January 10th - 20th, 2023 - Life Around Here and Philharmonic Concert

There are a good number of Canadians in this park, mostly from Ontario and Quebec. We have noticed that they like to hang their clothes out to dry. Under the park rules you can hang clothes only at the back of your rig. Here are a few pictures of clothes hanging out which I took just from our lot.

Wednesday there was a luncheon at a local restaurant to help those of us in the park from the Midwest to get to know each other. I went but Kelly stayed home convalescing. I had a nice time and sat next to Brian and Brenda from Waterloo, Illinois. He collects tractors and comes to Perryville regularly to get non-ethanol gasoline for his tractors, because he can't get at home. The group will get together again next month. 

At 4:00 P.M. Wednesday I hosted the "D Street Happy Hour", which is held once per month for those people staying on this one block of "D Street". The weather was great, and it was really well-attended. I neglected to take any pictures. Lots of conversation and lots of food.

Thursday there were horse races at the clubhouse. Kelly will not go out yet, and I didn't want to go by myself, so we will check it out next month. 

Thursday I noticed my neighbor, Jerry, was working on his motorhome. He was replacing the water diverter valve. The factory part was plastic and cracked, causing it to leak. When he went home for Christmas he was able to buy a replacement part that is brass. He brought it back to install. Working on motorhomes is no fun. It was really a pain for him to connect all the hoses and water fittings to the new valve in a very confined area. Friday everything was back together but he found one fitting leaking. Upon taking it apart he found that the washer was deformed. Luckily, he was able to get a replacement at a local RV dealer. Neighbor Scott and I helped by providing "moral support" for the project. 

Friday morning it rained hard for about an hour then let up. The winds were predicted to be 15 - 25 mph so I had taken the sunscreen down and rolled up the awning, as did most others around me. This rain brought in much cooler weather. It was down to 37 degrees the next three nights!

Friday afternoon Kelly came out of the rig for the first time in almost two weeks. We walked over and visited with our neighbors, Scott and Beth from Quebec, who were sitting out. They are a delightful couple and I'm sure we will visit much over the season.

Saturday we went to the hardware store to buy chain and hooks to hang the stained-glass picture Kelly purchased. She had purchased a similar one a couple of years ago but dropped it and broke it. I hung it from hooks attached to the top of the valance on the back window. It adds a little color.

Saturday evening two of the sand cranes who hang around the park walked past our lot squawking the continually. Here is a video of them.

They are really tame and will let people get very close. I think I could hand feed them but I'm not going to that for fear they wouldn't leave.

As I said, it has been COLD here - low thirties over night since Friday. Here is a picture of the car when I came out to go to church on Sunday.

This car has never been in winter weather so we do not have an ice scraper. I had to use a credit card to scrape the frost off the windows before I could drive off.

Sunday afternoon our friend, Celina, who was visiting friends nearby, came over for a visit. We went to the Olympic Restaurant in town for supper. The food was quite good and reasonable. Kelly is back to normal (healthwise) so she, Celina, and another lady friend went shopping all day Monday We didn't need anything, but Kelly couldn't help herself. She bought an 18-inch-tall glass Christmas Tree for Christmas next year in Marge and three outfits for grandson, Free. We mailed them off on Wednesday.

The university here in Avon Park has a wonderful concert hall called the "Wildstein Center", named after benefactor, Allan Jay Wildstein. Almost weekly during the season there is a different musical concert covering all musical tastes. We purchased tickets for a concert by the "Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine" and attended last night. It was outstanding. Here is a picture of the orchestra playing.

Before the concert the ushers passed out Ukraine flags for everyone to waive when clapping, which I'm sure was appreciated. The national flower of Ukraine is the Sunflower. At the conclusion of the performance the musicians were given many bouquets of Sunflowers.

We can't imagine what a stress this must be for them to perform around the U.S. as their family members are dealing with war at home. The crowd was informed that the musicians have great difficulty communicating with family members back home. From here they travel to New York to give a concert in Carnegie Hall.  So glad we went.  We hadn't been to a performance like this for many years.

The weather has warmed up significantly. It only got down into the 60s last night, quite a change. My job today is to glue the soles on Kelly's shoes, which came lose last night. I have two types of glue on hand but not contact cement, which is what I want to use for this project. We will make a trip to the store today to purchase glue and to do some grocery shopping as well. We have a coupon to get $12.00 off a purchase of $60.00 or more at Winn-Dixie. Now days it is not hard to purchase $60.00 worth of groceries. Two dozen eggs ought to do it!