Dispirited

Dispirited-Affected or marked by low spirits, dejected
And that folks is how I have been feeling since yesterday. Let me explain (and with any luck get it off my chest so I can feel better). For the last month or so I have been trying to plan a reunion with John's family.
My family tries to get together once or twice a year or whenever we can. Someone has a plan... or  they're going to be in __________ city for whatever reason...and the rest of us try to figure out if there's any way we can get there at the same time. We don't ALL always make it...but we've done pretty well over the years. One summer it was Cherry Creek, Co. David was in the art show...Mark was working out there, it's an easy trip from Hawaii...etc. We've met up in DC, in Fl...you get the idea.
With John's family it's been a little harder. When his parents were alive...we usually all tried to get together at Thanksgiving. We would either drive up to Alabama or Tennessee...or once to celebrate a milestone birthday for Grace...my sister-in-law planned for us all to meet up at Callaway Gardens. Now that Grace and John are gone...we have not been as good about getting together. It's sad. (to me...apparently not to everyone else...but I'll get to that).
So...I decided it was high time we had a reunion. Last year Megan got married...all my brothers and sisters made it...we missed a few of my nieces, nephews and bothers-in-law...later on in August we all got together again for my nephew's wedding...a couple of my brothers couldn't make it...but as it turned out everyone we had missed at Megan's wedding...made it  to Ian's; so  all in all...it worked out. It took some planning but it was worth the effort.
 Unfortunately not all of John's family could get there. Some couldn't make it and to be honest, some weren't on the guest list because of space and financial limitations. All the more reason to try again.
 From the start John told me I was setting myself up for disappointment. "Who cares! I will do it anyway!"
Well...a few people jumped on board immediately...and others sounded enthusiastic. I asked if there was a time or place that would be better...seems like the general consensus was that October was a good month. Okay...making progress.
 We made a few suggestions as to where we should go..No one really responded ...so Brenna took charge and said "Okay...we are going to Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort. a place with lots of fun things to do and a wide range of places to stay at all price levels. We made a reservation...with the understanding that we could cancel if we needed to....and we waited. As I said...a few jumped in right away...made reservations. Meanwhile the others were being a little vague. I understand people are busy...it's not always easy...but surely with 5-6 months notice you can make some sort of plan. as I told some of them, a friend of mine from a large Catholic family told me years ago "You reach a point in life where there are a lot of celebrations and a lot of funerals. People seem to drop everything for the funerals...but I find the celebrations to be a LOT more fun. I go to as many as possible" (that's not an exact quote...but you get the idea). I am reluctant myself sometimes...it drives John crazy...hahah but what I told everyone is...I understand if it doesn't work out...but all I'm asking is that you think about it and not be too quick to say "I can't do that"
My reason for wanting to do this is that we have not seen some of these family members in 5-6-7 years. We have watched some of them grow up through pictures on Facebook...which is better than nothing I guess...but it's not good enough for me. It just seems like a shame to let all this time go by...because when I think about the last 5-6-7 years in my life there are more people than I'd like to remember that are no longer here....And as time goes on and we all get older the reality is...we are going to lose some more. Don't get me wrong...as far as I know...no one is on the verge of death...but as we all know...things happen.
So imagine how I felt yesterday morning when I looked on Facebook and saw the smiling faces of a number of these same relatives who haven't committed ...enjoying their vacation at Disney World. Not one of them ever mentioned they would be there this week. (maybe they would have preferred a different spot to meet in October ...if we had known they were going to be in Orlando in March).
I am glad they are all having fun...but I cannot tell you how disappointed? discouraged? disheartened? choose a word..I was. I don't want to crash anyone's vacation...but we haven't seen them in  over 5 years...they know we ( Okay- I ) are trying to get together...and yet no one thought to mention they were going to be an hour away this week? I just don't get it. It  actually made me cry to think that they were so thoughtless...and I use that word because I hope that they just didn't think about it...not that they deliberately left us out. It wasn't just me that was upset...Brenna, Megan and especially John were also upset. John told me -I warned you that you were setting your self up for disappointment and you didn't want to believe me. I knew this was not a good idea..and now I'm just mad. (or something like that).
Again...I wouldn't want to disrupt anyone's vacation plans...but really???? you don't even have time to meet your family somewhere...here? there? in the middle for lunch? or dinner? An hour or two of your time...that's what baffles me.
Well...I have that off my chest...I feel a little better. I'm still planning the reunion and I don't care who comes...the ones who have already said yes are excited and WE will have a good time reconnecting and getting to know each other...because we are family after all. If the others can't make the time or don't want to be bothered...I can't change that...but it does make me sad.
*They might feel a little guilty when they get home and a letter I  sent out just last week explaining why I was hoping they would try to come is there waiting.

