Glad to be here

Florida sunset last night

For many reasons, I''m glad to be here right now. First of all, the weather could not be better for a Pacific Northwesterner like me: a high in the 70s F, a little foggy in the mornings but sunny later in the day, with a light breeze. I just looked at the weather at home: 24 and snowing, but it should clear up. Just for fun, I looked up at the clock and saw that my fellow hikers would be gathering right now to go hiking and wondered if anybody showed up. Well, it turns out that twelve intrepid hikers will be going out today, and if I were there, it would have been thirteen! We are nothing if not dedicated.

The living room yesterday

But instead, I am visiting with my sister Norma Jean, who is dressed appropriately in shorts and t-shirt, with her furry dog curled up in the foreground, eyeing me. Little Lexie, my grand-niece, is lying in the chair, not feeling well. She's better today, I think, since she went to school. I got a chance to visit with them yesterday. Little Alicia has grown a great deal in the year since I saw her last.

Alicia with her iPad

She is quite a handful, I must say! She never stopped moving, even when she was watching things on her iPad. I sure enjoyed seeing her, and the two of them, with their mother (my niece Allison), will be here all weekend. I should get a year's worth of little ones by the time I leave.

Sisters DJan and Norma Jean

My nephew Peter took this picture of us yesterday, so I could have something to put on my post today. I have fallen into Norma Jean's routine (we are both people who appreciate a schedule): wake up to a cup of coffee at 6:30am, leave for the gym by 7:17am in our bathing suits, be ready for the door to the outside pool to open at 7:30, and be in the water by 7:32! She swims for a mile; yesterday I managed 25 minutes, but today it was a full 30 minutes swimming laps.

Then I take a nice hot shower and spend the time waiting for her to finish up while lifting a few weights in the gym. I went out to get this picture of her just before she finished for the day.

Norma Jean starting on another lap

It's a wonderful heated pool that is kept covered at night. I swam in the lane to her left. You can see someone in the next lane also swimming laps. The same people show up every morning to get their exercise in first thing.

After we come back to her house, we then step into our running shoes and go out for a 2.5-mile brisk walk. She does this routine five days a week, with a longer six-mile walk on Sunday. She rests on Saturdays. This will be my own routine until I get back to my own schedule.

So far, I have really enjoyed swimming in the early morning. If I had an outdoor pool like this one, I'd be there, too, but of course in Bellingham they are inside, with many more people trying to use the lanes. For now, it's just when I come to Florida that I swim laps.

I'm really glad to be here for many reasons, but the main one is connecting once again with my Florida family. Until later, think of me in lovely Florida sunshine.
:-)