Busy Week at the Church

This is a man known around here as Frank the Baker. We met him and his wife at Mass last time we were here and he told us an amazing story about how his fishing boat capsized several miles off shore and he and another man were rescued after several days clinging to the overturned boat. Another one or two (I can't remember all of the details) didn't survive. He was head of the bakery department at several Publix grocery stores and started baking on his own after he retired. He sells his wonderful pastries and bread at a local farmer's market on Saturdays. I enjoy listening to his many stories and I really enjoy eating his pastries.

On Tuesday night we went to Mass to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We started in the parking lot with a procession into church across this beautiful sand painting on the sidewalk. 

After Mass there was a celebration in the parish hall with much singing and dancing and food.

 Our favorite was the Dance of the Old Men. Young kids were dressed as old men with masks and walking sticks and danced like old men. They really made it realistic.

This is one of the plants here, even the leaves have thorns.

Trip to Lakeland, FL

Our trip down to Lakeland went very smoothly. We drove down Monday at a leisurely pace mostly on back roads. We passed near Orlando and from there on we saw a high population of RV parks, some of them were very high end and some not so much. We were able to stay at the window installation shop and plug into 50 amp service there and they made us feel very welcome and comfortable. On Tuesday morning they installed the new windshield before lunch. Mike and Sarah, some friends from Saylorville who have a winter residence about an hour from there came over and we went out to lunch together and spent the afternoon visiting. We thought about doing more sightseeing down there on Wednesday and come back Thursday, but we both wanted just to get back to our quiet spot back here. We took a different route home and we were glad to be back here again. This is the driveway coming into our campsite here. Yes, that is all white sand with a little clay spread on top of it in spots.

This is our spot here under a big live oak tree on the edge of a pasture.

I really like these big live oak trees here, they remind me of the burr oaks back home.

 Many big trees like this were toppled around this area during hurricane Irma.

The pasture next to us is ringed with trees, some still standing and some down from the storm.

Thursday and Friday I spent out on the back hoe again, clearing brush and trees. I really enjoy my time spent doing that.

We have to watch when we open and close motorhome and jeep doors here, as we have been invaded by little tree frogs like these.

In my last post, I promised pictures of the cane press here on the property. It hasn't been used for a few years. The cane is fed between the big rollers and the juice collected at the end of the tin spout. The big branch attached to the top is used to rotate the rollers. 

There is a cane kettle near the press.

Yesterday I went up to the Waldo Flea Market and looked around for awhile, and then did a little shopping at WalMart. Our TV tuner had died, so I picked up a replacement TV and mounted it last night. I still have to rebuild the frame that goes in front of it. Today after Mass we visited with some of the friends from church that we met last time we were here.