Gardening

[Lisa S]

Lynz,
I just can't stand the idea that you don't have a garden if you want one! I found this web site. Maybe they've got some ideas...
http://www.built4u.com/ecgardening/tips-tricks/tips-tricks.cfm :)

[Lynzee]

How sweet you are! Thank you, my friend--I have added it to my favorites! Not being able to have a cottage garden is probably a very small sacrifice, but I just haven't quite gotten used to the idea yet. After several dismal attempts I swore I wasn't going to waste my money this year, but when I was at Home Depot the other day I just couldn't resist. Zuzu had suggested an indoor garden room, so I bought a few of my favorites and planted little container "gardens". I don't know how well they'll do--for some reason I haven't even been able to get houseplants to grow here--but I hadn't tried growing flowers inside so I thought I'd give it one more try. If it doesn't work this time, I'm going to follow my neighbor's lead and "plant" silk flowers in my garden! :)

Thanks again, Lisa.
Lynz

[Lisa S]

Indeed a small sacrifice! As I was searching for a site for you, I found beautiful pictures of your part of the country. I bet you really love it. I went on vacation to John's Pass, FL. It's also on the Gulf Coast. I had the most relaxing time of my life.

[Lynzee]

I do enjoy the beach, but it has changed so much here that I'm not sure I like it as much as I used to. Spend most days daydreaming about returning to upstate NY...

[Lisa S]

I love upstate NY. Do you think you would ever move back?

[zuzus_garden]

Lynz, you are not the only one who has trouble getting things to grow.

I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. - Richard Diran

How does your indoor garden grow?

Zuzu

[Lisa S]

I'm going to make a sign with that saying on it! I cracked up! :D

[Lynzee]

Love that, Zuzu! I could put it right next to the empty pots outside! So far, so good with the inside garden--though I have to admit, a couple of them are looking a little rough. Too much sun in the sunroom, I think. :(

I would move back to upstate NY this very minute and never look back, Lisa, but my husband says he's only making one more move--from this house to the cemetary. I really miss being there--the scenery, the seasons, the little village we lived in, my friends, my sons and their families, trips to the city, and, now that I've actually "opened up shop", my established customers! :) Hubby says everything he misses about NY is outweighed by the one thing he doesn't miss----shoveling snow! :rolleyes:

Lynz

[Lisa S]

Lynz,

Aren't you guys retired military folks?

I swore that I would never move after we bought this house, but I'm getting the 3 yr. itch that military families get. It's a sickness. On the other hand, I like it that I can make myself believe that the next great adventure is around the corner!

How long have you been in FL?

[Lynzee]

We are, indeed! Very familiar with the "itch"! Experienced it at every duty station until we moved to NY. Only place we ever really put down roots and got totally involved in and with the community. Then again, we were there longer than we were anywhere--seven years instead of his typical two year tour. Of course, four years into those seven, the Navy remembered we were there in paradise, moved us to CT, only to come back to him seven months later and say, "need you back in NY!" YeeeeeeeHa!!

I moved here a little over two years ago to live with my mom who needed around the clock care. My husband followed about a year later when he retired. I thought the plan was to go back home to NY when we were no longer needed here but, somewhere along the way, that must have changed. :confused: I'm hoping he's just impressed with his lifestyle right now--retired at 40, working per diem at a job he loves and spending his free time lazing at the beach and traveling to AL (hour trip) for grandkids' ballgames--and that he'll change his mind one day and we'll be on our way home. :D

Lynz

[Barberry Field]

Lyn,

I grew up a Navy brat! My dad was in over 20 years...we retired to Thousand Oaks California, and ended up coming back to RI (where my mom is from) I hated it at first...but really love it now...though...the older I get the more my husband and I say maybe we will move to Florida for the winter and return to RI in the spring/summer. Though I did just see a segment on 60 minutes about all of the crime in Florida...makes me a llittle nervous! What are your thoughts?

[Lynzee]

I was an Army brat! My dad did 26 years, so I have been "military" all of my life. Hubby and I were in Newport for a couple of years--loved every minute of it!

