Last Weekend of the Flower & Garden Show

This was the last weekend of the Flower & Garden Show at Epcot.  Doug, Meg, Nick and I decided to spend one more afternoon enjoying the festival before it closed later in the week.  It was hot and sprinkled for a time being, but it didn't hamper the fun or the good food.  

Doug and I arrived before Meg and Nick, so we headed to Soarin' first.  I was amazed at how short the line was for a weekend.  After my favorite ride, we went straight to the beverage port for some cucumber Sprite for me and a Beverly for Doug.  I will never get used to the bitter taste of his drink but love that Doug tries it every single time we go.  

We met Nick and Meg at the festival pavilion and then took a tour around the countries starting with Mexico. We all had a lot of fun trying the food booths and drinks for the last time this season and looking at the topiaries.  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were still on number one on our list, but Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were high up there as well.  Meg and I did more shopping than the guys, and they did a lot more taste testing.  Meg had a great time making fun of me for getting out my umbrella when it was only sprinkling, but I was glad to have it with me.  We all enjoyed the music especially the band in Germany.

Once we got through all of the countries, Doug and I decided to head home.  We had had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted, and my feet were ready for a break.  As soon as we got on the turnpike Doug turned to me and said, "This is why we moved here, for fun days like today."  I couldn't have agreed more.  

R.E.M.

For the past three months, Doug and I had been listening to a lot of R.E.M. on Spotify.  Once Cameron gave me their vinyl, Life's Rich Pageant, we switched over to only listening to that whenever we were in the mood for music from my favorite band in college.  Although I think that it is their best album, Doug and I have been looking through their collection to see which other ones that we would like to order.  We have also spent a lot of time debating which of their songs was the best.  I find it amazing that neither one of us has changed our opinion in over thirty years.  I still believe that "I am Superman" is their best song and Doug's number one continues to be "Orange Crush."  Just like most of their songs, the lyrics do not make sense in either song, but we still love listening to them on repeat.

Although I really enjoy listening to the album that Cameron gave me, the best part about it is the reason that Cameron gave me an R.E.M. vinyl.  In March, he was visiting us, and we were talking about bands that we had loved that had fallen out of favor with music listeners.  Guns N' Roses was number on that list, but R.E.M. was on it as well.  I told Cameron the story of how their lead singer was caught with young boys in his limo and after that everyone really stopped listening to the band.  Cameron looked at me strange and said, "Are you sure?  I had never heard that, and it would be a big story in the music world if it was true."  I was positive that I was right, but decided to fact check it anyway, especially after my long-standing belief of the urban legend surrounding Phil Collins' song "In the Air Tonight."  Of course, I could find absolutely no information on the story that I had long believed about my favorite college band once again confirming Cameron's suspicions that I was completely gullible.  Thankfully, Doug did confirm to Cameron that everyone in our age group including him believed the myths that I had shared.  The best part of the discussion, however, was that Cameron would never forget my love for R.E.M. and showed it this past Mother's Day.

Pope Leo

 In April, the Catholic community received some sad news as Pope Francis died suddenly on Easter Sunday after giving the holiday mass.  It wasn't a complete surprise as he had spent quite a bit of time in the hospital this winter with pneumonia.  Even so, I was sorry to hear it and was thankful that my Bible study class chose to spend a morning talking about his legacy and his influence on the Catholic faith.  

The news that was shocking, however, was the announcement of the new Pope.  First, it was a lot quicker than anyone expected as he was elected on the second day of the Conclave on the fourth ballot.  Second, he was not anyone that had been on any betting board in Vegas.  Third, no one expected him to choose the name Leo as John, Paul and Francis were the most common names used in the last seventy years.  The biggest shocker of all, however, was when the announcement came through that our new Pope was from the United States.  There was no one that I knew in the Catholic community that ever even dreamed that there would be a Pope from the US in our lifetime.  Even better, he was born in Chicago and still had family living in the city.

The Heinisch group chat lit up as soon as the Papal choice was announced.  Cal sent a picture of Pope Leo from a visit to Maggie's high school last year.  Meg suggested immediately that Brett choose Leo as the name of his second born son.  Brett was beyond ecstatic about the choice, and Cameron mentioned that it was hard to believe that we now had a pope that had been to Portillo's.  There was a pizza place in the south side of Chicago that had already renamed one of its booths to Pope Leo in honor of the pope's visit to one of his favorite restaurants in the past year.  Doug and I were more than happy with the choice and enjoyed all of the interviews with his oldest brother who now lived about two hours south of us in Florida.  Overall, it was great news not only for our family, but for the Catholic faith in general.  We look forward to the direction that he will provide our church.  

