We had a quiet Christmas and New Year’s holiday, but in between the two, we headed up to St. Augustine for a couple of days.
Just prior to our trip up to St. Augustine, we picked up Penny at Polk County Animal Control and left her with Cross Paws Pet Rescue. The two pups that we believe are Penny’s had already been dropped off there and we look forward to hearing how the reunion goes. Penny 
still looked thin and still quite cautious around humans with her tail between her legs. The drive to the rescue was only 15 minutes and Penny made herself comfy in the back seat. The woman at the rescue could see she still needed some help; she looked like she was not feeling well and would be quarantined before being mixed in with other animals and reunited with her babies. Mag has been in touch with the woman and we are looking forward to our next update.
Monday the 23rd and Tuesday, Christmas Eve day, we spend a few hours each day at Lighthouse Ministries to help with food prep. Monday we prepared five large pans of green beans. Two of the pans were bound for another ministry outside of Lighthouse, the remaining three were for Lighthouse. We served the lunchtime meal also, to finish our duties that day. Tuesday, Christmas Eve day we prepared seven pans of French Toast Casserole. They were designated for a Christmas Day breakfast for the women residents and homeless. When I prepare food, I tend to be methodical, measuring ingredients, and so on. The recipe was for a small batch which, without a calculator, I was struggling. Both Mag and Chef Jodie said, “Just wing it!” That makes me anxious. Typically, I would have all the ingredients all measured and laid out, then assemble. Well, we winged in and as we were nearing the end, Jodie says, “Did you add milk?” Ut oh! We scrambled to add in the milk, winging it, and it all came together. A few folks commented that they loved the casserole. It was a fun day and we enjoyed it. The following Friday when we were serving the lunch crowd, some of the remaining casserole was on the menu. We both got a chance to sample it and it was fine. Phew!
We returned to Lighthouse Christmas Eve to serve at the Men’s building to roughly 150 residents and homeless. It was a little chaotic but we got it done. We felt so grateful that we were able to help in some way. They featured a brief service by a local minister who also played the harp during the evening. Lighthouse does such amazing work! I had expected a larger crowd based on earlier conversations with someone at Lighthouse. We’ll, turns out I misunderstood. I had mentioned 3000 in my earlier post but that’s what they serve for Thanksgiving.
St. Augustine was a fun city to visit and has lots of history. Billed as the nation’s oldest city, it was founded in 1565 by Spanish colonists. The city center streets are very narrow, as you’d expect, with St. George St. closed to vehicle traffic, lined with may shops, restaurants, pubs, and so on. Mag was able to secure a B&B a few blocks from St. George St. which allowed us to walk all around the city and leave the truck parked. I think it would have been very difficult to drive in the city with the truck, especially this time of year, it was wall-to-wall people and vehicles. There are trolley companies which we took advantage of during our visit. You can hop-on & hop-off at any of the 22 stops which made seeing the entire area easy. We arrived Monday the 29th and after we got settled in the B&B, we headed out for a walk and lunch with our friend MaryAnn at
The Floridian; it was a great lunch. MaryAnn has family here in St. Augustine and was down for a visit staying away from the cold New England weather. There was a tornado warning but I think it was directed at those further north. My phone shows we walled 13k steps that day and Tuesday we walked 19k (includes a 2mi round trip to Winn Dixie for almond milk); we put on a lot of miles. Our final day, we rode the trolley and hopped off at Fountain of Youth. We didn’t bathe in the waters but we each bought a bottle of water to accompany our lunch, so we hope that counts. We both feel so vibrant now;) The driver of the trolley provided lots of details about the history which we enjoyed. She’s driven trolleys all over the country and was quite a character. She arrived here in October and already has her “guide schtick” down perfectly; she was a pro. Her last gig was in Bar Harbor, Maine.
During our walks, we perused many shops, visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine and it was beautiful. It’s said that St. Augustine founded the first parish in the United States and held the first Catholic Mass in 1565. The Cathedral Basilica founding dates back to the 1700s and has lots of history, as well. As you’ll see in the photos, it was wall-to-wall people along and around St. George St. We treated ourselves to a little French restaurant a couple of blocks from the B&B. The experience was amazing and we recommend La Nouvelle Bistro, if you ever get to St. Augustine. The staff was amazing, the Chef is from France and classically trained. My meal included Salade Bistrot, Soupe À L’Oignon, and Poulet Roti. Mag had Salade Lyonnaise, Daily Catch Meunière (Swordfish). For dessert, I had little blueberry torts and Mag has little pastries topped with vanilla ice cream drizzled with dark chocolate sauce. It was a fun time and so special! The trip and meal were our Christmas presents to each other.
It was an amazing display all across the city, even the B&Bs were lit up. Due to local code, no building can be taller than 2.5 stories with a Hilton Hotel stretching for a long distance, all lit up, it looked like it fit perfectly within the theme of the city. It was a very fun place to visit and we pledged to come back one day, just not during the Christmas-New Year’s holiday week.
The return to Lakeland on New Year’s Eve was unpleasant. We got stuck around Orlando, again, for about 2 hours due to a 4-vehicle wreck (crash) on I-4. Luckily, there were no serious injuries based on what I read, but next time we head in that direction, we’re going to avoid the Orlando area.
I’m sure Mag will be chasing down and update on Penny, so we’ll update everyone. We have a little more than three weeks remaining here in Lakeland before we head west to Freeport for a couple of months. We don’t have any big plans for the remaining time here but I’m sure it’ll be fun and interesting. We really enjoy our adventures but we also miss our family and friends back home.
still looked thin and still quite cautious around humans with her tail between her legs. The drive to the rescue was only 15 minutes and Penny made herself comfy in the back seat. The woman at the rescue could see she still needed some help; she looked like she was not feeling well and would be quarantined before being mixed in with other animals and reunited with her babies. Mag has been in touch with the woman and we are looking forward to our next update.
We definitely want to go to St Augustine now that we have seen and heard about it. See you soon.
Love Trice
Definitely recommend it. We will go back one day, I’m sure. Lots to see and do. XXOO