…yesterday afternoon to sunny, warm weather and then woke up this morning and looked out my window and was surprised at what had happened overnight.  Anyone who grew up with snow will have very fond memories of it.  We might not like to shovel it, or drive in it, and it does only come when it is cold, and we can’t play golf in it, but it is beautiful right after it stops.  It is quiet, it is clean, and in some cases covers up a multitude of unsightly sights.  Somehow a good snowfall slows everyone down.  It brings families together.  I call what happened last night a snowfall, everyone else here considers it a dusting.  The roads were warm enough so it did not stick, and when I went out to take this picture all you could hear was some serious dripping.  This would not be a snow event that would keep any one away from work or school, but to me it was perfect.  I got my taste of the snowfall we all miss, and it will be gone by this afternoon.  I will be here a few weeks and I have heard February may get more snow than usual this year, so we will have to see.  I have already planted myself in front of those big windows, and with the light flowing in from all angles, have a perfect place to curl up and read.  I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.

 …in the morning and I am heading North.  Really excited now about seeing everyone: family, extended family and friends.  The time will fly by fast and I will be heading back South before I know it.  I’ve been watching the weather and earlier in the week there was a lot of chatter about a snowstorm on Wednesday, and another one right behind it.  I was going to wait and go next Monday, but then it was reported a little more than a dusting on Wednesday, and then possibly something on the week-end. So it looks like there may be a two day window that I can scoot through.  If it does become a problem, there are plenty of Hampton Inns and I have my Kindle, so I will just relax and ride it out.   Sean doesn’t accompany me on these winter trips.  He thinks I am crazy to leave the Florida weather in February, and if I want to go fine, but he is not going. He will make sure to remind me everyday what weather I am missing, and oh the sunshine will be brighter than ever while I am gone.  I never remember New Jersey and Pennsylvania being so gray and dreary, but in the last few years it has gotten down right depressing at times, so I am hoping I will hit a sunny period. I did hear one report that said they got very little snow in January, so February may make up for it.  I would love one good storm so that I could  sit in front of the fireplace, with the whole family home, and the snow silently accumulating outside.  Just one though.  Well, I’m on my way.  Once again, have a Happy Valentine’s Day and I will try to update my blog from time to time.

…what a really nice Holiday.  A Holiday that celebrates love for each other.  A Holiday that makes one feel special.  It has always been one of my very favorite Holidays and I think my love for it goes all the way back to first grade. I remember vividly the teacher bringing in the cardboard box, colorfully decorated in red with hearts and lace.  There was a slit in the top of the box, where we could deposit our homemade valentines for our friends.  Out would come the red paper, the jar of white paste and the lace doilys.  My Mother taught me how to fold the paper in half, start cutting at the bottom corner, come up and out, and back in and open the paper and there was a heart.  I loved making them and I’m not sure why.  Was it the scissors I was allowed to use, or the  unsupervised availability of the white paste that I got all over everything.  I still can taste it so I must have even gotten in my mouth too. Somehow I seemed very grown up when I would sit (for hours) and make them.  Was I mimicking grown-ups, writing letters and going to the post office? Was this my first experience with mailing things.  I know that decorated cardboard box is where we deposited our valentines to be delivered on Valentine’s Day. That was kind of like a post office.  The excitement would grow as we got closer to day, and everyone was loading up that box.  One by one we would diligently bring our Valentine’s in and deposit them in our Valentine mailbox. The teacher would shake the box as it started to fill up so more Valentines could fit in.    The big day would arrive and the teacher would sit next to the box, and one by one pick a card and call out a name.  We were all  perched on the edge of our seats, just waiting in anticipation to hear our name, we would either yelp or sigh when hearing it. How many times did the teacher have to say, walk don’t run.  After all the cards were passed out the celebration would continue with juice, cupcakes and heart shaped red lollipops.  The innocence of the first year was soon to be replaced by how many cards did you get, I got 10, well I got 12, or I’m not talking to you because you didn’t send me a card.  By my third Valentines Day I had it all figured out.  I came in with a card for everyone, and everyone knew I did.  I methodically showed everyone their name on the addressed envelope before I put it in the box, and of course now that they knew I sent them one, for sure they would send me one.  I don’t remember the exact outcome, all I know is that I continued to love Valentine’s Day, so I think it must have worked. As years went on, I loved getting the red heart shape box of candy.   It could be that all along, my love for the Holiday was simply my love of chocolate candy and Feb.14th is the day that you can guiltlessly eat as much as you want.  We would not want to offend the giver, so we must eat it all to show our appreciation.  Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day and the enjoyment of indulging in many chocolates                                    .

