We’ve pulled out of our cozy little parking spot and are parking overnight in the school parking lot, ready for an early start tomorrow. I know I say this every time we wrap up a project, but WHERE DID THE MONTH GO! Not only was this a very worthwhile project, it was also located (as I am sure you’ve noticed from previous posts) in a very beautiful spot – the Florida Keys. Plus we were working with a great crew. There were four SOWER couples, two independent couples, a SOA couple (SOWERs who sign up for a longer period of time and usually work a specific job), and a retired SOWER couple who are now on staff at the school and live here full time. We worked hard, and we played hard too!
Here are some of the “work hard” highlights -
We ladies started in the elementary school kitchen. They currently don’t serve lunches here, so the kitchen is used for lots of odds and ends. Which basically means that no one is in charge and it only gets a lick and a promise in the cleaning department. Well, when a group of SOWER ladies descend on a kitchen that is in need of cleaning and organizing, it doesn’t take too long before this

looks like this -

While two of the ladies worked in the school (tutoring and handling recess to give the teachers a break), the rest of us worked on landscaping chores

Painting the youth pastor’s office
Before-

and after -

cleaning and painting the bathroom in the shop (no pictures of this, but trust me, there was scrubbing involved), painting the floor in the concession stand,

and more landscaping.
I worked mostly with Marlene, and we had a grand time! It’s such a special delight when God surprises you with a kindred spirit on the project. But I digress…..
The men also kept busy. There was a major remodeling going on down at the church that the two independents and SOA were focused on, leaving the four “regular” SOWERs with quite a variety of jobs.
Like getting the baseball field ready -


(let me tell you, this was a little outside of Gary’s comfort zone!)
Hauling stuff from the school to the church or vice versa….

or helping out with the renovations over at the church -

The guys accomplished a long list of maintenance chores but since none of them carry a camera, it’s hard to document what they actually do! But I did catch this shot -

Not sure just what they are doing, but it sure does seem to take a bunch of ‘em to get it done! (Please note that Gary is NOT on that ladder!)
But as you know, it’s not all work.
And this project did seem to have an extra measure of “play”.
There was the pool across the street -

We didn’t get there all that often, but when we did it was a delight. And if it was too cold to swim, we just enjoyed watching the kite surfers or the birds or the boats.
There was the kayaking

the bike rides

meals eaten with friends

and the general joy at exploring all of the interesting areas nearby.

But I haven’t even told you about our deep sea fishing adventure – where Gary never even got off the bench (despite several doses of dramamine), and I (despite feeding the fish a couple of times) even caught a couple of grunts.


Gary stayed on that bench most of the trip. He would occasionally get up to bait my hook, bless his heart.

And we DID make it all the way to Key West and the “Southernmost Point in the Continental USA” -

It was a spectacular day – beautiful weather, great friends, and interesting things to see and do.
The streets -

The sights

The houses

The Disney Cruise Ship

Gary kissing Marilyn Monroe


Like I said, it was a grand day with a grand finish -

Tonight, as a grand finale, all 18 of us (well, the 16 of us and the host and his wife) went to a dockside restaurant for dinner. And while I don’t have any pictures us fellowshipping with one another, I do have a couple of shots of Gordon feeding the HUGE tarpon that congregate under the dock (waiting for folks like Gordon to buy a bucket of fish to feed them…..)




(What you can’t see in these pictures is Gary chasing off the pelicans with a big pole. They were pretty darn interested in those little fish,too!)

Let me say it again – THIS WAS A GREAT PROJECT! The folks we worked with are such good sports that they even let me take a kissing group picture!

We will certainly be taking both the ministry here and the folks that have become dear friends with us in our hearts and prayers.

PS – As you can imagine, I have a couple more pictures than I posted here. (Shocking, I know) Click on the links if you’d like to see more of our adventures – both at work and play!
Islamorada SOWER Stuff (like working and eating together!)
Deep Sea Fishing
Feeding the Hungry Tarpon
Our Key West Day Trip
And of course, the WHOLE SET of Pictures of our time in the Keys can be found HERE.

Thanks for sticking with this extra long post! It’s way past my bedtime, but we’re heading to the Everglades tomorrow on our way to Ft. Myers and I knew I needed to get this “wrap up” post done. Just warning that there may be alligator pictures in your future! I know there will be some in mine.
Sweet dreams!

that gardening is not one of my favorite things. I don’t especially like the prickly, itchy sweat that usually happens, I don’t really like getting my hands dirty, and I’ve never felt like I really knew what I was doing. On my SOWER skill sheet (we fill them in every year), I give “landscaping” a 1. Which in Sower-speak means I “Do not have experience in this area, but am will to help someone doing a project including these skills”. (They don’t have a skill level for – “I just plain don’t like to do this”. That’s a good thing, I’m sure!) So of course, in God’s providence, there has been plenty of “landscaping” (weeding, trimming, clean-up) to do here at Island Christian School. My trusty partner in gardening crime, Marlene, and I have been tackling some of the front gardens this week, and I confess that while I’ve gotten hot and sweaty and even a little rashy at times, it’s been fun. Today was especially a treat.
First of all I got to drive a golf cart.

Always fun.
Even though neither Marlene or I had any experience with this particular type of shrub, we jumped right in, snipping away and trying to make the whole bed just a little more manageable.


