ROCKET TIME

Did a puzzle of a picture of a cat in space.

On Jan 9th stayed up to watch Artemis go up. The moon was full.

It was rather cloudy so all we saw was the dot of light.

Another rocket launch on Jan 13th

and another on the 18th

 I never get tired of watching the rocket launches, but I miss quite a few.  For our 20th anniversary we decided to go to the Kennedy Space Center. We  haven't been there for at least 10 years.

We arrived about noon at the visitor center. The first thing we did was get on a bus to take a tour.

You can see this building miles away. It is the tallest single story building in the world.

We drove around the building learning many interesting things. The doors on the left are so big it takes them 45 minutes to be opened. If you touch the picture and enlarge it, at the bottom of the little white column are the doors for people to go in.

We then stopped at the Apollo building.

The control center for the flights. They showed a film about the race to the moon and then what it was like in this room when the first rocket with astronauts took off for the moon.

After that room we went into a long building. This gentlemen told us all about the Apollo rocket. This was a rocket that was built to be sent into space but the program stopped before it went up.

He explained all the different stages.

It is very long.

The little white cone in the front is where the astronauts were and what came back to earth.

We walked on the moon.

Larry touching a moon rock.

The lunar roving vehicle. It was taken to the moon on Apollo 15,16, and 17. This one is full scale,  built for display purpose from surplus parts.

The tires were a metal mesh for the surface of the moon would have melted rubber tires. 

One of the Apollo capsule that the recovered.

Alan Shepard Apollo 14 vehicular suit. It is covered in moon dust.

Alan Bean went to the moon and in 1997 he came back and painted this mural.

Our bus tour then returned us to the visitor center and we went to Atlantis bulding.

Today and the future.

Large enough to hold a crew of four along with cargo to the moon and eventually Mars.

Cargo Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station on May 2012.

We left Kennedy space center and went to Titusville to Pier 220 for our anniversary meal.

A nice view from our table.

Roses for every year.

February  6 we watched another night launch from our back yard. 

Again there was a full moon and the sky was clear.

SUN OUTDOORS

We took the RV over to Sarasota to Sun Outdoors on December 26. The weather had turned really cold at Christmas with lows in the 30's. If we hadn't had reservations we may not have gone.
 

It is a very large resort and the first place we were parked the people were seasonal and very friendly. But we had to get help and extra hose to connect to water and then the electric didn't work. We either were moving to a better site or leaving. They moved us over to here to this nice paved site. We were only here for three days.

Bob gave me a puzzle for Christmas. It was 4 little puzzles of cats. Good size for the RV.

I never did a puzzle before that I ended up with extra duplicate pieces.  On Monday evening and Tuesday we stayed warm doing puzzles and watching videos we had gotten from the library. We did walk around the park for some exercise. If you were staying here for a while there was plenty to do. There is an inside pool and outside pool and water slide. ( never thought about a swim suit) lots of pickleball courts, lawn bowling, shuffle board, disc golf, wood working and stain glass shops.

Wednesday we went downtown Sarasota and took the Bay Runner trolley to the beach. We weren't sure how to dress but the sun made it warm. 

I could have dressed cooler. 

We walked along the beach and Larry felt sure we could just walk back to the road and get the trolley.

Yes,  we took a path, the shade felt good.

Eventually we would come to the road and homes.

One block more and we were right at St. Armands Key where the shops are and a trolley stop. We had some ice cream, found the trolley stop and went back and had a late lunch at O'Leary's

 On the way back to the campground we stopped at Yoder's in Pinecraft. I thought they might have some dried beef but they didn't. They don't use horse and wagons, but large three wheel bikes to get around. 

Thursday morning we left and  back at the house by noon. Gas was $3.09 at WaWa when we  filled up. 

Christmas 2022

I love the the decorations on my tree and having it lit all day. 

There were lots of boxes under the tree before Christmas, but I forgot to take a picture before we handed them out. 

