Good Morning everyone! couldn't sleep in -I'm excited this morning because I get to meet with Tom Erhard, his wife and son today. Tom posted a while back about his head injury and the possibility that he may never dive again.
We've kept in touch, as his son will be going to college just south of us (Terry and I). We are going to meet at the beach today - hope the weather holds out.
I'll post pictures later tonight or tomorrow.
Have a great Sunday!
Linda

Linda, sounds like a great time! I'm excited for you all! Have fun and please take pics!

Hi Linda, have a great time. I'm jealous!

Linda, what a really nice thing for you to do! Hopefully, Tom will be able to dive again. Have a good time!

Linda,
Have a wonderful time today!!! Can't wait to hear about your meet.

Hi Susan!!!

Pegi, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. See you all later. Off to the gym. (I'm going to get my b**t kicked)

Hi Kobi, Susan, and Donna!
I wrote the last post, hit enter, and didn't hit the post button till just now. Back from the gym and my b**t was kicked.

The weather is not beach weather this morning, chilly, windy and it looks like rain. But maybe the rain will fall and the sun will come out.

Later!

Have fun - look forward to the pics. Give Tom a hug and

The beach? The Beach? THE FREAKIN BEACH???? I want the beach. I need the beach. Where is God's name is there a beach? It is 28 degrees out right now. It warmed up. Have fun. I'm not jealous that you are going to a BEACH!!! By the way, that picture in your profile was shot in the Ch
Crystal River? I thought it was a clean pool at first. Wow, I have to do that gig someday. That looks awesome.

(Message edited by JimMc on January 27, 2008)

Jim, I am with you 'FREAKIN BEACH ??' :-)

I just came in from walking the boxers and shoveling the stairs and around the cars in the driveway - and yes, it is STILL SNOWING ! Teddy is playing golf in FL. Adam gets to finish the driveway when he gets fome from work. Poor guy.

5 months count down til Bonaire for me.

kidding aside; LRAZ, enjoy your day

Have to agree. THE BEACH!!! Everything is finally shoveled out and Miss Maggie has been threatened that Mom does not play in the snow every half an hour (what she really wants is treats every time she comes back in)!
Have a wonderful day. I wish I could be their with all of you. So much to share and enjoy.

Some kind of north wind blew in this morning (It's good to know my directions now - west - directly in front of me) is beach, south - to my left - is lalala south FL and the caribbean, north - to my right is cold as* air, and east - behind me - is central to east FL). Anyway, it blew in some cold wind but it's stopped now. I guess warm won. I see it will be back in the 80's next week. yum

Linda, hope you guys have a great time at the beach! We're been sitting out on the lanai in sweats, and I had to laugh at somebody's grandchildren from Alaska I guess (lol) swimming in the community pool while it's 68 degrees!

Pics! We want pics!

(Message edited by recdivers on January 27, 2008)

Those little ones thought that was a sauna I am sure I might get in the pool in that kinda weather too LOL!

We've been talking about our hot tub at our house we sold in AL. Would love one out there right now. But it would be rarely used! (But it would be used right now).

I do have a jacuzzi bathtub, a big one. Poured some bubble bath in there and it got over my head! Had to turn off the jacuzzi and flush bubbles down the toilet and sinks. lol It was crazy. But I got it down to size and sorry, poured a glass of wine at 2:00. But I KNOW it was 5:00 somewhere.

Kids are still in the pool, Kobi, we are still in sweats. Beautiful out there since the wind stopped.

Bubbles can get outta hand quick in a jacuzzi tubbers LOL! Sounds like fun though. We almost bought a hot tub last year but opted for a return trip to BON instead; not sure we'd use it that much even living where we do.

Sweats?! I'm in a parka LOL!!!
Nah, but it's really only around 32 freezing degrees here in my part of VA. I wanna fly south and now....

Ya'll can always come and see me.

We've become such wusses that even high 60's last night was too much shivering, so we came home and it was Fantasy night on Lake Fantasia. Whatabirthday.

Costumes, anyone? lol

Guy would live in our hot tub if he could... he spent over an hour out there in the wind, rain and cold today!!! I'm over it after 15 mins.
Kathy, you keep teasing us like that and you'll have to post a picture or two!

We're having a slow day here. For some reason Rasta totally freaked out about the wind and rain last night (till 3am), she's never done that before I've been organizing all of my recipes (quite a lot of them from BT!!) - really cleans up my kitchen to get rid of all those pieces of scrap paper and clippings.

I'm soooo looking forward to dinner tonight - we're meeting friends at a fantastic Cajun place

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday - I sure am

I hope the mini meet went well.

Just got home from working at a renovation project and am damned thirsty. Would each of you have a drink or three for me?

