Busy week.... Good Week

This was a busy but good week filled with a variety of things.  We worked the first 3 days of the week -- taking time for a nice off road ride on Monday from 4:30 till 6.  Then on Thursday we had Thanksgiving at our house, and though the crowd was down we had a great time. We sometimes have 25+ but this year there were only 14 present.

As  is the custom we usually have some folks there we have never met before and this year was not different.  We had Mike and Becky from Michigan. Becky is the niece of a client of mine who recently had to relocate to Michigan and they were down to do some work in her house.  I figured no sense in having Thanksgiving alone in a strange town so they accepted the invite and had a great time.

We did have Aunt Teresa and Uncle Chuck along with my cousin Linda .  They drove up from St Pete on Thursday to join us. It is always nice to have them here....and on top of that they brought several bags of grapefruit and tangerines (Yummy)

We had good food, great deserts, a fun time with the puzzle, some games and a time of giving thanks. It was a nice relaxing day-- the notable regulars missing  --- My Dad who decided not to drive down, The Aikens -- who moved to the snowy north and Michael who went to South Carolina to visit his new wife's family      

On Saturday we packed up the Tandem and headed to the east coast for a meet up with 3 other couples for a tandem ride.  We met up with Rick and Deb,  Don & Carol and Greg and Joanie.  Rick and Deb were the tour leaders for the day and mapped out a nice 43 mile route that ended up actually being 58 miles.  This was fine by us as it was a great day,  we rode with great people , saw pretty scenery and then had an excellent meal together. 



This is our group at a stop at Bulow St park to see the Fairchild Oak.... as you can see this is one BIG tree. From left to right-- Don  Carol, Joanie, Greg, Bernice, Rick , Deb and Me.
Sorry Rick for getting your bike dirty on the brief dirt section (grin)

It was nice to ride with other tandems and I learned a lot by watching them and asking questions.  This is all new to us and very different than riding a single bike

Friday night Bernice and I went downtown and took in the sights on the square. The whole area was arrayed with beautiful lights and the weather was mild ....great night to be outside.

Our reason for going was a concert being put on by a band called FEE.  The lead singer is Steve Fee pictured here. It is a Christian band with great music and a good message...the square was PACKED

On Saturday we headed to the Villages and met some more new friends.  Bob & Jan (pictured to the left) . They lead us all over the south end of the Villages covering 25 miles ...ending up at TwoJays for coffee and conversation.  They were an experienced tandem couple and very nice people. I am sure we will ride again with them. 

Today is a nice quiet day with church this am then a nap and now time to enjoy the remainder of the weekend.