Well, I got the job and I gave my notice so there is no going back now. I am trying to get the stuff packed and out of here by September 1st or at the very least October 1st. The picture is of Don CeSar Hotel just above the St Petersburg beach on down the coast about half a mile. I did not take this and do not know who the people are but took this off the internet because i lost my camera somewhere in the trip.But we went in here like we owned it and it really is beautiful. I am madly packing and seeing if I can make arrangements for a place to live down there. The stay with Donna and Steve was wonderful and I am looking forward to building on that short visit in the future. More later folks....di

Luxury Plus!!!!!!

This is a picture of the inside of the Hilton, and I must say that my room is really nice and the setting for the hotel is wonderful. I have been dined and not wined in a Colonial English pub where I had curried lamb (very good), Southern Cuisine restaurant where I had fried sweet potatoe chips(deadly good), A Greek restaurant where they did the handkerchief dance) blackened salmon (mmmmmm) and at Y'Bor City (which is a "little Cuba" with lots of little shops and artsy places) I had a very special Cuban bread sandwich with a palm leaf cooked into the top of the loaf.

I don't have pictures of the beach developed yet, but this is where I am staying. The heat will knock you down at about 3:00 in the afternoon but mornings and evenings are great. It rains every day and cools everything off. I felt the interview went well and I think they will make me an offer that I hope I can accept. Of course I had my heart in my mouth, but I know my stuff and at least as far as the registry needs I knew more than they did, so I looked like I really had it all together, when I really only was one step ahead of disaster really. Seeing the ocean again was wonderful, and splashing and tasting the salt was so wonderful. I could not stay as long as I would have liked, but since I was in my host's company I acquiesed to her wishes and we went looking around all the little places in St .Pete's.

Sariah will love this. It is such an artsy place. I have already met an art group I can join.

Well off to see Steve and Donna in the morning. I can't wait!

Oleander and Lantana!!!!!

Oleander, Lantana, Canna Lillies, Bird of Paradise, and cranes in my back yard!
I took a walk around Debbie's neighborhood and was so thrilled to see Oleander growing and Lantana. I remember walking home with Despina Parouskivopolous in Whyalla and trying not to crush the Lantana as we walked by because it gave off such a pungent odor. And Oleander was for your hair if you picked a blossom or two and did not get the sticky sap all over you. These things do not grow in Ohio and we certainly don't have cranes right in our back yard. This crane just stood and watched me and I almost wanted to explain why I was in his territory. And the grass is that old "buffalo grass" that is all spongy like a carpet. It is hot, and I did not walk far, but a dip in the pool when I got back was heaven. Debbie will be home shortly and we will go out to dinner some place and then I will get all my stuff ready to go to the hotel tomorrow and meet with my "new boss" I hope. He will take me out to dinner and then the morning after we will go to the hospital where I will meet all the staff and be under the microscope. This is up to the Lord, I have got myself this far, the rest is up to Him.

Then I spend Saturday and Sunday with Steve and Donna and I am really looking forward to that. If nothing else comes from this trip, I will have had the chance to see the family. I am so excited. What a lovely bonus in my life this is going to be.

Should I part with this, what will I do wtih that?

Well I am sitting here getting ideas.

Debbie's home (an old girlfriend from Dayton in the same line of work as me) is so upscale. Tile, baskets, wood, pool and a white couch! I swam in her pool at midnight last night and loved the idea.

So...

If I make the move to Florida and they want me to work for them in St. Pete'...

what will I bring with me in furniture?

I have some really nice pieces and a lot of junk, but even my junk has great potential in the right setting, but there is just too much of it. For years I have been collecting blue and white china,

you know willow pattern, courier and ives, old english scenes and even some chinese blue pieces. Now you can buy this stuff in any decorating shop, but when I first married this was very hard to come by...(China - where the china blue dye first came from - was in the outs with the world in 1975.)After collecting it for some 32 years I want to keep it, but I think I will have to be

selective. This is hard because there are so many memories attached to the pieces that I feel like I am destroying that memory if I get rid of the piece.

