Day one of Return trip

I had planned to be on the road by 9am. At 12:30 when I pulled into Bernie's and Sharon's to say good bye..  Bernie just looked at his watch.

I decided to go straight up Route 75 and go into Georgia to look for the Georgia Guidestones.  I will get back to that in a moment, but I did see some interesting things on the way.  First ofall...  I think every bug in Florda committed suicide on my windshield.  And what a job to scrap them off.  I will have to do it again before I leave tomorrow.  Lots of trucks on the road, but most of the highway I was on did not permit them in the left lane, so the drive was smooth.  Three lanes is a great way to build a road. 

OneMotorhome I drove by had an interesting license plate.  They were pulling a small car and the plate on the car said, "Caboose". The plate on the motorhome said, "Engine".  Do you suppose they were retired railroad people?

Another interesting fact is that:  "It is unlawful for anyone under sixteen years of age to pump hazardous fuel" in Georgia.  Sounds like a good rule to me.

Callie and I have reached a new agreement..  I gave her a couple of pills this morning and that did cause some concern.  I think it made her thirsty and we had a hard time getting organized so she could drink water.  I decided to let her free in the car and she is much happier.  She is obedient when I leave the car and tell her,"No"  and she is enjoying watching the people and birds.  When I take her out of the car she is not struggling to get out of my arms.  The motel I am in, I think, put some catnip on the rug or else she was very happy to be on solid ground.

The Georgia Guidestones are the North American 20th century Stonehedge.  They were built in 1980 and support a 25000 pound capstone.  The owner has managed to remain annoymous.  They have ten suggestions of how to live successfully to perserve our earth and have a happy life.  These suggestions are written in eight languages.  I have wanted to see them for a long time and this seems to be the perfect chance.  However; I can't find them.  I typed in Eberta.  which I thought was the town they were in.  The people there have never heard of them.. So, now I'm on my way to Elberton.  Hopefully, I'll have better luck tomorrow.  If I see them, I will post a picture.

Coming Home

The time has come.  It is time to go back to Canada.  As far as I know right now, I'll be leaving early Saturday morning unless the weather looks bad.  Everything is being shut off here on the first so I will have to be on the road somewhere by then.

Yesterday I had lunch with Silvia at a Gluten Free restuarant.  We had a wonderful visit and awesome food.  Then I went to have a pedicure with my Vietanese friend I wrote about before.  It was good to see Tina again.  It's very hard leaving the friends I have made here.  It's a good thing I have friends at home and a little family.  This has been a wonderful winter.  I look forward to seeing everyone at home again.  Then next winter I can do it all over again.

The next time I post on here I will be on the road watching out for severe weather.  Don't worry I will not take any chances and will drive carefully.  Callie doesn't even suspect what's ahead for her..LOL

Manatees

This isn't a great picture of me, but I thought you would like to see that I managed to get a wetsuit on.  The first time I put it on I had it on backwards and had to peel it off again and start over. Meanwhile 12 other people were sitting on the boat waiting for me as I was late.  It was a two hour drive from Bradenton and the dive started at 10:30 am. Maybe that's why  look so tired...<G> This was the last picture on a water proof disposible camera.  That's why the extra light

So here we are.  I think this is the baby. Hard to tell when the other one isn't in the picture too.  It looks like they were eating the algae on the bottom, but the guide said they move it around to find the grass and eat that.  They have no natural enemies so had no fear of us, but did get annoyed with all the attention and swam off to another spot after awhile.  I tried to pet them, maybe that's why they swam off, not lap pets.

This is one of the canals we drove up. You can see a house at the back.  Very poor people living in a 3000 sq ft house. I feel sorry for them. They have to look at this green water all day and of course the sun shines everyday so there is no variation in the weather.  I don't know how they can stand it.

Tea Party

Here I am at a Tea party at the Feather Princesses Quilt Guild.  I didn't win any prizes, but left my mark everywhere.  The feathers fall off the boa.  We had a ball.  What a great bunch of gals.  If you want to see more pictures of the party and all the quilts go to this link  https://picasaweb.google.com/beverly.Abenante720/FpTeaParty41311?authkey=Gv1sRgCPv-5OHW6MfjkAE&feat=email

Also went to my last Jo Morton Club in Lakeland. It's hard saying good bye to everyone.
Next Monday I go swimming with the Manatees and maybe one more Beading Buddy get together and that's it.  Finish paying for this place and get it registered in my name and then I am on my way home.  It's been a great winter.  Lots of sun and sand.

Segway Tour

Hi Guys, It's been awhile.  This first picture is the opportunity quilt  or part of it for the Manatee Patchwork Quilt Guild.  They say opportunity.  We say raffle.  I believe it is from the same designer that Jackie is working on a quilt from.  It is paper piecing with applique.  Although the design is out of this world, it's the fabric that makes this quilt.  You can't see it well in the picture,  but it's many shades of light green in the background and it looks RICH.

And this is me on my Segway tour of St Petersbourgh. I am in front of the new Salvador Dali muisem.

The segway experience was awesome. You lean forward to go forward and lean back to go back.  You steer right and left by pulling the approtiate handle.  It can turn on a dime.  The fastest it will go is 12 mph and the battery will last 25 miles.

All the old people in the park are driving tricycles, I want one of these.

We drove by a bunch of people and a coloured man said, "Go Mama, go."  then we drove around a bit and went by the same guy, This time he said, "Go  Grandma, go."

All the world is a comedian.