January 23, 2026 - Friday
Cut my walk short today as we had Ukulele strum and sing this morning. Couldn’t swim either so I got a picture of the shallow end of the class. There are a few more mermaids in the deep end.
Did laundry and tax stuff in the afternoon. The girl and boy Wildcats played in different locations at the same time, with only one being broadcast - the boys. They lost - never got ahead of the opponents. The girls won by a lot and Leanna played well.
January 24, 2026 - Saturday
Walked with Charlotte this morning and Shotsie met her mini-me. Same exact coloring and curly hair.
A fellow player in Alohaukulele group is involved with an organization that advocates for foster children. They collect donations of laptops, desk tops, iPads, etc. Another tech group cleans the data off of the donated machines and installs the school’s software. What a great cause! I have Bob’s Gateway laptop here (old, heavy, not used in 10 years) and a Dell case which I will gladly give to the group.
The rest of the day was devoted to taxes! Great news - sister, Terri and husband, Jim are coming here for a visit in mid-March. Can’t wait - we have to start scoping out places to visit and eat! 🎉🥳 ❤️
January 25, 2026 - Sunday
Walked with Charlotte early as it is supposed to get hotter throughout the day. Thankfully, there were breezes to ward off the humidity. I haven’t really felt it much since we got here until today. We welcome the warmth of this day.
January 26, 2026 - Monday
I was mentally ready to go swimming this morning when it suddenly got dark and rained very hard. The temps cooled and I didn’t plan on going. Then it stopped and the wind stopped too. So at 8:55 I looked out the window to see if any cars showed up at the pool. Lo and behold, 2 cars were there so I donned my suit and grabbed my bag and went over. Terry, the instructor, showed up and 4 of us polliwogs. The water was gloriously warm and Terry proceeded with a partial class, but we stayed longer to finish the routine. I am so tired of walking instead of swimming, but it looks like we won’t be swimming for the rest of this week and part of the next given the weather forecast.
Had line dancing this afternoon and tired fast - not sure why!
Big storm back home today - no school and a couple of feet of snow. My granddaughters couldn’t make a snowman (too light) so they did a photo shoot instead.
They FaceTimed me after supper and we had some laughs.
This is the view from my front door while blowing and snowing…
January 27, 2026 - Tuesday
It was 37 degrees when I got up this morning and it didn’t get much better than that throughout the day, but given what they are dealing with back home, I’ll take it. We went to do the grocery thing, then I went bundled up for a walk. It was 47 degrees. Then went to the Elks for a hotdog. Had to turn the heat on again - grrrr.
Jacob played at home tonight. They went back and forth until the 3rd quarter when the opponent sailed by…
January 28, 2026 - Wednesday
Walked later in the morning today staying on the sunny side of the street when possible. Usually I follow the shade, but there’s a noticeable difference these days. After lunch we headed over to the Rec Center for our kickoff meeting of the Stoneybrook Jam. Happy to report that those that showed up (Alan on 12 string acoustic, Laurie on guitar, Linda, Rich and I on ukulele and Ray representing Kay to gather information - he plays accordion, but currently has tendonitis) are talented and committed to this endeavor. We decided to meet on Wednesdays from 2-4pm, but will each submit our choice of 4 songs so that we can brush up if need be. Probably will be doing 50’s and 60’s music as we are all of a certain genre.
Kristin from the Activity Committee was there to greet us and see if we needed anything. She will put this event on the monthly newsletter calendar. There are over a thousand homes in this community, so I’m sure we can reach more interested musicians than I could with Facebook and word of mouth. She also showed me and app called TeamReach which is a great way to communicate with each other.
January 29, 2026 - Thursday
Dropped to 35 degrees today and there was literally frost on the grass. I did not walk today, not as much about the cold as it was that I wouldn’t have time. Today was the first day of a 2-day ukulele mini-fest at the Lakewood Ranch Library, where workshops, bring your own lunch and performances were on the agenda. Raffle tickets were sold and hand crafted jewelry was for sale.
I bought these hand drawn wooden earrings.
Lil Rev (aka Marc Revenson) was the main attraction
- using all of these instruments…
…to teach us many new strum patterns (boom chuck, chunking, boogie, tremolo, triplet, doo woo and reggae) to a group of 60 in one hour and 1/2. He was a grade school teacher and college professor early in life. Then while playing his guitar, mandolin, and other instruments at a gig, someone came up to the stage and said, “Lil Rev, this was my grandfather’s instrument and no one wants it, so you can have it.” He believes that changed his life and his focus on playing, performing, teaching, writing and recording ukulele themed projects molded his new career.
He bunked at his friend’s - Ukulele Gent (aka, Greg Gent) who joined him in the concert section of the program. He sang and played Harvest Moon, while Lil Rev did magic on his mandolin. For the full experience, click on the videos in this link…
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FHP6yumo8/?
In closing, Lil Rev played a number of songs using/displaying the strums we had just learned. Then he told his life story while noodling the entire time. He had lost his first wife to cancer at age 40, leaving his young daughter Mariela without a mother. He had lost his best friend so young and was devastated. But as he stated, when hit so hard like that we can’t comprehend how things will come about, blinded by grief. As it turns out, he ran into his high school sweetheart 30 years after they parted ways right out of school. They met for coffee once, then they met again, then they met again. In the end they married and Mariela put her hands on his new brides face and said, “You are my angel.” I was crying (not sobbing) from the beginning and kept wiping my tears away. Afterwards I went up to him and explained that even at my age, finding love again is possible.
Twenty of us went to Percioco’s Italian Restaurant for a delicious dinner.
Day two is tomorrow where Rich will learn to play his uBass - stay tuned.
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