Dichotomy

The old farmer and his wife just returned home from a week in Florida. We spent the week with my snowbird parents in the condo they rent each year. The first Sunday there, we were in Sarasota church and as I looked around at a couple hundred hoary heads and realized I was one of the few people there below the age of 55, I felt very young! And yet, as the week went on and we spent our time going to buffets for breakfast and supper each day and fellowshipping and hanging out with the elderly, I started feeling old! One night after supper, we even walked the mall for exercise!
But we did enjoy meeting and fellowshipping with all of the snowbirds and eating out everyday at all of their favorite restaurants. They typically eat out mid morning for breakfast, and then just have a light snack for lunch. Then they go out for supper early so they can get the early bird specials and beat the crowds. I'm used to 3 squares a day at 6:45, noon, and 6:00, and snacks in between. So we would sneak out for fast food midday to tide us over.

We spent a lot of time walking beaches(it was too cold to swim!), including Siesta Key, Lido Key, and Long Boat Key beaches. We even picked up some nice shells!

I was very surprised to see a large concentration of Amish, Beachy Amish, and Mennonites in Sarasota. My wife didn't feel at all conspicuous with her hair up and a skirt on. Many live there, and many are snowbirds. There are several good restaurants operated and patronized by the Amish. They ride bicycles (and tricycles) around town. Their bikes all have baskets for carrying their groceries and stuff home. You really have to watch out for them if you are driving after dark. During the day, they would take the bus to the beach and walk the beach with the rest of us.

On our way home we stopped in Atlanta for church on Sunday. They have to have the narrowest sanctuary of all the A. C. Churches. There is one row of benches on each side of the narrow center aisle with each bench wide enough for two adults to sit on. For lunch they served grilled hot dogs, chili dogs, and cheesecake. We enjoyed the day of fellowship there.

At Chattanooga Tennessee, I-24 was closed for several hours because of an accident and they dumped the traffic into the downtown area without any info on detours (which seem to be non existent anyway). So we made our own detour through the hills of Tennessee, seeing territory that I have never seen before. And all the while the nice GPS lady was telling us we were on the wrong route, and we needed to make a U turn.

All in all it was a fun, relaxing trip.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
Proverbs 16:31