There doesn't seem to be as much crime in our area as we have seen in other places we've lived in FL (Jacksonville and Orlando). We live in an area zoned "seasonal resort" and are one of only a handful of people who live in this area year round. This past winter, a couple of the vacant cottages were broken into, but that doesn't happen often. Usually, our crime wave happens during Spring Break--underage drinking, drugs, joyriding in "borrowed" vehicles, DUI, etc. I think it all depends on where in FL--the closer to a large city, the more crime. There are small communities in FL where people don't even bother to lock their doors because crime simply isn't an issue.

Lynz

[Lisa S]

My dad was in the Marine Corps for 26 years. He was in Intelligence, so we were mostly stationed at Army and Navy bases. It's possible that the three of us have lived in the same places and gone to the same schools! I lived in D.C., Northern Virginia, Hawaii, San Francisco, San Clemente/Camp Pendleton, Baltimore, Wisconsin and Okinowa, Japan. How about you guys?

[Lynzee]

Doesn't appear that we've crossed paths, Lisa. My dad was in Austria, then DC before I was born. We lived in South Carolina, Alaska, Washington, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama (which was home for him and my mom). I actually attended second grade in three different states! All of my dad's overseas tours after we were born were in Nam (x3). Since being married...Puerto Rico, Florida (Jacksonville several times and Orlando once), Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut and New York.

Deb?

Lynz

[Lisa S]

I forgot North Carolina!

My dad was in Vietnam for the first 5 years of my life. (I'm 41 ~ ahhh!) While he was there, the rest of us lived in San Francisco. He didn't have the typical Marine duty... he went to language school and later to college... so we were almost never stationed with other Marine Corps families.

[Barberry Field]

Okay, ready for this?? My dad was in intelligence/communication..it was all secret stuff...we lived in Boston, (born there) Morrocco (sis born there) Washington State, San Diego, Florida (jacksonville & Homestead), Maryland (dad worked in DC) Hawaii (Ewa Beach, think that is the spelling) California....I think that is everywhere...sometimes I forget it all...I have NO friends from my childhood...we moved to many times...I do have friends from the 8th grade on though...tried to keep in touch with them. I am 44 so, we just might have been in the same schools! So funny! When I lived in Hawaii, I was crowned a 'princess' for the big festival that they have...King something or other...boy, it is really sad that so many things get forgotten! I do have everything written in my baby book, now I will have to go dig it out and look at everything!

It was a good experience, other than no roots until I was 13 or so...now I never want to move, we have lived in the same town, pretty much since we got married...my husband grew up in ONE house his ENTIRE life (something I always envied!) it is over 200 years old (the house! LoL) We actually built a house across the street from where he grew up...his parents are still there, his sister lives next door, and the other one lives up the street! My mom lives around the corner from me! It is great! I am glad that my kids were able to stay in one place...you do loose something either way though.

[Lisa S]

Small world, isn't it? When we lived in Japan, one of my friends parents came to pick her up. The dad commented on our unusual last name. He said that he knew someone in Turkey with the same name... turned out to be my uncle!

I wish we lived close to other family. My husband lived in the same house all of his life. His folks still live there. Unfortunately, it's in one of the most unattractive, dull towns I've ever visited ~ so we aren't moving there! My family is all spread out. It seems we all found our favorite spots along the way of our childhood and moved there as adults. My poor mom! My kids better never do that to me.

[Lynzee]

Funny...I always thought that when we retired the whole family would finally live close together and we'd be able to visit and spend holidays together. Well, we're in FL, husband's family members all live in PA, our daughter and her family live in AL, our sons and their families in NY, my brother and his family in AL...we're more spread out now than we ever were!

I know what you mean about not having roots as a child, Deb--never enough time anywhere to establish any. The only "girlhood friends" I have now are ones I met in college. Growing up mobile seems to have had the opposite effect on me though...I'm finding it extremely difficult to accept the fact that I won't be moving again. :D After all, if we moved somewhere and I hated it there, it really didn't matter. In two years, it was just going to be a bad memory anyway.

Lynz