Apricity South 2

​February 13, 2026 - Friday

It was a little misty when we met at 9am for aerobics and the sun never came out, but it felt good to move, stretch, balance, and jog in the tepid water. 

Rich and I  met Tim and Dee at the Elks for a reasonably priced lunch. It’s one of the few places you can get lunch and drinks for two for under $30. 

February 14, 2026 - Saturday  HAPPY VALENTINE’S Walked with Charlotte and Shotsy early before it got too hot. 

Rich offered to take me to the World Ukulele Day at The Bay Park in Sarasota. Yay! 

We had decided not to go for a few reasons (45-minute drive, lots of traffic, people, parking, walking, etc.), but in the end overcame them and arrived at the park one hour early! So, not hard to park or walk. We acted so quickly that we didn’t bring chairs or instruments. I grabbed sunscreen and my water bottle and we both had hats to protect us from the sun. Being our first time, we weren’t sure of anything. Turns out, players from several groups in the area arrived with chairs, instruments, iPads and stands, hats, et al. We sat on a bench early and before the show started, I was feeling lightheaded from the sun and NO SNACK after walking. So I went to a shaded area and perused the situation. A table with four chairs in the breezy shade was occupied by a couple and two vacant seats. I knew he was a uker as he had a Hawaiian shirt on and his uke was on the table. I approached them and asked if I could use the extra two chairs - they immediately agreed to it. He, Kevin, wore a Boston baseball hat. So we started sharing - he went to school in N. Adams, loved the area we are from, and is in uke groups on the Cape and in Boston. Pat, his wife, told me he started playing during Covid and has become very involved. 

Notice the buildings being constructed in the background - someone was operating that crane and had to climb up the scaffolding to get in. Another person was on the top floor doing whatever one does up there… OY!

Our Alice and Carl kicked it off and then the Suncoast Sandfleas took over. 

This group meets every Monday at 10:30am at Nakomis Beach in Venice. There are over a hundred ukers who go weekly, toting their chairs, music stands, and books of music. I am not a book girl - I prefer an iPad or a big screen. Also, it is a hike for us, so we only went the first Monday we were here. It is much more convenient for us to go to Lakewood Ranch with the Aloha Ukulele Club. They have a big screen and chairs for us. 

Three lovely ladies in the forefront of this picture are in our Stoneybrook Jam. I offered Margo my hat - she wished she took it after the fact

Rich cooked a nice steak which we split with potatoes and broccoli for Valentine’s Day. 

February 15, 2026 - Sunday HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY ❤️

Leanna Robin got an appointment for her license the end of this month. Good Golly Gee! When I think back to those days, it’s scary….

We went to Miller Ale House for our Valentine’s dinner out! Its our first time there - a sports bar with lots of taps…

We were surprised at how affordable the prices are there. During the week, you can order lunch specials starting at $7.99

Our waiter, Frank from Brooklyn and Yankee fan, was a real gem. He helped us decide what to order, and did nice follow-up too. He has Thursday and Saturday off to coach his son’s basketball team. 

The meal was terrific and very plentiful. Rich had prime rib and I had Pork Osso Bucco. So good!

February 16, 2026 - Monday

It rained pretty hard last night which cooled the pool quite a bit, but we did aerobics anyway. It  was fine after you were in and until you had to get out! Line dancing in the afternoon was good. 

Met up with Terry, Debbie and her daughter, Monica, at Outback for early dinner. It is school vacation back home, so a number of the town’s people are here this week. They sure got a great week weather-wise. 

February 17, 2026 - Tuesday

After my walk, we went to the post office to mail tax paperwork to my accountant - Hallelujah! I was in line for nearly an hour! Feels so good to have them gone…

Played a little ukulele after lunch - prepping for the jam on Wednesday. 

Boys game tonight - if they lose, they are out of the running for the State Championship. They lost…😢

February 18, 2026 - Wednesday 

There were 25 of us pollywogs today due to nice weather and school break, which brings a lot of folks down South.

This also affected our jam - three had company, one injured the tip of his fret finger, one is recovering from a germy cold. So it was a uker day with four of us strumming along. This is the last day we will play host as Jim is here from Connecticut and has invited us to play in his bonus room - a music room. Can’t wait to see it. 