Christmas morning, time to open the gifts. I gave Larry a Pastbook. It was 10 years of my photos I have posted on Facebook. What I like is they are dated and have the comments I wrote about them.  A good keepsake.  After we opened our gifts, Lynda called on Alexa and we opened the presents from her and spent time together. We also visited with Bob, Felecia and Lucas after they arrived at Lynda's.

It was a very cold Christmas even here in Florida. It was in the 30's., so all my plants had to be brought in or covered up.  The Christmas cactus was in bloom.

CHRISTMAS PLAYS, CONCERTS, AND GATHERINGS

 On November 26  we went to the Orlando Repertory Theatre and saw a magical new holiday musical, True North.  It is the first time we have ever gone to this theatre. The show was at 1 o'clock and it was full of children.  The show was about a father who was deployed at Christmas and gave his son a compass. Your true north is where your heart is. The undisclosed location the father is sent to ends up being a camp near the North Pole. the father ends up getting lost at Santa's workshop. I think the story was over most of the children's head and was a little heavy for Christmas.

The father does make it home for Christmas with some help from the elves. The show was very good with great choreography and singing. We enjoyed it. 

On December 2 we went to the Sonnentag Theatre at the Ice House in Mount Dora. They always do a great show. This play was called Five Golden Rings : A Greeting Card Channel Holiday Musical.  It was really cute. A spoof about Hallmark shows ( I actually think we saw it). The gentleman who played Chris (Santa) and the little girl were excellent. 

Saturday evening Teena, a neighbor, and I went to the Clermont Performance Art Center for Lessons and Carols. This is about the 5th time I have gone. 

Ben Gulley and Callie Day opened the program singing The Prayer. They also sang Ave Marie and O Holy Night. WOW

After each lesson was read, scripture from the Bible, the Montverde choir sang. This is what Christmas is all about. 

On December 11 after church Celebrate Recovery leadership had a pot luck lunch.  Sherry made a cute candy tree.

At 2 o'clock the choir put on a Christmas cantata.  Pastor Doug welcomed everyone to the program.

The choir had musicians accompany them. There was a harp, flute, oboe, french horn, trumpet, violin, cello, and drum,  and of course the piano and organ. It was really a beautiful program.

We went to Cooper Library on Wednesday, December 8 and sang Christmas songs with the Retro Ramblers.  Meant to go on the 13th to hear Plantation Brass but forgot to go.

December 14 we went to Epcot for the Candlelight Processional.  We went at 3 for the 5:15 show. There was a very long line waiting to get seats. We didn't think we would get in, but we did. The program began with the 50 piece orchestra playing music.

Then the Voices of America formed the singing Christmas Tree. They sounded beautiful.

Then the choir processional filled up the stage.   

Gloria Estefan was the celebrity narrator, recounting the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus. It was the first time she has been the narrator. She said the hardest part was not singing along with the choir. 

It is a very beautiful program.

Friday evening, Dec. 16,  we had a progressive dinner with three of our neighbors. Juanita and Earl had appetizers at their house. Then we went to Sharon's and Lance's for salad. We had the soup course at our house, and we ended at Jan's and Tom's for dessert. It was fun seeing how everyone had decorated their homes for Christmas and sharing about our Christmas traditions. It was a nice evening of food and fellowship. 

Merry Christmas to all.

Dec. 22 Larry took me on a date night to Gaylord Palms to see Cirque-styled Christmas show.  Before we went to the show we walked around and saw the decorations.

The show is in the courtyard and began with lights and music.

The show was about a child dismayed by the holidays and trying to recapture her  lost love of the season. she is visited by a spirits to help her bring back the feeling of Christmas. 

What flexibilty and balance he had.

High flying trapeze artist.

The Christmas spirit. 

Performers way up on those poles, swaying back and forth.

Younger girls on trapeze.

It was a short show and we stopped at Bonefish for dinner.