Red Hat Fun in Stuart, Florida

On February 24, 2022, 13 of my smaller Red Hat group called the "Hattitudes," went south from Port St. Lucie for about 10 miles to Stuart, Florida for a busy day. 

 
First we went to the Stuart Feed Supply Historical Museum.  https://stuartheritagemuseum.com/

The museum has over 10,000 artifacts from the 1880s to the 1950s.

Our guide was a local lady who made everything so, so interesting.

 

Then we took a tram for a tour of Stuart.  I had no idea there was so much history there.  Our guide was enthusiastic and shared many fascinating stories.

As an added bonus, both the museum and the tram ride were free!

Last we had lunch at Café Martier, which used to be a speakeasy in the 1920s.

It was right on the main shopping street but it was like a hidden treasure.

We went back a dark, busy hallway, wondering where in the world we were going. Such a surprise!

It was elegant and the food was delightful!

 

2014 Joan Neaman,
Nadia Spencer,
MaryMay Suter, Elsie Lilly
(Click photo for a larger version.)

Note:  Nadia Spencer, one of the organizers for this day, fell in the parking lot at Savanna Club, where we had met for carpooling.  She spent the day in the ER instead of in Stuart with us.  We were so sorry about that because it was such a delightful day.  I hear she is going with a few ladies soon.

 

What You See Isn't Always What You Get - or so I thought.....

I was shopping in Publix and saw some lovely potted flowers.  I decided that for $5.99 I would treat myself.   I chose one that was only open a teeny bit so it would last longer and I could enjoy watching it open.
 

This is what I was expecting but learned that they were grape hyacinths.  Yes, that's what Grandmother grew. OK, so I studied the tag inserted into the pot, which means I changed my expectation to the flowers on the left.

I decided that would be acceptable, especially if they had that sweet aroma.

 

However, he next day I found that the stalks had shot up and out in a spindly way but they were not opening.

I thought it must be something else, like a hybrid, or maybe they had sent the wrong plant from the greenhouse. 

I started to plan when I was going run to Publix to return it while muttering under my breath that this was NOT a hyacinth!

The following day I found out the truth because that lovely, unique aroma was filling my kitchen.

It WAS a hyacinth, a rather unusual one, but definitely a hyacinth. 

It is uplifting to see and smell God's glorious handiwork in progress.

I couldn't resist.  With a few plastic sticks and tie wraps, I pulled the blooms up and have a much more dramatic burst of color.

They're on the table beside my computer desk and have been lovely to smell.

The results haven't been what I had been expecting but the results are "lovely to look at and delightful to behold."

A Cherry on Top of Our Move to VMRC

For 9 years, I had my application in to the VMRC (Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community but it's not all Mennonite - more on that later.)  Every year the Director of Sales would call and I would tell him I wasn't ready.  The beauty of being on the waiting list was that I stayed at the top of the list.  Last summer my tune changed.  

I was ready to move!  Oh, BTW (by the way), one little fact changed - I married Gary Suter on September 19, 2020.  So instead of ME moving in, it was WE who were moving in!

December 7, 2020 was the day Gary and I moved into our 5th floor apartment in Park Gables building.  I call it our "Little Love Nest" and we are feathering it carefully.  

Now that we've been here for a little while, we're having some positive observations.

We're realizing that the friends we make here at VMRC are special because we're all here until we die.  We are now in the system and if need-be, will be transferred to the assisted living or the nursing home, even if we run out of money.

I already know more than half the people in the building.  Park Gables is five stories and  has 88 apartments.  Between the valuable friendships, the dining room elegance, and tasty food I am delighted.  

Then there is added cherry on the top!!! I learned that our monthly fee includes housekeeping!!!  At first I wondered how 1½ hours twice a month could be helpful. I quickly learned that with our small apartment, they can clean the whole place in a hour and a half.  Best of all, I don't have to change my sheets!  

I sometimes feel I've died and gone to heaven.  It was worth waiting on the list for 9 years.

One drawback:  We won't be invited to the elegant Prospective Owners' events such as picnics up on the VMRC beautiful vegetable farm.

