We arrived at our condo about 12:30. Temperatures were in the 80’s. Before we went inside, we were welcomed by a couple neighbors and more stopped by shortly.

The afternoon was spent “settling in.” Next year it’ll be easier if I stick to my vow to leave everything here and just travel (not move) back and forth. No more bins of clothes. No more suitcases which require a man and a boy to move. I want to travel light.

But this time, we came with a full truckload and I spent much of the day unloading and unpacking. There’s still more to be done.

I also took time to “decorate for the season.” There’s a lovely Christmas centerpiece on our coffee table, a small Christmas tree on the table by the window. I put a wreath on the door, Christmas placemats on the dining room table and lights in the window. My mom’s small ceramic tree is on the lanai, greeting visitors. There are liberal candles around the condo. It looks nice.

The condo was in good shape except for the split leaf philodendron which we always battle or it over-grows the walk-way to the front door, and a dead hybiscus behind the condo toward the golf course. The front door and lawn furniture on the lanai were covered with black mold. I scrubbed it off the door, but it will take even more elbow grease. We’ll finish cleaning, dusting and vacuuming the place tomorrow. Right now it looks great and we feel “at home.”

It’ll be cooler in a few days… much cooler, but looking ahead it looks like, in about a week, it will return to the weather which greeted us today.

Already our calendar is filling up. We have plans every night starting tomorrow night through Christmas Eve except for Monday and Tuesday. I don’t know what we’ll do after that, but we sure have a full calendar for the next week.