WAISTING AWAY IN THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY

 Well, we are in Camp Margaritaville, but it is hot and rains a lot. The weather predicts rain all afternoon and night, but they lie. It seems to rain when we get comfortable sitting outside. And did I mention it is HOT!!! We left lovely 73 degrees for 90 degrees. All the concrete also adds to the heat bouncing off the ground. It is very pretty here and very, very clean. This is a big campground, but very few people it. It's also a new campground. 

We are within 15 miles of Winter Haven and Lakeland. The first house I ever bought was built in 1972 here in Winter Haven in the Garden Grove neighborhood. I lived there for a couple of years before taking a job at the Cancer Center in Orlando. I also, had a Girl Scout troop here with 32 girls, ages 8 to 11, We had a great time.  The house I bought in 1972 and even though I moved, I rented it out until 2006 when I sold it. I couldn't manage the repairs and upkeep after moving to Tennessee. David and I decided to drive by the old house and see what condition it was in. Actually, it was in great shape, new paint, new roof. It looked like it was really being taken care of.

We also went to breakfast at a place called EGG HAVEN. The food and service there was excellent. David had corned beef hash and eggs with hashbrowns, and biscuit and I had eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and biscuit. Everything was very food and one of the best restaurant biscuits I have ever had.

The cafe was small, and on a corner and busy. But service was very fast. They were also supporters of the men in blue and first responders.  

The menu was huge, making it very hard to decide what to order.

The breakfast was so good, we even went back on Tuesday for another meal.

 You know it was a good place to eat when Sheriff Grady Judd, my favorite Polk County Sheriff ate there.

 About 6 blocks away was a yarn shop I wanted to visit, The Four Pearls. It is the home store of EMMA'S YARN. When we were in Maine last summer, I bought some Emma's yarn from a shop in Portland, Me. When researching it I found it was made and hand dyed right here in Winter Haven by a 15 yr. old girl. Here is her story.

Emma’s Yarn was started by Emma, a (then) 15 year-old homeschooled student who fell in love with dyeing yarn when learning ratios in her math lesson. Her eye for color is amazing! It wasn’t long before she started selling small batches in her parents’ yarn shop, and when that proved to be successful, moved production from her kitchen to a dye studio downtown. Her sister, Aspen, joined her after graduating college and together they built Emma's Yarn into what it is today; a wholesale company providing Local Yarn Shops with high quality, hand-dyed yarn from right here in sunny Florida. 

Today, 4 years later, we are a small team of 13 members made up of our family and close friends. With 16 different bases, over 100 crazy beautiful colorways, and new ideas pumping ALL . THE . TIME, there is no end to our fun in sight! 

Her yarn is sold all over the USA and in Japan. Her Mother has designed patterns and the people in the shop couldn't have been nicer. I ran in to another shopper from Memphis who was also overwhelmed at the amount of yarn and the number of samples in the shop.

There was so much to choose from and so many colors. I saw some fingering yarn I really liked, but they only had 5 hanks and I needed 6. So, the lady in charge of distributions & orders said, "Well let me run across the street where Emma has the dye pots and see if she has another one that matches. She ran right over and came back, and they didn't have them ready, so I chose something slightly different. It was a wonderful shop, and I came home with lots of yarn, and I know I can always order online and get what I need.

On Tuesday, after breakfast we went to buy a new Garmin for the car and a new hot spot for internet services. One of ours was very old and finally bit the dust so we are all set for the next campground on Wednesday. It won't be as nice as Margaritaville, but it will be fine.

Three nights at this campground is enough for 2 old folks, If we had kids with us there would be tons of stuff for them to do or if we were here on a weekend, it would be busier.