Living Our Dream

Market of Marion

Bushnell, FL - Events of Friday, December 7, 2012 to Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Market of Marion is a flea market located in Belleview, FL a few miles north of The Villages, which in turn is located about 20 miles north of where we are staying in Bushnell.

The Market of Marion is one of two flea markets we usually go to while we staying at Blueberry Hill for the winter. The Market of Marion is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The second market, the Webster Flea Market (open Mondays), is much larger. In fact, it is so big, it is almost overwhelming. Not only that, but parking is easier and a lot closer at Marion. Therefore, we sometimes don't make it to Webster, but we usually go to the Market of Marion more than once over the winter. We headed there on Friday.

Main entrance at the Market of Marion

View down the main aisle

The flea market usually has a nice selection of produce. On this stop, we got some asparagus and a couple of tomatoes. We were tired of the pink plastic grocery store tomatoes, and the ones from the market tasted great on the burgers Paul grilled a couple of days later.

Produce aisle

The Market of Marion has a vendor who has a large selection of good quality reading glasses and knock-off sunglasses. Last year, Paul needed to replace his pair of reading glasses that got paint on them. This year, Margery wanted to try to find reading glasses following her cataract surgery. She can see fairly well to use the computer and for normal reading without glasses, but she has trouble reading very fine print in low light. This is common for the type of lens implants she chose.

Margery checking out reading glasses

Margery only needed a very low power glasses (+1.00, which is the lowest magnification they had) to enable her to read fine print. We both also got new sunglasses.

We had a couple of other stops to make in the area of The Villages after we visited the Market of Marion. By the time we finished those, it was about 1:30, and we were starved. It was certainly no coincidence we finished up our errands very close to OakWood Grill. Our plan all along was to stop there for a late lunch on our way back to the motor home. OakWood Grill has some of the best smoked meats we have ever had. They have turkey, beef, pork and sausage. We have never had the sausage, but the other meats have a nice smoky flavor without the smoke being overwhelming. The meats also are nice and moist and tender.

OakWood Grill

There is a lunch special M-F available until 4:00 p.m. that consists of a pork, beef or turkey sandwich with one side and a drink for $7.50. Margery had the beef sandwich and onion rings ($1.25 extra). The beef sandwich also includes au jus for dipping. Paul had his favorite - the smoked turkey lunch plate that includes two sides for $8. He had lima beans and cole slaw with his turkey.

Beef sandwich lunch special and turkey lunch plate

Everything was delish! The turkey is so flavorful and moist, Paul doesn't even add any barbecue sauce to it. We definitely will be going back to OakWood numerous times over the winter. We also love their ribs, and they have a full rack at a special price all day every Sunday through Wednesday.

With our bellies full, we headed back to the motor home after making a quick stop at the Walmart in The Villages on the way. We needed to pick up a couple of items the Walmart next door to Blueberry Hill was out of.

We hung out around the motor home Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We took a couple of walks, and we relaxed. Our friends, Pat and Mike, who are full-timers and who are originally from our old home town of Pittsburgh, pulled into Blueberry Hill on Sunday. Although they left Summerdale a few days ahead of us, they arrived at Blueberry Hill several days after us because they made stops farther north in Florida and in Sarasota on the way.

We made a Walmart run on Tuesday and then relaxed around the rig for the rest of the day. We went to the Sam's Club near The Villages on Wednesday to pick up a few items.

On Thursday, we decided to go to Coyote Rojo for lupper. Coyote Rojo is a Mexican restaurant across the main road from Blueberry Hill.

Paul in front of Coyote Rojo

We started off our meal with the traditional complimentary corn chips and salsa. We like the salsa at Coyote Rojo because it has plenty of fresh cilantro in it.

Dinners range in price from under $6 to around $13. When we were there on Thursday, there was a pick-two combo special that also included rice and beans for under $6. Margery had the combo special with a shredded-beef enchilada and a chili relleno. Paul had a supreme steak burito that was filled with beef, guacamole, sour cream, rice, beans and lettuce and was covered with cheese sauce. Every thing was yummy!

Supreme burito (left) and chile relleno/enchilada combo

Margery with her two-item combo dinner

After we left the restaurant, we headed back to the motor home for an evening of TV. We'll have a Christmas report coming up soon. Stay tuned.

Still Hangin' Around

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, November 16 to Sunday, November 18, 2012

On Friday, Margery had her one-week follow-up appointment after her first cataract surgery. The eye had healed well, and there is no longer any danger of infection. The few restrictions that Margery had following the surgery have now been lifted.

However, when Dr. Friman checked Margery's vision in the eye that had the surgery, it was better than before the surgery, but not quite as good as it was when he checked it the day after the surgery. Margery's vision continued to improve for several days following the surgery, then seemed to deteriorate a little. She thought it was just eye fatigue caused by having the vision in one corrected and the vision in the other eye still uncorrected.

