“Flo……could you please come over and take me to the bank? I need to get some cash for my trip back up to Michigan.”

I had sold her Venice Florida home and she was moving up by her family in a couple days after we close on her home.

It often happened that my listings came from people who had lived in this beautiful land of sunshine and flowers many enjoyable years, when they realized they needed to be back up north close to family for some assistance in their everyday living.

This dear sweet lady was 82 years old, had lost her husband and she didn’t drive. When she called me to list her home to sell, she had been walking over a mile to a market to buy her groceries. And I don’t know where all else she walked taking care of her business.

Like many other real estate agents, I often did things to help my clients. This was kinda the norm in Florida. So I took her grocery shopping, other places she needed to go and I took her to the closing.

Just a few days before her closing while I was at her home she went into her bedroom and from the closet brought a big brown paper bag to the living room where I was sitting.

She sat in a chair close to me and started taking boxes out of the bag. I read the price on the boxes. The six dolls standing were priced $8.97and the two sitting down $4.97. She had obviously had them a very long time.

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LUCKY ME!!!!  My birthday present from my daughter Pamela is a weeks vacation at Siesta Key Florida. And we are flying on my birthday November 2, 2013.

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That smile is because that plane I’m sitting in at the Akron Ohio airport is taking me, along with my wheel chair and walker, accompanied by my daughter Pamela to Florida where in a rented car we will journey to a rented condominium on Siesta Key with a view of the beach.

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Make stuffing your choice of ways. Add a small can of fresh oysters. I drain them and don’t add the water from the oyster can to my dressing. I remove the hard square that looks like gristle and cut the remaining oyster into small pieces and mix well into the dressing.

I cut up onions and celery, sautéed them in butter and add to the broken up toasted bread. Add a few choice herbs. Add a broth made from hot water and chicken bouillon. Mix well and stuff turkey. Coat outside of turkey with softened butter to bake it to a golden brown. Salt well and place in oven to bake according to directions on turkey package. Continue reading


“In a couple years I’ll move back up north!” Twenty eight years of living in the beautiful land of sunshine and flowers and each year I told my family the same thing. Then came the 2005 Christmas!

I flew to Pittsburg airport for a three weeks visit with my daughter Pamela her husband Tracy and my granddaughters Evin and Sarah. That gave me two weeks before Christmas Day and fly home on New Year’s Day.

Soon after arriving my daughter casually mentioned that a condo was for sale and ask if I would like to go with her to see it. The picture in the newspaper add looked quite interesting and I said I would love to.

She called the listing agent and ask for a showing and told her we would meet her at the condo. It was adorable and by the time we got to the sun room with its three walls of glass and even a tall narrow window on the fourth wall I had practically moved in. Continue reading