17 Jul 2015 – With His Dog

Congratulations to Scott for running the record time on the AT where good memories are within. There are some points from the Baxter State Park which justify this link. To all my AT fellow hikers, take a few minutes to read this…

https://www.facebook.com/baxterstatepark?pnref=story

Tue: Berry Hill Farm located on Bluefield Rd in Lexington Co/SC has provided people with self-pick blueberries for 30+yrs. Good picking with Linn and helpful hands who were rewarded with dinner with Jeff who met us after his work.

Chick-fil-A, one of my favourite fast food chains. Beautiful sky at the blueberry patch!

Wed: a wonderful day with #1 – #4. From Minions*** to HuHot*** in this hot weather  and after that, had to have a nap 🙂

The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions begins at the dawn of time evolving thru’ the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters-from T-Rex to Napoleon and finding themselves without someone to serve, they fall into a deep depression…

Thu: while the family is on the lake with the Bennetts, here I am dreading the most dreaded to do! The shopping is done and now to figure how to get stuff into one suitcase and one backpack! No I refuse to buy a bigger suitcase than what I already have…

Tkx #1 for the pix of a boy, #5 and his 3 top priorities – thumb, laptop and dog. Some random pix downloaded to humour me 🙂 🙂

Fri: TGIF. Happy Bday Nancy in Clarksville/TN. To all my Muslim friends, Happy Eid Al-Fitr/عيد الفط

Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures –  Cesar Chavez

15 Jul 2015 – The Confederate Flag

Thank you to Jan & Al for putting me up in their beautiful homes in Orlando and Ormond By The Sea. Appreciations to those who took time to meet. Jade Plant with a couple of leafs was given to me by Alonzo (Jan’s father) when I first moved to FL in the late 1980s. Gave it to Jan when I left FL in the late 1990s and today it is still thriving and growing.

Thank you Alonza for another gift, but this one will not grow!

Mon: arrived bright and early 0515hrs in the CAE Amtrak Station. Thought someone left me a car 🙂

Took some time to take a bunch of pix while waiting for Linn to finish her run before picking up a zombie!

This happened in my absence from CAE/SC. Am told that there will be groups from both sides of the black and white supremacy from NC to demonstrate here this weekend. Wonder why these people in NC will be here to cause trouble when the people here in SC do not even make such a big deal out of it???

Hope that the storms will move in that day!
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/11/opinions/sellers-confederate-flag/index.html

Appreciations to Barbara & Justin for taking time to share a meal at Gervais and Vine Mediterranean Wine and Tapas Bar and Restaurant***Enjoyable evening in great company.

Tue: Happy Bastille Day to all celebrating today especially to Jean-Baptiste, Marianne & Happy Birthday to Keith, who will have all the flags flying and fireworks for him, ie if they are in their home in France! Salutations pour st jour de bastille!

Still feeling like a zombie after the travels and disrupted sleep. According to an informal definition of a zombie…

A person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton or an eccentric or peculiar person.

Word Origin and History for zom-bie

1871, of West African origin (cf. Kikongo zumbi ‘fetish;’ Kimbundu nzambi ‘god’), originally the name of a snake god, later with meaning ‘reanimated corpse’ in voodoo cult. But perhaps also from Louisiana creole word meaning ‘phantom, ghost,’ from Spanish sombra ‘shade, ghost.’ Sense ‘slow-witted person’ is recorded from 1936.

Hmmm, considering that the origin is the name of a snake god and knowing my thoughts on snakes, is it time to stop using that term???

14 Jul 2015 – Way To Tasty Healthy Living

Mon: no there is no payment involved for this posting but healthy living is something I believe and support.

‘If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?’

There are many sites you can visit to read about the benefits of all these natural juice, so take your pick and try the combinations on the menu below until you find the taste to your palate.

Congratulations to Amanda & Jed for their new venture into a business that will benefit your health and lifestyle, thus a win win for all. Best of luck to their present branch at Winter Park and another new branch in College Park.

Highly recommended to try any of these juices with all the natural and organic ingredients for healthy living. Appreciations to Amanda & Jed for the privilege of sampling them all.

Personal favourite is the #3, beets and ginger. Also tried some of the other juices in Popsicle and they are refreshingly delicious and perfect for the weather in FL.

Like their choice for location, the charming entrance to the Park Plaza Hotel***** on Park Avenue in WPK. For those are fortunate to have their memory intact, it used to be a candy store there! Was at this hotel many moons ago and one of my favourites in FL. Built in 1922, this small boutique hotel has carefully preserved the simple elegance and serves as one of its most gracious landmarks.