Dr. Friman said it is relatively rare, but the new lens can sometimes end up a slightly different position within the eye than intended because the implanted lens is much thinner than the natural lens. In Margery's case, the lens is a fraction of a millimeter too far forward making her slightly nearsighted. It's not a big deal, but it means she may need glasses for distance vision even though she went with the more expensive multi-focal lens implant to try to avoid having to wear glasses.

Margery's checkup at the ophthalmologist was at 1:00 PM so we couldn't go to Panini Pete's for beignets as we had done before, so we did the next best thing - we went to Panini Pete's for a late lunch. This time we had made arrangements to meet Pat and Mike there. The air was cool, and it was breezy so we ate inside.

Paul, Margery, Pat and Mike

Pat had a muffaleta panino, Mike had a burger, Margery had our favorite turkey panino, and Paul had a roast beef panino. Everything was delish.

Roast beef panino

Fairhope has a nice park along Mobile Bay so we drove down to look around before we headed back to Rainbow Plantation. The wind had died down somewhat, so we decided to take a walk on the Municipal Pier.

View of the Fairhope Municipal Pier

The pier was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It was rebuilt and reopened in November, 2006. The pier has a restaurant about halfway out and a small marina.

Fairhope Municipal Marina

The park also has a beach and picnic area along the shore as well as a nice fountain and rose garden.

Fountain at Fairhope Municipal Pier

After our walk on the pier, we headed back to Rainbow Plantation. We took the scenic route along the bay so we could gawk at the expensive bay front homes.

On Saturday morning, we did our weekly cleaning chores. After lunch, we picked up Pat and Mike and headed south of Foley to Billy's Seafood in Bon Secour to get some fresh shrimp.

Billy's Seafood

Margery with the large selection of shrimp at Billy's

The picturesque shrimp boats tied up at the dock near Billy's have a lot of character.

Shrimp boat

After watching the last NASCAR race of the season on Sunday (Jeff Gordon #24 won the race, and Brad Keselowski #2 won the overall championship), we had the shrimp for dinner cooked our favorite way - sauteed in a little oil with garlic and Old Bay seasoning. Margery de-glazes the pan at the end with some white wine. The shrimp were delicious dipped in melted butter.

We have a new restaurant to squeeze in before Margery's second cataract surgery. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.

Hangin' Around Summerdale

Summerdale, AL - Events of Saturday, November 17 to Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The vision in Margery's right eye continues to improve following her cataract surgery. The only problem is the vision in the corrected eye is out of focus if she wears glasses, and the vision in the other eye is out of focus if she doesn't wear glasses. Paul took one lens out of her glasses, but that didn't work as well as we had hoped. Margery is coping with the difference in focus and is able to see well enough to read her Kindle by enlarging the print and to use the computer by zooming the screen in.

We spent the weekend mostly hangin' out around the motor home. We did our cleaning chores on Saturday morning and relaxed in the afternoon. After church on Sunday, we watched the NASCAR race.

Monday was a rainy day with falling temperatures and wind, so we hung around the motor home again and watched a travel video and a movie we had recorded on our DVR. In the evening, we watched more TV including parts of the Steeler game. The Steelers pulled out a 16-13 overtime win over the Chiefs, but Big Ben Roethlesburger left the game with what initially appeared to be a sprained throwing shoulder. That is serious enough; but, unfortunately, it turned out there is also a much more serious injury to one of Ben's ribs. The rib, if injured further, could end up pressing against or puncturing Ben's aorta - a condition which could prove to be fatal. We're not sure what Ben's absence will mean for the remainder of the Steeler's season, but we wish him a full and speedy recovery.

Tuesday was sunny, but cool and quite windy. The weather wasn't very condusive to doing anything outdoors, but we were tired just hanging around so we made arrangements with Pat and Mike to go see the new James Bond movie "Skyfall." We don't go to the theater to see movies often, but it is fun to see a good action movie on the big screen once in a while. "Skyfall" is doing well at the box office for good reason. It is excellent - plenty of action, a good plot and a surprise at the end. If you like Bond movies, don't miss it.

On Wednesday, it was still cool, but the wind had died down a little so we went for a walk around Rainbow Plantation in the late morning. As we mentioned, Rainbow Plantation has co-op sites and deeded lots in addition to the campground. There are three main roads that traverse the deeded lots, and that's where we usually do our walking.

Walking around Rainbow Plantation

The deeded lots have been developed to include anything from plain RV lots to nice homes with everything in between.

Lot with RV shelter

RV port home

Manufactured home

Site-built brick home

As far as we can tell, every one of the lots has at least one RV hookup, and many have several. Some owners installed multiple hookups so friends can stay with them or so they can do private RV site rentals by the month or by the season to help defray costs.

