Monday, February 25, 2019

Leaving Our Neighborhood - Winterbourne (Club Continental)

As we prepare for our move to Eagle Harbor (March 18th) and as Secretary of the WPOA Board for the four years we have lived here, I sent my parting message to our neighborhood on our Facebook group page:

Thank you to all WPOA Owners who attend the WPOA Board meetings, volunteer time behind the scene to pick up litter, pull weeds, help Committees with the grounds, maintenance, pool, roads, lighting, bathrooms, signs, mailboxes, drainage and those bigger projects (like the Astor Street Wall!). The 67% who show up, contribute to the neighborhood, ensure the "architectural" visual is consistent and follow the rules, you are all so appreciated. I have lived here a very short four years and know how hard the 67% work to keep the neighborhood a very beautiful and desirable neighborhood to live in. Due to your dedication to this unique neighborhood, we were able to sell the smallest home in WPOA at full market value. We are moving to another small home community to make life easier for our little golfer and will miss the WPOA community we have grown to love. We may not have been the most active neighbors but have followed the sorrows and triumphs of many owners (happy good health to Carl and Nancy!!). The spirit and diversity was a joy to discover. We may have been silent for extended times to deal with our own life's adventures but always loved coming back, driving past the bubbling fountain, always welcomed us home. You have a very unique and precious neighborhood; we see why you all care so much. If you have been here for 30 years or 5 years, we need your voice on the Board, please come, please join. Ford has stated that this is the only neighborhood where when we drove in, he felt happy and didn't have to worry about it. You saw us through our scariest time with Ford's open heart surgery with warm meals, visits and prayers and you cheered us on as AA developed her golfing skills. I hope you will be welcoming to your new home owner and say hello to us when we see you again at the River House.

It was hard work at times, but the Owners who kept working to keep all in line, which as neighbors, volunteers, you depended on your own good will and reputation to succeed.... It's not easy. Several go beyond anything you can imagine as to working in the neighborhood. A huge thank you to Ken Bendy and his ability to make electrical, plumbing and irrigation repairs! To Rod Reston who commanded several LARGE projects, following the rules, being the Project Manager.... we could not repay these two men for their time invested in this neighborhood.
I have to be mindful that in my short time in WPOA, there were many before me who dedicated hundreds of hours setting up the committees and doing the actual work.
And to the current Officers who spend the time learning form the more senior owners, vote for the good of the neighborhood, their time is so valuable! Good luck in the future!

Sunday, February 24, 2019

U.S. Kids Golf Fernandina Beach Girls Age 12 - 14

Alyzabeth competed and won the Fernandina Beach U.S. Kids tournament today of nine girls age 12 - 14 years, 18 holes, about 5000 yards (much shorter than the NFJG). With the longer distances in NFJG, she was using her driver and then a three wood then maybe her wedges. With these U.S. Kids Golf, she plays more of her irons which has been missing since she came to the NFJG Foundation (at age 8) and Rising Girls Tournaments (at age 11).
She's been practicing her chipping and it paid off, chipping in twice from off the green. On the first hole she eagled, used her driver then used an iron and it went in for an eagle. Very nice way to start the round. In the end, she double bogeyed the last hole (GASP!!) and still ended up with a 73 and the win. Drives stayed in the fairway, good chipping and she made all the short putts, 8 feet and shorter. Making all the short putts was exactly what she should be able to do. A great round of golf! Good job for her first U.S. Kids Golf local tournament played since she was 8 years old!
Oops! She wore her NFJG cap - we still love NFJG, just going to mix it up this Spring and Summer. Winner, Winner Salmon Dinner!

The group of girls, nine total competed.
Scores:
AA waiting after her round:
Ms. Penny was the first to call and congratulate AA, special encouragement from her is always appreciated! Well done AA!

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Jesse's Birthday Party at Leaa/Jesse's Home

We enjoyed a short visit during Jesse's birthday party (and for Erica). Since we had house showings daily, we had to bring Ginger everywhere we went. So we visited while Ginger stayed in the car. She would have gone berserk in their yard with so many people to meet and jump on!! 
I took just two photos and they were good ones. Dylan and AA were playing with some pet crabs! Then when Grandpa Carl showed up, Dylan gave him a big hug!

Dylan hugging Carl, with AA, Mila and Avery:
Beautiful weather, plenty of food. Leaa always throws a good party!

Saturday, February 16, 2019

River House Saturday Visit

We met Hugh and Maureen's daughter Erin on Saturday evening. We were a bit frazzled as I worked and with two house showings, Ford was on edge too. We did sign a contract on our home which was offer #2. Offer #1 didn't accept our final counter offer.
Any picture we have taken at the river house does not come out well due to the very low lighting. This is the best we could do (Trish took our group photo).
Kathy, Erin, her Dad Hugh, Mom Maureen, Penny in front, then Ford and myself with AA behind me:

The color is different as I tried to lighten and define the picture, maybe better, maybe not! 
It was good to meet Erin, you could pick her out of a crowd as she resembles her parents!

Monday, February 11, 2019

Chinese New Year 2019 Year of the Pig!

