Sunday, April 17, 2016

In the Meantime.... How's Eldo Doing?

Eldo is doing well...It's 2 1/2 months since quadruple bypass surgery..Eldy is driving, walking 30 minutes a day, and just recently got back on his bike.  He is also back to playing golf twice a week. He has very little discomfort of any kind. No chest pains or "pulls" as he describes it--a pulling sensation as if gravity were tugging his chest down to the floor, which is what he had felt for the first month and more after surgery. He is having a lot of trouble sleeping, that's his only complaint right now. He is just really really restless when it's time to go to sleep and sometimes he can't fall asleep. We don't think it's related to any medications he's taking...(Plavix and Lipitor, blood pressure medicine and a vitamin.) He still has numbness along his right leg where they took an artery from the leg to do one of the bypasses. The numbness might never go away, the dr. said, but he can live with that. His biggest complaint is his chest hairs growing back in prickly. :-) (Eldy is a hairy guy, it's just not on the top of his head!) If that's his biggest complaint, he's made it almost back to where he was. He still tires easily, and the simplest activities remind him that he still has a long way to go as far as stamina goes.

What have Sparky and Eldo been up to lately?  A trip to Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island one Sunday....What did we see and do? A great blue heron high up in the pines preening....

A little girl peeking out from a changing station at the beach, watching the passers-by on the boardwalk.....



We took a beautiful walk along the boardwalk.....Eldo is still trying to keep up his walking, so we walked the boardwalk, which is a lovely, shaded with Australian pines, long walk parallel to the beach...
We saw a circus performer wannabe.....set up a cord between two trees and then practice over and over to try and keep his balance. Sparky went over and talked to him. He wasn't really aiming for the circus, he just wanted to achieve this goal of being able to walk a tightrope.

We've been going to Anna Maria Island's Gulf Gate Cafe for Sunday breakfasts now and then....We love the vibe out there....

After breakfast at the restaurant, we drive over to the city pier to see what the fishermen are catching...

Eldy celebrated his 68th birthday this month....He's got a new lease on life....Doctors have told him several times it's a miracle he didn't experience a heart attack before they fixed him, with the "widow maker" 90% blocked. We may be doing a little traveling soon to celebrate... We celebrated his birthday dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in Sarasota, in our opinion...healthy, fresh food cooked by a wonderful chef...Paul Mattison, at Mattison's City Grille, in downtown Sarasota. The food is presented beautifully...This salad looks ordinary, but the tomatoes had the most wonderful flavor...white balsamic vinagrette dressing...yum!
Sparky's dinner....Extra rare steak, of course! Eldy had a wonderful meatloaf dinner...
And for dessert.....Mango cheesecake for Eldy....
We are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful area and for Eldy to be on his way to being healthier.....Although Sparky complains a LOT about the heat, (and HOW! laughs E.), she loves her subbing job and as long as we can get away some times in the summer, she'll try to not complain as much. :-)

Bye for now......

Monday, April 4, 2016

Sparky Visits Cheatham Annex and Her Daughter in Williamsburg, VA

If you are member of the military, you have some wonderful, reasonable places to stay as an RVer or family member of the soldier. Sparky's daughter, Kelly, invited Sparky to come for a visit to Williamsburg, VA where she was running a 5K race in Colonial Williamsburg AND she had a reservation at a cabin at the Navy base there, Cheatham Annex, also known as CAX.  What a fantastic place! The base is considered a small one but boy, did it have the options for fun and it was absolutely beautiful! We stayed in a modern cabin with lots of amenities.....

We were there for four days...It is located in the heart of Williamsburg, just minutes from the "historic triangle" of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown and the beautiful Colonial Parkway and is on the York River...It supplies Atlantic fleet ships and provides recreational opportunities to military and civilian personnel. It has an RV park which appeared to be relatively new and modern, it has cottages for both non-pet owners and those who have furry friends. A link to the RV park and cabins: http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/virginia/cheatham-annex-recreation-cabins-and-rv-park
There are 69 RV sites and 31 cottages on the base which has 2,3001 acres of woodlands and three freshwater lakes. Some of the recreational activities that are there...bike rentals, canoe rentals, boat rentals (kayaks and rowboats), fishing, hiking and golfing is available at a nearby course. We loved the trails there, as they wind around the annex, skirting the bay.

