Family Day at Franny’s Melbourne, FL

Melbourne, FL

Treated ourselves to a bit of a lie on this morning after our long drive yesterday. Set off for Franny’s about 11am. Melbourne is near Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic coast of Florida, about 65 miles from Orlando. Fran and Dave moved down from NJ about 7 years ago and they have a very nice home and life down here.
They had had a massive July 4th party at the house the night before which we were too late up from Miami to go to really, so we were wondering how the survivors would be today.. Everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed though. They have a lovely pool in a lanai room on the back of their house which overlooks a lake. The water temperature was like a bath and we spent a lotof the afternoon wallowing in it, having the occasional margarita expertly mixed by their son David. He’s just finished his first year at Georgetown Law School and made Dean’s List which is a huge achievement and well deserved after much hard work. Franny’s sister Stacey was also there. She lives only 10 minutes away and also moved down from NJ in recent years. We three ladies were in the pool for hours. Harriet and Buddy were there too but did not venture into the pool. Of course Franny is the most hospitable person in the world and when you go to her house the food and drink just flows. I have never seen so much delicious food on offer in such a short time. We ate fantastically and Dave bbq’d too.
The boys watched the Women’s World Cup final in the evening as the USA were in the final. They absolutely slaughtered Japan it has to be said. Luckily Japan managed to score a couple of goals because it really was getting embarrassing at one point.
The news also broke when we were there that Greece has voted No in the Euro/Austerity referendum. I cannot help but think this was the only way to go for them as a country and I rather hope that the EU will not put up some last minute cobbled up deal to keep them in because it seems to only prolong the agony. Its going to be a very difficult time for all. I fully expect our pensions and savings pot to take a massive dive when the stock market opens in the morning but teeth gritted it will all come right again in the end. At least that’s my hope!
Dave’s daughter Debbie and her husband Eric who have literally just moved down from NJ to Florida also came over with their adorable 2 year old, Josie. She was a joy and made us all laugh with her antics. She liked to the pool too.
Thanks so much to Fran and Dave for making us so welcome and for all the hospitality. We came away laden with food for the week and full to the brim with good stuff we’d eaten.
We left about 930 after the massive thunderstorm which had been raging since about 6 calmed down a bit. Got home about 1030 and managed to catch Lucy who was having a disturbed night in her new flat. It was hot but she didn’t want to open any windows while she was there on her own. Bound to be disturbed in a new place for a while. She’d done a massive job today of cleaning and putting away her stuff though. Had a look around via the FT camera on her phone and it was looking very shipshape for the week ahead.