My neighbors and I have a joke that we never leave the hood.  I was just thinking how true that statement is. I can give you so many reasons why we don’t “need” to leave our St. Augustine golf course community. Although each neighborhood within World Golf Village has unique characteristics, the overall feel our community is cohesiveness and full of activity. Whether it’s an annual get together like the barbeque at the Swim and Tennis Center this Saturday or the annual 4th of July parade at Glenmoor, the young, old and everyone in between are always getting together.

But it is not the annual activities that I find keep me close to home. Whatever your interests are, surely you can find a group to join or start your own like the Turnberry Walking Club. A great feature of the Swim & Tennis Center is that our pool is heated, so even though it’s starting to get cooler, the Water Aerobics group can keep exercising Mondays through Saturdays at 9 a.m. If you are interested in taking tennis lessons – lessons are available! Or join the Ladies Tennis group; they meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We even have a King and Bear Fit Camp which is a boot camp class that meets Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays on the green. Zumba Gold classes are on Saturdays and Yoga on Mondays. Obviously we have golf lessons, too!  Can you tell we have it all?

To conclude our three part Energy Star series, we had Frank Cirillo from Providence Homes and Michael O’Donoughue with Jacksonville Building Science give us a behind the scenes look at the testing of Energy Star Homes. Frank explains that Providence Homes uses Michael to verify that their designs meet the Energy Star criteria before a homeowner moves in. The three tests they conduct are very interesting and important if you want to save money!

Michael tells us in the video above that these energy tests are required to insure that the homeowner has a tight house, their ducts don’t leak, and they have even distribution of air. He then demonstrates the blower door test, the duct blaster test, and the room by room load calculation with a flow hood. The blower door test detects how much air is being drawn out of the house and measures how tight the house is and the duct blaster test determines how much air is coming through the ducts in each room. The flow hood shows the air flow coming out of all the supply grills and back into the return grills, which is a unique test to Providence Homes. So, not only does Providence Homes take the time to teach us all about Energy Star they also go above and beyond with more testing for their customers!  

Tavi Sport will celebrate his 4th birthday aboard the St. Augustine pirate ship Black Raven.  No doubt the young World Golf Village resident will don head-to-toe pirate gear for the event. “Tavi has been fascinated with pirates for about two years now,” says his Mom, Paula Sport.  “In fact, he wears something ‘pirate-like’ every day,” she added. Tavi Sport will turn four on November 28th.  His special pirate-ship birthday party was organized by the non-profit organization Dreams Comes True because Tavi has been fighting Leukemia for about a year.  His fondness for pirates is just one of the things that makes Tavi special.  He also has a joyous, delightful personality that puts a smile on faces wherever he goes. 

The Sport family moved to Grovewood in our St. Augustine golf course community five years ago when Tavi’s Dad, Lewis Sport, was transferred with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “My husband is a golfer,” says Paula. “We love the beautiful drive back to Grovewood and seeing what kinds of animals we can spot.  Our favorite is the fox squirrel.”  The Sport family also includes Tavi’s 12-year-old brother Tanner who attends Pacetti Bay Middle School and pets, Bandit and JT (Jack Russell Terriers) and Rex and Scooby (Yellow Bellied Slider Turtles).

Living in Florida has many benefits that we all enjoy and living here in North Florida has an extra benefit – during our annual hurricane seasons. Being part of the most western coastline on the Eastern Seaboard, our area has historically proved to be naturally sheltered from most storm activity. We reside in a sort of cove – nestled to the west of the Gulfstream’s steering currents. Those warm currents, tracking south to north, well offshore of us – tend to help steer the paths of passing storms away from us. For over 100 years, direct hits from major storms have been rare in the North Florida / South Georgia coastal zone.

Still, I have always advocated that each of us should know enough about the subject to be educated, stay vigilant and remain calm – each time the weather-entertainers start beating their drums. Over the decades, it seems that any storm-source from the television is overblown and hyped to the limit. Weatherpersons want to entertain more than educate – even though all of their reports are framed in the purpose of generating a sense of readiness.

Take for example the early tracking of Hurricane Irene. In the first 48 hours or so of reporting, the projected landfall moved from the Georgia / Florida state line, to Brunswick, to Savannah, to Charleston and then on to Myrtle Beach. The next morning, when landfall was moved up towards the Outer Banks, the national radio weather reporter closed out his segment with the following: “Residents in Florida are making preparations and getting ready”. Then they threw the microphone to a fellow in Miami (yes, Miami) who was interviewed at his local hardware store as he bought shutters and plywood. Now mind you – as the landfall continued to move north and east, the track continued to move east – so that the folks in Miami could spend their weekend at the beach drinking pina-coladas.

School started, finally!  After a wonderfully hectic summer, my girls are back in middle school.  I was looking forward to a regular schedule, when I learned about their Community Service requirements.

