Back in August one day I was talking to my mom on the phone and she told me she was making a quilt to donate to the Haiti auction. I asked her if she ever attended the Haiti auction and she said she had not. I had not either but that was an auction that Jonathan always would have loved to attend and the past 2 winters I really wanted to take him to the sunny south to attend it but he was always too sick to go by the time that January rolled around. The January Haiti auction is held in Sarasota FL and that is where I went. It so turned out that Marty and I drove my vehicle and took my 83 year old mother and her 77 year old sister with us. We were a unique set...2 old ladies and 2 young ones.
Our adventures have been many and this has not been even slightly boring! Number one, being in a part of the world where there are so many Amish and Mennonites is an adventure in itself! We rented 3 wheeled bikes and have been biking all over this town. Today Marty and I went 6 miles round trip on our bikes. It was actually pretty much fun but the bookstore we wanted to shop at was not worth going to so we found several other stores in that part of town. On the way home we wanted a frappe from McDonald and because we were on bikes we decided to go through the drive through. No luck tho', they never seemed to know we were there. There was a man going through the other drive through that seemed a bit amused at the sight of us but then a lady drove up behind us and she seemed really grouchy and stressed about us so we pulled away from the drive thru lane and Marty went inside while I watched our bikes. We wonder if men are just naturally more good natured and less stressed than women or why it struck the 2 so differently?
The tornado on Sat. night was for sure more excitement then we needed! I went to bed knowing that severe thunderstorms were in the forecast and when I woke up at 3:30 and saw the lightening and heard the thunder I was a it uncomfortable but I checked the time and rolled over intending to sleep. Suddenly the weather alert on my phone did its noisy tones. I picked it up and it said tornado warnings seek shelter immedietly. Those alerts are nasty enough at home, but here in a rented house with no basement,!! what in the world was I to do? I opened my door and our host lady was in her living room and had also gotten the alerts.. We ended up going into the shower, its a fairly big wheelchair accessible one and also has a handicap chair in it. Mom sat on the chair while the rest of us hunched around her and we began to pray. I wonder if even the angels smiled with twinkling eyes as they hovered over us. It wasn't even slightly funny at the moment but now.....these are some of our laughing discussions. At some point in time Aunt Katie got some pillows and blankets and brought them into the shower and she also brought her purse. We may have stayed in there 10 minutes, it seemed longer but...anyhow it was windy and dumping the rain. And then it got quiet and Aunt Katie said," Now it stopped" and Marty and I looked at each other with the look of, this is not good' but we didn't mention it. We kept checking the weather on our phones and decided that the danger was over. We did stay up until 5 watching the weather. A decent amount of damage was done 10minutes from here but just a quarter mile away a trailer roof was torn off and tree branches were tossed about and a power line came down. The news said it was a hop , skip and jump type of tornado. Windows were blown out of tall buildings farther away and 2 people were killed in a trailer 10miles from here.It was not the worst tornado in the world but it was bad enough to be scary, and its very unusual for this area. History says that Pinecraft, which is this little village, used to be an army base and the reason they chose this area for the base was because storms always go around it. There is no record of a storm here in Pinecraft. Interestingly enough, that very thing happened again on Sat. night. Tornadoes went by on either side. So the next day we were discussing all that happened and we were ribbing Aunt Katie that she thought about her money, She said, "Well I still wanted money to go home", to which mom said, " I didn't think money was going to help us any if we all got killed." I had also at some point put mine and Marty's purses in the bathroom, just in case stuff started to blow around! It has been so much fun being in discussions and listening to these wise old women talk. I hope I manage to be so sweet when I get old!
Biking on 3 wheeled bikes was an adventure and it was really fun getting these old ladies that are not used to biking at all, on those bikes. They both enjoyed it, too! There were so many people on bikes and we had to look out for bikers and walking folks, golf carts, and motor wheelchairs, among the vehicles. One day several other Pinecraft ladies took Mom and Aunt Katie out and about visiting other old people. They biked across Bahia Vista Street and that was an amazing accomplishment with it being such a busy street!! We had to be very careful to remember to tie up our bikes because little thieves from town would steal them in broad daylight if they saw a bike that was not chained and locked. In fact one day while we were gone with our vehicle a lady noticed a fellow sitting out by our bikes that were tied up by our house. She chased him off but it was a good warning for us.
We spent several hours on the beach 2 different days but it was never very warm. That was disappointing! But the beauty of the ocean was awesome. The crashing waves, and the roaring water sound, the white sand with the breeze on our face and the bright sunshine.....aweeee...that is why I went to FL. It was just not warm enough to really enjoy the beach! 
Its been said that Pinecraft has 3 types of people
The Newly Weds
The nearly deads and
The hot heads
I don't know which category I am in but .......I was there anyway!
And the Haiti auction was very interesting! Somehow I like watching the people better than actually watching the auction. The best thing about the day was that the quilt that mom made and donated was the highest selling quilt!! I was sitting on the side bleachers and watched the bidders and saw who bought it. I decided they needed to know that my 83 year old mother made that quilt so I talked to them and introduced mom to them. She was shaky with excitement and the boys decided she had the same rush that they get when they shoot a deer and its called "buck fever" only in this case its called "quilt fever".
It was a bit hard to figure out why I decided to go to FL this year, the first year that Jonathan is not here. I don't think I really figured it out yet. It was very good to relax and be carefree for a week and just not have a schedule and deadlines to meet. We made memories that we will never forget, we laughed over things only women can laugh at and we learned that old women are a party to spend a week with!
We came home one day earlier than we had planned too because of the blizzard weather predictions. We were all just a little sad about that but driving in snowy conditions is not my idea of pleasure. And the snow did come and they are all snowed in at my house so the party continues!
IF YOU WANT TO BE SWEET WHEN YOU ARE OLD BE SWEET NOW!!
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