Rambling Doves: Twelve Oaks Days

We are half way through our time in Florida already! Each week begins, the days fill and are gone almost before we know it.

We have settled in to our life at Twelve Oaks RV Resort. We have the awning out now shading us from the heat of the sun and giving some shelter when the afternoon rain showers come. The potted herb garden Abe created for me has grown noticeably and we have used both the garlic chives and the basil already. Across the street one neighbour has moved on and the lake is now visible from our patio. There is a pleasant little deck on the waters edge where we can sit if we have the time. From there we can see the lilies floating on the surface in great rafts and the water hyacinth adding colour to the shoreline. The old Live Oak trees around us are festooned with long Spanish moss. The cement decks around the swimming pool are baking in the heat of 96 F. (35 C.) afternoons. The water has warmed so that an afternoon swim is a pleasure.

Both Dan and I have had numerous lunches and dinners with friends. I have stopped in to the office and caught up with my old team there. Dan met up with some of his video-making friends. We have both gone out with the Chinese cooking class alumni. We spend time with our friends Abe and Frances. Going out with them in groups or on our own. Often just enjoying their home and garden.

We had a nice day with our old neighbours, Dave and Kathy. They are still trying to fill us up! Kathy’s parents live on an adjoining property and between the two cooks we had a marvelous Sunday dinner. We enjoyed walking the familiar garden and talked all day. When we were leaving Jeff, who lives across the street, came out and recognized Dan in his white socks and sandals. “White Socks! Is that White Socks????” We continued our neighbourhood visit in the driveway.

It was sad to hear the old Mount Plymouth golf course has closed. It was built in 1923 and was once part of a well known resort hotel property. Al Capone was reputed to have played there. Pieces of the marvelous gardens can still be recognized in the overgrown areas of the village. The golf course wound through the neighbourhood unfenced and added to the beauty of the place. Now, while some locals are maintaining the course nearest to their homes, some of the greens are going untended.

We were invited to Doyle and May’s to pick Jaboticaba - “Brazilian Grapes”. It is a fruit that grows directly on the trunk and branches of the tree. We managed to fill our buckets in no time! That gave us time for a nice visit with this wonderful couple. Once home again, I made a batch of jelly from the fruit and had enough left for two pies. As an experiment, I used an old Concord Grape pie recipe from the 1930’s and substituted the jaboticaba. It made a very tart and tasty pie.

I had a “pie making” weekend! Glennys and Steve were having a barbeque for 20 or more on Saturday and I took an apple pie for Steve. What an event! In the heat of a Florida day, Steve was manning a professional “Hog Cooker” trailer parked in his front driveway. He had ribs, chicken, sausages and potatoes all on the go in the huge tank. Glennys had all the “sides” under control in their magnificent new kitchen. A number of people brought desserts. What a feast! With all the tables laid out on the expanded deck the groups were able to mix and mingle with no difficulty. It was a perfect Florida evening cooled by the breeze off of Little Lake Harris.

Sunday we planned a corned beef and cabbage dinner with Abe and Frances. For that I made the experimental Jaboticaba pie. Abe has huge cabbages and interestingly shaped carrots coming out of his garden at this time of year. He also grew “Indian Tooth” corn that a neighbour milled for him. Using that cornmeal, Frances made cornbread baked in a skillet just as her mother had done. Dinner preparation was put on hold while we went and had a visit and a glass of wine with said neighbours. Retirement makes days so flexible!

Monday was one more jaboticaba pie for the tasting table at the Topical Tree Fruits Club of Central Florida meeting at Leu Gardens. We have managed to fit two club meetings into our visit which gave us the opportunity to visit with still more friends. There were other jaboticaba on the table - fresh and in a coffee cake Phyllis had made. We will be lunching with Clyde and Phyllis later this week to catch up on the goings on in their lives. Clyde is the author of “The Banana People”, a lively description of the people who worked for the United Fruit Company in Central America while he was there.

We have the occasional quiet day on our own and spent one walking the nature trail in the Wekiva Preserve just down the road from Twelve Oaks. We did not see any wildlife on this particular day though there can be Florida Black bear in the area. We did see the tunnel of a gopher turtle but missed getting a picture of the resident.

Last Friday we went out to the Space Coast to watch what may be the last lift off for the Space Shuttle Atlantis. There were a few other people who had the same idea! We packed a picnic and left home by 8:00 AM. When we got to Titusville there were already long lines to get into some parking lots. We drove through town and watched for a good spot. We decided on a private piece of empty property where the owner was making his taxes by charging $10.00 a vehicle to park on the waterfront for the day. It reminded me of the east end of Vancouver during the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition). We picked our spot and planted our chairs to save it. We each had a book to read, our picnic and our cameras. Dan and I took turns keeping the sun off with a big golf umbrella. There were interesting people in the groups around us. They were all ages from small babies in carriers to the elderly struggling across the uneven ground. Some were local and some from far away. Lift off was right on time and by 2:30 PM we were on the road home. We stayed in that spot, barely moving, for an hour and a half! We finally made it back to Twelve Oaks by 5:00 PM.