More winter!!

[christel]

Yes, we arrived. Our place is small, but right on gulf with beautiful sandy beach and three pools. The hard part is driving around here to get supplies, food, etc. Trying to get into 'veg out' mode...will try to keep you guys posted!

C. ❤️

[nhnancy]

glad to hear you arrived safely! How does that warmth feel? Are you in a canal community? Why is it difficult to get around? Right now there are plenty of snow birds and plenty of traffic! s-l-o-w drivers! :-). that'll get you to slow down! or maybe a tropical coctkail with an umbrella? :-). enjoy yourselves!

[jeffn]

Oh I feel for you. The sun is too warm, the drinks too cold and it is just too relaxing. You poor dear - as my grandmother used to say. Enjoy your downtime! Relax and go with the flow!

[christel]

We haven't had a bad weather day yet. The warmth sure does make me feel good! My hands feel so much better. The leg, on the other hand, is giving me a little trouble. I have not been on my feet any more than usual, and I am getting a lot of swelling by earlier afternoon--maybe due to higher humidity? I continue to wear the support hose most days (dorky, I know, but I can't even care about that!) and use the same medication/dressing on my leg. Swelling goes away overnight, so I guess that is a good thing.

We would like to come back to this area next year, and things are already booking for then. We did put a refundable deposit down on a place for next March. We'd still like to look around and do a little comparison shopping. This area is crazy busy! The traffic on this road is unbelievable. It seems like everywhere we go is the same. The folks who have been coming here regularly acknowledge that it is getting a lot more busy. What are you going to do? Who wouldn't want to feel warm more time out of the year?

Hope you guys are hanging in there. The weather at home in MI has been pretty nice these days, too, so I sure hope that my return will be a bit more gentle! Sending you all more mellow days as we head into spring this Friday!

C.❤️

[jeffn]

The edema may be from the drive down perhaps and of course the weather is hotter than home. You may just have to not go home and settle in Florida to know for sure . Glad you are liking it down there what area are you in? The real nice part is that IF you do return home the weather should be a whole lot better. Particularly if you wait till June or so.

[grammie]

Enjoy the sun!

[christel]

Wow, sorry this is so delayed! We got home last evening after a grueling 22 hour trip over two days. I was very ready to come home...sitting around and eating were getting old--no kidding! I was a bit antsy after two weeks. The beaches in Madeira Beach on the gulf side of FL near Tampa are spectacular! I used sunscreen and limited my time in the sun, so that left me with a lot of time to kill. Many people walk along the beach regularly, but due to my leg pain and swelling, I couldn't do much of that, either. I also never dipped my feet in the water, neither in the gulf nor the pools Quite disappointing to have these limitations, to say the least. I guess I am just not sure what I would really want, anyhow... Maybe if I felt better in general, it is would be better all around. Kind of crazy.

We were welcomed home by temps in the lower 20's and teens. There is even a little snow left in some shady parts of my yard, although the weather was very springlike for many days while we were gone. We had a few snow squalls today, too! Gotta love Michigan!

Well, enough from me for today. Tomorrow, it is back into the car for my PFT and scleroderma clinic recheck. Hoping the trip is as uneventful as a 150-mile round trip can be! I'll try to be better about keeping you guys posted.

Happy Spring!

C.❤️