Thankful for the Digital Memories

When Meg got married, I hinted that maybe it was time for her to get her own iCloud.  It was nice to be able to share photos with her, but lately my apps were starting to become filled with her data.  When I would check my Fitbit, it would count me with 28,000 steps because it added her steps to mine.  It also started to change the information that was used on my phone, showing me in places that I wasn't and routing me to stores in Orlando instead of Ocala.  It became too confusing to navigate, so once Meg moved to Florida, I asked her to please find a way to change her iCloud to stop the confusion.  Meg was reluctant because of all of the shared photos, but in the end switched over this week when I promised her that she could still sign in to mine on her iPad to download any photos that she wanted to keep.  

Meg spent the past few days sending herself photos that she wanted to keep in her new iCloud.  I sympathized with the immensity of the project.  We had a lot of digital memories on our iCloud, many of which were hers. I did enjoy seeing a few of those memories show up on my photo stream today.  The pictures were adorable and reminded me of all of the fun times that our family had spent together on vacation and in everyday life.  It was also a wonderful reminder that the closeness our children felt then had not changed.  I would never want to relive those days, but I sure enjoyed reminiscing about them today.

On the Move

Cameron and his study abroad group traveled to a small town in the northeast part of Greece today.  His professor had grown up in the area and she was excited to show them that particular region of her home country.  They traveled close enough to the border of Turkey that they could see the fence between the two countries.  Cameron had told us earlier that the people of Greece did not get along well with those from Turkey.  I guess the fence proved that point.  

While they were traveling, the IU students also toured several different food factories along the way.  Cameron's favorite part of the trip was visiting a goat farmer that was living "off the grid."  He enjoyed his way of life and the lunch that they shared while they were there.  The last stop of the day was a peanut butter factory where they got to sample several different fruit flavored peanut butters.  His favorite was the banana one.  The group ended their evening staying in host family homes near the border of Bulgaria.  The house was small, but Cameron really liked his host and the conversation that he had with him. 

 

A New Sound System

Doug and I decided not to get each other gifts this year for our anniversary and instead purchase something that we both wanted.  Our current record player needed a new band and was turning slower and slower because of it.  We also wanted to upgrade the speaker system that we had with one that was wireless.  That way we would be able to listen to our record collection while sitting on the back patio or on the lanai during game nights.  

Both Doug and I liked Meg's record player a lot.  It was very easy to use and sounded a lot better than ours.  I started looking for one like it and found the perfect player on Best Buys website.  I ordered it and a Bluetooth speaker that had great reviews as well.  The shipping date was delayed, so it would miss our anniversary, but it would still be delivered by Memorial Day weekend which was our goal.  We had planned on spending a lot of time in Ocala over the holiday weekend and knew that we would get a lot of great use out of it over the three-day break.  

On Thursday, I was very disappointed to see that the delivery date moved to the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  The speaker had already arrived, but it didn't work with our old record player.  I decided Saturday morning to look online for another system that we could pick up locally.  There weren't a lot of options, but after searching, I finally found the exact same system that I ordered at a Walmart about ten minutes from our home.  They only had one left, so we hurried over to the store after visiting the Ocala Downtown Market.  Not only did they have the record player, but it was quite a bit cheaper than the one from Best Buy.  They had the same speaker at a discount as well.  In the end we were able to listen to our favorite vinyls all weekend long for a $160 less than we would have with the Best Buy purchase.  

That alone made our music sound even better.  

Crazy Cucumber, Heathbrook Square & Gainesville

Since Nick was flying this weekend, Meg decided to spend Memorial Day weekend with us.  She arrived last night and we enjoyed dinner with her at Crazy Cucumber after mass as that is Meg’s favorite restaurant in Ocala.  While we were at Heathbrook Square, we also did some shopping at Old Navy, Home Goods, Marshalls and Barnes & Noble.  Doug offered to pick up cookies from Crumbl while we were there, but Meg really wanted to make her own recipe tonight.  Meg invited Phil over once we got back home and we had a nice evening on the back patio listening to music.

Today, the three of us headed to Gainesville for the day.  Doug and I renewed our membership at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens and despite the heat, we had a nice walk through the bamboo garden.  Meg purchased several fun postcards for her friends and family back home before we left.  Next, we had lunch at Relish.  Out of all of the burger places that we have tried since moving to Florida, it is still our family’s favorite.  The last stop in Gainesville was Swamp Head Brewery.  Meg had never been and liked it a lot more than I thought that she would.  I believe it was because of all of the different types of beers to try and the fun atmosphere.  Either way, I was glad that she enjoyed it as much as we do.  It was a wonderful way to spend our day.