11/13/10 (Saturday):  We're settling in at our winter home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  We have a really beautiful site this winter.  In fact, we like it so much that we've reserved it until September 2012 (which is as far ahead as we could schedule it).  The sites on our end of the campground are heavily wooded, with palms and live oaks draped with Spanish moss.  The undergrowth is mostly palmetto with a healthy dose of wild coffee.  The park has planted hibiscus, turk's cap and some annuals.  This twisted beauty is a live oak growing around a palm tree.  They're both alive!  It's very "old Florida" looking.

Wiley has planted a vegetable garden (in containers) and has started a new orchid collection.  They look so pretty hanging in the trees.  Today we bought some pansies to put in the one little unshaded spot in front of the RV.

We put in hummingbird and bird feeders right outside our picture window.  This lady squirrel has gotten around every barrier we've tried so far to feast on our seeds.  We've decided to live and let live (who can resist that intelligent little face?).

Wiley's got a birthday coming up in a few days.  Since we won't be traveling in the big RV, I decided to get him a fireplace for his birthday.  The weather turned cool just in time to enjoy our first fire of the season.  (We've started his birthday celebration early!)

And speaking of cool weather--look at Lily, the Florida cat!  She's been doing a lot of cuddling up lately!

Quite a few of our friends from last winter have returned to the campground.  Wiley has enjoyed fishing just about every day with his friend, Dave, and I walk most mornings with a group of friends.  Yesterday, my friends Lucie, Julie and Louise came over for the day. Lucie is from Longwood (about an hour away) and Julie and Louise are from Ocala (about 2 hours away). We went to Canaveral National Seashore, where they were having a "plein art" festival.  The artists set up by the river or ocean and paint while you watch.  We had a lovely day together--the weather was great.

We saw this armadillo on the way out.  I don't think I've ever been to Canaveral Seashore that I didn't see some wildlife.

The waves were very big by Florida standards and colors were so dramatic. 

Can't think of a good segueway, but this cabbage at Home Depot's garden shop caught my eye today, and I just had to post the picture. 

This evening we're having friends over for dinner (linguini and lemon chicken).  We'll have a fire and eat on the patio, I think.  I've been doing some Christmas shopping.  On Wednesdays we go to Winter Park to visit with Wiley's Dad and give his Mom a break from the caretaking.  Life is pretty good for us.

 10-19-10 (Tuesday):  Egret, tortoise and dolphins, oh my!  Not a lot going on here, but we drove to Canaveral National Seashore today.  Had lunch at J.B.'s Fishcamp and were greatly entertained by "Whitey," the local American Egret who has lived on a nearby island for several years and keeps all other comers at bay (according to some locals sitting nearby).




We also enjoyed watching a pod of dolphins fishing right off the deck where we were eating.  When you see how voraciously they attack the fish, you kind of question swimming with them as a recreational activity!

When we finished our lunch entertainment, we drove into Canaveral National Seashore.  We get in free with our senior pass, so this is a place we visit often.  This wasn't the biggest gopher tortoise I've ever seen (about the size of a basketball), but it was really brave.  I got about 2 feet away to take this picture and he (she?) never stopped eating!

We're happy to be back home in New Smyrna Beach.  We've decided to leave the big fifth wheel here permanently and do some traveling in the little travel trailer in the summer.  Best of both worlds!  We'll go over one day a week to help Wiley's mother with his father, who's pretty disabled now with Parkinson's Disease.  In the Spring, Wiley hopes to have another deep brain stimulator implanted at University of Michigan and then we hope the medical crises will end and we can take a trip to Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico to see some of the great national parks (Yellowstone, particularly).  We might even make it to New Zealand for a visit with Mark and Heather next winter.  For now, we're heeding the old adage to "grow where you're planted."  Peace!

10-9-10 (Saturday):  It's quiet here today.  We're still in Winter Park getting Wiley Jr.'s IVs every morning and evening.  We're also helping Mag out with Wiley Sr., who is in the late stages of Parkinson's and needs assistance with his daily living.  We're trying to fit a little fun in, though, and I have a few pictures to share.

I know I posted a picture in a previous blog of the baby raccoons who visited Mag's back yard, but I couldn't resist posting another one.  They're so darn cute!

Wiley and his sister and I took Wiley Sr. to Leu Gardens for a stroll check out what's in bloom.  These berries caught my eye.

I thought this striking black flower would be an appropriate Halloween decoration!

The bird of paradise is a favorite of mine.  It really does look like a fancy bird, doesn't it?!

This pink hibiscus was humongous--as big as a dinner plate!

