April in Florida

It's been a long time since I've blogged because my computer was throwing a hissy fit with allowing me to move from screen to screen. For some reason, yesterday, I was experimenting and I was once again able to move around on the computer.
Phil & I vacationed in Florida at the house in April. Yes, finally together in the same place at the same time...Can you imagine?
Before going to Florida, I flew into Albany, NY to pick up a UHaul truck that would move our NY House things to Florida. I picked up the truck the next morning, drove to our previous house which is an hour from Albany in the Catskills, packed & loaded the truck with my sister & her husband, had lunch with them and started out for the 1500 mile trip that lay ahead of me. This was on a Thrusday and Phil would be flying into Ft. Myers at 10pm on Saturday so I knew I had to keep a schedule. I had less than 2 days to get to Ft. Myers. I left at 2pm on Thursday and I made it to Fredericksburg, Virginia on the first night. I thought, on Friday morning at 5:30am when I started out, that I would make Ft. Myers by nightfall. I made it as far as Orlando pulling off the road at 9pm that night. I called Phil in St. Martin and told him that I was checking into a hotel for the night because I had travelled almost 900 miles in 1 day and couldn't go on. He looked on google map and found that I was only 3 hours from Ft. Myers. As I was driving south from NY, Phil would call me along the way on my cell and ask where I was so that he could look on google map and see where I was at that time. It was a nice way to travel knowing that he was following my path on computer. Saturday morning at 10:30am, I pulled up in front of our house with the truck after 1 1/2 days of travelling over 1500 miles. I made it! Phil would arrive at 10pm and I would be able to pick him up with our car at the airport. I unloaded the truck by myself during the day except for the piano, which was impossible to move alone.
We had a wonderful time travelling around seeing the sights and spending time with friends who live in Venice, Florida-Michael & Janet. Michael and Janet have been friends for a very long time. Michael & Janet were customers of ours in our first restaurant in St. Maarten and we've been friends ever since. We had lunch with them on Ft. Myers Beach laughing and joking almost all day.
Phil & I painted rooms in the house, went furniture shopping, went swimming in our pool. We worked on the second house we recently purchased in the city of Ft. Myers. We travelled and hiked throughout the Natural Preserves in our area as well as on the islands of Sanibel & Captiva which is absolutely beautiful. Finally a place in the US where you can hike without a guide and just take your time and be free. We spent our evenings having dinners out and drinking lots of beer & wine and then home to drink some more wine. We were able to talk & catch up on things that we don't have time to do in St. Martin.
I'll be going back to Florida from the 6th of July until the 9th of August to vacation as well as work on the houses. I hope that we can find a house-sitter again to watch the pups and the kittys so that Phil can join me again. The schedule always has to revolve around the pets, because we don't know alot of people willing to take on that kind of responsibility. We've adjusted, but, it's not easy now with both of our work schedules. It's nice to be able to spend some quality time with each other because we don't have that luxury anymore. Before, we spent too much time together and now, we look forward to having time together to have fun and travel. Well, I think the computer is up and running again, so I'll be posting more now....I Hope! Until the next time.

Treasures of the Past....

Alright, I don't know if it's called "Writer's Block" or a term I recently thought up as, "Blog Block", lol. For the past few days I've been extra busy working for school and when I come home, I start to work on the next days assignments and don't find much time to write. Plus, this is a special place for me, and I've decided that when I write, I don't want to write "just about anything". I want "it" to be special for me each time I write. Well, this morning while doing my daily chores around the house, I couldn't help but notice the "things" in the house. It's Phil's collection of African Art. They are from the "past". Not my past; but my partners. They are a memory each day for him, but they have managed to become a part of my life for the past 11, almost 12 years, because they are a part of his past. Over the years, the stories told about the pieces and how they were aquired have become "special for me" as well. Each piece has a "Special Meaning" as to what it's significance in African Life for the people and their Culture. When I look at the African Art collected from Niger, the Sahara and other areas of where his family spent their years, I can only relate to the stories told about their adventures. The movie Out of Africa is a beautiful story, buy my partner's family in Afirca, is a story even more beautiful.

His mom Denise died this year of Brain Cancer. It was a long and difficult time for all of us. Everytime that Denise would talk about Africa and its people, she would have tears of sadness and gladness in her eyes. Her love of the Sahara and its people were the stories that has built my curiosity and intrigue of the country of Niger where they spent their life. The African Art in our home is a constant reminder of a woman who accepted me into her family from the first day she met me. I was, in her words, "her American Son". The respect and love we had for each other will stay with me forever. Like each piece of African Art or Artifact we have, it's a constant reminder of a special place that leaves an impact on every person who has ever travelled to Africa. Every person that I ever spoke to that has travelled toAfrica has told me the same. "It's Magical"!

This is a year that "requires us", for a very special reason, to travel to Niger in Africa together for the first time. We plan to spend the holidays, including New Year's on or very close to the Sahara Desert which was Denise's Special Place on Earth. "It's Magical and cannot be explained unless you experience it first hand." For the first time in my life, I too, will experience that "Special Place on Earth."