Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Our Second Summer

Sandhill crane family


     Winter in Florida is like having a second summer for us! The weather has its ups and downs, but is

mostly beautiful! This winter brought us back to the same campground again for the fourth time.

It’s starting to feel like coming home. We get to catch up with old friends and make new friends.

Work took us back to Winn-Dixie grocery store again this year, but this time Mark’s job was “baloney”!!

No really, he stocked the packaged meat department. Kathy mostly worked on stocking the health and

beauty department and detailing, or organizinging, the store shelves.


     It was a wet winter, but that didn’t slow us down much! We explored and kayaked the beautiful rivers,

springs and lakes most weeks. We enjoyed the campground pool, made a few campfires and enjoyed

music with friends. Most mornings were full of activities, including tai chi, line dancing, pickleball and yoga.

Sometimes all on the same day! Kathy was fortunate to have some time in November and December to

complete a 200 hour online yoga teacher training program, and was able to guide yoga classes at the

campground 3 days a week. Mark had fun assisting the line dancing teacher with the regular weekday

classes, and also leading a beginners’ line dancing class on Saturdays.

     The wild orange crop this year was amazing! Mark rigged up a very long orange picker and we kept finding new trees around the campground with delicious oranges. Then we would walk around the campground and leave oranges on people’s doorsteps!

     By the end of March some of our friends started heading north. We headed north towards the end of April this year to spend a bit of time in Ohio before heading to North Carolina for Ben and Anthony’s wedding! We are very excited and looking forward to having our family together.

      We will be spending the summer in Lincoln, New Hampshire, which is in the White Mountains region! We will be working at a small, multi-generational family run amusement park called Clark’s Bear’s. Yes, they have a live black bears show, and don’t worry, they take very good care of their bears! It should be a lot of fun and we hear that there’s beautiful hiking trails and many things to explore around the area!

Dinner with friends


So many delicious oranges



We don't see many wood storks and this one was willing to pose 



Campground tea party



Kayaked to this beautiful spring on the Withlaccoochee River


Kari and Jess on the Rainbow River




We always enjoy spending time with our WIlmington friends



Lovely yoga class at Liberty Park in Inverness