I have to admit that I was not comfortable dropping them off at the homeless shelter, animal shelter or any kind of shelter for that matter. I wondered – Would their community service become MY community service?  Blimey, I thought!  If I have to organize and cheer- lead, it’s going to be something interesting.  I sought out the advice of my colleagues…

Amanda French, Realtor at Davidson Realty, Inc. came up with some great ideas for me to consider; reading to younger children at school, writing letters to soldiers who are serving in the military or to children who are hospitalized, and trash pick up at the beach to name a few.  I also received some other great ideas from various Davidson Company Realtors and Staff; Nursing home volunteering, community gardening, church projects, helping at the library and washing dogs at the animal shelter – hmm I’d probably end up bringing one or two dogs home!  Matt Davidson told me that volunteering at the elementary school was something he did as a Middle School student and he quite enjoyed it.

BINGO – a fantastic idea!  I contacted the school and now both daughters are having a great time helping out in the Media Center and grading papers at their previous elementary school, Otis A. Mason.  In fact, they are enjoying it so much that they have decided to do two hours a week instead of one.

Rick Hollabaugh started Trusted Tranzitions about four years ago when a personal experience left him thinking there was a need for personalized senior moving and downsizing services.  “My wife and I were living in California and my Mother-in-Law who was in Florida passed away suddenly. In addition to dealing with her grief, my wife had to stay in South Florida several months dealing with her Mother’s estate, a long tedious process.”  Hollabaugh added, “Very soon after, we relocated to Ponte Vedra from California and moving cross country even as healthy pre-retirees was a daunting task.”  Both experiences spurred Hollabaugh, an experienced entrepreneur, to start Trusted Tranzitions.

Rick and his wife Bobbie started Trusted Tranzitions with a focus on senior moving . Whether  across town or across country, Trusted Tranzitions helps retirees relocating to Florida, seniors moving into independent living and assisted living facilities and seniors downsizing from larger homes.  “We make the process stress-free,” says Hollabaugh. As their business grew, so did their menu of services. Today, in addition to senior move management, Trusted Tranzitions also provides reliable more expansive estate administrative services and reliable referrals for reputable trust, estate and wealth management professionals.  Says Hollabaugh, “We can provide a nearly A to Z approach for clients – from helping them manage the move into an assisted care facility like Glenmoor at World Golf Village, to helping them sort through and downsize their belongings at a bigger home, to providing trusted referrals for estate sales, handymen or other help getting their home on the market, and then handling all the hassle of packing and moving so they can smoothly make the transition into their new home.”

For the second part of our Energy Star video blog, we asked Frank Cirillo and Robert Goettlicher at Providence Homes to help us explain the importance of window efficiency. To be honest, I had no idea how important window quality is to your home, but I quickly learned that Frank hit the nail on the head when he said, “Not all windows are created equally!”

Frank describes how vinyl frame windows have three main components that make them more efficient in your home than the aluminum windows that were used in the past. First, less heat is transferred through vinyl frames, which also means less condensation. Vinyl has a higher tolerance than aluminum windows. They are smoother operating windows, so less air flow gets through it. And, lastly and most importantly, the glass is the highest quality of low e glass on the market. It doesn’t allow harmful UV rays into your home, so you don’t have to worry about fading carpets and furniture. Not to mention, with aluminum windows, your couch is holding all that heat that seeps in and then transferring it into your home.

On September 17, our World Golf Village neighbor Francoise Marquis will celebrate her 100th birthday.   The day might end with Mrs. Marquis playing cards with her family – a favorite pastime – which she  usually wins. Mrs. Marquis lives with her daughter and son-in-law Michelle and Louis Petrarca in Turnberry. “She joins us just about everywhere we go during the day. Her energy level is amazing,” said her daughter Michelle.  Turnberry neighbors may spot Mrs. Marquis puttering around the yard or taking a stroll when the weather gets a bit cooler.

Petrarca explains her Mom spends her mornings watching Mass on TV, followed by breakfast and a routine of simple chores. She does crossword puzzles daily to keep her mind sharp as a tack. She’s healthy and takes no medications, just a few vitamins.  Says Petrarca, “Mom will tell you that she is not ready for the rocking chair yet.”  She still washes dishes by hand and does her own laundry.  “Her bedroom and bathroom look like a model home with everything in its proper place,” says Petrarca.

Living in the King and Bear has many perks. As a home owner, I always take a deep breath as I drive through the gates. I never forget to take a moment to appreciate the pristine beauty of my St. Augustine golf course community. The curvy streets are lined with Oaks. The landscape is always lush and perfectly maintained. But enough about how beautiful the King and Bear is. Let me tell you what I really love. I love Spa Laterra!

Spa Laterra is the perfect place to cure any ailments, whether you need an hour to relax or an entire day! In these busy and stressful times, there is no greater gift to give than some time to your self to relax and regain sanity. One of my favorite ways to spend a day is with my girlfriends at the spa. After I put on my robe and slippers, I head to the meditation room for some tea and to begin unwinding with a magazine. I also really love relaxing in the private rooms outside.

After I get my chill on, I love to start with a facial to help ease me into a deeper relaxation. There are several to choose from. I would recommend the Journey from Bliss facial if you really need to just focus on relaxing. A few of my girlfriends love getting the Age-Defying Fountain of Youth Facial.  Then it is always nice to meet the ladies out by the Laterra Resort pool for lunch.