Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Month: December 2015

A Wonderful Christmas in The Villages

Just like in many other places of the world, Christmas had been highly anticipated in The Villages, Florida, with decorated squares, benches, golf carts and houses.

Mark and I went to a “sound and light” spectacle in one of the neighborhoods in The Villages. The Christmas light display was a riot: humorous, beautiful and very popular. Colorful lights in the yards of many different houses “danced” to the music of the local radio station. One could walk by the several displays or take a golf cart tour. Continue reading

The Villages – What’s the Story?

It is a friendly place!

I had seen a few house sits listed in an area called The Villages over the past months. Until recently, I thought it was just another town in central Florida, nothing special about it. I was wrong. This place is special, and in more than one way!

Mark and I took this two-week house and pet sitting assignment, because the ad sounded attractive and we wanted a break from the New England scene and its cold-ish weather. When we started telling people that we would be going to The Villages, the reactions were interesting and made our venture more exciting. Statements like “I didn’t know you guys played golf.” “Make sure you don’t get in trouble!” “I hear that people show their marital status and sexual desires with certain flags displayed on their golf cart.” “There is a black market for Viagra, and STDs are widespread.” “Did you know children are not allowed?” and “Watch out for those old men, they might try to steal you away from Mark!” peaked our curiosity… Continue reading

Border Hopping from State to State

On our recent road trip to Florida I thought it was a brilliant idea to take photos of the signs welcoming us into each new state, through the car window. This notion occurred to me when we approached the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” sign. I was too late to grab my camera out of my backpack on the back seat by the time we crossed the state border. Connecticut and New York had been old news as well, so I prepared for Maryland, camera in hand and turned on… There was no welcome sign! Maybe Virginia would work out?

“Maryland Veterans Memorial Highway”, instead of “Welcome to Maryland” sign

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Hitting the Road to… Florida!

It all came about rather quickly. I saw an appealing house sitting job in Florida. It was only for two weeks. Mark and I had seen more of these before and “ignored” them, because moving all our belongings and electronics for a time period of only two weeks is not ideal for us. Especially if the house sit is 1500+ miles away… But, we had not found any other attractive sitting opportunities for December yet, we could use some sunshine before our next (three month) house sit in cold Connecticut, and we needed a change of scenery. Still, it was a long drive to enjoy our favorite weather…

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Rockport, Massachusetts

Posing on T-Wharf

I am catching up on a few places that we have visited while house sitting. I guess you can call these posts “photo blogs”, since I am mainly wanting to share some sites we enjoyed on our days off. Rockport is a cute town, very close to Gloucester. It was the first time for Mark and I (so was Gloucester) to explore this little gem on the water; the day coincided with their “Harvest Fest”. Many buildings are historical, the store, cafe and restaurant fronts are attractive and the harbor area is a pleasant place to be. Continue reading

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Fisherman's memorial

A big advantage of house sitting is that you can move around the state, the country and even the world to check out new areas while performing house and pet sitting duties. The thought of immersing ourselves in these new places by staying for prolonged periods of time is one of the main reasons for Mark and me to commit to this exciting lifestyle. Continue reading

A Special Birthday in Maine

One thing can be said about my birthday this year. Well, two things actually… It was a big one: number 40! (Ouch) And, it was the coldest one I have ever experienced in my life.

My 40th celebration of walking around on this amazing planet had to be somewhat special. None of that profusely sweating, staring at pretty beaches, lounging in the shade of a palm tree or futilely trying to find a decent restaurant for dinner, as was the case in previous years. Continue reading

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