OLD POOL DECK GONE

We finally had our old pool deck removed this week. The contractors started to remove the cool deck yesterday and finished by midday today. They also cemented over the flower bed in the corner. Hopefully by the end of next week we'll have a new clean looking pool deck.

HOME AT LAST

Today we arrived home after what seemed the longest weekend. In addition to driving over 1100 miles, we unwrapped countless Christmas gifts left by Santa, ate more carbs (thanks to some delicous cookies, chess pies, party mix, pecan pies, cheese biscuits, and fruit cake cookies) than our body could handle, and took so many digital photos that it would have taken up 45 rolls of film.

DESERTING BRADY & JIM

Although we had a great time with Brady and Jim over Christmas, we all made our exits today. Kelly was heading to Rock Hill to spend some time with her boys, although how she packed her car we'll never know (see photo). Jim took Margaret home, and Dawn and I drove to Perry, FL, where we stayed the night in a hotel to break down the trip.

CHRISTMAS DAY

The noise from the burglar alarm last night didn't prevent Santa from leaving some presents for Michaela. Although, as the space under the tree was already taken, he had to lay them out in front of the Hi-Fi. Other gifts received worth a mention were a personalised photo journal of our time in America for Brady and Kelly (see photo), and a top, toy and unique gift for Jim.

CHRISTMAS FARE

With so many gifts under the tree to open, Brady decided that it might be better if we had the Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.

ARRIVED IN FLOWERY BRANCH

After another handful of hours on the road, we arrived at Dawn's mum's house. However, when we arrived, it looked like Santa had arrived early as there was no more room under the tree for us to put our gifts.

SET OUT FOR ATLANTA

Today we set out for Flowery Branch so we could share Christmas with Brady (Dawn's mum), Jim (Brady's husband), Kelly and Micheala and Jim's mother Margaret. This time we broke the journey down into two days and stopped the night in Macon, GA.

NOT CHRISTMAS DECORATING

We have finally started decorating the house for the new year.

Paul painted a couple of ceilings and removed the shower door in the main bathroom, while Dawn stripped the bathroom wallpaper and painted the walls and trims in the main bedroom and closet.

DCO APPRECIATION

When the board of the DCO (Dunedin Council of Organizations) heard that we are leaving Dunedin and moving back to England, they insisted that Dawn and I sit at the head table for this month's meeting. Then, during the meeting, President Pat Kennedy presented Dawn with a framed certificate for all the good work she had done above and beyond the call of duty as a director this year.

LUNCH AT SWEET TOMATOES

Today we met Marsha and Ed K, Cathy E, and Teresa D at Sweet Tomatoes on US19 in Palm Harbor for lunch. It was good to take some time out from training, and to catch up on what everyone was up to.

MARSHA & KEVIN @ THE DUNEDIN BREWERY

Tonight, with many of Marsha G's friends, we packed the Dunedin Brewery to the rafters so we could meet Kevin, her boyfriend from Scotland. Needless to say he was a hit with everyone and we couldn't be happier for Marsha and Kevin. They looked perfect for each other and need to make it happen. WE DID!

JUST SENTIMENTAL NOW UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

Today we can finally announce that we have sold Just Sentimental to our good friends Sherrie and Ron Kinkead. We actually closed on the sale last Tuesday, the 22nd, but didn't want to announce it until we had moved the embroidery machines and everything else that went with the business to their house. It's been an amazing three years for us. We've had some great experiences and met some wonderful people. We can also walk away with great pride having made two businesses successful from the ground up in something neither one of us knew the first thing about before we started.

TURKEY DAY

We enjoyed a restful day watching the 79th Macy's Parade. Dawn started on our Christmas cards, and Paul cooked the dinner. Dawn also spoke to her mother and sister on the telephone. It was just nice to be able to take it easy for a change.

POOL CAGE COMING DOWN

Today our backyard looked like a hurricane had come through. But, thankfully it was man made and was due to a couple of contractors tearing down the old pool cage. It certainly looks odd, and we can't wait for the new one to go up.

DINNER AT GRILLSMITHS WITH JACKIE

Tuesday evening we finally caught up with Jackie Yaques, who was our contact at Cintas until recently when she left for greener pastures. We enjoyed talking over old times and really enjoyed the company. A nice friend, and someone we will definately be staying in touch with.

ART HARVEST AT HIGHLAND PARK

On Sunday we took an hour off from work and had a relaxing stroll around the many stalls of paintings, photographs, sculptures and jewelry at this year's Art Harvest in Dunedin's Highland Park.

GARAGE SALE

Saturday we spent the best part of the day in our garage selling our two bikes, power tools, a couple of book cases, fryer, vacuum cleaner, books, CDs, Records, and countless stuffed bears when our neighbourhood had its annual garage sale.

9th ANNIVERSARY

Today we celebrated the 9th anniversary of the day we met at the top of the Empire State Building by having lunch at the Dunedin Marina Cafe (see picture of Dawn looking out across St Joseph's Sound), and then later on dinner at Umberto's of Long Island.

DUNEDIN GREEN MARKET

The weather was a little cooler the last few days as you can tell from Dawn in her sweater. Here she is looking around the Green Market in downtown Dunedin, which has just re-opened after its summer break.

