Vacation home – I will check the garage to see if Perla will fit – oh she will fit OK but Icelandic hair is not intended for Florida temps and she needs her friends to be near and she needs my friends to take care of her! So, See you on Drummond before too long, Perla.

Hey Grandkids – 2day we drove to Orlando and saw may interesting clouds – be safe but look up – it is fun!

WOW – When we arrived, in May, at the ferry to Drummond, I said, “Boy this is like going on an exciting vacwtion” — being at our home in Florida is like being on a vacation too!  Not that we are not busy – but the early morning warmth, the retired neighbors doing retirement things, you know, it is fun to see and be part of a change like this. Since I plan a return trip to Drummond soon, I get to see change three times this fall — pretty neat.

Another aspect of this week in Florida is that I have reason to get up – you know, I have real jobs to do – work with the builders convincing them to want to solve our water problem – the problem I told you about where the foundation footers are soaking up moisture and ruining our wood floors.  Then each day maintaining and “opening” up a house after 6 months away throws many challenges into the laps of Grandma and Grandpa – so guess we like to work – at lest we do work well together and laugh sometimes – do not let Grandma see this – she may not agree– OK enough on that subject – 

 Hey Grandkids – bet you have many school, after school activity, and social challenges each and every day –  says your old Grandpa to you “Practice enjoying the fun of taking each challenge on and do it with the biggest smile and the most enthusiasm you can muster up. -Oh, by the way,  you know that smile will get you a lot of help from friends, brothers/sisters, and parents”

This guy lives in a back bay of the St Johns River near where I walk/bike most days here in Florida

Back a couple blogs ago I ask you to think about how towns got their name, and all the streets with in them – next time you look at a street sign see if you can make up a story about how the powers to be came up with that name – and maybe about the names they rejected. So how did the St Jim River – oops St Jim was rejected – but it had many other names before St Johns.

Before European involvement in North America, the Timucuan Indians called the St. Johns River Welaka — or river of lakes.

In the early 1500s, Spanish seamen called the river Rio de Corrientes — or river of currents.

In 1562 — almost 50 years before the settlement in Jamestown — the French established Fort Caroline on a high bluff overlooking a river they called Riviere de Mai (River of May) because they arrived there on May 1.

In 1565, Spanish soldiers marched north from St. Augustine, captured Fort Caroline and slaughtered the French. The Spanish renamed the river San Mateo to honor the saint whose feast followed the day they captured the river.

Later, the river was renamed Rio de San Juan after a mission near its mouth named San Juan del Puerto. The English translation of the name Rio de San Juan — St. Johns River — lasted through English, Confederate and American possession of the river and remains today.

Sun set over the river St Johns. – Now you know about the name of the River named St. Johns