If you are in the WPK neighbourhood, do stop by and ask for a sample to find your choice of juice and you will not regret it when you make this your daily morning juice.

13 Jul 2015 – From LHHS Days

Thu: such a small world, Jan and Jackie have grandchildren attending the same pre-school! Great to catch up with Janice, Cee, Jackie and Judy, ladies from our days volunteering in the schools. Much to catch up…

Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant***combines an upscale casual restaurant, a working winery, and tasting room with specialty food and gift items. Good burger – wine OK.

Heading towards Ormond Beach after a short visit at Alonzo and Marlene. Drove by familiar streets and neighbourhoods. Carmel By the Lake looks the same. Pix taken from the car are not the best shots…

Thank you to Jan & Al for dinner at High Tides@Snack Jack***on Flagler Beach – tasty crab-cakes.

Miles and miles of beach with the endless Atlantic Ocean.

Fri: grocery shopping at Publix and cooked for the afternoon in this cozy beach house.

Picture perfect at Ormond By The Sea by the A1A.

Sat: tkx Vanessa & Benny for meeting up and for lunch at Lagerheads Bar & Grill***Good fresh ‘Peel & Eat Shrimp’. Pleasure to meet you both and appreciate the drive and the chat.

A walk with Jan to the inter coastal waters for the sunset.

Sun: tkx Jan for the drive around the loop.

Back to Winter Pk to catch the train at the new Amtrak Station. Brian, the station master is from UK and the only Amtrak and bus station which I have understood a full announcement!

The garden and park is still as beautiful and seems like the peacock is the new mascot there!

Winter Park was my favourite area when I lived in FL and a stroll thru’ Park Ave convinced me that it is still my favourite area here in central FL. Glad to see that both The Park Plaza***** a hotel with charm and personality and Timothy’s Gallery are still around, Both L&M worked on Park Avenue hosting and serving in this no longer existing restaurant, La Venezia. Also there was a Gap that May had part-time job there. Today many new eateries and shops.

In fond memories of Ann Gerken as I pass the Morse Museum. She has taught and shown me much of what I know about Southern Living & Hospitality. Thank you for crossing my path as a neighbour and a good friend. May she RIP.

9 Jul 2015 – Hello Orlando
Mon: cab from Clearwater to the Amtrak downtown Columbia US$34 with a senior discount. Train was delayed into thee station due to a long cargo train which had the right of way.

Bitten by mosquitoes (6bites!) while waiting on the platform. Must remember to bring the repellent if I have to be in this station again!

Too tired and dark on the last wagon to see what stations we passed by until I saw some water tower with SC around 0600hrs. Must have been really delayed since we were still in SC.

Savannah/GA a quick stop to let off and pick up passengers. Had a cup of coffee and a breakfast biscuit at the cafe wagon and was pleasantly surprised to find this package of snack and water on my seat upon returning.

Jacksonville/FL was a longer stop to with more passengers getting on and off, refueling and a change of crew.

After 2 more quick stops, finally rolled into into Winter Park with nearly 4hrs delay. Not easy to take pix on the fast moving train with not so clean windows! Thank you Jan for your understanding a patience.

Great to catch up with her in their lovely home while the afternoon storms (felt more like a mini hurricane) opened up the sky.

Tue: nice to see Al back from their Ormond Beach house. Made dinner for these wonderful people and a privilege to be able to do so, especially for Alonzo and Marlene and are now in their late 80s.

Wed: good to catch up with Gayle. Nice place at Rus Teak***with ‘pencil art’. Good burger and the mussels were OK.

Doggy-bag the rest for dinner together with the rest of last night’s dinner

Picked up Colt (Jackie’s youngest while his two older siblings are with their paternal grandparents out West for 3 weeks) from day-care and got to visit with Amanda & family in their delightful home.

Liam and Lily are same ages as #4, #5 & #6. Tree-house in the back yard is just the perfect size for me. Could live there if there was an AC installed 🙂 Thank you Jed for bringing home all the juices from their new business for us to sample. Grounding Roots****will need a whole posting for me to do a write-up.

If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live – from sources unknown

5 Jul 2015 – 4 Mile Race

Fri: lunched with Linn and Debbie downtown at Le Peep Cafe***good burgers. Many places were closed on this 4th Jul weekend.

Passed by the SC State House with the demonstrators for the Confederate flag issue. This is as far as many demonstrators go here in CAE/SC 🙂 Some people have too much time to get technical about a flag!

A pleasant ‘Family Neighbourhood Social’ on this lovely evening. Appreciations to the Clearview home owners’ association for setting this up.

The dock is now repaired and newly painted. A good time was enjoyed by all under interesting clouds with a peep of the rainbow.

