PICKLEBALL AND DINNER WITH LINDA AND MARK!

Sat, Oct 26 - We have now moved to Thousand Trails Peace River in Wauchula, FL for a couple of weeks.  We were surprised to see that improvements had been made to the two Pickleball courts.  The courts have been resurfaced and concrete extensions have been added to the ends of the courts so we no longer step off onto the dirt!  And a nice high fence was installed around the courts.

We had a group of eight playing on Saturday morning.  Mark and Linda O.

Opponents Ken and Nate.

Nice game!

Linda strikes a pose!!

Benches and a large shelter was built to shade players and spectators.  Here are the other four players:  Heady, Art, Faye and Krystal.  Unfortunately, did not get us in action!!

DINNER WITH LINDA AND MARK

We were surprised and delighted when Linda and Mark said they were leaving on Sunday and they would like to take us to dinner at a restaurant of our choice.  Just because!!  We chose Paul's Kitchen because they had not eaten there, and anyone who has ever been to Wauchula knows about Paul's Kitchen home cooked meals.

A sample of Paul's Kitchen home cooking.  I had read on line that we must try their Fried Green Tomatoes, so we started with the tomatoes as appetisers.

Meals included Soup and Salad and Entree.  Mark ordered the Steak and Shrimp Combo as his Entree.

All of the meals also came with choice of potato, black eyed peas and rice.

Just a note for your information!  We all had so much to eat that none of us had the soup although it came with the meal!

Thank you so much Linda and Mark for the treat and for being so nice!!  We will certainly miss you!

ANOTHER VISIT WITH TRACY; ENJOYING THE STABLES

Wed, Sept 23 - We had another delightful visit with Ken's daughter, Tracy at the ranch where she lives in Sanford, FL.  In an earlier article dated October 8, I mentioned that there were stables on the property housing about twenty horses.  Today we walked over to see some of the horses.

In the first stable were several beautiful small horses.  They are a particular breed but I can't remember.

Ken feeding a peppermint drop to one of the small horses.

In another stable, Ken and Tracy make friends with one of the show horses.

This collection of bridles will give you some idea of the number of horses stabled here.

Faye and Ken with a beautiful grey.

Saying Good Bye to us as we leave the stables.

Have you ever seen a treadmill for horses?  I noticed a note posted next to one of the stalls stating the amount of time the horse was scheduled to spend on the treadmill.  I thought that was curious!  As we left the stables we passed by the horse treadmill!  What an interesting apparatus!  And so BIG!!

When we returned to the main house, I excused myself to use the Powder Room to wash my hands after playing with the horses.  You will recall from my October 8 articlet that each room in the house had a different animal decor.  Well, this is the Zebra Room!

Before dinner, we enjoyed drinks in the sitting alcove in front of the house overlooking one of the pastures.  Beyond the pasture you can just barely see County Road 427.

Later we gathered in the Elephant Room for dinner.

Tracy had prepared another elegant and delicious meal.  This time it is Mussels and Clams Linguine with White Wine Sauce!  UUUMMMMMM!!

Dinner by candle light!

Thank you Tracy for entertaining us so royally!!