And, what about pottery? (And Andy's bowls)I have Rachel's plate (that I love) and vase that she made in high school and Ben's jar (that I cherish) and all the other "stuff" as well as some really well made pottery pieces. Well I will be looking at places to live in the next few days, and I think I will look at nooks and crannies and be very very selective about what I bring.

And I still love quilts and cannot get rid of those,

they just look so colorful in the wintertime and to cuddle up in front of the TV with....

but how cold does it get in Florida? Still a cotton quilt will freshen up a room even if it is 100 degrees outside.

And then there is cookware?

Who am I going to cook for? An army? The army has disbursed with families of their own, perhaps they have need of five and ten quart pots. Yes, I used to cook like that all the time. Every day! I love to cook, there is such pleasure in adding a little of this and a little of that!

Mainly I like to eat well, so I cook well :) So, I shall just have to have the missionaries over.

Those boys can eat home cooked food like an army and bless their sweet souls I am just the girl to feed them. And I could have parties with new friends from work and Church and feed them too! Better keep the cookware, but perhaps be a little selective in what I keep.

And books?

Oh my goodness! I love to read...what will I do with all the books? Morgan lives too far away to come and share them with him! He took a couple home when he was here so I know we have similar tastes in reading matter. I get this reading gig from my mother. Thank you Mum! Well Friends of the Library can have some of them to raise money for new books. But I have some first edition Jack Higgins, whom I love (and by the way so did Dad). I think he was Dad's favorite author. But I have read all his books that I have about ten times and Maeve Binchy has been read and reread ad infinum.

And so it goes.

So I am sitting here making lists of those things that I must have to live (bed, dresser etc) and some things that I must have for the soul (blue china, quilts, etc) and some things that I just can't part with (Ariana's and Sariah's artwork, etc.) This is going to be a long list and I am going to have to erase items several times.....

What fun!

I love the excitement of a new adventure.

About once a month I used to have Rachel's children come and stay, at least two of them at a time, but because of the wedding and Sariah's graduation and work I was really missing seeing the children and so last week end I had the children (all four) come and stay Friday and Saturday night. Lizzy is the creative child who has all these projects lined up that we are going to accomplish while she is visiting. Bell likes to decide what we are having for breakfast and Eli likes to find stuff on my computer that he can play with

Do I have a Box of Treasures for you!!!!

Because I have it in mind to maybe move if they offer the position to me in Florida, I have been cleaning out all the old stuff that is of no earthly use, but that has been labeled with the famous "I may need that someday".

I have made several trips to Goodwill and donated my treasures to whomever can use it and each time I come back home the piles begin to grow again. I think they multiply when I am not looking. A lot of the stuff are things that people gave me and foolish me said I would take it because I could see a need for that "one of these days". Well at 60 years of age I have finally learnt that one of these days is never going to come and all I am doing is creating a fire hazard so I have been madly sorting and boxing and cleaning.

Friends are no help! They come by to box stuff and say "Why are you throwing that out, you may need that someday!" So they go home with a box of stuff that I gladly let them have because "they may need it someday".

This is only the stuff that I have stashed, this is not the stuff I have to pack and move...that will be a ginormous project in itself. Hopefully the kids will take some of the extra-good stuff to use in their homes, or I may have a garage sale, though that thought sounds like too much work. They may not offer me the job and I may be just left with nice clean cupboards for once in my life. Only the Lord knows what is in store for me. But one of the sisters did come forth and ask to rent my place if I was in that frame of mind. So only He knows what the next step will be and I am glad I am in His hands.

Spring in Ohio

I know it is winter in Aussie right now, but here it is spring and planting time and Mr. and Mrs. Graf have been getting their home in order and trying to find places for all the new stuff and generally having fun setting up house in their lovely little farmhouse about 5 miles north of Greenville.

Derick came over and tilled my garden. They have planted their garden twice. The first time the farmer sprayed his corn and all their garden began to die, so they moved to another spot and put in a garden. Then Ari came over and put in the garden for me. In my patch of garden things just like to grow. I put rabbit manure out for about 5 years and the plants really enjoy the nutrients and if I don't plant it the weeds like the nutrients just as well.

I gave Ariana my canning equipment and she is going to try canning some of her produce later in the summer.