Sat: bright and early at the ‘Born in the USA 4Mile Race’. Neither Linn or May are born in the USA! But they spent most of their schooling years here. Jeff and the grandchildren (except for #3) are born in the USA. Congratulations to Linn for placing (27.16). Way to go to #2 and Jessica. Good job to everyone who took part in this.

Waiting for the last runner and what a touching sight of a grandfather running with his toddle grandson. Made my day.

On the highway after the race – #2 was not happy when we suggested that someone is going to have BBQ pork for this 4th 🙂 Happy 4th!

Thank you to Haley & Brian for sharing where the fireworks are best viewed from. #3 and Wil enjoying their swim before the fireworks. Blessed with good neighbours and even got to see Jupiter and Venus before they start to drift apart. Only one decent shot after the sunset. Appreciations to Linn & family for a beautiful evening on the lake.

3 above pix to various sites.

Congratulations to SIN for its 1st World Heritage Site, my favourite garden there. Bringing back fond memories of the best SIN Orchid Festival in 2003 I helped to set up there (ie personal rating)..

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore

Sun: getting ready for another adventure – catching the Amtrak to Winter Park/FL. Random pix of downtown CAE around the area not too far from the station…

2 above pix credits to various sites.

Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white – Mark Jenkins

2 Jul 2015 – Goodbye To Half Of 2015

Mon: unpacking and repacking – something I never look forward to, thus procrastinating and doing every other thing. Not sure why this is so, considering the way I travel. Even cleaning house and doing the laundry are better chores!

Tue: Venus and Jupiter have gradually converged in the night sky the past month. They passed within a third of a degree of each other tonight, was unable to see them but had a lovely evening stroll.

The two planets will then stay within two degrees of each other until 4Jul, when they’ll drift out of view. This will happen again in 2023. Tonight was too cloudy, but lucky enough to have a glimpse of the full moon before the clouds moved in. Will keep a look out for the next few nights.

Jupiter & Venus will be so close in the night sky they’ll look like a double star!

http://wxch.nl/1IJUK6O #space

If ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,’ it is no wonder why men and women are so far apart 🙂 Jupiter will at least stay within two degrees of Venus for a few nights 🙂 🙂

Rains and winds blew by late afternoon creating some pine needles and cones on the driveway. Even sweeping the driveway is better than anything to do with packing!

Wed: hello Jul and Happy Canada day to my family & friends in Canada and to all celebrating this day. 1 Jul 1867 Canada became a new federation with its own constitution by signing the Constitution Act – formerly known as the British North America Act.

Happy Birthday Canada!

All the recent news regarding shootings, terrorists, hate-crimes, and other issues etc have been noted and seen with awareness. When I am unable to contribute anything constructive or positive to the situations, it is better not to discuss them, but it does not mean that I agree or condole to such actions.

1 Happy Canada Day

4 Happy 4th for USA

14 Happy Bday Keith and Happy Bastille Day/France

17 Happy Bday Nancy Bowman

19 Happy Anniversary Linn & Jeff

20 Happy Bday David Yeoh

21 Happy Bday Albert Chua

22 Happy Anniversary Dika & Mark B

23 Happy Bdays James & Lucas

25 Happy Bday Winnie/CA

Appreciations to Chuan’s sharp eye sight for spotting an error in this downloaded quote. Thank you for letting me know. Edited.

30 Jun 2015 – Goodbye June

Sat: after a Fri evening watching all kinds of TV programs and a good night sleep, am ready to run errands. Thank you Jeff for picking me at the Hardees as the Super 8 lobby was locked! To give an idea of the area 🙂

Getting the food, etc ready before Jeff’s family arrives and a nice catch up with Linn while we were on the road.

Down town CAE where Cupcake DownSouth*** donates 100% of the proceeds from a Charleston Love cupcake. Do enjoy visiting this part of town.

http://www.freshcupcakes.com/

Zoës Kitchen is a fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Plano/TX. Linn likes the Mediterranean-inspired food here and she ordered beef, chicken, salmon and shrimp kebab + a bunch of sides at the Irmo branch We now have enough food to feed an army 🙂 🙂

http://zoeskitchen.com/

And of course Party City to save on the clearing and washing of dishes. But it still bothers me to know and see what wasteful consumers we are…

Cindy, Terry&Dee, Kristy&family, her mom-in-law, Kathleen, David&friend, Charles who just arrived from UK after his 1yr basketball playing there,  Tiffany&her 2 boys and us all were here to be with Jeff’s ‘over the hill’ celebrations!

