Lake Wales, FL – Feb 2025

Well, another month of winter hibernation comes to a close.  I don’t have much to report this month, and struggled to find a featured image for this edition.  So, I “borrowed” this one from FB that highlights the end of a years long downtown construction project to beautify and enhance the historic section of Lake Wales.  The grand reveal and celebration is scheduled for next week.  I’ll get downtown sometime next month and will take my own pictures of all the improvements, and will report on it then.  Until that time, here’s what’s been going on here in the community.

Friends & Family

As the month draws to the end and it’s time to start putting together the monthly blog edition, I usually start with my photo gallery to see what pictures I’ve taken during the past month that I can write about.  Typically, I find myself with tons of pictures and lots of things to write about.  However, this month has left me a bit short on content.  Though it has been a very busy month with general day-to-day activities and commitments here in the community, there was a definite shortage of items of interest to report on here.  So, this will be a fairly light edition of the blog, and I hope to have more for you next month.

First up, my friend and tech committee cohort Gordon, along with his wife Joan and their friend Nancy, were kind enough to treat me to dinner on my birthday at the end of last month.  While I opted to forgo the traditional table side birthday singing by the restaurant employees, I did very much enjoy the meal sharing with these good friends.  Thanks folks for the birthday dinner!

Next I had the pleasure of catching up with my friends from the north Corey and Krista.  Ever since I was fortunate to have rescued them from being broken down on the side of the road with their RV, we’ve managed to get together each year to reconnect.  Despite them having been here for the entire month of Feb, my crazy busy schedule only allowed me time to spend a day with them.  But as always, it was great seeing them again and I look forward to spending more time with them next year.

Last up, my brother Gerry came down for a couple of days.  It seems whenever any of us brothers need a designated driver for when we have procedures precluding us from driving ourselves, Gerry is always the one ready and willing to help.  I had some fairly extensive dental surgery lined up for mid Feb, and he was kind enough to come out and be my chauffeur.  Thank you brother for the lift!

Wow – after publishing this edition, one of my brothers happened to mention that I had forgotten to include a mention and picture from our Super Bowl gathering.  Sure enough, when I originally reviewed the pictures in my photo library, the one I took from the gathering had melded in with several other pictures that were unrelated to the blog, and one I had inadvertently overlooked.  Had I also reviewed my calendar to see what events I had participated in, I would have seen the gathering and would have included it in the post.  So, lesson learned, in addition to reviewing photos to prepare for a blog edition, I must also review my calendar to be sure nothing is missed.  Thank you Dick for bringing this to my attention!

So anyway, on Super Bowl weekend, brothers Gerry and David, sister-in-law Debbie, and favored companion Brodie all gathered at brother Don’s house to enjoy the Super Bowl, as well as enjoy lots of great food.  We also had the added benefit of being part of our niece Rachel’s annual football pool, and rooting for our number combination to hit.  Gerry hit it big in the third quarter bringing in $125, while our nephew Criag’s daughter Sadie won $250 for the halftime score.  So overall, our family faired pretty well.  Thanks Don for hosting and for providing all the terrific meals and munchies.  It was a great visit!

Other Happenings

Despite not living on the space coast of Florida, I do occasionally get to witness launches from Cape Canaveral.  On a clear day and when the rocket is traveling in a direction that takes it into view from my vantage point, I can see the fire tail of the rocket going up, and if I’m lucky, I can see the slow down burn of the returning booster.  On this particular clear blue sky as dawn was approaching, I watched a SpaceX Falcon 9 take its next batch of 21 Starlink satellites into orbit (at left, left), followed shortly thereafter by the rocket burn of the returning booster (at left, right).  It was a particularly nice launch and return, so I sent these pictures to my brother Gerry, who lives on the ocean coast in clear view of Cape Canaveral and watches these launches all the time, to show him what I had seen from way out here in central Florida.  Funny thing though, he responded that the weather there at his place was extremely cloudy and overcast, and he didn’t see the launch or booster return at all.  Hmmm – never in a million years would I have thought I’d have a better seat for a rocket launch than someone out on the space coast.  Too funny!

Last up on my report for this month is a bit of an update on the farm land that is adjacent to the community along the entrance road.  I had noted in a past edition about the removal and burning of all the orange trees that once made up a giant grove here, and the belief that a new housing development was to be built.  Well, I later learned that not to be true, and instead, the land was being repurposed for another crop.  I had been told that watermelon fields were to take over this area, but now that it has been graded and seeded, it’s looking more like a strawberry field.  Actually, strawberries are a very popular agricultural product here in Florida.  In fact, Florida is the second largest producer of strawberries – second only to California (which happens to produce over 91 percent of the entire strawberry crop).  However, Florida does produce the majority of the domestic winter crop.  Anyway, with orange harvests in decline as a result of a tree disease, moving to strawberries might not be a bad second option.  I love strawberries and look forward to these crops coming in, and hoping for a pick-yourself option in the future.

Final Thoughts

Well as noted, short and sweet.  I’ve got a lot on the agenda for the next month and look forward to telling you all about it going forward.  I once again have a front row seat for a concert to see my favorite performer Mike Massé who is back to perform in Claremont.  I also have a ticket to see comedian ISMO do a small venue show near Tampa later in the month.  I’m also meeting up with my other brothers, including brother Dick and sister-in-law Kathi who are here on a couple week vacation from NH.  We have the community Fun Day coming up in March, as well as another play to attend at the local Lake Wales Little Theater.  Finally, my 2025 summer tour plans continue to solidify, and are mostly wrapped up now. I’ve still got a few loose end reservations, but should have those tied up in the coming weeks.  So, I’ll wrap things up now to get this edition published, and will catch up with you again next month.  Till then, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!