**So I found out the group was in town just for two days...then left today to go back home. It's nice to know they weren't here for a week...but it still bothers me that no one said anything. I feel better after I wrote this...but still don't get it.

weekend in Winter Park

This past weekend  it  was  time for The 55th Annual Sidewalk Art Festival in Winter Park; and since David was going to be in it...John and I decided to go over for the weekend. Actually...John's been fishing quite a bit and he took a quick ski trip a few weeks back...so he planned the weekend as something to do for both of us. Normally John's idea of a good weekend has nothing to do with something like an Art Show....hahah but in small doses he enjoys them.  The weather was perfect for the weekend...not too hot...breezy and no rain in sight! They had a great crowd Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

 The show takes place in downtown Winter Park, Florida along Park Avenue and in the park. Very nice setting...beautiful old oak trees, fountains in the park...pretty nice place to hang out for a couple of days. (Plenty of good food and shopping nearby too :)  )

To break up the day, we decided to take the Scenic Boat tour that starts right down the street from the show. My friend Karen suggested it when she heard we were going over...I'm glad she did. we enjoyed the tour and met up with some people who had lived down the street from my parent's house...and  also enjoyed talking to the one of the boat captains.

                                          The tour takes you through some canals and three lakes

The price is right!

It would be fun to rent one for a little party cruise around the lake some evening don't you think????

 

Here we are heading through one of the canals connecting two lakes....originally used for logging purposes.
We passed a few kayakers (?...is that a word...computer doesn't like it...haha suggested Quakers...hahah...no they weren't Quakers) and paddle boarders along the way. Passed a few boat "sheds" (i guess that's what you call them...and some dusty, dirty boats that had not gone out in a  loooooooooooooooooong time!

look at the Spanish moss on the tree

beautiful old and some new homes

One of these homes was built by a Cortland alumni..built by the owner to look like his home in Cortland in hopes that it would entice his wife to want to stay there.

It's hard to see this...but the house is now used for events like weddings, etc. We passed one old home that was going to be knocked down... so the new owners could build, but the Historical Society and  residents raised money to buy it and pay to have it moved to another site. They ended up cutting the home in half and floated it across the lake to it's new site. Didn't get a picture of the two parts.

As it turns out this isn't actually a bird house...the owner of the property is going to install a camera in there and take photos of the people on the boat tours for souvenirs

There was a crew regatta going on at Rollins College that day...so we stayed clear of the area...but it was fun to see the campus from the lake side. The captain told us some stories about the homes, the development over the years and about the various plants and trees that we passed. It was great.

heading back

When the tour ended we walked back up the street to the Art Festival.

I had to stop to get a picture of the street sign. I like signs...can you tell....

Our hotel was a mile or so down the road from the art festival...so we walked back to the hotel...John stayed to watch basketball while I changed and headed back to the show and the shops.

David had a piece selected for judging...so he was happy. He ended up with an Award of Distinction. There were 3 top prizes.., 10 Awards of Excellence and 20 Awards of Distinction. Then I believe there were 30 Awards of Merit. David's was worth $1000.00....not bad!

train station is also near the park

statue at the Civic Center right next door to our hotel

lots of flowers in bloom

We also enjoyed some great food...traveling with David...that's always a given...hahah We went to Cristeners (?) formerly DelFrisco's. It was ALL delicious. Celebrated Marty's birthday. He has been helping David with the shows.( Nice guy) Saturday night we opted to head a few miles down the road to my favorite place in Maitland....Antonio's!

It's not that I've tried many restaurants in Maitland...just once I tried this place...that's where I always want to go when I am over there! It's so pretty right there at the lake....and once again I wanted a picture of the signs.
I had my favorite Eggplant Parmesan and the  Butternut Squash soup....so good!
I enjoyed the art, enjoyed all the great food, shopped a bit in some stores we don't have over our way...and enjoyed the art festival. People watching is always fun...the art was nice. I admired it...didn't buy anything. though. They also had great live music...and again the perfect spring weather. You couldn't have picked better days for the event!
All in all it was a nice treat!

An unexpected afternoon at the ballpark

got my new "limited edition" mugs

Yesterday John and I set off to test out my new golf clubs at the driving range. We were going to hit some balls and then go have lunch at LongDoggers in Viera....but as we headed out we decided  the it might be smarter to go eat first and beat the lunch crowd...then go to the driving range. It was a beautiful day and as we drove along we were talking, and realized that there was probably a Nationals game that afternoon; (It was a perfect day for a ballgame) which was another reason we should go eat first. We were one of the first ones at the restaurant ; but it didn't take long for others to start arriving. Most were decked out in Nationals or Braves(the day's opponent) attire...which was kind of fun. There were also a few Gator fans in the crowd...as the Gators had their  final regular season match-up with Kentucky scheduled to start at 12:00. We chatted with "Slice", the manager and as we were talking he offered us tickets to the game. LD is a sponsor of the Nationals team this spring and the restaurant has season tickets for Spring Training. We hadn't planned on going...but decided we weren't doing anything else..so why not? I've kind of been wanting to go to a game so this was perfect.
 (The only thing we didn't have was sunscreen...but we didn't plan to stay all afternoon so we decided we'd be ok. Besides I had on long pants and a long sleeved shirt and a visor, so at least I was kind of protected)
We went to the driving range and hit balls for an hour or so...and then set off for the ball park.
The game had just started when we got there...the score was already 1-1.