..for Mexican Food?  If so, we have several different Mexican Restaurants in The Villages that I have eaten at, and enjoyed their food.  One is El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, which is located on 1 LaGrande Blvd., which I consider to be the beginning of The Villages’ first downtown area.  It is across the street from the Post Office, and is situated in a charming little courtyard, along with other businesses.  It is very Mexican and so is Ay! Jalisco, which is located on the corner of  Main Street and Paige Ave. in Spanish Springs Town Square.  There are some times when we just want to try other places, and I recently visited Sol de Mexico Restaurant in Eustis, and found it to be very good.  I   likened the atmosphere to Old Towne San Diego, which is just like being in Mexico.  They had a lot of dishes I had never heard of, so am assuming that a Mexican Restaurant connoisseur would probably love it.  It’s about a 40 minute ride,  Rt.#441 to Rt.#19 North brings you right into Eustis.  For more information you can also go to their website at www.soldemexicorestaurant.com.

…is a book written by a very good friend of mine that I met when we were both Sales Representatives with Properties of The Villages.  There was not a lot of opportunity to sit around and chat, however every week the agents would go out on tour to preview all the new listings.  You have probably seen fully occupied trolleys, early in the morning, in village neighborhoods and wondered, what they were doing?  No, they are not lost, just doing their part in keeping the agents educated.  Anyway, it was during those tours that I got to sit with Dotty and chat.  She had shared with me her background in the field of Parapsychology; psychic readings, dream interpretations, seances and the like.  She told me that she was psychic from a very early age, predicting things that were going to happen and getting into a lot of trouble,  when her predictions came true.  There was no way a little girl could know such and such was going to happen.  She must have done it.  Dotty’s stories fascinated me and I inquired as to whether she would ever get back into doing readings.  At the time she was too busy, and also, from other people I have spoken to that use their psychic abilities in one form or another, it is my impression that there is a point where it is a very heavy burden, and they need some time away from it.  Perhaps, to clear their minds.  Fast forward to my retiring, and then Dotty retiring and we would see each other occassionally. She had started up a new business as a Home Care Specialist, and was working seven days a week.  Everyone wanted Dotty.  A year went by and I happened to bump into her at Brownwood about two months ago,  and she told me she had written a book, and would be getting back into doing Psychic Readings.  I was so excited and we promised to keep in touch.  I then bumped in to her at Publix, and she explained she was out of the house for the first time in three weeks, after being down with the flu. We again promised to keep in touch.  A week later I bumped into her again.  We laughed,  but I am convinced there are no coincidences in life, Dotty and I were meant to meet.   There is no other explanation for us bumping into each other in such a short period of time, in a community of 85,000 people.  I think it was that Dotty just happened to have a copy of her book with her, so we met in the parking lot where I obtained one, and I have not been able to put the book down since.  Fascinating.   I plan to get a group together to meet Dotty and preview her book, to ask her questions and even try out our own intuitions.  I am a great believer in the science of parapsychology, and will admit, many years ago I would have nothing to do with it.  I think it scared me, I didn’t want to know, I felt it might alter my thinking.  I think I went as far as thinking that anyone who believed in astrology and psychic powers was a little crazy, and those who read charts, and cards and minds, they were really crazy.  I will tell you now that I am a believer, and the one thing I have observed is those individuals who are the teachers, and practicing parapsychologists, are among the most compassionate people that I have known.  They are really good people, and are comfortable in their own skin, so as to speak.   They have no axes to grind, and they will never try to convince you to believe. Nice, nice people. I think also we forget that ESP, Self-Hypnosis, Relaxation Enrichment, Habit Control: Stop Smoking/Weight Loss, Setting Goals and Stress Management are all methods used in the psychic field.   For anyone interested in knowing more, there is a Parapsychology Club, and also there are several different courses at the Lifelong Learning College that might be of interest to you.  If you have an interest in meeting Dotty, you can email me at [email protected].    At another time I will share my theory of pennies from Heaven.