HURRICANE WILMA

We can finally give out a sigh of relief. For the best part of a week we have been worrying like crazy that we would be in the path of Hurricane Wilma. We even packed up a load of personal belongings, and made a reservation at a hotel in Gainesville. Luckily for us all we got was some tropical force winds and some rain, and no damage or power outage. Now we're hoping that we've seen our last hurricane. Just 37 days left of the 2005 hurricane season to go!

POOL DEVELOPMENT

This week we had the City of Dunedin refuse our request for a permit to replace our pool enclosure. Apparently our existing enclosure is 9'5" from our perimeter, and it should be 10'. We had considered applying for a variance, but in the end decided to reduce the size of the new enclosure instead. Hopefully the permit application will now be approved.

GETTING OUT

This week we had the pleasure of being able to get together with one of Paul's digitizing customers (Joanne & Dick of Embroidery Works), Margie Shaner from Schiller at Joli Mons, and Cathy Eberhart at Leos.

THE KUCHELEMAS

Last night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and the warm hospitality of Marsha and Ed. Oh yea, and some entertainment laid on by Casey.

SOCIAL CALENDER

Last night we enjoyed dinner with our customer and friends from Keel Golf & Promos, John & Phyllis Courtney, at IRIS's on Patricia Avenue, in Dunedin.

CHAMBER LUNCH

This week we met with Lynn Wargo, the President/CEO of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, to discuss our future business plans. Lynn and the Chamber have been very supportive, and have been instrumental in helping us with our presence in the community over the last two and a half years.

SEASON PREMIERS

Well the Fall is here and after a summer of re-runs we can finally enjoy some new shows on TV. Here's a brief list of the some of the shows we've enjoyed this week: How I met your mother (NBC), Two and a half men (NBC), My Name is Earl (NBC), Apprentice: Martha Stewart (CBS), Apprentice: Donald Trump (CBS), Survivor: Guatemala (CBS), CSI (CBS), Cold Case (CBS), Still Standing (CBS) and Ghost Whisperer (CBS). Oh yea, we also enjoyed the finale of Rock Star- INXS (CBS) where JD Fortune was chosen as the new lead singer of INXS. Sorry ABC and FOX. None of your premiers really appealed to us. In addition to this, we've been glued to CNN watching coverage of Katrina and Rita. Last Saturday, I also watched Aston Villa versus Spurs, and today Spurs versus Fulham live on Fox Soccer Channel.

POOL UPDATE

After getting a third quote we have finally signed a contract to have our old pool enclosure replaced. We have scheduled to have the old one removed the week after Thanksgiving, and have the new one installed the second week in January.

KATRINA PHOTO

We have reveived several photos from our customer who lives in St Bernard's Parish outside New Orleans. This is a shot from inside his house, and a scene that tens of thousands are faced in the coming months. It makes you appreciate what you have, and makes you realise even more how easily it can be lost.

KATRINA DONATION

Yesterday a customer of ours (TP)contacted us because 20 of them will be heading to Mississippi to take donations, etc. and wanted to see if we could embroider some t-shirts. Not only did we do the shirts, but we also donated six large boxes of t-shirts, polos, blankets, caps, etc. Best of all were 48 of our speciality bears for the homeless children. We had already donated some cash to the BushClintonKatrina Fund, but were more than happy to donate some things that would help those in need straight away. Here is a photo of the bears that will be heading to the gulf later this week.

POOL ENCLOSURE

Yesterday we got a second quote to pull down our 30year+ pool enclosure and replace it with a new one. We were originally only going to replace the faulty guttering, but decided it would be more cost effective to do the whole thing. Needless to say we're now looking at a bill in the region of $7000+. At least it will make the house more appealing when we get around to selling it.

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS

Today we registered a new domain for personal use. At the moment we will only be using it for personal emails. But, down the road we will probably use it for hosting a personal website. The new email address by the way is: pdw96@kluwa.com

GREAT NEWS FROM NEW ORLEANS

Today we got an email from a our customer, Louis & Becky Johnston of EU, to let us know that they were safe and sound with their two little girls in Paterson, LA.

They were also just reunited with Louis' dad and brother who had just been rescued after spending 7 days on a boat with 5 others that they themselves had rescued from their flooded homes.

Although they did have some bad news. Yesterday they were told that they will never be able return to to their home again, even for possessions, and that it will probably be bulldozed. In all they lost their home, a vehicle, and all their possesions. However, the he did say that his whole family is safe and that in itself was a huge blessing.

Tiny's trip to the vet

Today we had to take Tiny to the vet for a blood test. She was not a happy camper, but was really good. Now that we're home she seems a little upset with us. But as always she will be back to normal within a few hours, hopefully.

The Embroiderers

Here we are in front of our new Happy embroidery machine last Christmas.

Notes from Dunedin

Hi,

As you all know, living here in Florida means that we are sometimes out of sync with family and friends living back home in the UK. We have therefore decided to maintain a blog so that you can now keep track of what we have been up to. We can assure you that over the coming months, things are definitely going to be happening on this side of the pond.

Pdw96