Back in Florida

We had a very good visit in North Carolina. We saw most of our family and some of our friends. If we didn't see you, sorry we missed you. If we did..it was great. We will be looking forward to our next visit (probably sometime next fall).
In the meantime...all are welcome to visit us where-ever we are.

Which presently once again is Florida. We left last Thursday and came on down to Daytona Beach for the weekend. I needed new lenses for my glasses and wasn't able to get them made in NC before we had to leave. So we came to Daytona Beach and ordered them from a local shop. $459.00 for new lenses. I'm using the same frame. It sucks to have "old" eyes. What a racket!!!
I learned when I saw my regular ophthalmologist that the prescription I've been living with for over a year is wrong. In Jan 07 I made the mistake of going to a optometrist's office in a certain big box store to have a quick eye check for new glasses. Big mistake. I should have gone to the ophthalmologist that I've been seeing for over 20 years. I found out I was being "over-corrected" and it is causing eye strain..which is causing daily headaches. So, I am looking forward to the new lenses next week or so. Hopefully, it will be better.

On Tuesday morning we moved to Lazydays. We needed the house worked on. It had a spider web shaped fiberglass crack on the back. We stayed at Lazydays until Friday while the repair was done. This picture shows the crack before the repair. Its a little hard to see but look right in the middle of the picture for a spider web. That is the crack. They called it a "Stress" fracture. The Lazyday body shop did a great job. We were told they ground the crack and re-fiberglassed. Then paint and polish. It looks awesome.

On the way down to Florida, we stopped at the Swan Lake and Iris Gardens in Sumter, SC. The gardens began in 1927 as a private fishing retreat for Hamilton Carr Bland, a local businessman. At the same time he was developing the 30 acres of swamp on what is now West Liberty Street, he was landscaping the grounds of his home with Japanese iris. They failed miserably, and after consulting expert horticulturists from as far away as New York, he ordered his gardener to dig up the bulbs and dump them at the swamp. The following spring, they burst into bloom. The accidental garden, referred to by Southern Living magazine a "lovely mistake," has since been developed into one of the finest botanical gardens in the United States. In 1938 Mr. A.T. Heath, Sr., deeded additional land to the city with the stipulation that Mr. Bland develop this part of the gardens. Today, the Heath Gardens encompass most of the park's 120 acres. Mr. Bland deeded the Bland Gardens to the city in 1949. The two gardens are joined by the McDuffie Overpass, a gift to the city from the McDuffie family in 1994.

The swans were gathered from all over the world, representing Australia, North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Originally imported by Mr. Bland in the late 1920's, the Australian Black swans have been in residence the longest, and some of the birds living in the garden at present are their descendants. Other species were added over the years, with the donation of Bewick swans in 1997 by Yuasa-Exide Corporation completing the collection. Visitors are permitted to bring bread or crackers for feeding the swans, who are usually friendly. Canada geese, mallards, egrets, herons and anhingas also call the gardens home. The swans and geese were quite friendly and would walk right up to you (looking for that bread or cracker handout).