Wiley, Cathy and Wiley Sr. in front of an elephant ear -- another appropriately named plant!

The elephant ear plant has spread out of local gardens and become a pest in the wild.  But it's so neat and tropical looking that it's difficult to hate it.

On another day, Wiley and I stopped at Lake Eola after his doctor's appointment.  These white ibis were once endangered.  Now we see them everywhere!  The young have dark plumage, which then becomes peppered with white feathers until they eventually turn all white.

It had been a while since Wiley and I went to Lake Eola.  They've built a lot of condominiums in downtown Orlando and now there's a lakeside Publix grocery store!  Downtown has become a vibrant, upscale place to live.

We enjoyed our visit to Lake Eola so much that a few days later I took Mag and Wiley and we had an equally good time.  It's a little slice of wilderness in the middle of the city.









We're hoping that we'll be able to head home to New Smyrna Beach on the 13th when Wiley completes his IV therapy.  The stone crab season starts that week and he can't wait to put out his traps.

Hope everyone is enjoying this autumn weather. 

9/16/10 (Thursday):  Today is Anna's 8th birthday--happy birthday, my beautiful granddaughter!

We're back in FL now, staying with Wiley's folks while he takes two weeks of IV antibiotics.  He goes into the hospital in the AM and PM to get them.  Meanwhile, I've had a doctor's appointment every day this week.  All results are good so far.

Here are a few photos from our adventure (misadventure?) in Michigan.

This is the medical center where Wiley visited the infectious disease doctor in Ann Arbor, MI.  It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright--beautiful!

The hospital where he had the two surgeries was ranked 14th in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report in 2009.  We were quite impressed with the level of care.

We had a small birthday party for Anna before we left the campground.  Hamburgers and hot dogs, birthday cake, a campfire (with roasting marshmallows, of course) and a bike ride around the lake.  Does it get any better?!

Anna wanted a "real" ring for her present, and I couldn't decide which of these I liked best, so I bought them both. It wasn't too big a splurge, though, because I got them at the flea market and they were a good deal.  She really liked them!

I was also privileged to be there for the first day of school for Anna and Margo.  Their backpacks are almost as big as they are!

Just before we left, we went by the apple orchard.  It was still a little early in the season, and there weren't many apples, but we bought a small bag to bring back to Mag.  They have a neat store, right on the Huron River with lots of apple products for sale.

The drive home was uneventful (thank goodness).  We stopped at Tamarak, which displays all sorts of Appalachian crafts.  I got some Christmas presents!

At our campsite the last night, there was this old barn.  I thought it looked neat with the dramatic sky.

This old donkey grazed peacefully just to the right of the old barn, but I couldn't get them both in the same photo.

We continue to enjoy wildlife right here in Winter Park--four young raccoons took up residence for the day in a stack of flower pots in the side yard.  We fed them some cat food and called someone to come get them the next morning.  We think a project nearby to clean out a ditch probably rousted them from their nest.  They were very young.  Mama didn't come back during the night to retrieve them, so we called in the professionals.

I probably won't be blogging until we get back into our daily adventures again, but we're all doing okay.  We'll keep in touch.

8-31-10 (Tuesday):  Well, the medical saga continues.  Wiley is just not healing up as quickly as expected.  We visited the infectious disease doctor yesterday and the neurosurgeon today.  They both recommended that we have the rest of the deep brain stimulator system removed.  After a course of antibiotics and then a couple of months free of infection, we can have the whole thing done over.  We decided that that made a lot of sense to us.  The doctors speculate that the bacteria continue to live on the implanted material even though antibiotics have stopped the infection in the tissues.  Then, when we stop the antibiotics, the bacteria grow again and the infection recurs.  We go for pre-op tomorrow and the surgery on Friday.  He'll stay overnight.  We'll plan to return to Florida for all my appointments by 9/11 or 9/12.  Our Florida doctors can supervise Wiley's recuperation.  Then, come Spring, we'll return here for the new implant and another visit with the grands.

We've really enjoyed our time here in Michigan (when we weren't visiting doctors).  I've had the opportunity spend some time with my girls.  The pigtails went over big!

They're getting ready to go back to school.  Anna was excited to get her first pair of glasses.  Aren't they cute?!

We gave Mom a break one day and took a trip down the Huron River.  Tom, Ann and Margo went in the canoe and Wiley and I took out our kayaks.  What a fun day!  The weather was beautiful.

There were lots of dragonflies and wildflowers.  Unfortunately, though he tried very hard, the fish were not biting for Wiley.