…their hardest to keep us all fit.  If we took part in only one tenth of the available activities and exercise programs that are offered to us, we would be back to our adolescent weight, or at the very least, our teenage weight.  I think one of my current problems is I heard, she is so skinny, for so many years, that I think I still am. Sometimes we don’t accept what we currently look like until we unexpectedly catch a glimpse of ourselves in a mirror, and then it is a rude awakening.  That’s me?  We then diet for a day or two and are back to our fantasy vision of ourselves, until another mirror encounter.  Over the years I have joined health clubs of all sizes and descriptions, with friends of all sizes and descriptions, and only one time, stuck to it with great regularity.  I was in super shape, but as I recollect, I was in super shape when I joined.  Maybe that is the difference.  Twice I have had a personal trainer and I can only say that when you are a senior citizen, do not get a young male trainer that is trying to qualify to be a firefighter, as he will have very little enthusiasm about your fitness.  More than once I thought, if I was only 21 again, you’d be sorry.  When he left for his new firefighter job I got a young woman and loved it.  We talked, and talked, and talked.  None of that firefighter exercising for me.  Anyway, fitness is extremely important at this stage of our lives and we have so many things we can do.  We have the Wellness Center,  now MVP,  which is a full fledged fitness center, with trainers and classes and every piece of exercise equipment you can think of.  We have four Fitness Club’s at our Regional Recreation Centers, which also have exercise equipment.  We have Walking Paths and I’m not sure how many people are familiar with The Villages FitnessTrail. It is located next to the Shuffleboard  and Picnic Area, by Lake Miona Regional Recreation Center    There is a pine straw path, beneath beautiful live oak trees, that has nine exercise stations that have instructions as to how to do the exercise correctly.   At each station, the equipment has two different set-ups, depending upon one’s physical ability.  I tried a couple of the easiest positions, and can’t imagine the shape I would be in if I completed all nine.  This facility is just one more opportunity we have to maintain our health, and I have to thank The Villages for all that they do to keep us healthy.  Let’s show them that they CAN lead a horse to water, and if there is lots of water, they may just drink.  Happy exercising.

many years ago, in fact it was in the mid 1980’s and we were both selling Real Estate in North Jersey.  I always loved when Tim was on the other side of a transaction, as I knew that no matter what obstacle we might encounter when closing a sale, would be overcome by his knowledge, tenacity and hard work.  We were both working for different Companys at the time, but that did not matter.  We were Realtors that knew that respect and cooperation with each other, was the code of our professionalism.  And a professional Tim is..he is consistently a Top Producer in his office plus has many production awards and achievements to his name: most recently  2011 Coldwell Banker’s Top Fifty Agents in New Jersey (NJ has 1000s of agents) and a 2011 member of Coldwell Banker’s International Diamond Society.  2012 Awards will probably be announced this month, and I’m sure he is right up there, as he always is. Last summer when I saw Tim he had just returned from an appearance on, I believe it was Fox News, as a spokesman for what was happening in the New York Metropolitan Real Estate market. It was fun to hear of his experience and then to see it.   I have always said it has been hard for me to retire as it was not only the work I loved, but more importantly, the friendships and the personalities of the agents in any given Real Estate office, that I miss.   Every day someone will have a story that will make you laugh, make you cry, grab your heart or leave you just wondering.   It takes a special type of person to be a Realtor, many try and fail, but those that are successful are also special.   That is what brings me to this story today.  I happened to see this on facebook and enjoyed seeing Tim and what he had been up to,  so thought I would pass it on. I also thought it is a great reminder of what we are missing, especially while we are enjoying the 81 degrees forcasted for today.  This is just one of the many stories told in an office, only something a Realtor would do and then tell about it.    Enjoy.

http://www.trulia.com/blog/tim_waller/2013/02/the_igloo_that_broke_my_back  – Tim is on the right in first photo with Bill, his longtime friend and Realtor partner.

…leaving the dinner table hungry.  I am sure there were times as a child we left hungry because we refused to eat our spinach or liver, but that was by choice.  Imagine leaving hungry because there was no food.  Imagine as a parent not being able to provide enough food to fill up hungry stomachs.  Imagine never standing in front of a  cabinet for a snack or a treat and trying to decide between a cookie,  a pretzel or a candy.  Imagine having no fruit; no apples, no bananas, no oranges.  I personally can’t imagine it, although I have seen it.  Many years ago I was a Director of a Haven for Homeless Families, which also had a Food Pantry.  The Haven was founded by an individual that had become aware that there were homeless families living on the banks of the Passaic River in New Jersey.   They hid their homelessness because they did not want to be broken up.  There were only shelters for men and shelters for woman, none for couples.  The Haven had three homes that  offered transitional housing for families and a family would stay any where from six months to one year, or in some caases even longer.  I can’t get into the details of the Homes or the Pantry, as my blog would be too long, but I have never forgotten the expressions of appreciation and of hope on the faces of the recipients, as you handed them the keys to a house or a bag of food.  We may not have a Haven here, but we do have food pantries and  The Villages Golf Division is in the midst of its annual food drive to benefit the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, Wildwood Food Pantry and Lady Lake’s Christian Food Pantry.  The drop-off points are at all the Country Club golf starter buildings, and also at the Glenview Tennis and Country Club administration.  There will also be pre-addressed envelopes in the event some one would like to make a monetary donations, which are tax deductible.  The pantry’s most needed items are canned vegetables, fruit and meat; barbecue and spagetti sauce; canned beans; rice and pasta.   In 2012 the pantry distributed more than 206,000 pounds of food.  The Wildwood Soup Kitchen’s volunteers prepare and serve 250 hot, nutritious lunches daily, six days a week.  About half the guests are walk-ins while another 140 receive home delivery.  So many of us talk about cutting down on what we eat, and going on diets, and yet if you look in our cupboards they are most often brimming with food.  If all of us would just pick three or four items, pop them in a bag and drop them off at a Country Club starter building, what a difference it would make in someones life.  They will be accepting food through Monday, so on your way to have some fun this week-end, if you could take a few minutes and make a delivery of your own, it will be greatly appreciated.  In the event you are not sure where to drop it off, stop in at the Pro Shop and I’m sure they can point you in the right direction.

