Saturday, December 13, 2025

118.2 - on the upward slope but still in the usual range.

Yesterday's activities were enjoyable. I will post some pictures of the botanical garden Jungle Lights on FB. It was nice to wander around and view the lights with Christmas music playing in the background. Some of the trees were uniquely Floridian too made out of plants you see here all the time. Much easier to view than going up to a similar display up north when it is freezing as we did the prior 2 years with DS. When I lived on the West coast of Florida we went to the Edison and Ford Winter Estate holiday light display in Fort Myers. Maybe Paula will go?

Today I have yoga and dinner with friends at their house with another couple. We just met the hosts this summer and they joined our bocce team. Very nice couple!

3 days until we fly to Massachusetts.

Have a sparkling Saturday!

Beautiful lights. I'd love to do that in a warm climate! When DD was in college in Chicago, we went to the lights at the Lincoln Zoo on a super cold night. We are going to try to go to a light display in Duluth on Monday. There is never a sort of warm night up there in December, so it's freeze and do it, or never go. There are some drive through light displays here to make it a little easier to enjoy.

So it is very, very cold, but the sun is out. In this extremem cold, we keep the drapes pulled kostly, but open them in the rooms that are receiving direct sunlight. It's quite the dance opening and closing them to maximize warmth. Right now I am sitting in the full force of the sun, and there is still some warmth.

Besides fighting for my life from temperatures that could literally kill you, not much else is happening. I will continue on with my domestic life, and only experience the cold when I step into the garage to get a Diet Coke We have them covered with a blanket, so hopefully they are not frozen solid or exploding. One aspect of the cold I enjoy: my pop (or soda as you others call it) with just a bit of slush in the can when I bring it in from outside. Perfect amount of cold. Fun fact, back in the day when there were pop vending machines outside, the ones in Minnesota had both coolers (for summer) and heaters (for winter) so the pop didn't freeze solid.

120.2, downward trend for me, it will probably start going back up soon!

Fun Christmas party last night. Nice to get to meet a few more neighbors, 2 other couples are fairly new too! We each needed to bring a $40 gift to exchange. I brought one of my FL sunset pictures printed on metal. More than a $40 value for sure but not sure yet if I will do the art fair thing down here. The hosts of the party happened to get my gift and they (especially the lady) were so excited! Glad I could make someone's day!

Liz, those Christmas lights you posted are spectacular! We didn't have any plans to go see lights this year, but I'll have to keep the Edison display in mind. Much better than braving light displays in WI!

Sunned by the pool today. Hasn't gotten old yet! I'm surprised (and pleased) that I have not burned!

Tilapia and broccoli supreme for dinner. I had frozen half of the broccoli supreme when I made it for Thanksgiving.

I have a whole non burning routine for Florida, that involves setting a timer for sun without sunscreen and then applying, and not reapplying if it's past 3 pm etc. but I would guess if you're not hell bent on getting a tan in 5 days, it's easier to avoid the burn. You are quickly becoming a native Floridian. And the dogs too : )

I love when my fridge is a little too cold and my diet cokes get a little slushy!

I'm glad it won't be as cold when we go up north - highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s. It does look like there will be snow on the ground though as it is snowing there now. Hopefully not so much as to make it difficult to get into the house on Tuesday. At least we arrive early in the day so can see what's up.

Chuckling a bit a envisioning you chasing the sunny spots in your home.

Greetings Dear Ones

We have more sun today but storms are on the way. I am lazing about preparing for gallery duty this afternoon. No clue if it will be busy or not. The town of Trinidad has a Christmas thing where Santa arrives on a motor boat in the bay and then they haul the boat up the boat launch on to a trailer and then drive the boat on a trailer around town with Santa waiving and lights. Prolly not today.

Liz nice that you have some new fun friends. And Christmas lights! We all need to go cruising for a light fix. It seems these days everyone has those blow up plastic figures. Give me light lined houses any day! Enjoy light viewing with only a need for a light sweater.

Pop DD! That's what we called it. You could go to any gas station at any hour and outside was a pop machine with glass bottles. But I never thought about what happened to them in the winter. Of course they could freeze. Hope yours does not. And I can envision the musical chairs of finding a spot in the sun. Actually our dogs do this - find the one spot with good sun. Well take a thermos of hot chocolate and go look at lights.

Paula I bet your photos on the metal background look stupendous. One of our gallery artists has some of her paintings reproduced on that glossy metal and they are luminous. So cool that your hosts liked their gift.

Another pot roast is underway. It is a small one but it will feed us well. I will assign DH to peel some potatoes to insert at 4 pm.

Time to get packing.

Diane S

DH compared my search forn the sun in the house to being like a cat. He found me on a guest bed this afternoon, and said, oh, getting a little sun? He knows me well. : )

I think maybe parts of Wisconsin also call it pop. One time when we were in Missouri, DH gave the girl scooping our ice cream a tip and told her, Buy yourself a pop. She looked appalled. I jumped in and said, he means soda. When we got to the car I told him she probably thought you said buy yourself some pot. LOL.

We said pop growing up but I say soda more often now

Those blowup things look especially bad during the day when many people unplug them and they are lying on the ground like dead bodies.

Pot roast sounds good again. Maybe I will make it up north when we will need something comforting to eat.