We said goodbye to the cold and snow on the morning of 21st of April and were pleasantly surprised to arrive in Montreal to green grass and flowers already in bloom. As usual the grandchildren were happy to see us and it wasn't hard to convince me to take them to the park shortly after we arrived. Phil later showed me his latest gadget, a 3D printer built in the Czech Republic, the very popular and reliable Prusa i3. We made a sugar skull keychain for my sister Lyn which I would give to her on her birthday, explaining how it works and the materiel used. I was quite impressed and could understand their growing popularity for the average hobbyist. And no I don't need one.
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| Phils new 3D printer, a Czech i3 Prusa |
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| fun at the big kids park |
Our flight was leaving the next morning from Plattsburgh, NY so we were up early for the hour drive to the airport. It was a three hour cramped and basically no frills flight which went by pretty quickly as I listened to my music and tried not to hog the armrest. Don met us in St Pete on our arrival and we were in Brooksville by suppertime, the temperature in the low 80s and quite pleasant thank you. We visited with Dad the next day, having last seen him in November, spending a few hours chatting, trying to get him again to talk about his past and found one of his favourite songs on YouTube to listen to - Sarie Marais, a traditional South African folk song he used to sing to us as children.
' Oh, take me back to the old Transvaal, where my Sarie lives, down among the maize fields near the green thorn tree, there lives my Sarie Marais.' We promised to return again before we left to take him out to lunch and he seemed, for a man nearing his 95th birthday, quite happy and in good health. Marie and I were up early every morning while we were at Lyn and Dons, either walking down Angel to Dempsey and back or down Benshoff to Malvern and back, before anyone else was up. Don took us out to the little town of Ozello the next day, highly recommended by Lyn who said there were so many good photo ops there that I really needed to take my camera. Located between Crystal River and Homosassa we found it down a winding road (the Ozella Trail), twisting and turning through an aquatic preserve past endless salt marsh flats. I expected to see and feel more of 'old Florida' but there wasn't much there except a very popular seafood restaurant,
Pecks, where we had lunch and where we took the lone photo. Marie and I had salads while Don had the house specialty - a half dozen blue shelled crabs. We drove into Crystal River afterwards and strolled about Hunter Springs Park, along Kings Bay, a haven for manatees, before heading home.
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| Plattsburgh, our Allegiant jet arriving from St Pete, ready to turn around |
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| Gandy Bridge, Old Tampa Bay, Florida |
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| admiring the flowering plant Cannabis, within the family Cannabaceae |
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| Dad listening to Sarie Marais |
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| getting ready for our early morning power walk |
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| Peck's Seafood Restaurant, Ozella, Florida |
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| Crystal River, Florida |
It was Lyn's 69th birthday the next day and, as we had promised to take her out to a restaurant of her choice, we found ourselves after a bit of a drive at a small European eatery called Nouvelle Cuisine in Springhill which featured classic Belgian and French dishes. With excellent reviews and great expectations we had to wait awhile for the food once we ordered, but the French wine and Belgian beer selection was very good and comforting. I had the rack of lamb - a little rare but still tender and delicious, that brought much raised eyebrows from all as I ate the whole thing - and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think Lyn had a good time and it was good to see her smiling most of the evening. She is going into surgery for her shoulder after we leave and the stress of thinking about it has been on her mind constantly.
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| birthday girl |
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| Don's 1972 Love Bug |
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| enjoying the sun |
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| Nouvelle Cuisine, Springhill, Florida |
Next day, as promised, we took Dad out to a new
Cheddar's restaurant just down the road from where he was living. He said he wasn't hungry but still ate a bit of his salad, a croissant, and a chicken pot pie that he seemed to love. We took him afterwards to Walmart where we picked him up some wine, snacks, ice cream and some of his favourite mints. His caretaker Barb put them away for him as she told us he would eat the lot in one sitting if he could! I think Dad enjoyed our visit and hopefully he will still remember us when next we see him. Before leaving for St Pete where we would be for the remaining days until flying home we celebrated Brenna's seventh birthday. She is such a sweet little girl, full of energy and life and I always look forward to seeing her and her parents Shawn and Lauren. She got a guitar from Grandma Lyn and I will be keeping my fingers crossed the next Adele is living in Brooksville. Lyn and Don drove us to the Alamo rent a car in St Petes the next morning - Lyn had a pre-surgery doctors visit nearby - where we said our goodbyes and headed to our AirBnB only a few miles away. It was our first real visit to the city of St Petersburg and I was looking forward to some beach time!
gws
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| speeder, Walmart |
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| Croom Road |
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| Brenna, 7 years old |
