Father's Day Follies

We started today by searching out the nearest WELS church which happened to be Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Clearwater.  The church is only about three miles from our house and they have a parking lot that easily accommodates big trucks.  As we approached the church, a man teasingly said, "You parked just about as far away as you possibly could!"  We told him that we were new to the church and that we did not know how crowded the parking lot would get.  We learned that their lot today could hold about four times the amount of cars that actually were parked in it for services.

When we got inside, we were immediately surrounded and everyone began to introduce themselves to us. Ii have never met so many friendly people all gathered in one place!  The pastor, Steven Nuss, told us that he chose the ministry as his second career, entering the seminary when he was in his 40s.  He has been preaching for about 20 years, so you can do the math and figure he fits in well with the geriatric set down here. I liked him very much.  His sermon was easy to follow, and he has a wonderful sense of humor.  He even mixed into the sermon that they had visitors that morning from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  He is a hoot.  With the exception of a few young families and people, Rick and I were some of the youngest people in the room!  We felt very welcome, and we will try to return to Christ the Lord again.

Strangely enough, a former vicar from Messiah now has a congregation about 10 miles from our house, so we may visit that church one of these Sundays also.  He is in Holiday, FL, in a much bigger congregation.

After church we came home to pack for our four days out of the house.  We moved the majority of items to the garage, and we will finish the rest tomorrow.

Condos on the shore.  They'll buffer hurricane winds to protect our house!

For Father's Day, Rick wanted pizza, so we had a lovely little dinner together with left-overs for lunch tomorrow.  After an early dinner, we treated ourselves to a visit to one of the gulf-side parks that are numerous in Dunedin.

One park has a long pier that we walked down so we could take pictures of Dunedin from the water.

We met a man who convinced us to go visit Honeymoon Island which is a state park located a few miles from Dunedin and accessible by the Dunedin Causeway.  He said we would only have to pay $2 because the fee was half-price due to Father's Day.  When we got the the Park, the ranger said, "Fees are half-price today, so that will be $4.00."  Turns out that the fee is PER PERSON, but we paid it anyway.

 The beach at Honeymoon Island.

 

Honeymoon Island is one of the barrier islands that protects Dunedin from hurricanes.  The entire island is a state park, and it claims one of the best beaches in all of the United States.  While the island itself is an interesting study of flowers, palm trees, and native Florida wildlife (including rattlesnakes!), most people go there for the beach, and the pictures show why they are smart to do so.

Another view of Honeymoon Island Beach.

From the island you can take a ferry over to Calidisi Island which has an even more spectacular beach, but since the sun was setting and the beach was about to close, we will save that adventure for another time. This is the first time since we came down here that we actually took time to go to a beach.  If we really wanted to spend time near the water, I would require three things: a beach umbrella, lots of sunscreen, and lots of water to drink while I read my Kindle.  Maybe later... much later.

"Before" picture of dirty, dull floors in Florida Room of Gladys

Both of the girls called to wish Rick a happy Father's Day, so we enjoyed talking to them.  Tomorrow Gladys gets her floors done; my friend Rose said she is getting ready to go to the prom.  I really pray that the floors turn out well.  The contractor assured us that when we saw them again, we would say, "Wow!"  I am attaching one final picture of the Florida room as a "before" picture.  Hopefully, the "after" picture will have sunlight glistening off of the mirror finish on the floor.

I might not be able to post for a few days because we have to stay at an extended stay hotel for three days.  Experience tells us that the Internet there is rotten, so unless we got to the Library, I may not be able to log in. 

Have a good week, everyone!