Whew, I made it!

Well, I made it to Florida, flight was bumpy and I was just happy to get out of the cold! Arrived on time, secured my car at the airport (thank you Larry) and I was on my way to Venice. An hour and twenty minutes later I was at Nellie. She looked so proud and shorter than I remember, surrounded by luxury campers most the size of buses. I went inside and there was stuff strewn all about so I got a little bummed at and decided to call it a day and go to Motel 6 and check in for the night.

I did and then said, gotta be on the beach for the sunset. Went directly to Sharkey's on the Pier and had a pina colada and portobello mushroom wrap. Things were looking up. I was up at 5:00 to a breakfast spot by 6:00 and at Walgreens at 7:00 getting cleaning supplies. I was at Nellie at 7:30 and immediately got her a little more organized and cleaned. My new neighbor Jan came over with her vacuum cleaner--she's a peach. She lost her parents young too and said she thought it was "courageous" that I was doing this all on my own. That was a nice thing to say.

After 5 hours of cleaning and unpacking, I locked her up at headed to the beach; water was cold but I went in; spend some time on the beach and then went to Wal Mart for a few items. Basically the pace is very slow. Most people just hang around the campgrounds, go to the pool, start happy hour at 4:30 and life is good. The actually blow a trumpet at 4:30 to let everyone know the hour has begun. What a hoot.

There's lots of activities here, pot luck suppers and canoe and bike trips. I'm going to see if I can teach a jewelry class. I'm not lonely at all. I'm surrounded by nice people and ole Nellie has a huge curiousity factor. Lots of people coming around to get the story. Been hanging out with Jan and her husband Kurt; they invited me over to a barbecue tonight.

One of the coolest things that happened is I looked up last night and there is an angel figure hanging from the ceiling. It's meant to be and I feel looked after if you know what I mean. Another cool thing is Nellie glows at night with the shades drawn cuz they are orange and she's all aglow outside. Tried to get a picture but it didn't come out.

Here's the inside with stuff still all over the place. Stay tuned!