Memorial Weekend - Sarasota, FL

Hi Everyone,

We're still in Sarasota, Florida. We have almost finished up our condo. Our Grandchildren, Amber (age 9) and Emma (age 7) arrived on Friday and will be with us for the summer - wherever we are......

We were planning to leave on Monday the 27 May, but as many of you know, boating cannot be scheduled only planned. Wilma developed a severe infection on her face and antibotics had not helped as of Thursday just prior to the grandchildren arriving. We're still awaiting culture results, but thankfully, the doctors have put her on IV antibotics which she administers daily to herself. Wilma will go back to the doctors on Tuesday looking for answers. Her face does seem improved with the IV meds. We're not sure if she was bit by a brown recluse spider or what!! If all goes well, we can start boating on Thursday, May 31st.

We've also had our boat waxed and the hull cleaned, which leads us to a new paint job for the bottom on June 11 in Palm Island Marina. We've asked around and they are the only marina with a great reputation and a short wait list with a 100,000 pound lift. It's only about 1-1/2 by car so we'll spend the week at the condo. If all goes well again, the boat will be ready by June 15th. We will then continue our trip south around Miami and over to the Delray Beach area so the grandchildren can visit their Aunt Hollie for a few days if possible. Then a leisurely trip to Green Cove Springs, FL.

This first picture is the entrance to our condo. There was no screen door and the front door was very shot...

The Kitchen is to the right when you enter with a nice breakfast bar.

This is the view from the dining room and the back balcony - East View. Here you can see the ICW in the distance and also the condo boat docks which accommodates only boat under 26 ft.This is the view from the front door - West View. Here we have the Gulf of Mexico, Turtle Beach and a chanel to the local boat ramp.

From the living room you enter the Master Bedroom with a large closet on the left. Then the Dresser passed the closet with the Master Bed set on the North Wall.

Our new Entertainment Center with our Wireless looking Television is really nice.

The Guest Bedroom and Bathroom is tothe left after coming in the front entrance.

Sarasota, FL - We've decided to stay until May 28th

We decided to stay in Sarasota an extra month to get the condo in shape and looking good.
We've not been able to enjoy it for a couple of years due to family living there or updating it at a slow pace. Now everything is looking good and we hope to be spending some time here throughout the next year. We've decided that the real estate market is not doing well enough to put in on the market at this time.

We had planned to go to the bahama's this summer, but our grandchildren need us this year. They don't have passports and it seems that even with an expedited passort, the window of opportunity would not be with us this summer so we're just planning FUN for the summer with the grandchildren. They will be flying into Sarasota on May 25th and we plan to leave on John Henry May 28th with weather permitting.

We'll play around in the Keys and meander up to Green Cove Springs for July 1st approximately. We also plan to come back to the condo for a week or so after we've settled John Henry in his spot at Reynolds Park Yacht Marina before heading to Texas.



We picked out this furniture for the Master Bedroom. However, it's present location is the Guest Bedroom. This week, we're really working on getting the Master Suite cleaned up and painted.

Once the master bedroom is in good order, we'll move this furniture to it and find some smaller, more suitable furniture for the guest room.









The Dining Room use to be where the three bar stools are currently. This was way too tight for comfortable dining. So we put a breakfast bar in and moved the dining room to the balcony.





By putting the breakfast bar in, we opened up the kitchen and softend the look by getting rid of the cobolt blue walls.










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Our new leather couch and recliner in our living room overlooks into our dining room.


The kitchen and breakfast bar are to the right not shown.




We've also installed a 42" flat screen on the living room wall. (Pictures yet to be taken).

This is our dining room. This table has a center leaf that folds up and hides under the center of the table when closed. Also the chairs are counter height so when the curtains are open, we can see over the balcony rail.



The curtains are being changed next week from these horizontials to some soft honeycone light filtering blinds.