Chocolate on the keyboard: July 2013

Jul 1, 2013

And that was Just June...

a Collage I made of Our first storm of the 2013 - Tropical Storm Andrea that hit our area the first week of June. Prayers being prayed, it'll be our last taste of a Tropical Storm and that no Hurricane's bother us here in Florida. Just seeing the damage this storm did as it traveled up the coast always frightens me. Mother Nature is powerful and dangerous, all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.


These were the last photos in June, I took them on June 29th at Fort DeSoto Park - June was Memorable & Fun, I am very Blessed with a Loving Family.

Fort DeSoto Beach and Campgrounds

This is one camping spot that my daughter gave highmarks #28

Goodness already at the Half Year point for 2013....where does the time GO.

I had a fantastic June, wish I could do it all again ;) My *money* unfortunately had a very bad month with the stock market's mostly down days :( . Don't want it to suffer again in July, or I may not be able to enjoy the rest of the year.

But back to the good parts of June...
mid June, I flew from Tampa to Indianapolis to visit my younger daughter and we traveled together for a marvelous weekend in Cleveland. She treated me to a fun filled and memorable time. She got us a VIP experience tickets to see Fleetwood Mac on June 15th. It included a meet and greet with Mick Fleetwood, photos taken with him and a Q&A. There were about 22 of us in the VIP group. Then our seats were on the Floor in the middle and only 11 rows back...so really close. The concert - with Mick, Stevie, Lindsey, and John was Fantastic, Awesome and just Wonderful to Listen and Rock too all night long.

My daughter had booked us a beautiful room at The Glidden House - a B&B/Hotel Mansion on the Campus of Case Western Reserve University. On Sunday morning we walked all around the area of the Hotel and it seemed like we had all the sights and sounds to ourselves and the squirrels & chipmunks that darted in and out of the landscapes. In the neighborhood were beautiful buildings, museums and the botanical gardens - we were only able to view the "outsides" of things, but that was enough. We did happen upon a beautiful Presbyterian Church that was just at the end of the Sunday morning worship service and were invited in to sit - and we did :) .

From our walking adventure, we finished up our Cleveland weekend by touring the Christmas Story movie house and their museum. That was really fun, and interesting, learned about behind the scenes stuff about the filming of the movie, the house itself (which was used mostly for exterior shots - the interior shots were filmed in a sound stage / studio set in Toronto) Then we had Lunch at Grumpy's Cafe - a place that we had passed on the way to The Christmas Story House - that had a very long line, so we figured it "might" be good. And fortunately by the time we went back, the line was gone and our Lunch was delicious :)

When we got back safely to Indy, we reviewed our 100's of photos, had some laughs and were still in awe of the Concert and the wonderful time we shared together. Then I came home on Monday - non stop flights are "the way to go" :)

My beautiful grand daughter had her 17th Birthday in June, WOW - 17!!! I still remember the day she was born - and it really doesn't seem possible for 17 yrs to have come and gone so fast. She's enjoying her job at Cold Stone Creamery and Babysitting occasionally.

My son-in-law's brother and his wife and baby daughter recently moved from NYC to Florida, to a rented home within walking distance of my daughters family. So the cousins are having fun getting to know & playing with their soon to be one yr old cousin.

My Book Club meeting was interesting as always, June's book selection was "Love Walked In" by Marisa De Los Santos - a relaxing read for summer.

Finished up the month going on an all day outing with my daughter and grand daughter - first we went to Anna Maria Island to have lunch and spend some time at the Beach with some of my daughters coworkers. It was very windy and there were lots of storm clouds in the area, so we didn't stay too long, but had a nice time while there. Next we ventured to a Sarasota Outlet Mall and shopped till we dropped..we each came away with bargains. Then we headed to Fort DeSoto Beach and Campgrounds to scout out the area, as my daughter hopes to camp there in the fall. Got there just before sunset, and drove by the camping spots that she was interested in, and were happy to "star" a few for the future. We finished up our day by walking the beach, and me taking my usual way tooooo many photos of the beach, the birds and sunset. And on Sunday - the 30th - I rested.

here are just a "few" more June photos showing a bit of the month's experiences I had with my family.

Our photo-op with Mick Fleetwood. He was funny, charming and we really had a VIP experience that we will cherish.

daughter posing by Guitar that is in the Gardens of The Glidden House

just one of the interesting buildings on the University Campus

Window on the Presbyterian Church

peeking in at the Botanical Gardens from outside the gates

We had such a nice time seeing all the sights that are around the University and the Glidden House that we stayed at, before heading over to the Christmas Story house

I just know she was giving Jen some good advice.

The brothers bedroom in the Christmas Story House

Only for "the photo" my daughter has never said a bad word - NOT!

The guy that bought this house and turned it into a tourist attraction - was a huge fan of the movie growing up. He first manufactured and sold Leg Lamps, then found the house for sale on Ebay and bought it. It had been remodeled and was a duplex. He had to restore it back to the way the Exterior was for the Movie, and then recreated as best he could the inside rooms to appear the way they did in the movie. But the actual interior scenes were filmed elsewhere on a sound stage/movie set.