew down Saturday to Orlando on AirTransit from Montreal to spend a week with the family and check out how my mum was doing after her release from hospital and therapy. The flight was pleasant enough considering it was full of kids and young families on their way to Disney World, but the service was surprisingly good and the stewardesses - are they still called that?- exceptionally pretty! Arrived in Orlando at 530pm, the air temperature 95+ and as I walked out to pick up my rental car it was like I had a run into a solid wall of superheated air. Still can't imagine living down here in the
summer after all the hundreds of times I have been to Florida and the southern States, but give me Florida anytime in the middle of February! It has been almost twenty years since I have been to Orlando because it is not our first choice for arriving in the Sunshine State. I was amazed how much it had grown and the traffic was nothing short of horrendous. Fighting bumper to bumper traffic along Semoran Blvd I finally got on to SR 50 and headed west to Brooksville taking almost an hour, and then it was the same along Colonial (50) through the sprawl of Pine Hills and Winter Garden - one red light after another. But traffic finally thinned out on the other side of Lake Apopka and I was quickly heading west into the setting sun. It was almost 9pm when I pulled into Lyn and Don's place, the drive from Orlando actually taking longer than the flight from Montreal!
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| Brenna & Lauren |
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| Brenna & Grandma Lynette |
The next morning we drove over to see Shawn, Lauran and their new baby girl Brenna, who I had yet to meet! And what a sweetie she was, as the photos show! From their home in Brooksville we all headed south to Land O' Lakes for a visit with mum. She is staying with Carolyn (down from Utah) and Dee in Dee's place in the Groves Golf and Country Club, a lovely quiet spot right off Highway 41. I had driven by there many times unaware that the Groves, an environmentally sensitive community in natural surroundings on 446 acres, was even there. Most of the community is preserved as a conservation area with the residences surrounded by cypress preserves, parks or Golf Course fairways, or in Dee's case, fronting a waterway full of fish, turtles and alligators. It is peaceful and safe (except for the gators!) - a perfect spot for mum to recuperate. Yesterday she got a new walker to use outside and Carolyn and I helped her try it out, slowly making our way to one of the lily-covered ponds along the boardwalk, close to the house. The sun was very hot so we took along a large umbrella to shield us from the noon rays. When we came back two sandhill cranes joined us at the feeder at the back of the house, reminding mum of the couple that often used to fly in and visit at her home in Brooksville.... to be continued
...gws
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| Sandhill crane in Dee's backyard |
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Mum & Me
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| Me, Carolyn & Mum |
