Before heading to Oaxaca, we stopped in Florida for a week to visit Alex's family. Grammy and Grandaddy, also known to the many young folks who showed up as Sir and Ma'm, are a couple who grew old together, front porch and all. World War II separated them for a time before they built their first home together up in Kentucky where both had their roots. The weather there didn't agree with the health of their middle girl, and so they moved to Florida where they built another house. And when the girls were grown and the nest was empty, they moved from the city out to the country where - you guessed it - they up and built another house. It was at this last house we stayed for a pre-Christmas Christmas with all the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. There was also a cat, Callie, and one dog, Miss Daisy, to round things out. Unlike the television and print ads you might see, Florida is not always warm and sunny, though there were many orange trees, but "not as many as there used to be". Florida, as I experienced it, was cold. Late at night, Grandaddy would head out to make sure the orchids wouldn't freeze over in the greenhouse; heat was turned on as needed.
