December 2019: Boo Boo and Holiday

Posted: April 16, 2020                                                     Previous Posts:
About: December 2019                         December 2019: Jack and Tornado Troubles
                                                            November 2019: Blue Springs and Thanksgiving

Let me take you back again, this time to late December, as I attempt to get caught up to the present day frustration of the coronavirus quarantine.

The drive to Anastasia from Gamble Rogers is a very easy one of about 35 miles on highway A1A.   I’m doing the in/out of backing into my site.  I’ve checked both sides, above me, how far back I am and avoided the tree directly across as I turn the rig sharply to back in.   I’m watch a tree on my right and am turning away from it when I hear something.  I stop immediately and find I’ve backed over the damn number post for the site.  It’s low down to the ground and I didn’t see it in either of my mirrors.  My first accident in Winnona in 9 months. 

I damaged a side panel stabilizer and scraped up the side but was able to rub out the latter.  I tried to pull forward and back but didn’t want to do more damage.  At this point the only way to free Winnona was to remove the short sign post.  I had no useful tools like a shovel. 

SO LUCKY for me, my full timing friends Eric and Laurel were on the other side of this campground loop and Eric came over with his shovel and helped me free poor Winnona.  So glad I remembered to get this picture.  Can’t thank you enough Eric.

I’m only here for the 3 days Florida State Parks require you to be out of a campground before you can return.  Mostly I read, go on walks with Laurel and one evening the three of us went over to St. Augustine and took the Holly Jolly Trolley around the to see the Nights of Lights.  .

  I forgot my camera so I have absolutely no pictures of it except for this terrible selfie I took on my phone.  Nearly everything in St. Augustine’s Old Town is covered in lights and if you are wearing these fashionable glasses, the lights twinkle.  As you can tell from our dress it was what we considered VERY cold outside.  Really not happy about the temperatures here in Florida this winter.

David and I had a wonderful time in Old Town and at The Nights of Lights in 2016 and I do have pictures of it from then.  You can see them and us here.

After 3 nights, I return to Gamble Rogers on the 19th where it is again dark, rainy, cloudy and windy.

Finally the skies cleared out and Solstice Day was beautiful.  This is just what I love my first day of winter to look like.

I left Winnona at Gamble Rogers and flew to Maryland to spend the holidays with Carrie as we did last year.  I was acutely aware of being alone.  The flight was fine and we stopped on the way to their house at a local nursery that was all lit up for the holidays but I didn’t have my camera and my phone camera is too poor for pictures in the dark even with twinkling lights.

Skies were nice but the air chilly as we went for a walk and Celia a bike ride on the sidewalk in their cul-de-sac.

Colin is on his feet and walks along behind Celia.

He’s looking all around.

About a second after I took this picture he tripped over the stick and fell flat on his face. 

He was quite shocked.  Luckily only his nose was hurt.  But he looks a bit solemn in this picture taken the next morning of his cute little scraped up nose.

Colin isn’t much for coloring so Nana joins Celia at the table.

The next day, on Christmas morning, the stockings, hung on the stairway, have been visited by Santa.

As has the tree.

Everybody piles downstairs to open the gifts.

Celia helps everyone.

Colin likes his hammer and bench.  He knows what to do right away.

Nana and Celia Work on a Princess puzzle.

Even big boys like to play with hammers.

We alternate between stocking gifts and tree gifts but Celia can only reach the bottom stocking.

So we move them into the living room and line them up on the sofa.  Celia loves getting the little presents out and taking them to be opened.  She has a hard time not opening them all herself.  It’s just so exciting.

Colin is our little Rudolph but none the worse for the scraped nose.

Celia definitely loves her little brother and he loves her.

I Love them both and this picture of my two darlings in the matching PJ’s I got them.

Next day Celia joins Nana in bed the morning.  She isn’t happy to hear that Nana is leaving.

  Later I get a hug from Colin and Celia perks up when we play with her puzzles and pretend food.

It’s definitely hard to leave my darlings and fly back to Winnona even if it is warmer (hopefully) in Florida.  But they have to go back to work and school.  Little do any of us know how much our lives will change in just a few months.

My first day back at Gamble Rogers, it’s a foggy cloudy morning with a white sun trying to burn through.

The waves are rolling in.

Watching the wind making white caps and spray is mesmerizing.

Here’s my absolutely favorite present and the best puzzle ever.

With only one more day here before moving across the state.  I get beautiful sunrise skies.

The skies turn gray again but I enjoy sitting on the beach.  It’s my last chance.

Sunset on New Year’s Eve of 2019.  Last year David and I were at Blue Springs with no idea that it would be the last of 43 New Year’s Eves we had spent together.
This year, I’m alone, and feeling sad.