We mentioned in a previous post that we wanted to introduce Pat and Mike to some of our favorite places in the area, so we all headed to the Shrimp Basket in Foley on Wednesday afternoon for lupper. 

Wednesday happens to be the day for all you can eat popcorn shrimp, so that's what Pat and Mike had. Paul and Margery split a basket of regular fried shrimp and a basket of fried clams. The food was great as was the company.

Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul at the Shrimp Basket

We chatted a while after we ate, then headed back to Rainbow Plantation. While we were gone, Lu and Larry, who are followers of our blog, had sent us an e-mail to let us know they had arrived at Rainbow Plantation and happened to be located in the site right next to us. Since we had never met in person, we went over to their rig to introduce ourselves.

Back at our own rig, we relaxed for the rest of the evening. Margery has a couple more follow-up visits with the ophthalmologist, and we have the surgery scheduled for her other eye on November 20. We'll have an update later next week on the surgery and on what else we are up to.

Cataract Surgery

Summerdale, AL - Events of Tuesday, November 6 to Friday, November 8, 2012

Margery's first cataract surgery was scheduled for Thursday, and we didn't plan anything for the earlier part of the week except to meet our blogger/RVing friends, Darrell and Judy, for lupper on Tuesday. Darrell and Judy have a co-op site at Rainbow Plantation. We picked them up around 3:00 and headed out to L.A. Barbeque. The last time we went it was just the two of us, and we had pork barbecue lunch plates; but this time, since we went a little later, we all had pork dinner plates. The pork lunch plates are $6 and include two sides. Pork dinner plates are $3 more and include a half pound of meat instead of the quarter pound that is on the lunch plate.

Chopped pork dinner plate

Paul had slaw for one of his sides and decided to try the turnip greens and cornbread for his second side. It was the first time he has ever had turnip greens, and they were pretty good. They were a lot like steamed, chopped spinach. The cornbread was OK, but it was a little dry.

There were lots of cars pulling up to the drive through window while we were there, but the restaurant itself wasn't very crowded. We ended up spending almost two hours chatting. RVers are known for their group get togethers, but it's always nice to have face time with another couple. 

Margery, Darrell and Judy

In an earlier post where we mentioned going to L.A. Barbeque, we promised a photo showing more of the inside since the place looks really small from the outside. You can get a little better perspective of the size from the photo above. There are 12 to 15 tables that seat up to 6 people each.

We were lazy most of Wednesday and just hung out around the motor home. Later in the afternoon, we took a walk and stopped at the dog park at Rainbow Plantation so Freeway could play.

Freeway chasing a ball

Freeway loves for you to throw balls and dog toys for him to chase. The great thing is he usually brings them back which our other dog Molly NEVER did. LOL

Freeway playing fetch

On Thursday, we had to be at the medical center by 6:45 AM for Margery's first cataract surgery. Almost everything you do in the medical realm is hurry up and wait. Margery's surgery time wasn't officially scheduled until an hour after we were told to be there. Part of the reason the medical center wants patients to report an hour early is for preparation, but most of being there early is to make sure you don't keep them waiting. In the event that they have to cancel a surgery, they want to make sure someone else is ready to take the time slot so the operating room doesn't sit idle. Nice to know the reason we had to be there early. It was a bit of an inconvenience, but efficiency is good.

The surgery went well with no complications. The vision in the eye that had the surgery was blurred, but that is normal following the surgery. It will take several days to a week for the vision to gradually clear.

By Friday morning when we went back to Dr. Friman's office for the one-day follow-up visit, the blurry vision was already beginning to improve. Dr. Friman said Margery's eye looked good. There will be a one-week followup, then Margery is all set for the surgery on her second eye on November 20.

Since we had to be out early for the Friday checkup with the ophthalmologist and since the doctor's office is near downtown Fairhope, we stopped again at Panini Pete's for beignets on our way back to the motor home. You gotta do what you gotta do! LOL

Paul squeezing lemon onto his beignets at Panini Pete's

On Thursday afternoon our friends, Pat and Mike, pulled into Rainbow Plantation. We met Pat and Mike, who were also originally from Pittsburgh, through our blog a few years ago before they became full-timers. We made plans to get together with them for a late lunch on Friday to catch up on what they have been up to all summer.

We decided on Big Daddy's Grill, which is a favorite of many of the regulars here at Rainbow Plantation.

Big Daddy's Grill

Big Daddy's is located right on the Fish River only a few minutes from the campground. The air was a little cool, but we still decided to sit outside on the deck overlooking the river.