 

p.s. At our Porch Party (more on that later) recently we learned that the Bing cherry is named after Seth Lewelling's Manchurian orchard foreman and friend, Bing.  It was cultivated in 1875 in Oregon.  BTW - Bing was  7 feet tall.

It Started at DQ

There were a few guys with Corvettes and other snappy cars around our area here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia who knew each other.  Some of them have gone on the Power Tour sponsored by HotRod Magazine.  Others are kin or are local friends.

This is the original group:  Gary and Mary Suter, Orden and Reba Harman, Galen and Susie Shank.  (Wilmer and Shirley Shank were with us but might have slept in that morning.)

Galen Shank started telling folks, mostly ones he knew from the Power Tour, that he would be at the local Dairy Queen on the outside patio on Sunday evenings.  This simple idea started with the Power Tour people but has generated some new friends who also love Corvettes.

One Sunday evening someone observed several Corvettes parked in a row and realized that all of the owners were raised in the Mennonite church.  Thus was born our whimsical name "The Mennonite Corvette Club."
 
This summer we made day trips to the Homestead near Hot Springs in VA, the Greenbrier in WV,  Canaan Valley in WV, the Peaks of Otter on the Skyline Drive, and Graves Mountain Lodge, north of Charlottesville, VA.

This photo is a treasure. It is at Graves Mountain Lodge, our largest group yet - 18.  There was a buffet filled with home-cookin' and it was a beautiful day for a ride. 

This was October 17, 2021.

We sat Mennonite style at the tables -
which means the women sit together and the men sit together.  

Anyone knows that guys want to talk about manifolds and alternators, while women like to talk about "Feelings!" EEEUUUU!!  

Galen and Susy Shank
are the instigators, errrr..., make that
initiators
of our delightful "Mennonite Corvette Club." 

Click on pic for a closer view.

Larry Martin, Marietta and Richard Barnhart, Gail Martin, Karen and Arlan Blosser, Becky and Bill May, Reba and Orden Harman, Susy and Galen Shank, Shirley and Wilmer Shank, Mary and Gary Suter, Sharon and Whit Menefee.

Here are a couple of links from past years:
What is the Power Tour?    Power Tour in 2017 Corvette

Celebrating 99 Years with a Centenarian

A Special Birthday Celebration
A Centenarian Celebrates with a Nonagenarian

 
Every Friday afternoon we have a music program in the
lounge of Park Gables, our retirement apartment building.

Above is Homer George, our friend who came to the music gathering.  (In the foreground is one of my favorite people, Betty Brunk.)

Homer was turning 99.  We had a cupcake with a candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  Then we served celebration cookies.

 Lola Chu, age 100, is wishing 

Homer George a Happy 99th Birthday. 

 

This is one of my most favorite photos ever.  I happened to be in the right place at the right time.   How many times do we have a chance to share a celebration of a gentleman's 99th birthday with a 100-year-old lady?

Homer died on January 29, 2022

Homer Lee George, 99, of Harrisonburg, Virginia died on Saturday, January 29, 2022, at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.

            Mr. George was born on September 3, 1922, in Chesterfield County, Virginia near Richmond and was the son of the late Harry William George and Ida Jane George.

            Mr. George was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois, and received a B.A. from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas. He was an ordained Baptist minister who also served as song leader at Brunswick Baptist Church, of Gary, Indiana. He pastored several churches in New York and Kansas, served as interim pastor in several churches, and also provided supply preaching in New York and Kansas as well as in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In his early years, he served for three summers as supervisor of Sunshine Acres on Long Island, New York, a Christian camp for underprivileged children. He also ministered at rescue missions in New York City and Wichita, Kansas, and following his move to Harrisonburg, at the Valley Mission in Staunton for over eighteen years. He was employed part-time at the Harrisonburg Auto Auction for over fifteen years. He was a member of Peoples Baptist Church in Penn Laird, Virginia.

            On November 30, 1945, he married the former Elizabeth Robbins Brown, to whom he was married for seventy-four years.   He is survived by a son, David Titus George of Albany, Ohio and a daughter, Priscilla Ruth George of Morganton, North Carolina.  In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by his brothers, Cecil Edward George, Clarence William George, and Harry Richard George.

