We've been back in Florida six days, and what great days they have been. I've been staying with Amy, Paul, and their five children, and that has been wonderful in itself. Carol has been at a conference in Orlando which she is enjoying also. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, I have been teaching a Holistic Health class at Central Florida Community College. With 47 students registered, it has been a challenging and exciting class. I have felt the enthusiasm grow with each class, and most of the 47 students are coming back for every class, which I take as a good sign! We will have three more great classes next week.

In the meantime, I have also enjoyed seeing many old friends. Yesterday, I went bike riding with Dave and Betty Davis, as well as new friends Connie and Jerry. We rode on the bike trail that runs along the old Florida Barge Canal from US 19 to the gulf. What a wonderful ride! It's only ten miles long, but we did part of it twice, and ended up putting 16 miles on our bikes. Then we went to the Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve in Yankeetown, and spent another hour walking the marvelous boardwalk trail through the preserve, and then a packed sand trail down to a tower on the edge of the estuary. From the top of the tower we could see for miles all around the estuary, all the way out to the Gulf. It was a gorgeous day, and what a view we had.

It was about 3 PM when I got home, and then I took Zach and Sam (two of my grandsons) to Zach's tennis lesson. Sam and I enjoyed the hour simply hitting tennis balls with each other. Sam is a good player, and he had me chasing all around the court! Last night, I went to bed at 10 PM and didn't get up until 7 AM. It was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time!

This morning, I joined old friends Tom Stringer, Gerry Mulligan, and Leo Curtin in a doubles tennis match at the Sky View courts in Citrus Hills. It was overcast all morning, but what a wonderful morning to play tennis, and what great matches we had. I was on the losing side twice, but was a winner with Gerry on the last set. What fun!

Tomorrow I will be going to Unity Church in Lecanto. After church, I will give a slide and video presentation of the volunteer work I have been involved in over the past few years in Zimbabwe, as well as showing where I will be teaching at Africa University later this year (from August to December.) That will be neat too. Again, what a great week it's been.

Oh yes, I also celebrated my 74th birthday on January 14th, and appreciated all the good wishes I received from so many friends. Amy threw a surprise birthday dinner for me, which we ate after I came back from teaching class, and it was marvelous. Even the kids stayed up to 10 PM  to enjoy it and watch me open their cards and a couple special homey gifts. I loved it all!