The Message of the Tree

The Message of the Tree

Mike and I have some tall …and I mean TALL…Silver Maple trees in our backyard. You don’t find them everywhere in Florida, but they are prevalent in Citrus County where we live. 

Our tree is scarred. 

We have a few clues to tell us what happened. 

Shortly after we moved here, we found a long piece of bark from that tree on the ground near it. A length of chain is firmly attached to that bark. 

A few feet away, in another tree, we located a heavy metal hook.We’re guessing there was a hammock strewn between those two trees at one time. Lightening was likely the force that brought the hammock down and damaged the beautiful gigantic Silver Maple.

The location near the lake was perfect for a hammock. The cool breeze off the water on a warm Florida day washing over you in a shaded hammock? Couple that with a tall glass of lemonade or sweet tea? It is the dream of Florida living come true.

But no more. The hammock no longer hangs there. However, though the tree is damaged, it is still alive. 

Recently, I shared this with a widow and widowers’ group: 

“The tree is damaged. It is still growing upward. It gives shade to our yard and is a home to birds and squirrels. I think when my husband died in 2014, I felt as scarred and dead as that tree. I was shocked. I felt marred for life.”. 

God and my family sustained me during that dark time. And in 2022, God brought Mike into my life. 

Mike and I have both weathered storms in the past. We’ve both lost people we loved. We’re not so naïve to think we will live out our senior years without a little wind and some rain. 

In the meantime, we have this beautiful lake, a swing instead of a hammock, lots of lemonade and sweet tea. 

And…we keep looking up. As we grow closer together, our roots grow deep. 

That’s the message of the tree. 

 

A Great Cuppa Joe

 A Great Cuppa Joe

Mike and I enjoy our coffee. 

Every morning. 

We have a Mr. Coffee. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. In the evening, I pour the water in the machine, measure out ground coffee I bought at the store, and set everything up so that all we need to do in the morning is hit the ON button.

Easy. I even bought a permanent filter so we don’t have to fool with those little paper ones.

When my mother moved to Florida from Ohio in May, she knew she needed to downsize. She gave people she knew Items they could use or wanted. She donated furniture and lamps to a charity. 

She gave me two special items. Two coffee grinders. Not that I’ll ever use them.

One belonged to my paternal grandmother. It is ceramic and hangs on the wall. The coffee beans feed into the top, someone turns the handle, and a glass container collects the freshly ground coffee. I don’t how much my Grandma Williams used it…if at all. Mom didn’t know. She only knew it belonged to Grandma. Grandma gave it to Mom.

The second one isn’t as fancy. It is wood and rests on a counter or table. There is a handle to turn on top and a small drawer to collect the ground coffee to brew. This one is packed with memories.

My mother remembers her mother, my Grandma Woolum, setting the wood grinder on the table, pouring coffee beans in the box and turning the grinder. I don’t remember that. 

I do remember waking up to the smell of coffee brewing on the wood stove. I remember coaxing myself to crawl from under the quilt Grandma made…out from the featherbed. (Her own mother made her a featherbed when she was a little girl so that memory is a sweet connection for me.) I loved waking up to the sounds of Grandma in the kitchen. 

Those are all tender memories.

I am blessed to have sweet memories of both of my grandmothers…and grandfathers.

Now I am blessed to have two coffee grinders from my grandmothers. 

Oh, and the book in the picture? Libby’s Cuppa Joe was my second novel. You can still grab a copy on Amazon. I think the Kindle edition is on sale. Let me know what you think about it. Or better yet, write a review on Amazon. Reviews are like gold…better than a cup of joe for authors!

 

Gulf Coast Golf Post

        A Gulf Coast Golf Post

Mike and I both grew up enjoying swimming, boating, and water skiing. We also both grew up around horses.

 
Though I never considered myself a “car girl,” I appreciate the same cars Mike likes. We attend car shows with friends and enjoy the comradery. Car shows were new for me.

Mike and I have been married over two years now. It’s been fun to discover the many things we have in common. A good hamburger. Old Westerns on television. Tampa Bay Rays baseball.
It has also been good to discover new experiences.

Looking at a New Adventure

Mike was…and is… a true fisherman. I’m not talking about putting a worm on a hook, tossing your line out and waiting for the bobber to bounce. Mike understands lines and lures. He knows how to cast a line and reel it in with a certain rhythm to attract a bass. I know. He’s teaching me. I caught a bass off our dock. Even though I still contend it was “monster” sized fish, on Mike’s assessment, we threw it back. Just as well. I wasn’t prepared to clean and cook it. (Picture at the bottom of this post.) 

While he was enjoying fishing in his past life, I was snow skiing in the winter and golfing in the summer. I don’t see snow skiing in our future. But golf? I enjoy the game. I’m no pro, but I do have family members who are good golfers.

Golf is a great activity and Mike’s dad was a golfer. Still, I was both happy and surprised my sweet husband decided to take up the sport. When our grandson, came for a visit in March, Spencer went with Mike to get a set of clubs. When we moved my mom from Ohio to Florida, we found room in the truck for my clubs to make the trek.  

Mike contacted the golf pro, Lou Harris, who purchased a venue called Adventureland in Floral City, Florida. The driving range is ten-minutes or so from our house.

Lou gives golf lessons for a small fee. He’s qualified. For over forty-four years… actually, “Forty-four years, one-hundred sixty-three days,” he told me, Lou was the Director of Golf at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa. 

I’m sure he has interesting stories to share about the base and the people who have played golf there. Another story for another day.

Mike took a few lessons on his own. This past week, he suggested we go together to hit a few balls. What fun. I haven’t golfed in over two years so the practice was much needed. Mike purchased a good-sized basket of golf balls and we were set.

The weather was perfect. Lou left us alone for the most part, coming over only as we neared the end of our visit. His wife, Coni, manages the weekly Thursday Flea Market in the parking lot (seasonal) and sells a variety of decorative pieces in the shop.

I love an impromptu date with my husband. Making it an afternoon of perfect weather hitting golf balls at Adventureland? Well…let’s call it what it was: “A Sweet Adventure.”

Interested in lessons or practice or poking around the antiques and one-of-a-kind décor for your home? Check it out. Adventureland, 6440 S. Florida Ave, Floral City, Florida 34436.

My Bass! Look at the size of that thing!