Cooking

About 25 years ago, we started vacationing for one or two weeks in timeshares with modern kitchens.  We would eat out a couple of times a week, but eat in the rest of the time.  Aloma never complained about cooking, but I realized this was certainly no vacation for her.  I offered to do the shopping and meal preparation while we were on vacation.  I didn’t have to offer twice.

I went shopping at least every other day, getting up early, visiting a WalMart, getting back to our condo by 8:00 a.m.  I enjoyed it.  Meals were simple.  Most condos had gas grills so I would cook burgers, hot dogs, chicken and pork chops.  Inside I would cook omelets, BLTs and meatloaf or Tacos.  No problem.

This year was different, vacationing for two months.  I still enjoyed the shopping early in the morning, but after two weeks, I couldn’t think of what to prepare.  The hardest part was to establish a menu.  We had a gas grill in the garage, but it was difficult to move out to the driveway so I didn’t feel like cooking out as much as we did at home.  Aloma didn’t want beef very often, so I didn’t have a clue what meals to offer.  But we got through 10 weeks of my cooking.

Neither of lost any weight.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com

Flora and Fauna

During our two and a half months at Wiggins Lake in Naples, Florida, we enjoyed the
flowers, shrubs and trees and the varied wildlife.  During our walks, we would point
out to each other the oak trees shedding their old leaves and putting on new ones. We
loved the hibiscus shrubs blooming continuously; the large banyan trees and the
different types of palm trees were especially interesting.  Even though Aloma is a
Master Gardener, we could not identify most of the shrubs and plants. They are so
different than the ones we have in North Carolina.

Most of the wildlife we could identify.  A bald eagle, and later an osprey, swooped
over the lake.  An anhinga fished the lake by diving under the water for minutes
at a time.  Egrets and a blue heron patrolled the shoreline. Otters roamed the five
lakes and Aloma saw four in our lake at one time.  I saw a medium size alligator
sunning on the bank. Ducks and turtles were around every day. The most
unusual turtle sighting was at our front door.  I heard a banging and thought
it was a UPS delivery tossed against our door. Wrong. It was a huge turtle,
the largest I’ve seen. I stepped outside and he slowly crawled along the side
of the condo.  I guess he was changing lakes and wanted a shortcut through our condo.

We developed a relationship with a squirrel that I named Nubbin because half of
his tail was missing.  Nubbin would sit in the oak tree next to the lanai and talk
to Aloma. One day, Aloma was reading in the lanai and looked up and saw a
raccoon a few feet on the other side of the screen.  She spoke to it (Aloma talks
to everything and everyone) and it retreated a few steps, then continued
exploring next to the screen

We always enjoy nature.  It was fun to see so much while sitting in our Lanai.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com