            Pastor Jay Hanger will conduct a funeral service at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, at Peoples Baptist Church in Penn Laird. Burial will be held privately at Briery Branch Cemetery.  The family will receive friends prior to the service at the church from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.

            In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel International (AMG), 6815 Shallowford Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421.

            Online condolences may be made to the family by visiting www.mcmullenfh.com.     

            McMullen Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Jane Pinson Was a Nurse to All

I'm having trouble with the blog program acting "squirrely" so spacing is rather strange.         (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Jane Pinson
August 7, 1943 – August 25, 2021

Jane’s voice still echoes, Her laughter still brings cheer,
Her knowledge still brings comfort, Her caring still brings hope,
Her life still inspires, Her light still shines,
And always will…

Jane and Gene Pinson moved net door to my house in Savanna Club, our retirement community, in Port St. Lucie, Florida in 2013.  They are from Harper's Ferry, which is 100 miles north of my home in Virginia.  Little did I know what good friends they would become.  

Jane was a nurse who worked in the ER in Arlington, VA.  She was a nurse through and through and she helped many people with health issues.  She was just one of those people you could always count on, in sickness and in health.

We clicked from the day we met, even though we didn't do everything together.  We did have our routines:  She rode with me on my golf cart to Craft Club and Women's Club.  I rode with Gene and Jane to all the shows in Savanna Club.  She sent me lot of meals  "just because."  I especially enjoyed her beans and cornbread!

When I was in Virginia this summer, I heard she was ill and  I was very concerned.  I'd never known Jane to be sick.  With trips in and out of the hospital and rehab, things didn't seem to get much better.  Then they discovered cancer, although they didn't know for sure where it originated.  Then, when she tested positive for Covid-19, it was a shock.  That was likely the factor that caused her death.  She left this earth to join Jesus in heaven on August 25, 2019.  Oh, how I miss her!

December 18, 2014
One of our first activities together was Golf Cart Caroling in Savanna Club.  It turned cold that evening – in the 50s so we dressed warm.  Gene drove my golf cart, his first experience driving one.  Yes, they got one for themselves later.

January 11, 2015 
Vicky Peterson, MaryMay Angelil, Jane Pinson, Norma Pennie, and Denise Calise.

I won a catered dinner at Women’s Club and had my four neighbors over to share it.  We had a great time with many laughs, aided by our tasty beverages!  That was an outstanding evening!!!!!

     


February 5, 2015
Can you imagine turning 15 women loose with hammers and nails in a small craft room?  The noise level was so high they could hear us in the lobby of the clubhouse but we were so busy that we hardly noticed.  The birdhouses were cut out.... all we had to do was nail them together, paint, and decorate them.  Right!!!!  I haven't laughed that hard in ages and that was mostly at my own ineptitude.    When Jane took hers home she was crushed because Gene told her it was pitiful!

 
December 31, 2017
This was our first New Year's together.

December 31, 2018
Gary Suter, MaryMay Angelil, Jane and Gene Pinson.  Mary had a hip replacement on December 21st.

 
January 1, 2021
Jane and Gene Pinson with MaryMay and Gary Suter  (note name change for MaryMay.)
The Covid-19 Pandemic wiped out our lives during 2020.  There was no New Year's Party so we had one in our driveway.

September 19, 2021 
The wedding day for MaryMay Angelil and Gary Suter

  

Jane happened to be in West Virginia so she came down to our wedding!  In her typical helping, "shy" fashion, she appointed herself as the photographer and she did a good job.

 
February 21, 2021  One of our first events at Savanna Club during the Covid 19 Pandemic.  We had an outdoor concert with lots of fresh air and social distancing.

April 26, 2021 
Our last outing together at Kyle G's on the Ocean in Jensen Beach, Florida.  Gene Pinson, Gary and MaryMay Suter, Denise Calise, Tony Francavilla (MaryMay's neighbor on her house.  Little did we know this would be our last time together.  Denise and Tony moved shortly thereafter and Jane went to her hearafter.

Jane Pinson was one of those angels on earth who brought such joy and caring to my life.  She was a nurse, through and through.  I will never forget her and will always miss her.

This describes Jane’s spirit and how she lived her life: 

“If you lie down at night, knowing in your heart that you made someone’s day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day.”