Finally.....

........ we are getting things sorted out, cleaned up, and back to normal.  Firstly, Poppa is fine - no need to worry.  So - to get back to where I left off....

..... on April 8th, Poppa started packing things into the car (that's his golf clubs at the front of the picture).

As I got things ready, I lined them up in the front entrance - this was the second-from-last load of stuff to be packed - some phone wires, yarn, and of course, some knitting!

This was the very last load to go to the car!

We spent the first couple of nights at the Comfort Inn close to the villa, so we could visit with our owners, David and Allison.  We went out for supper at an English-Style Fish and Chip restaurant and had lots of fun.  Allison was going to knit some pears (yes - the fruit) for a WI event in the UK - which for some reason struck us all as amusing!  Greetings to them and thanks for a good time!  During the day..........

........ Poppa and Squeegie took a few minutes to do some jigsaw puzzles on the tablet - kept them busy and quiet - so Taffy and I could watch CNN and do some knitting.  We finished off....

....... this pair of socks.  These were our "in-the-car" project for most of last summer and into our stay in Florida - and finally got finished on our way home!

Another night in another hotel - a Day's Inn in Whytheville, VA.  It wasn't as nice as the Comfort Inn in Florida, but we were tired and slept well!  The next day found us at Munchie's house about 4pm - so we had a quick visit and decided we could make it the rest of the way home before too late and we headed north!  By the time we were home Taffy and I had .....

.... finished another pair of socks.  We had started these before we left Florida, so they were also partly done!  I have already had some blog readers choosing socks, and the rest of the group will be receiving an e-mail soon!  But.........

......... for now - we are home!  Taffy and I have already made a couple of trips to the grocery store to pick up some things for meals.  As you can see, Taffy rides up with me in my little shopping cart and she loves going to the store!  As you can also see - she needs her winter coat up here in Canada - but not her hat and mitts - so the weather isn't too bad!

We're Home

We've been really busy unpacking, putting away, cleaning the house, visiting Aunt Peggy, contacting friends and relatives, etc.  Today we spent quite a while at the hospital since Poppa had another episode of supraventricular tachycardia - his heart beats far to fast and his body/blood does not get enough oxygen.  The fire department, ambulance crew and staff at the emergency department at the hospital were all fantastic.  These episodes are scare-ey when they happen, but not dangerous if corrected in time.  It is not a heart attack and his heart is not damaged - just the side effects of not getting enough oxygen.  Once they get his heart slowed down to a normal rhythm, it is as if nothing happened.  He is home and feeling fine - watching the 11pm news.  All is well.  I'll try to post a real blog entry tomorrow!

A Long One - Chapter Three

Since the socks are done and packed for the journey...

 ..... but, Poppa is still working.... he and Squeegie wiped down the ledge in the master bathroom...

 .........then he wiped down all the surfaces and took out all the light bulbs.....

 ........ wiped them all clean and put them back in..........

 .......... oh my!  One more plant to wash.  He put the hose on fine mist and misted it - then set it under the outdoor fan while the sun was hot to let it dry.  What a guy!

 .......... Then he got to washing all the floors - this is the center bathroom, which is adjacent to...

 ............ the front entrance.........

 ........... then he did the kitchen floor.......

....... and even did the baseboards!  He is still fussing around doing last minute cleaning, but I've got to pack up my computer now - so I'll be back with a new post when we get home..... then I'll need a couple of days to get settled back into our condo there - so don't expect a post until about the 15th of April (or so).  Thanks for reading!  Come back soon!

A Long One - Chapter Two!

Have you had a long enough rest?  Good!  Then here we go again.

 ........... He dusted all the bedroom furniture - I always wonder how it gets so dusty - we don't open windows here - where does it come from?

 ......... He cleaned the poolside washroom.......

 ...... and checked it twice........

 ............ he sprayed some stuff in the oven....

 ........ and then polished it up to a shine...........

 ........ he took the ladder outside.........

 ......... and climbed up to clean the outside of the half-moon window........

 ........... he made sure he got every speck of dirt off it..........

 ........ then moved the ladder a little, so he could do the outside fan........

 .......... then did the outside of the sliding doors to the lanai.....

 ........... followed natually, by the inside of those doors.........

 ........... he went back outside to wipe down all the patio furniture.........

........... and, as you can tell, I was so busy taking pictures, that Taffy had to work on a pair of socks for me.....

..... and she got them finished!  She did a good job for a small bear!

This Will Be a Long One!

Poppa commenced his cleaning - and I'm sure I missed a lot of events, but here are some of them.....

 ...... he cleaned all the kitchen counters - and all the other horizontal surfaces..

 .......... he wiped all the window sills.......

 ....... he cleaned the eating-area ceiling light (including the bulbs).....

 ........he wiped down all the furniture........

 .......... he cleaned the little tree in the corner.......

 ....... he wiped the tops of all the pictures.........

 ........ he climbed up and cleaned the kitchen light fixture.....

........ then he looked around to see what else he had to do.....

 ........ he cleaned the tops of all the kitchen cupboards and then the ledge....

 .........and then........oh - what are Happy and Squeegie looking at?

 Oh yes, he climbed up to do the dining room light fixture...

 ...... which took a bit of superivising.......

 ........ he found a mouse in the house and climbed up to get it off the sitting room light fixture, and then cleaned that one (the light, not the Mouse)......

 .......... he took the plant down from the window above the sliding doors....

 ....... and cleaned the window........

 ....... then the plant (leaf by leaf)..........

 ........... put it back up on the clean ledge......

.... and measured to make sure it was properly centered............. are you tired yet???

Ending A Vacation

As you probably guessed, Poppa is busy doing the spring housecleaning here at the villa.  He likes to leave it just the way we found it, after staying here for three-plus months.  But first....

......... he went over to Denis and Liz's Florida home and did a few things there.  He started by replacing the furnace filter - I didn't think you needed a picture of that!  He also added a bit more mulch to the flowerbeds.........

........ pulled out the worst of the weeds creeping back in........

.......... took a look at the back to see how the flowerbeds were looking there - since he had trimmed back all the shrubs.  He had really trimmed..........

.... these plants and as you can see they are all growing well and blooming - aren't they delicate and pretty?

He had put some weed killer and fertilizer on the grass - and it worked quite well!  The grass looks thick, green and healthy - with only a few weeds here and there.

 He checked out the pool garden to see how all the critters were doing - they all looked happy and warm.

 Then he started raking all the little tree droppings from the driveway.  The live oaks down here start by dropping their leaves and then move on to producing a ton of yellow pollen and then start to drop wispy little seed-bearing sprigs.  The whole process takes about a month/six weeks and things get quite messy during that time!

But, eventually he had raked/swept as many as he could, so he piled them up and put them....

........ into the garbage bucket for pickup on Wednesday (today!).  When we got back to "our" villa.....

........... Poppa decided that he needed to vacuum some of those tree-droppings out of the pool before we went for a swim so....

....... Taffy and Squeegie put on their bathing suits and........

 ...... went outside to supervise.  It was quite warm that day so as soon as he was done the bears moved into the shade and Poppa and I went for that anticipated dip!