Tue - 23 Dec/14

It was so warm and humid we turned the A/C back on in the middle of the night so we could sleep comfortably. It worked so well we actually slept in until 9 a.m. Today would largely be a day to relax and re-charge.

A few more little organizing chores throughout the day. The morning was cloudy; however the sun broke through now and then later in the day raising the temp to the low 80's F with humidity above 90%.

Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow so we decided to head out just before supper for our first visit of the season to The Villages. Tonight was Market Night at Lake Sumter Landing Square where vendors set up around the square from 5 until 9 p.m.

The Christmas Tree, by my guestimate, is around 70-80 feet tall. On the left is the "Manger Scene" - "NOT !"...  it's Uncle Bob's Rock Shop who were providing music from the bandshell.

There is live music in each of the 3 town squares in "The Villages" every day of the year, The Villages are comprised of numerous gated communities; however each of the 3 "Town Squares" are open to the public. The daily entertainment is free in each of these squares, Those not dancing are sitting in the hundreds of chairs that are set up each evening by The Villages staff. Although The Villages is an Adult (55+) Community; family can visit for an allotted number of days per year. There were a higher than usual number of kids and grandkids visiting for Christmas.

There are a number of restaurants around or close to the square. We decided on eating on the outside patio at City Fire across from the square.

We were able to get our usual corner table (for 2) and listened to the band as we shared a large order of Nachos.

Dessert was Pineapple Lime Yogurt purchased just a few doors away. It tastes like Key Lime Pie - mmmm Good! Other folks were sitting here just enjoying the music. We sat for a while enjoy the band who played many of our rock n Roll favourites from the 6o's and 70's.

The stroll along the boardwalk back to the car was enjoyable. We could hear music from The Villages radio station playing on the way as each street light within a few blocks of the square is equipped with outdoor speakers.

A short pit stop at the public washroom - just in case - since we decided to detour on our way home through Mt. Dora to see the Christmas Lights. Tomorrow might not be so good for this as lots of rain and the possibility of tornados are in the forecast. They have already had a few tornados in the south already this year.

Downtown Mt. Dora is decorated with over 2 million lights. Unusual to us from Canada, it seems that few folks decorate for Christmas (at least outside) in this area. When they do most of the lights are white. My theory is that white is there subconscious way of representing snow - who knew! We have enough snow up north so we use coloured lights, eh!

They do not circle the trees in lights like we do with the Christmas Trees. They loop the lights from the top down.

Even at 10 pm the weather was still perfect for driving with the top off. It won't be this nice back home for another 7 months - Wow!

Another Wow! Filled up when the low fuel light came on. It has been a long time since a full load of fuel was under $25.00.

Today was full of Wows! I only had to press the remote (that I just bought) to open the gate. Not as sensitive as my garage door opener at home which works from a few hundred feet away. I had to be right at the gate for this unit work.

We took a ride around the park to see the Christmas decorations. Outside of downtown Mt. Dora there were only a few dozen decorated houses. There were at least that many in the park - with coloured lights to boot! (Northern folks - Yankees, no doubt).

Gee! I just realized I missed all of my favourite Tuesday TV programs. Oh Well, there are always re-runs.