But this hedge of whatever it was held a very special treat -

Can you see it? I had just climbed out from back by the fence when I turned around and saw that this little fellow had been keeping me company.

His tail reaches to the bottom of the picture!



“Do you like my ruffles? It’s the latest in Iguana Wear.”

“Will you be finished soon? You’re kind of in my space.”

“Well??????”
We left him/her to dump our load of debris and take our morning break, but when we returned he/she was still there. Just trying to be one with the tree, it seems.

Looks like next year I might have to “up” my skill rating on Landscaping to a “2″ – “Have done this type of job in the past but will need supervision and/or instruction.”
Who says you can’t teach an old dog a new trick!

Have I mentioned before how many boats there are down here? I suppose that since a major draw of the Florida Keys is fishing (both commercial and sport) and snorkeling/scuba diving and, well, boating in general, I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, it does consist of over 1700 islands and it does have incredibly beautiful weather that happens most every day in the winter months.
We checked out some boat neighborhoods at a local Marina.
And just like neighborhoods all over the country, there are different “flavors” of neighborhoods -
A little on the upscale side -

And a little on the more down to earth side-

Why, they even brought the four-legged family along!

There are lots of sailboats -
v

(I love my zoom!)
and there are even some pink Cadillacs (moored next to pirate ships)!

But boats aren’t the only signs of the islands
There are interesting mailboxes



and hardware stores like nowhere else!

Let’s face it, when you’re in the Keys, you just never know what you might run into next!


Yikes!
Take a deep breath – and think instead on this…..

Ahhhhhhhh………now that’s a sign of the island that we can all relate to!

It’s turned pretty cool here in the Florida Keys. Tuesday was sunny and hot – high of 80 something. Wednesday it barely broke 60 and it was cloudy and drab. Thursday was still cool – low 60′s – but the sun came out and since it seemed a shame to waste such a beautiful afternoon, my new buddy Marlene and I decided to take our cameras for a walk.
We started at the resort that is just across the street. (They allow us to use some of their amenities – very nice!). Marlene and I didn’t get very far until we were totally intrigued by a banana palm.

Did you know about that cool banana blossom? I knew that bananas grew high up in palm trees, but I never knew about that impressive blossom. After a little Internet checking I discovered the blossoms are actually a delicacy in some cultures.
I knew for sure the bees thought it was a delicacy!

But soon the ocean drew us -



What a beautiful spot.
We enjoyed watching the pelicans out on the rocks -



(And we could just hear the locals -”come on, ladies. These are just PELICANS for goodness sake!!!)
I love being a tourist!
And while the beach was pretty deserted, there were some folks out on the water working on their kite surfing techniques. Plenty of breeze for that – and I guess the wet suits took care of the temperature! Brrrrr…

I’m pretty sure that this is one activity that we won’t be getting up close and personal with.
We continued north over the bridge to the next key. While crossing the bridge, we noticed a pelican convention in the trees -


“Did you hear about those ladies over on the ocean side taking all those pictures? Such tourists!”

Ah, the risks we take in the quest for a good picture!

Across the bridge were more resorts and more fishing boats, and more beautiful pools-

Uh-oh – looks like someone besides the tourists found the pool too!

Everywhere we looked, there was more beauty -


It was a great walk! It was fun to get to know Marlene better, and as always, I love an opportunity to revel in the beauty of God’s creation.
Thanks for coming along!

PS – Guess what? There are a couple more pictures here, along with individual shots from the collages. Just in case you needed to see a couple more palm trees to cancel out all the snow that’s going on in your neighborhood!

Even before we got set up on Saturday, one of the other SOWERS (who had been at this project before) asked if anyone wanted to go kayaking. Kayaking???? On the Gulf of Mexico? Sure, that sounds like lots of fun!!! The day was perfect – sunny and calm, and the school has all the equipment, so we made plans to meet together after lunch and walk to the launch. Unfortunately, Gary had something called “chores and maintenance” to take care of, so he didn’t come, but I was excited to join the adventure. We grabbed the paddles and the lifejackets from storage and I followed the gang to the kayaks.

This should be fun!
What? Everyone else would be in a double kayak, and I (with all of my 3 hrs. of experience 6 years ago in an entirely different type of kayak) would be in a single? OooooKaaaayyyyyy.

So, you want me to get in there?

Hold it still. Please……..

OK, made it.
Now, where is it I’m supposed to go? Through these mangrove tunnels?

(sorry this is a pretty bad picture, but it’s really hard to use a camera and paddle a kayak. Where was my driver when I need him? Oh, right, back at the house doing important stuff. Sorry, honey, I shouldn’t be complaining.)
Eventually I caught up with the first kayak in a clearing before we moved out of the mangroves into the Gulf of Mexico -

My official “Steph in her Kayak” picture. Thanks, Marlene!
There it is – the Gulf of Mexico -


Wait for me – I’m coming…….

Such a beautiful excursion – even though I was quite the novice and spent a fair bit of time trying to catch up or getting pointed in the right direction!
Here we are headed back – and I’m just hoping someone remember what mangrove trees we came out of…

OK, so I’ll try it the other way…

(In my defense, after the adventure we talked with some of the folks from the school and they said they NEVER use the single kayaks – they sit too high and have no back support. All things I noticed, but was trying not to whine about!)
We did make it back through those amazing tunnels

and all of us decided that THIS was an excursion that needed to be repeated!

….now if I can just get my driver on board!