A lively evening with the game of spoons. #3&#5, the boys were wiped out in bed while #4 was completely engrossed with Dee’s Ipad. Everyone enjoyed the evening. Camera was acting up and rather unhappy with many of tonight’s pix.

Sun: Jeff’s actual Bday date. The others left while Terry&Dee stayed on to join us at church. Pastor Dick Lincoln gave a good sermon and coincidentally today’s bulletin also has the announcement with #1 as a new member in Shandon Baptist Church.

Lunched at Harper’s***in 5 Points. Some interesting places around there.

Glad that they managed to end the day with a family sunset cruise on Lake Murray (pix credits to Linn). Jeff will need this cane 🙂 🙂 🙂 after a week at Douthat State Park (Millboro/VA), USC Medical School Residents’ Graduation, Patrick’s 50Celebrations and his Over The Hill Celebrations. Happy 40th to a dear son-in-law who is loved and respected by his mother-in-law! He is a wonderful husband to Linn and a great father to my grandchildren.

Life begins at 40 – but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times – Helen Rowland

27 Jun 2015 – Been There Done That
Thu: dep Clarksville/TN 15.10hrs with a delay of 45mins.

Arr Nashville/TN16.15hrs with a layover of 1.5hrs.

Picked up passengers at Murfreesboro/TN and a toilet break at Manchester/TN.

Arr Chattanooga/TN 20.20hrs with a 15min toilet break and then continuing to Marietta/GA to drop off passengers before hitting ATL/GA at 2310hrs with 4.5hrs layover.

Fri: ATL/GA station was packed due to delays with the bus to DC. A nice surprise from a Muslim group (Greyhound Angels!) who was serving free food at the car-park, tasted some rice and stew. Quite good ‘Greyhound Magic’ considering what is sold at these stations! Eyes could not keep open to focus on the camera for this last section of the journey…

Dep ATL/GA on time 04.30hrs with a short stop in Augusta/GA (looks like a delightful place thru’ the Greyhound windows!). Arr CAE 0900hrs and way too hot to walk out to the main road. Took a cab for the 0,5mi and had to pay a minimum US$10. Considering the heat on this narrow road with backpack and baggage, cab was the choice!

Bus journey – 9hrs 10min. Layovers – 6hrs US$62.

Been in SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, TN and GA within 2weeks; 26+hrs driving time, 16.30+layovers costing US$197.05 have certainly been like watching movies! Am Greyhounded out (if there is such a word) for 2015. All worth it to catch up with friends.

After 4hrs brunch at Denny’s, needed to find a hotel to rest for a night before Jeff’s 40Blast 🙂 Super 8 across the road from Denny’s. WiFi and TV to put me to sleep! The weather outside at present is that you can fry and eggs on the sidewalk and according to the weather channel it is 98°F feels Like 102°…

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative – Oscar Wilde

26 Jun 2015 – An Inspiration To Runners

Clarksville where this incident happened. Sad, but what kind of parent is this who knows that her child needs ‘EpiPen’ and yet be so irresponsible and thoughtless???

http://clarksvillenow.com/local/family-sues-clarksville-publix-claiming-boy-died-from-cookie/

Tue: Nancy was invited to Hananoki Japanese Steakhouse and went along as her guest. Interesting 1hr talk about ‘Financial Facts’.

Dinner was served after the talk and the steak was OK. Probably not their best for a group who was provided with dinner at no cost for attending the talk, thus it will not be fair to rate it. Was informed later by Matt that this is the best restaurant here.

Wed: from historic locations to contemporary architecture, Montgomery Central High School (Cunningham, app 20mins from Clarksville) was completed in 1970. It is an unusual and interesting structure situated on a man-made lake and featuring concrete shell construction.

We were trying to find Wilma a few days ago on the river front where she was supposed to be. But alas she was not there and no wonder as she ran away in the event of more floods!

In 1960, she became the first American woman to win  3gold medals at a single Olympic Games. May she now RIP in her new home at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center.

http://www.biography.com/people/wilma-rudolph-9466552#synopsis

Lunched at Liberty Park Grill***next to the WR Event Center. Good salad with a good view to end this hot touring day. Grateful to Nancy for driving me around.

Appreciations to Matt & Kristy for having me out to their home. Good to see him and his family. Matt has been in K thru’ all his school years, including UF with Jeff. He crossed paths with Linn when we moved to FL in the late 1980s. Difficult to believe that Josh and Ellisa are now both in the U…

Thank you Nancy for putting me up and putting up with me near the little people! Thank you Linda for the use of her washer and dryer. It was a pleasure to meet a lovely local lady who is born and bred in this delightful place.

It’s not the days in life we remember, rather the moments – Walt Disney