It's going to be tough leaving them, but we're looking forward to getting back to Florida (and our bigger home on wheels).  Hopefully, we'll be able to come back in the Spring for more fun times and to get my bionic man back up and running.

8/17/10 (Friday):  I'm trying to type this with a cat sitting on my chest!  Poor Lily missed us a lot because we took off on Wednesday to Niagara Falls, Canada.  Tom came over both days and fed her, but she's stuck to me like glue now that we're back!

More about Niagara Falls in a minute.  But first, I want to share some pictures of our wonderful day at the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival with Tom and Kristin and the girls.  It was a huge festival with all kinds of exhibits and vendors.  Anna really enjoyed the bird rescue exhibit, where you were allowed to touch and hold many different kinds of parrots.

Both of the older girls got to ride on a camel.  The handler told Margo that the camel was very relaxed with her.  He could tell because his mouth was open.

In the butterfly enclosure, all three girls got to dip Q-tips into Gatorade and feed the butterflies.  Claire was fascinated (and we got to stay as long as we wanted)!

Now, about our overnight trip to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We decided to go on the spur of the moment.  Wiley had never seen the falls, and I'd only ever been to the U.S. side.  Tom graciously agreed to come over both days to feed and cuddle Lily (Kristin is allergic to cats).  It was about a 5-hour drive through some beautiful farming country.  We breezed through Customs with just a few questions about where we were going and how long we would stay.  Then we went over the bridge and were in Canada.  The speed limits are posted in kilometers, which took some getting used to!

We checked into a Comfort Inn just a block from the falls.  We could see the mist from the balcony of our room.  We walked over and took this incline people mover down the steep bank to the head of the falls (you can see the horseshoe falls in the background of this picture).

The falls were almost obscured by the huge plume of mist, so it was difficult to get a good picture.  From the Canadian side, you can actually see two cascades, this horseshoe shaped set and

this set by the bridge to the U.S.  The Maid of the Mist boats travel right up to the base of the cataract!  We didn't go on the boats.

Two-thirds of the horseshoe falls are on the Canadian side of the border and this cataract is on the American side.

The mist caused several beautiful rainbows.


We're back in Ypsilanti now, enjoying the gorgeous cool weather.  We see the doctor again on Tuesday (the infectious disease doctor).  He's going to do a culture to make sure the infection is entirely gone.  If all is well, we'll head back to Florida in two weeks and wait for 6-8 weeks to make sure the infection doesn't come back when he's off the antibiotic.  Then we'll come back to Michigan to get him reconnected.  He's a trooper!

8/22/10 (Sunday):  Yesterday was rainy (and very cool), so we didn't go to the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival as planned, but we're going today, so this will be a quick blog just to catch you up.  We're enjoying the weather as well as lots of visiting with family.  We try to have a small adventure every day and then some quiet time reading, looking at the lake and taking walks around the campground.  We haven't met any of the folks here yet.  There don't seem to be a lot of them who stay longer than a few days.

We also enjoy riding around in the countryside.  There are lots of back roads with pretty farms and historic towns.  Ann Arbor, home of University of Michigan, is also nearby, with lots of museums and culture.  We've enjoyed shopping at Trader Joe's (which we remembered from California--wish there were some in Florida!).  And a couple of days ago, we went raspberry picking at Rowe's Produce Farm just a couple of miles from here.

Last week, we rode out into the countryside to visit a crane sanctuary, hoping to see whooping cranes, or at least sandhill cranes.  Haehnle's Sanctuary is about 450 acres owned by the Audubon Society.  They have sandhill cranes there, and for a couple of years have had a whooping crane or two.  We've seen lots of sandhill cranes in Florida, but whooping cranes are very rare.  We've only ever seen one.  Anyhow, long story short, there were no cranes there that day at all.

However, we took the scenic route home, and discovered a neat little town called Chelsea.  The first thing we noticed was this clock tower, which dominates the cute, historic downtown.  The warehouses/factories surrounding the tower have been turned into a small block of shops with an atrium in the middle.  We had lunch at a very good Mexican restaurant there.

The next thing we noticed was the Jiffy plant.  It was very clean and neat looking.  We hoped to get a tour, but discovered that they'd closed the plant to tours the day before while they re-did the tour facilities.  I later read about it online and found out that they mill their own grain, manufacture the mixes and even make their own packaging right here in Chelsea.  I especially love Jiffy cornbread mix, so I think we'll be going back for a tour if we're in the area long enough.

That's another week of Joyce and Wiley's Great (and small) Adventures.  Check us out again soon and maybe we'll have some information about Ypsilanti Heritage Day.