The Lady Wildcats lost their final Western Mass Tourney game…😢 They will be playing in the Massachusetts State Tournament soon. 

February 19, 2026 - Thursday

Got my walk in before going to Aloha Ukulele strum and sing. We went to the Elks for lunch after and in walked Carol for the first time since she fell and broke her right arm a month ago. This was the first day driving her car. She wasn’t there long before she walked over to the tab machine. This is a two handed game to pull the tabs. Glad that she is feeling better and able to do what she wants. It was a long haul for a very independent lady. 

Tata from a beautiful, 80-degree slice of paradise… 🌴🌊🐠🏊

Apricity South 2

​February 6, 2026 - Friday

Did my walking thing on this windy day. Then waited for the fire inspection company to come do their thing. Did a little strumming. Quiet day.

February 7, 2026 - Saturday

Walked with Charlotte and Shotsy at 10am. Met up with Dee and Tim at the Elks for lunch. Drove through the car wash. It just takes one rainy day to really get spotty and dirty looking. We were going to get gas at Costco, but the line was backed up 6 cars at each lane! We did not wait - went to a station down the road. Dropped off a bedspread and bag of clothes at Goodwill.

February 8, 2026 - Sunday

It was 60 when I walked, so wore a t-shirt and capris. When I hear about the weather from my family, I can’t complain. 

A bright spot on my walk was this sidewalk art (from the mouths of babes!) - very uplifting. 

Listened to church while walking. The service was broadcasted by the pastor from her home due to the frigid weather.  

Rich has been on a mission with his drawings so it was time to catalog them for market this summer. There are 21 here, but others have been sold or gifted. 

February 9, 2026 - Monday

No swim as it was in the mid-50’s. So did the walk later and stopped at the pool to visit with Betty who was soaking up some sun. Line danced in the afternoon. Worked on music list for the jam. 

February 10, 2026 - Tuesday

Walked before going to Costco. Then went to Sarasota to have lunch with Terry and Debbie at Olive Garden, who never fail to satisfy your appetite and pallet. Forgot to take a picture, so this is one they took at Super Bowl Party.

February 11, 2026 - Wednesday

Finally got back in the pool today! It was chilly, but felt sooooo good to do aerobics again! Five musicians came to the jam today and we sounded pretty good. I played the banjolele for Folsom Prison. No complaints from the neighbors either!

February 12, 2026 - Thursday

The fog was so heavy this morning that we couldn’t even see the pond. Alohaukulele held a beginner class which we attended. Always learn new things - chord transitions, strums, techniques. Glad we went. Alice, our teacher, is the bomb!❤️

High school Wildcats (boys and girls) have quarterfinal playoff games tonight. 

Go Wildcats…

🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤

Results are in: Girls won by 20; boys lost by 10.

Zachary’s team (8th grade) won the championship for their town league! Last week he scored an amazing 3-point buzzer beater! Had 18  points.👏👏 

FaceTimed with the loving sisters, Leanna and Lily💕

Apricity South 2

January 30, 2026 - Friday 

Day two of the Alohaukulele mini-fest was another “fun packed, knowledge shared kind of a day.” I joined Rich’s breakout bass lesson for the heck of it - should have stayed with the main group. I’m not interested in playing bass and was lost from the get go.🤨

Back in the main group, we learned from Devon Scott how to Solo Like a Pro with picking, vamping with root chord as intro, adding rhythm to your hold, picking the scale of C going up and then down, adding a 7th to spice it up.. Sounds easy, but it takes practice. Video in body of email…

Bonus concert with Jay Nunes and Greg Gent…

Rich actually won a raffle prize of a leather pick…

Girls and boys Wildcats had games at home tonight. Leanna’s team won by a lot and she scored her first career 3-pointer. YAY!

Will watch tape of the boys game tomorrow night - great entertainment…

January 31, 2026 - Saturday

Noodled a while on techniques learned at the mini-fest. Then I started my walk, stopped to meet Charlotte’s son, Tom, chewed the fat for an hour. 