Jacuzzi is calling me

Six years ago, we put in an "Endless Pool." We had a room built for it off of our kitchen. It is really a great room with cathedral ceilings, real nice Norman windows, and a gas fireplace that cooks the room if you are in the pool. We don't have heat out there, as the pool water keeps the room very nice. Anyway, we used to use it all the time, as you swim against the current. It can also be used as a hot tub, as it has a bench all the way around the peripheral. We have really stopped using it, but promised each other on New Years that we would start using it daily again. It is great exercise in the morning and god knows we can all use that.

I have met some of the nicest people through BT. Tom, Sue and Dan were no exception. We met at the north most beach on Ft. Desoto Park located at the south end of St. Petersburg, FL.
The sun finally came out and it was beautiful. The wind was pushing 20knots and the temp was around 60ish.

We decided to walk up the beach to watch kite boarders and windsurfers play in the surf. The four of us hunkered down on a blanket behind a dune with mangrove and sea grasses to get out of the wind. We watched the action and talked for hours.
Here are a few photos.

Sue, Dan, Tom

Kite boards and windsurfer

Family stroll on the beach

Sue found something interesting on the beach.

next post

Oops
family stroll

Can you believe it? It's some hoofed foot. No the one on the right is mine (with pedicure)


Kite sailors only look like they are in the trees.


Resting the equipment


BT Family



I can't wait to do it again.

Linda

Linda, those are great shots. Did it warm up for you guys in time?

I'm so glad you are finding friends on BT, and that thru BT WE are friends! I hope you encouraged your new friends to join in. xx

LInda, it seems you all had a good time. Nice to see Tom and family -

BT has the nicest/wonderful/beautiful people

Kathy and Elvira,
We had such a great time. The weather did brighten up, but we were still cold. As soon as Dan got out of the car he said he was not going in the water. :-)
Kathy, you and Larry have to meet us there. It is a beautiful county park with miles of beaches, camping, showers, nice restrooms, tons of picnic areas and shelters, a ferry out to Anclote Island, estuaries and shallow bays with seahorses. And to think it's not a state park, but a county one.
Come on out when the weather is a little warmer.

Linda, thanks for sharing

You're more than welcome!

Thanks for the pictures, Linda. They brought back such great memories for me. Spent a lot of time there during the college(Eckerd) years. Nice to see Tom and his family. Times (and I!) have sure changed. My memories do not include any clean cut looking guys! We're talking late 60's - early 70's! Looks like it was still warm enough for all of you to have a wonderful time. Can't believe the kite surfers were out! Love to watch them. They're so graceful. Anyway - did my heart good to see your pictures and read about your mini-meet. Thanks!

So glad to see another successful mini-meet - Tom you've got a great smile and a lovely family!
Thanks for sharing and posting so quickly for us Linda

Well, I got back last night after a 24 hour train ride that gave me time to think about our trip to Florida. We had such a great time in the warmth and sun. It's raining here in PA and is going down into the high teens/low twenties tonight.

We really liked the Eckerd campus. The students were on their winter term and most of them were traveling overseas studying so it was a little quiet. Dan was impressed and is leaning towards going there. We still need to see if San Diego will offer a scholarship comparable to Eckerd if he gets accepted.

Linda - it was great meeting you. It's people like you (and the folks here at BT) that prove there are still really nice people on this earth. The time we spent talking went by too quickly which is always a indicator of a great time.

We had such a fun time enjoying the company and sun on the beach. When we get down there in the future we would love to do it again! I kept saying to Dan and Sue how impressive the park is considering it's being run by the county. Most state and federal parks aren't that nice!

Thanks to everyone's for such nice remarks. Again I will say the folks here are great.

Linda - next time we'll have to meet Terry. I have the feeling we will be visiting the area a bit more now! :-)

Tom

Tom, Sue, Dan,
Glad you all made it back safely, and that you had a good time at the college and Ft. Desoto Park.
Next time Terry will be there, too.

L

Tom, Sue and Dan. So glad you enjoyed your trip to Florida, your min-meet with Linda, and your review of Eckerd. I remember the January term to be quiet also, but fun as a lot of students came from other colleges - most of them hoping for some fun in the sun for a month. As we all know, that's a crap shoot in Florida!! In my 4 years there, some Januaries were on the beach hot, and some were jacket cold. Took a course in "Old Norse" one year in the Winter January Term and read the original account of Eric the Red's' crossing to the "New World" in Old Norse (my mother's family is Norwegian). Still have the book and paper I wrote so many years ago! Ft. De Soto Park seems as unspoiled as it was years ago. That's a wonderful feat! Glad you made it back safely. I'm in the middle of trying to decide whether or not to make it to any of the 50th year Anniversary Celebrations. Important decision time for you Dan. Good luck. My vote is for Eckerd! Surprise!!