We spent four wonderful days exploring the historical part of Williamsburg, albeit that part somewhat briefly because we were having so much fun checking out the shops, museums and restaurants and a Black American History Tour in addition to walking the trails on base and watching Kelly run her race. We did  not purchase any of the tours to go into the different shops of historic Williamsburg. Instead, we got an overall view of the town and its history through an African American tour with Trish, a very knowledgable tour guide with the Williamsburg Walking Tours. African Americans comprised HALF of the city of Williamsburg in the 18th century. We learned a LOT about this city's history with Trish. She gave us excellent background to set the stage for learning about some of the African American citizens and store owners who fought to earn their freedom, to keep their freedom and a lot of interesting history tidbits that have never been spoken about in history books. Unfortunately, Sparky lost her notes she took while on the tour so you'll just have to ask for Trish's tour! She wrote it and got it on the books for the tour company, Williamsburg Walking Tours, to offer to you. She also does a haunted ghost walking tour, and we would have LOVED to have taken that tour, but we ran out of time. She had some interesting side bits of stories to tell us about personal experiences with people on the haunted spirits tour, both in the flesh and not of the flesh! Sparky got shivers up and down her spine....

The buildings in Williamsburg are amazing, of course! We chose to focus on the outside of the town on our first visit...Noticing all the period costumes....the double brick bridges on the Colonial Parkway.....


















the Governor's Palace....



The 300 year old Bruton Episcopal Church still having services....

the cloche jars covering the plants from the cold in a Williamsburg garden...


Kelly ran a 5K race while we were there and it was terrific! The race was started by a drum and fife corps...They walked all the runners from the William and Mary College campus to the race starting line, playing and drumming the whole way. The race started with a musket shot! It was inspiring to say the least!
We took the Alewerk's Brewery Tour...It's a small brewery but has great beer. Sparky doesn't drink beer, but Kelly reports the beer was great!  Sparky bought Sparky Jr. (Kelly) a cool growler mug. For us in the U.S., we thought we drank a lot of beer nationwide (20 gallons a year per beer drinking person) but in the Czech Republic, they drink 40 gallons per person a year! We learned that your palate changes about every 7 years which explains why Sparky never used to like mushrooms, and now she does. :-)
We experienced some of the local restaurants and can recommend DoG Street Pub, for tavern fare, Water Street Grille on the Yorktown River Waterfront (a little pricier but well worth it!) and Shorty's Diner on Merrimac Trail in Williamsburg, for breakfast.


We visited the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum and Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum--TWO museums in one. This was one of the most beautiful museums we have ever seen. The layout was fantastic, the exhibits were laid out beautifully, the explanations and signs were well lit and easily readable, unlike other museums we have seen in our travels. There was a fantastic display of African American quilts while we were there....Some of the other exhibits were the Thunderbirds jewelry of Santa Domingo, outdoor folk art, innovative 18th century fire fighting techniques, the evolution of spinets, harpsichords and pianos, and birds, bugs and blooms from the 18th century....a very eclectic choice of exhibits to appeal to a broad range of interests!

The photo on the left is in the Birds, Bugs and Blooms exhibit.


Our short visit drew to a close...


We can highly recommend the Cheathem Annex naval base as a place to stay for  military members and their families...Great location, close to everything, nature in your backyard, the ocean and water activities right there, too. Accommodations were fantastic....

We loved our hikes together on the Cheathem annex campground trails....and Moxie, Kelly's dog, loved it, too! It was a fabulous way to spend time with Kelly...Thank you, Kelly, for taking Mom on this wonderful trip....xoxoxoxo



We will leave you with this beautiful closing shot in colonial Williamsburg....A beautiful scene as daylight was coming to a close.....We will definitely go back to Williamsburg again some day...There's so much more to see...Thanks for stopping by today to have a read....