Back on the walk when the wind came up and it got misty so I turned around, stopped at Betty’s for a cup of coffee! This wall art is made from recycled plastic bottles…

Time 2.5 hours! Distance walked .75 miles!

After a lunch of cottage cheese, I started working on end of month reconciliation. In the evening, we watched Jake’s game from last night. 

February 1, 2026 - Sunday

Extra layers for the walk today as it was 39 degrees with the wind picking up. 

Beautiful garden in spite of the cold. May have to be covered tonight as temps are plunging to 31 degrees. 

I check my remote thermostat for house in Lee, MA periodically - especially with the sub-zero weather they have been experiencing. There has been an info message about maintenance on Feb. 4 which I skip over. Today there was another message about my wifi being disconnected from the thermostat - for support, call this 800 number. So I called and was told that someone needed to be there next to the thermostat and router in order for them to help. So I called my beloved son at 7pm on a frigid night to go check it out. He went immediately but by the time he slogged through the uncleared 2 feet of snow, and called the number, they had closed! Ugh! That wasn’t the worst part, he called and told me it was very weird - part of the house had no power - lights flickering and flashing on and off like poltergeist! He checked the breakers downstairs twice and flicked them too. Nothing! So I called my electrician, Scott, and explained what was happening so he could know for the next day. He was so patient listening to me babble on and then said, “ I think I’ll go down there tonight and check it out because my father’s funeral is tomorrow!” What? 🥹😱! He insisted on going to meet up with Randy. He looked things over and decided to turn on the electric space heater in the bathroom upstairs in case the gas stove didn’t come back on. Daughter-in-law, Kristie thought to have Randy open the faucets to a trickle when on his way home! He went back and did it. Scott said to call Emergency Electric number - we were out of phase?!?!?!?! After screaming at a robot who was trying to find out how I wanted to pay my zero balance, I finally got through to Carlos (a real human being) who assured me it would be fixed by midnight! It’s on the pole NOT in the house. 

Before heading to bed completely spent, I checked the thermostat one more time - it was working and connected to the internet! Randy’s phone had showed it connected the whole time - so I don’t think the two things were even related.

February 2, 2026 - Monday

When I got up at 7, I picked up my phone to call Randy, and he was already calling me. He was at the house and assured me that power was on, electric heater was turned off, and the wifi was still working. Later in the day, I got a message from the thermostat company apologizing for issues customers had yesterday. Call it what you will, but if I hadn’t asked Randy to check the thermostat, or Scott hadn’t come down, we wouldn’t have known about the power outage and the house would have frozen up! Oy! 

No swimming today - just brisk walking it off today. 

February 3, 2026 - Tuesday

Went to Publix and then walked my walk. The Activity Committee met last night and texted me this morning - the Rec Center won’t be available for tomorrow’s jam as they are setting up for a big, open board meeting. That’s fine - we had people come to our place instead. They also asked us to change our time to 4-6pm after the staff left - NOT! So we will proceed with our jams sans-Activity Committee! It kills me because they are always asking for ideas and involvement. I proposed this idea last August and got very little feedback on it until I started posting my own ads on the Facebook page. 

Went to Betty and Joe’s for cocktails. They had a nice spread of cheese, crackers, hot dogs in a blanket, etc. Charlotte came as well and we all had a nice visit.  

February 4, 2026 - Wednesday

Was able to walk in a T-shirt and capris this morning. Then got busy cleaning and setting up for the jam. That’s one good thing about having it here - forces us to be presentable!

Rich has declared Wednesday “his day” since apparently all of the other days are peppered with my activities. So we went for a quick burger at the Elks for lunch. He will also start going to the Art Club on Wednesday mornings…

At 2pm, there were 6 jammers and as we talked more about ourselves, we discovered we are all from New England (NY, MA and CT) except for one from Ohio. Another player is definitely joining when he gets down here because he offered his house which has a studio with sound board, amps, monitors, et al. He plays professionally back home in CT. 

February 5, 2026 - Thursday

Woke up to rain and wind so didn’t walk as we went to ukulele strum and sing for the morning. 

Watched Jacob’s Monday game - other than that, a quiet, lazy afternoon and evening.