…is this Saturday, Feb. 2nd, starting at 10AM at Lake Sumter Landing.  The Chili Cook-offs have been a very big happening in The Villages for many years, well 16 to be exact.  It is one of the Rotary Club of The Villages fund raisers, and have they raised funds over the years, in excess of over half-a-million dollars.  That is a lot of chili.  The first such event was held in the late 1990’s, when they didn’t have a whole lot of money and they needed to make money.  The Chili Cookoff was born and the first year, with only 14 teams, they lost $4000. Yes, I did say lost.  However, they never gave up on their passion, learned lessons, ironed out details, ran the 2nd one,  it was successful and the rest is history.  They have gone from the original 14 teams to last year they had 100 teams competing.  The Rotary Club has always focused on raising money for various charities and through all their efforts, not only the Chili Cook-off, since 1996 they have given $600,000 in scholarships, a half-million dollars in support to local organizations and schools and  $345,000 for international projects like polio eradication.  The Club President has said though, that this year they will be honoring Florida’s Friendliest Hometown and celebrating the vision and  spirit of The Villagers.  He went on to say The Villages is a melting pot, or rather a chili pot, and everyone brings something different to the table, the ingredients being their history and talents.  And do we have a lot of ingredients. He hopes that all will come and enjoy each other’s fellowship and have some good chili and dance and shop around and have a day of fun-all for a good cause, and that is helping people less fortunate than us.  There is no charge to browse the event, but if chili fanatics are interested in tasting the chili, they can purchase a wristband for $5 which will give them unlimited access to the many chilis.  You can sample as many chilis as your tummy can hold, and out of respect for some Villagers’ tummies, I will say no more.  The weather has cooperated with the Rotarians, as with chilly weather goes chili.    Also at the Cook-off will be a Home and Garden Show with over 100 vendors, so it is going to be a busy day…I know I’m going to the Booklovers’ Showcase at Lake Miona Recreation Center, then on to the Cook-off.

…this Saturday, Feb. 2nd from 9AM to 2PM, the Writers League of The Villages is holding its’ BookLovers’ Showcase at the Lake Miona Recreation Center.  Attendees will have the opportunity to meet published Authors of all types of books for all different ages, children through adult.  Several years ago I stumbled upon their showcase when I was a Marketing Representative for the Properties of The Villages. I happened to be showing prospective buyers the different amenities that are available to them.  When I pulled into the parking lot at the Lake Miona Recreation Center, it was almost full and I was delighted.  It was always fun to tour clients through recreation centers, when activities and/or functions were in progress, as it gave them a real feel as to what it is like to live in The Villages.   As we weaved through the crowd of people, we were really curious as to what was going on.   When I got to the rooms that were filled to capacity I realized it was a Booklovers’ Showcase, with  all the authors seated at tables with their books, showing and selling them, if one wished.  I really lost my reason for being there and joined in the line snaking around the tables, just as my clients did.  Fortunately for me, they were as excited as I was, and finally half-way around the room, our eyes met, we laughed and left.  They did wind up buying a home later that day, and I’m not sure if the Showcase helped in their decision making, but since retiring I have never missed attending a Showcase.  I, also, always look around to see if I see my past clients, as I know they found the Authors and books as interesting as I did.   Don’t miss it, there’s books for everyone.  Another great project the Writers League is about to launch is the “Author’s Beat”, which is  an internet radio program, Saturday afternoons at   www.blogtalkradio.com.   You can listen to author discussions on your computer or your smartphone. All shows are archived with repeats available when you want them.  This is a first of a kind radio program in The Villages. Not surprising that this is just another first for The Villages.  I don’t think we will ever run out of  them. Thank goodness.