wellborn my hometown

Sunday March 30, 2008
Please enjoy a story (hopefully with some Shutterfly photos) about our house guests whom we enjoyed the week after Easter.
They are Marianne and John Konopack, our niece and nephew, from Milford New Jersey. Their blogspot is Fishin' Fanatics :-) . They have chosen for their retirement adventuring a doolie (Diesel) truck into which a huge slide-in camper fits This visit they had added a 14 foot fishing boat tagging along behind the monster camper. They both love the out of doors and enjoy it more than most. It was a treat to show them around Wellborn suburbs because John is a hunter with a well developed ability to SEE and identify and enjoy all creatures great and small. His zest for life must be contagious. All four of us loved life extraordinarily well while we were together.
They had never seen a Manatee in the wild so our Go See was to Manatee Springs where the water temperatures are just right for the manatees to be lolling around in the flow between the spring boil and our Suwannee River. Simultaneous to our visit to Manatee Springs a large group (150 but not all at once) kayak enthusiasts were enjoying BarBQ lunch stop there. Great people-watching serendipity for us as they arrived paddling amongst the mantees. The through paddlers started days ago at Spirit of the Suwannee. Some seem to have been doing segments of the week long paddle.
We had a picnic at Manatee Springs. Marianne perched her camera on a fence and then scurried around to be in the photo herself. Her daddy had done that years ago so i know he smiled down from the heavenlies
The azaleas in bloom at our house are being enjoyed by us and our butterflies now. Our log home that Jack built was our home base for the Manatee looking excursion. Another outing was to Maurice Geiger orchid greenhouse in downtown Wellborn. We also gave them an opportunity to witness a birthing of twin goats at Bonnie Scotts. That was a new experience for them and for the nanny. They all did well. It was as tho God and Scott's Nanny did it just for us and our company.

Can you find four turtles, four people, 2 manatees, 2 old folks at home, 1 dog named Sooner, 2 butterflies, lots of spanish moss in a gnarled old tree with resurrection fern, a spring boil, and add it up to a Great Adventure you now can enjoy vicariously.

Just copy and paste this http address and click the return. I hope it works for you.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcNWjRq5cNZQ

These three photo's were e-mailed from George and Bonnie Scott. I just had to share them
It is a beautiful tradition at Wellborn Methodist Church to express our rejoicing and thanks giving over the empty cross, empty grave and the newness of life granted us believers, by covering the cross with fresh flowers. You may recognize local folks Ann Geiger, Joy Geiger, Krystal Whitmore, Jenny Lyons, Paula Arnold, Cathy Allred

To God's Glory the WUMC sanctuary radiates with orchids grown right here in our hometown. Maurice Geiger brings them from the extensive greenhouses that grew from a catalog order of a single orchid plant when he was a little fellow.

Bonnie was hoping the twins would be born today. New life , indeed! PTL



Some local disciples came in the predawn darkness to re-enacting that first Easter. We discovered again our Lord Jesus had risen! ALLELUIA!!
Pastors Messer, Wilson and Dillard, aided by Maurice Geiger, Bonnie Scott and the Allen Chapel choir plus sound, light and chair moving volunteers made it possible for us to gather at Wellborn Community Park 7 to 8 A.M. Sunday March 23, 2008. Praise God!

CUPCAKES and sippy drinks rewarded all Easter egg hunters and helpers.

Wellborn Community Association president Wendell Snowden helped as many families as he could with the Big Egg Counting & Opening

The egg hunters were allowed to start in age appropriate groupings. "Ready, Get Set GO!

This is Caitlyn Smith whose little hot pink egg collecting basket held The Most Eggs of any of the girl hunters. Her brother Michael stands beside her and her prize Easter basket, almost as tall as he is. . Baby sister Savannah did the egg hunt from her daddy powered stroller this year .
The boy hunter who collected The most Eggs was Caleb Ostendorf. There were seven eggs with money, some dollars , some coins, in them so the found eggs needed not only to be counted but also to be opened to see what was inside.

March 22, '08
EASTER EGG HUNT Fun was sponsored by the WellbornCommunity Association
Mom is Lisa Maldanado makes daughter Alyssa even prettier to go Egg Hunting. Mom's cute little blonde sister is 2 year old Faith who is also Alyssa's Aunt! The rest of the family unloading from the Maldando van were Dad Jerry Maldanado and Angel (also 9)

The Committee (Minus chairman Wendell Snowden) enjoy the arrival of maybe 35 egg hunters. Kids came with their own baskets but were supplied with plastic sacks when the baskets overflowed. More than 700 eggs were hidden all around Andrews Square. L to R Charles Osgood Cheryl Osgood, Cathy Allred, Kathie Snowden and Penny Present

March 17, 2008

Penney's Salon (in fact the whole store) went dark when Lake City was in the path of a tornado on March 7th. Malinda Hvojnik, Senior Designer at Penneys Styling Salon, was involved with me and my curls for my vacation hairdo.
Jack and I bought American Cruise Line tickets entitling us to board a 50 passenger ship March 8th @ St Augustine for a week long trip (March 8-15) called "Great Rivers of Florida". I had allowed no extra day to reschedule my perm. My curls were the last thing on my To Do List.