We had some good seats...close to the action near the right side of home plate. Close enough to see everything...and less to distract me from actually watching the game...hahah If I sit farther back...I'm too busy watching people and goings-on between me and the field...but that's okay.(just don't ask me to keep score!)
We stayed long enough to see Harper get a nice hit to get on base...and then Zimmerman came up and knocked a home run to Center field to add two runs to the score. Right after that...LaRoche came up to bat and hit another homer. That was fun!

*In the meantime we were getting score updates on the Florida-Kentucky game which the Gators won to go 18-0 in the SEC this year.

I think we stayed till about the 5th inning...and then we decided to head out as I could feel my skin getting burnt...(i have a red neck today...haha...luckily it's not too bad). Enjoyed the game...seeing some of Megan and Marcus's favorite players in action...and watching the local kid pitch during the third inning and get several strike-outs. I had fun watching the crowd...reading all the different t-shirts...trying to see if I differentiate  the local fans vs the actual hometown (DC area) fans...based on their t-shirts. (I know I think too much sometimes...can't help it...haha). All in all it was a great afternoon at the ballpark...some place I never expected to be when we set out earlier in the day.

Another beautiful day

John was out of town yesterday, so I decided to join Brenna and Josh at the local Seafood Festival....Brenna told me I looked a little wind blown, hahah but I wanted the  sign in the background. Those palm fronds make my hair looked spiked up...hahah

 The festival has been held annually since 1965....during which time I have attended...twice. Once with my Mom and Dad back when Hubert Humphrey was campaigning for president; I remember because I got to shake his hand and I was so excited. (I was a Democrat even then! hahah) One other time about 25- 30 years ago...because this is kind of event...lots of people,lots of  lines, etc...is NOT tops on John's list of fun things to do. Brenna on the other hand...enjoys it. He was gone, it was a beautiful day...they were driving...why not go. We parked at the shuttle lot...and caught a bus down to the festival site. Very easy and free...not too long of a wait.

 First stop...one of the ticket booths..I must say as soon as we walked in...I was reminded why I haven't been in 30 some years...hahah. There were people everywhere.....John would've NEVER gone in.  :)
Things were pretty organized and before long we started off with tickets in hand.Brenna made a beeline for the Conch Fritters booth. They weren't bad...better than some restaurants serve, but not like the ones we get when our friends make them of course. Located right next to the Conch Fritters...the Sweet Puppies...that Josh had his eye on.(I had a taste... at this point in my life, if I'm going to eat something bad...I want to love it...otherwise I'll pass hahahJosh really enjoyed them) We walked past the dancers and the band...who sounded pretty good....many were enjoying the show. Made our way over to the Fried Shrimp booth. (I must admit...I figured "How can you screw up fried shrimp?" hahah They were pretty tasty. Poor Brenna finally got hers and  got bumped by a man still waiting in line...and she promptly lost 4 onto the ground. Funny...everyone watched them fall and a collective "Ohhhhhhhhh No" was heard. I had plenty...so between mine and the ones that didn't fall to the ground...we still had enough to go around.

                        Like a good kid...after she ate her "dinner" Brenna wanted some Cotton Candy.
 My observations during this time.... had the  Surgeon General stopped by this event...he would have been a little dismayed. Let's just say there was plenty to choose from...but almost all of it was fried.

 We knew some of our friends were there...so we set out to find them. As we walked around, Brenna ran into some friends from high school...and we saw one of her best friends from 5th grade...Valerie and her husband. That was fun.

we found a little patch of shade under the trees next to the playground

 Found our friends over at the playground area.  Josh got to meet them...and they finally got to meet the guy they've heard about for the last two years.When I said it had been over 30 years since I had been there...Heather said the whole place was looking pretty good this year...apparently everything had gotten a fresh coat of paint since last year. hahah

 Our friend had  "a bag of books"...hahah...only one problem...it was leaking...hahaha luckily no one noticed

It was a beautiful day...there was a great crowd...so I'm sure they raised a lot of money...and it's a really good cause (scholarship money for local kids)...so the organizers must've been happy. Like any hometown festival...the locals probably had a great time with their families and friends...because everyone is usually there. We ran in to a few people we knew and it was kind of fun....but............... I don't need to rush back down anytime soon. And with John...I won't have to...hahaha