Travelers Rest Resort
Dade
City, Florida
Monday,
February 15, 2016 to Wednesday, February 17, 2016
70s
As I write while sitting outdoors in short sleeves and capris, a sweet chickadee is singing to me!
Monday
Tom
(Tim’s brother) and Carol drove up from Estero to visit us for the day. The
Koenig family traditional Trivial Pursuit game was on the agenda! It was a cool
day, but we were cozy in the cabana with Jersey
Mike subs and snacks. Of course TK won the game with Carol and Mary Lou as
partners!
Tuesday
The
loudest thunderclap TK and I have ever heard woke us up in the middle of the
night. It sure sounded like an explosion in the park! There was a lot of rain and lightning too,
but we awoke to the most beautiful warm sunny day imaginable.
Tuesday
is Garden Club workday so I volunteered to work in “Mary’s Garden,” an area
closer to one of the club houses. Mary was a dedicated master gardener and TRR
dedicated that garden full of bromeliads, papyrus (King Tut is an annual in our
garden centers in Erie), coontie palms (Zamia floridana—not a true palm or
fern, but of the cycladale order), to her.
I enjoyed working in this garden by myself, removing branches, dead
leaves, and Spanish moss by the wheelbarrow full. When I discovered the orange
seeds within the coontie plant, I was very excited! They look like large orange
corn kernels. Mary Lou and the rest of
the gardeners worked in the main garden, painting the boardwalk and picnic
tables, cleaning out debris (Spanish moss and branches, and so on), and
identifying certain plants.
After
an hour and a half of hard work, we started to watch a professional tree service
remove a dead tree. That was interesting because they could not use get heavy
equipment into the dense “jungle,” so a man had to climb the tree and remove
branches that way. Oh my! That would not be an occupation I would pursue!
Mary's Garden--Travelers Rest Resort
Seeds in various stages inside the Ccoontie palm in Mary's Garden(Zamia floridana
Close-up of coontie palm seed (about 1 inch by 3/4 inch)
Focus on coontie palm
The dead tree is down in the TRR garden! Note the amount of Spanish moss on the left
The
afternoon entertainment was a ride to the new outlet mall in Wesley Chapel and
a trip to Walmart for Diet Pepsi. The traffic in Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel
can be bumper to bumper on six lane streets. The area is very congested and
growing exponentially. The area ML and Scorchy live in is rural and very quiet,
but it seems that could change with so many people heading to Florida,
especially in the winter. We still see orange groves and beef cattle as we
drive back to TRR.
Sunrise Eatery for lunch Zephyrhills served a great
cheeseburger (JK) and meat loaf for TK. Not your most interesting fact, but I
will remember this restaurant for Trip Advisor.
.
Wednesday
Today,
my 1st cousin George D., his wife Phyllis, daughter Diana and son
Jeff of Canton, Ohio, drove over from Tampa to meet us for lunch at Mallie Kylas Café in Dade City. This restaurant is combined with a fine
antique shop and the food is all homemade. TK and Diana had the day’s special,
shrimp and grits—they loved it! I had a ham and cheese croissant sandwich. I
only have two maternal 1st cousins now and I valued seeing George
and family today! He is 86 years old. His daughter Diana is a retired school
teacher a little younger than I. They are visiting grandchildren/great niece
and nephew who live in the Tampa Bay area.
We brought them to TRR for a bit of time and as always happens, Cousin
George knew Scorchy’s father and one of Phyllis’ sisters is family to ML’s new
daughter in law in North East.
Tonight
we are going to the Link Family concert at Busch Hall here at TRR---a
professional group that stays here occasionally and performs nationally.
If
the weather breaks in Erie, we will start home next week.
Janie is writing "Exploring the World" at 4:40 p.m. EST on February 17, 2016--
no snow in Florida!!
Note to Friend H: Sorry about WWF! I am going to try now--the wifi connection seems good.
TK' Takes: The thunder clap on Monday night was the loudest I ever heard. And it echoed! So far the weather has been good--it has not rained during the day since we have been at TRR.
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