My US Visit - Part II

So it's back to being solo at the hacienda, with everyone back in Amsterdam, Oklahoma, Tallahassee, or NY. My sights became set on finding someone wanting to rent the upstairs part of the house. Someone mentioned Craig's List. I thought that website was for buying and selling stuff, but I learned that you can advertise for roommates and such, as well. So, I posted an ad and got 4 immediate hits. I guess it was lucky #4, as the first 3 didn't work out. I met Wes, who had been living in Daytona Beach, but wanted to come to Orlando as he was finishing up is Masters soon in Business Entertainment and wants to work at Disney or Universal. Into his 30's, he seemed like the mature person we would want. Everything seemed to fall into place, and finding someone we were cool with wasn't as difficult as we expected it to be. He moved in while I still had several weeks remaining on my visit which was good. It gave me time to get comfortable with him being there, and allowed us to go over operating the pool and other household details.

I went up to Tallahassee to visit Helen and Lee a couple of weeks after they had come down to Orlando and Tampa. Ahhhhh Tallahassee...the necks get redder and redder with each visit. But we had a good time up there. Saw some movies and had some surprisingly good Mexican food in Woodville, of all places. Think Hooterville - minus the hooters! Well...that doesn't work very well, does it? Let me just say that Woodville is VERY small, with more Confederate flags per capita than the stars and stripes. I went out shooting in the area one afternoon, and Lee came along and assisted me, doing reflector duty on several shots. Helen tried her hand at making dosa's, a south Indian dish consisting of a crepe filled with potatoes, sometimes cheese, and various spices. She did pretty good. The crepes are always the tricky part.

So back in Orlando, Wes moves his stuff in after a week or so. He doesn't have nearly the amount of stuff that our previous renter had! That makes it easier for everyone. I borrow some video equipment from the photo department at (formerly) DBCC and commence to transferring VHS tapes to DVD. Man, some of that stuff goes back to '66!! Junior and senior high band performances, basketball games, piano recitals, family holidays...haven't seen some of that stuff in a long while. Would be fun to share some of the school stuff with old classmates. I'll try to get around to that sometime soon. Anyway, this is a laborious process! Now I see why businesses charge what they do. The tough ones were the early ones, where all kinds of different stuff is on the VHS tape. It's easier in the long run to stop and start when the subject matter changes, as it makes it easier to find in the future. But it is a drag and I'm glad that is behind me! I also visited some friends from far in the past that were seen for the first time in 30 years at last years high school reunion. Had lunch with Scott, who goes back to my first grade class in 66-67. Also saw him at a car show/rally in Orlando when Helen and Lee came back down from Tallahassee a week or so before I returned to Amsterdam. Another lunch with Mike, someone I first knew from 4th grade in Mrs. Elliot's class at Holly Hill Elementary. We also became reacquainted right after high school when I was in and out of a group of guys that started hanging out late into the evenings. He had never had Indian cuisine before, so I took him to Kohinoor in Altamonte Springs. He loved it, especially the butter chicken. And Susan and I were in the high school band. We had lunch one day in Daytona, and when Helen came down to Orlando, we all went to lunch on a Sunday in Port Orange. It was good conversation and some laughs catching up with people that I had either a remote or direct connection to. Look forward to seeing them on occasion on my trips back.

I got everything I wanted done with the exception of the lawn mower. Kind of overlooked that. Played a lot of tennis until my elbow became sore (not tennis elbow, however), Carla cut my hair (as usual), saw Karin and Bill's twin sons, Joe and Alexis in Daytona - visited with so many friends - kinda forget how many until I stop to think about it. A good stay in Florida, for sure. Now I was off to NJ/NY!

My US Visit

Well, it's taken me a while but better late than never. I was in the US from December 9th to February 24th, and my timing couldn't have been better. While I was away, Amsterdam had the worst winter on record during the past 30 years. Record low temperatures and snowfall started almost from the time I left. Now central Florida didn't exactly have a mild winter either, but compared to what was experienced in Amsterdam and other parts of the world, I'll take what I had in Orlando! As a matter-of-fact, the first 2 weeks were beautiful, with sunshine and warmth creating great times on the tennis court.
It was a little strange at first being home. Marc, who was renting part of the house since January 2008 had moved out in July, so the house was empty. I figured this was a good time to clean it and do some repairs. The fridge was empty, so let's tilt that over slightly and vacuum the coils and all that under there. Cleaning only the front intake area since it was purchased in '94 left many mondo-dust bunnies packed around every nook and cranny. It took a very long time and many different angles to clean. Top to bottom I cleaned for days. The car started up fine this time, so I wasn't stranded like I was last summer. I made a promise I wouldn't shop at Sam's, and it made sense that I didn't to avoid surplus food when I left. I immediately started to think about how to go about finding another person or persons to rent part of the house to. This was THE major task that had to be done while I was back. I also had things to buy to take back, clear out the garage, transfer VHS tapes to DVD, and planned to visit with family and friends.
Radhika arrived a little over a week after I came in, and worked from the Orlando office, actually occupying her same Trustreet/GE office she had before leaving in '07 for Amsterdam. We visited with friends and she got to hang a little with her "girlie-girl posse". A few days before Christmas, her Mom and my sister and nephew arrived from New Jersey and Tallahassee, respectively. We drove over to Tampa where we met up with her oldest sister Dolly and Dolly's husband, John, her other sister Poonam, husband Umesh and their boys Akshay and Abishek, and John's Mom Joanne and step-brother, Brian. We had a fun 3 1/2 days playing volleyball and ping pong, pool lounging, eating and drinking, and sailing the seas on a pirate ship. Those pictures are in an album when you clink on the link to the right. On the 26th, John and Dolly went on a short cruise, Joanne and Brian visited with friends they knew in Florida, and the rest of us went back to Orlando. Helen and Lee went back to Tallahassee, and Poonam and her family came over to Orlando from Tampa. Before everyones departure on New Years Day, there were visits to Kennedy Space Center, Gatorland, and Universal Studios. Everyone had a good time. It had been 5 years since everyone had been together at once. Dolly's plan came together nicely. But it was an adjustment for me to be back in an empty, quiet house. I continued my tasks and then got an email from Dolly and John that they were coming back from their cruise in the early morning and their flight out of Tampa wasn't until early evening. So I drove over and met them at the port of Tampa. We hung out in Ybor City, had a nice lunch, did a little shopping, and then I took them to the airport. It was a nice, sunny day for them to conclude their holiday and head back to endure the rest of an icy cold winter in New York. Again I required another adjustment back to the quiet of the house void of anyone but myself. But that was about to change. Part 2 will follow.