View from Big Daddy's deck overlooking the Fish River

Mike, Pat, Margery and Paul on the deck at Big Daddy's

Big Daddy's has a nice variety of sandwiches, burgers and fried seafood baskets. Some of the sandwiches and burgers that regularly cost $8 to $10 are available as lunch specials Monday through Friday before 4:00 PM for only $6, and seafood baskets that are around $15 after 4:00 are only $9 for lunch. All sandwiches and baskets include your choice of fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries or slaw.

The guys had ½-pound burgers while the ladies had Philly cheese steak sandwiches. Everything was delish! We think we found another favorite restaurant in the area.

Half-pound burger and sweet potato fries

The air was a little cool sitting on the covered deck and Margery was the only one smart enough to bring along a sweater or jacket so we headed back to Rainbow Plantation after we finished eating to continue our conversation sitting in the sun behind our rig. When the sun went down, we headed inside to chat for a while longer.

We planned to take it easy over the weekend and relax around the motor home, but we want to introduce Pat and Mike to some of our other favorites around here next week so stay tuned.

Doctor Visits and More

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, October 25 to Sunday, November 4, 2012

Margery started her pre-surgery doctor appointments with a visit to the ophthalmologist on Friday the 25th, and all went well. We both liked Dr. Friman a lot. He is very pleasant and easy to talk to, and he seems to take a rather conservative approach when it comes to his medical practice. He agreed there was a good bit of distortion in Margery's lenses and that her vision should be greatly improved by cataract surgery.

We hung out around the motor home on Saturday. We went to church at the Church on the Eastern Shore (COTES) on Sunday morning, then in the afternoon we flipped back and forth between the Steeler game (Steelers over the Washington Red Skins 27-12) and the NASCAR race (Jimmy Johnson #48 won).

On Monday, we had to get up early to get to Margery's doctor appointment for her pre-surgery physical. Again, all went well.

Since we were only a few minutes from Panini Pete's, and since we got out of the doctor's office just in time to get to Pete's before they quit serving breakfast, we stopped for beignets. Pete's only serves breakfast until 10:30, so any time we are out early and are anywhere near Fairhope, we make a point of stopping for beignets.

Beignets are fried doughnuts smothered in powdered sugar. Café Du Monde in New Orleans is well known for its beignets, but the beignets at Panini Pete's are different. Rather than sweet, deep-fried dough, Pete's beighnets are light and airy like a cream puff except without the filling. Panini Pete's also serves their beignets with a wedge of lemon. When squeezed onto the beignets, the lemon combines with the powdered sugar to create a hint of lemonade flavor. Yum!

Beignets with lemon

We usually eat out on the patio, but Panini Pete's has a nice indoor seating section that looks like a Victorian conservatory.

Indoor seating at Panini Pete's

The morning was sunny, but it was a little chilly and breezy, so we ate inside.

Ready to enjoy our beignets

On Tuesday, we went out to the nearby Camping World to pick up a few items for the motor home. Our water filter needs to be replaced soon, and we were able to get one of those on sale. We got several replacements for the spring arms that hold our overhead cabinets doors open inside the motor home. Some of the old ones had become too weak to do their job properly. Paul installed the new arms when we got back to the motor home. What a difference! Now the doors stay all the way up by themselves and it doesn't take two hands to get something out of the cupboard.

We spent a lazy day Wednesday hanging around the motor home. Paul did a couple of small chores, and Margery took Freeway to the dog park here at Rainbow Plantation.

Thursday, Margery had her second appointment with the ophthalmologist to have measurements taken of her eyes and for him to go over all the options, cautions, and post-op care. Afterward, we made a few other stops on the way back to the motor home.

Later on Thursday afternoon, we drove down to the Shrimp Basket in Foley for lupper.

Shrimp Basket

The Shrimp Basket is another of our favorite restaurants in the area. They have 14 locations in southern Alabama and in the Florida panhandle. They serve a variety of seafood fried, steamed and grilled. Baskets and platters range in price from about $10 to $14 and include cole slaw and your choice of fries, boiled new potatoes or potato salad. Po' boys and sandwiches are $5 to $9.

Margery had a fried clam basket, and Paul had fried shrimp. We both had cole slaw and potato salad. Everything was delish.

Margery with her fried clam basket

We relaxed some more, ran a few errands, did a few chores and worked on a couple of small projects around the motor home on Friday and Saturday. After church on Sunday morning, we again flipped back and forth between the NASCAR race and the Steeler game in the afternoon. Jimmie Johnson #48 won again for the second straight week allowing him to maintain a slim lead in the overall points championship. The Steelers came from behind to defeat Eli Manning and the New York Giants 24-20.

We didn't have much planned for the next week except for meeting our friends, Darrell and Judy, for lupper one afternoon. We originally met Darrell and Judy, who have a co-op site here at Rainbow Plantation, through our respective blogs. On Thursday, we also have Margery's first cataract surgery. We'll have a quick update later in the week.