Looking back today I just figure my adventuring started a day early with a tornado hairdo.:-)

Malinda believed she could see in the dark and volunteered to continue to roll my hair around the curlers so we carried on bravely.
Cell phones earned their price that day, especially for the younger beauticians with children at school or in day care. Incoming calls brought news that nearby Publix roof was "blown off". Panic was a possibility but Malinda and others kept their cool.
When it became clear that returned power was not imminent most of the Penney beauticians cancelled their customers appointments for the day notifying them on the Salon phone.
Perm chemicals, enough to curl my hair, don't need electricity and thanks be, the water for rinsing was operational. We couldn't dry or style that day so Malinda sent me home wet and CURLY . She promised me a freebee styling now that I'm home and trying to pick up where we left off.
It was a swell trip with Ports Of Call along the inland waterway and on the St Johns River. We visited the marvelous Cummer Art Museum in Jacksonville with fellow traveler and new friend, Douglas McIlvain, a sculptor/artist sharing his expertise and adding to our pleasure there. In Paltaka we enjoyed the murals depicting the historical, cultural and natural riches of Putnam county so imagine our joy when we read in the L.C. Reporter of similar artistry right here in nearby Lake City with Ichetucknee Springs depicted on the Kuykendall building. From Sanford port we went by bus for a day's adventure at Blue Spring State Park and the magnificent manatees were happily there. Most of our shipmates were less familiar with those elephants of the springs and we ourselves loved seeing them again.

We sought out a Methodist Church in Fernadino Beach. It was big, beautiful, welcoming, and full of good people and lots of action and programs.

Even so The Best Part of the whole trip was coming home to My Hometown and my home church.

Wellborn Methodist sanctuary has a newness that Pastor Jim is calling "GOD's MASTERPIECE".
A purple stole hung in the sun on our outside cross is now promoted to a place of honor inside our sanctuary. Purple, a Lenten color, represents Christ's royalty and our own need for repentance. Florida sunshine faded the hanging so this year we bought a new one for outside . The pattern of the fade on the used stole sparked Pastor Jim Messer's imagination.
ALL I CAN SAY IS YOU GOTTA "COME and SEE!"

That is the same invitation that Andrew gave his brother Peter the first time he met Jesus.

Gary Bailey gave us a glimpse of his hobby of civil war re-enactments on March 1, 2008, Blueberry Pancake Breakfast. His Saturday plans were to join up with other Re-Enactors at an encampment for a bit of civil war history re-enacting at Natural Bridge, South of Tallahassee. "What will you have for lunch?" I asked (wondering if re=enactors brown bagged it) "Good stew, slow cooked in an iron pot over an outdoor fire and it is already cooking." he said with a smile.

Hannover Hof's jacket is lettered with USDF , International Champions, Saxony,Brocken and Gibraltar, each followed by dates in the 2000's. Saxony, Brocken and Gibraltar are the names of horses who won Blue Ribbons at Dressage competitions. United States Dressage Federation is where Hannover Hof enjoys participating in the December to April season. Dressage enthusiasts from around the world bring their horses to Florida to show them off in competition and also enjoy the shared way of life. The Hannover Hofs chose Wellborn in 1999 and live near fellow dressage enthusiasts the Brinkmans of Valhalla and Campbells.
Brocken is a 7 year old Hannoverian who won a blue ribbon in the regional championship competition in Wellington. Fl., two weeks ago. Gibraltar is an Andalusian Gelding gray, 11 yr. old who is 17 hands high
Another horseman breakfasted with Hannover Hof in March; Albert Bonneau, the excellent maintenance man at Valhalla. He enjoys life with extra appreciation these days due to his successes with fighting back a cancer. Albert knows that life threatening illness renews a persons outlook. "I really feel good today" says Albert. His friend boasts "Albert can fix anything that needs fixing!"

Esther Chappell R&R goes well enough that she can put 80 pounds weight on her healing bones. The walker enables her to be out breakfasting this month. Husband Ron, with a twinkle in his eye, reports that the horse's R&R is also going well.

The volunteers who made the breakfast happen this month are Bonnie and George Scott, Kathy Snowden, Linda Dye, and Jack Gaylord. Wendell Snowden says my digital camera will give me a few more photos if I reposition the batteries and moisten the terminals. It didn't work for me but he swears by it.

March 1, 2008
Ray Turner is the ticket master for the Blueberry Festival which is always the first Saturday in June. This one will be the 15th annual Blueberry Festival in our hometown and is the primary fund raiser for the WCA. Wellborn Community Association gave Ray an executive desk to sit behind and give breakfasters the opportunity to purchase tickets for the drawings for large money prizes and other give-aways in June. I expect Ray will be in his new and prominent location (right by the door opposite the today's breakfast tickets) for the next 3 months.