A few years before retirement, I decided to give my artistic side a try and began painting and selling my realistic wildlife and waterscapes. With my friend Lori Kagle, I opened the Art a la Carte Gallery in Occoquan, VA in 2010. After my husband died, I considered moving nearer to my son and grandsons. Darlene Hedricks, a good softball friend moved to The Villages and urged me to visit. I did, and my head spun with all she showed us. "It was all over she wrote..."
Next year, we rented in the Alhambra Village for two months and came back the following year for three months, but we wanted more. Gerald Bowles, my Villages Sales Agent patiently took us to visit available homes each year. The third year, I bought 2057 Palo Alto Avenue and became permanent residents in August 2019. Nine months later, we fell in love with a nearby Palo Alto home on a small lake and closed on it February 2020. Not able to part with my first Villages home, neighbors helped us move into the new home and set up my rental-to-be. Three days later, my first renter moved in. By the end of that month, the Covid-19 pandemic hit but The Villages has been following protocols, vaccinating, and the entire Palo Alto Club and our neighborhood has remained pretty safe and happy.