We have not done much for Chinese New Year as AA doesn't want to send in gifts to her classmates or draw attention to her heritage. We did buy fortune cookies and decorated a little, all the red gets diluted with Valentine's Day stuff. We are entering her in fewer long distance tournaments, so she will be prepared for the tournaments that are age appropriate distances. So no golf tournament today! We didn't invite anyone to come with us, Carolyn had to work and the rest of the family's interest has dwindled along with ours. Who knows what the future will bring. Hopefully a trip to China 2019/2020.
We sat with a new family we did not know, enjoyed chatting with the Dad and Grandfather. We handed out a few red envelopes to the younger children.
The food was fine and it was a much "faster" program with only one dance group and teens doing the master of ceremonies. We won one basket of books. The lion dance did not start as planned, we waited about 15 minutes then decided to leave.
Here's our official CNY photo:

Waiting for the Lion dance to begin:
Adding her birth city to the map. She was the only one from Nachuang/Chongqing this year.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

January 28th - February 10th

Time slips by me, working full time and barely staying awake in the evenings, I haven't accomplished much. We have been stressing over selling our home as we put a "first right of refusal" contract on a FSBO home on Players Club Drive. Lots to do as we need to move out our "stuff" in order to show our home. We could lose this home and on top of everything, we haven't figured out to do this process so asked our agent about helping with the FSBO, which we have now figured out was not what we should have done. Hopefully all will work out, we are taking that chance with a moving truck on Monday morning to move our excess indoor and outdoor furniture and all our boxes from the garage. Photographer will be taking photos so the listing should be active on the 12th.
Last week consisted of gorgeous weather after a full week (and two weekends) of COLD, WET weather. It was sunny in the 80's.
My weekend routine is cleaning, picking up and cooking; with cooking bacon always at the top of my list.

Made my favorite red beans and rice again:
Saturday, 02/02/19, we tried the new restaurant, Orange Park Oyster House with Kenny and Pam:
Everyone loved the food, but my scallops were obviously soaked in a salty brine which made them almost inedible. Ford had the half dozen oysters which AA seemed to enjoy too. AA ordered the fried oysters but they brought her fried shrimp. After the mix up was straightened out, we ended up with the extra plate of fried shrimp. The wine was a bit expensive for "keg" house brand. The place is small so very noisy, crowded. Not sure when we would go again. Good to see Kenny and Pam!
AA does not have Robotics after school for a few weeks, so have been golfing after school, running errands, still has math club and Mr. Story after school. Getting ready to list our home will occupy us for the next week.

NFJG Trophys!

As I catch up on blogging, we are at the point of moving much "stuff" from our home in order to be prepared for the possibility of  buying a home in Eagle Harbor.
A while ago, Director Jack (NFJG.org) asked AA to have a picture taken with all her NFJG trophys. Since we are packing up our "stuff", this is a good time to do that. She has won 73 items: 28 trophy's and 45 medals over the course of playing three full seasons and a few when she was seven - her first tournament was 06/11/2014 - scored a 61 for nine holes! 

Trophys and more trophys!
POY Posters:
First tournament medal 2nd place - Dr. Gordon Ira Classic at Hyde Park. AA's 2014 first partial season (she was still playing the U.S. Kids tournaments):
POS
PLAYER
TOTAL
THRU
1
+21
9
2
+47
9
3
+60

Date
Course
Score
07/21/2014
62
07/15/2014
58
07/14/2014
61
06/23/2014
71
06/12/2014
58
06/11/2014
61
45 medals:
I found her 2015 tournament results:
Date
Course
Score
07/14/2015
47
07/13/2015
49
05/17/2015
47
05/03/2015
Orange Park Open - Round 2
53
05/02/2015
Orange Park Open - Round 1
48
03/01/2015
55
10/26/2014
King and Bear Open - Round 2
61
10/25/2014
King and Bear Open - Round 1
65

AA went on to play 27 tournaments in 2015-2016 year. We are now changing again, putting her back to the yardages that is appropriate for her age, rather than playing the longer distance which don't give her alot of practice with her irons. Will listen to the advice of her Coach and mentors, hoping we are doing the right thing for her advancement of golfing skills and keep it interesting and fun. Much is changing, she is preparing for 7th grade - we are amazed how quickly the time flies by!

Sunday, February 03, 2019

Sole Open! NFJG Fleming Island Golf Club

Another cold wet day! AA made it through the rough weather and was awarded Rising Girls winner by Kevin Glynn:

Winner!
Scores:
From Director Jack's Report:
Rain, Rain, Rain! I don't know about you, but I'm about tired of the rain and cold weather. Come on Florida! Warm up and dry out.
It was nice to be back at The Golf Club at Fleming Island for the "Sole Open", but once again the weather-person got it wrong as we were greeted with rain instead of the sunshine promised. What-ta you going to do? Just play golf as rain is just an element of the game that our junior players need to experience. Unfortunately the rain made for a much longer day than planned on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Rising Tour Girls Division had a rough go of it this week, but none the less the players forged forward to get the job done. As we all know someone will be declared the Champion and this week battling it out with the weather and on a little longer and tougher course for the ladies was Alyzabeth Morgan who only had one par on the day, but in the rain bogeys are king. Morgan’s score of 98 was good enough to take the championship home as she edge out Jacksonville’s Emma Wells (101) by three strokes. St. John’s Shanya Arasu would be our Third Place Winner this week with a score of 105.