Friday, March 25th, in Melbourne Beach

Just another super weather day.

Sheila, Mea, Gail & Helene

Helene and the girls went out to lunch at "Dos Amigo's".  The restaurant features very reasonably priced Mexican food and .99 c Margarita's.  I am not sure if they went for the food or Margarita's??  I walked the area roads and sat in the back lounge with a good book.  Later, it was cocktail time at "Loggerheads" with the locals.  All good fun.  Judy called from Ottawa and we had a chat.

Thursday, March 24th in Melbourne Beach

It was another great weather day in Florida 18C to 30C, we could get use to this weather in a hurry.

A telephone call was received from Melbourne Nissan.  They informed that the transmission has been received and they will start the job today.  Needless to say, I jumped into the car and immediately drove to the garage.  They were very accomodating and provided a loaner from "Enterprise".  The installation should be complete Friday or Saturday at the latest. 

I returned to the condo with the rental, a new Ford Fiesta, a cute little car with all kinds of fancy bells and whistles for a base model.  It was large enough for three golfers; however, the long clubs had to be stored in the back seat.

 Ron, Big New Jersey John and I had a 139 PM T-time at Baytree National GC.  Three Swedes were playing in front of our group.  They are visiting and were heading to Tampa to see the Carolina Hurricanes play Tampa and then the Ottawa Senators play Saturday.  They were hoping that Daniel Alfredson would be in the line up playing and of course Eric Karlson.  They were also familar with Rob Lehner. 

While the boys were away golfing, Helene and Arabella, walked the beach and went for a swim in the pool and lounged around.  The girls ate supper together, fresh fish caught by Ron and Big New Jersey John on Wednesday.  Ron and I enjoyed spaghetti.  Ron also was into modelling his new $99 tuxedo he had just received from New York City.  Leave it to Ron, he meets a guy at "Lou's Blues" wearing the same shirt and strikes up a conversation.  He and Arabella receive an invitation to a Black and White, James Bond theme party.  So thats the need for a tuxedo.  Never a dull moment and not to much grass under their feet.  Life is good. 

Wednesday, March 23rd in Melbourne Beach

Tiger



Phil



VJ



Ernie



Sergio



Ricky



Kenny



Special Guest Golfer

   The day started out at 15C with fog.  Helene and I headed out early for Orlando to the Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament.  We arrived in Orlando in the sun at 21C and by 300 PM it was 31C in the Orlando area.  We walked the golf course and followed many of the golfers watching them Tee off and putt on the greens.  Here are some pictures from yesterdays adventure, I am sure you will identify several.

Tuesday, March 22nd in Melbourne Beach

It was another great weather day in Florida.

We did a little shopping at the "BEALLS" store in Melbourne.  It's hard to beat, 30% off most items and another 15% off as it was seniors day (50 and over). 

We hit the beach for a walk and returned for a dip in the pool.  Later in the evening we had Liz and Richard over for a BBQ.  All is well.

Helene has a nasty bite on her left back leg...done by a bug here called "no-see-um"....

WHAT IS A NO-SEE-UM?   No-see-ums are tiny biting flies that often live near water.  You often see many of themswarming together in a cloud.  Keep your mouth shut or you might breathe some in or swallow them!  (It won’t hurt you, but it will probably make you cough.)   Biting midges are called no-see-ums because they’re so tiny that it is hard to see ‘um.  No-see-ums are less than ¼ of an inch long.

Monday, March 21st in Melbourne Beach

Another special weather day in the Florida area.  It sounds repitious but it is just that.

Helene and Arabella were off to Palm Bay to shop.  I went for a long walk and returned to hit the pool for a swim and dry off on the lounges in the sun. Then a meeting with the locals at Loggerhead's for the afternoon wind down.  Today was a fauna type of day.

I followed up with the Melbourne Nissan service department on the status of the transmission.  The service person I dealt with last Friday was off and I was referred to another.  The transmission had not been ordered.  After several telephone calls they opened a work order and confirmed the order which will be in Thursday or Friday at the latest.  So it will be early next week before the work gets done and we are scheduled to leave on April 1st.  I can live with life's mistakes but imcompetency I can not tollerate;  'FIRED", a quote from the Donald. 

Sunday March 20th in Melbourne Beach

Another outstanding weather day in Florida.  We had a lazy start to the day after a late Saturday evening.  After a late breakfast we walked the beach and waded in the shore water.  No sea shells or glass treasrues were found.  The fishers were busy cleaning their catch and feeding the scraps to the shore birds. 

After our beach walk we headed to the community pool to lounge around with reading material and a swim in the 82 F pool water.

My brother John in Ormond by the Sea, just north of Daytona took this picture of the full moon which is special.

Saturday March 19th in Melbourne Beach

Helene's GS Treasure

HR says;  Did I mention that it was another wonderful sunny warm day in Florida.  I was up bright and early on the road with the girls doing the Saturday garage sale trip.  My treasure was a little pair of shoes. 

After returning home for a breakfast / brunch we went boating on the Indian River with Barry, Shelia and Gail.  It was a great day on the water.  Shelia had packed a shore lunch, we beached and enjoyed the warm water.  The Dolphins were out and about in the river.  Then there was a stop at the Treasure Island Bar for Margaritas and beer with a live band.  On the way back we stopped, pulled the boys crab traps and had one crab, which managed to escape while the boys attempted to capture it.
 

There was a special kind of  full moon which was quite large and orange in color.  We went down to the beach and watched it rise with several of the locals.  

Ron is still in the St. Patrick's Day mode.  The party goes on for three days in the Melbourne area.  So, Ron, Arabella, Helene and I headed to downtown Melbourne to "Meg O'Mallies"  to take in the reveller and enjoy the band, "Brian and Greg".  We caught a couple of T-shirts being tossed into the crowd and the girls, did not flash, but did get green beads.  The place was packed, the music loud and people were enjoying themselves.  Another day in Florida, we are running out of time, the count down is starting.