6/25/12 Ahhh, Mount Dora!

We are here in Mount Dora!  And, I feel like I arrived home.  After a crazy week driving to two states north, going through my mom’s stuff, discovering family secrets tucked away in dusty cardboard boxes, loading my friend’s SUV with the items my mom left me (at least those I was willing to haul back to Florida), driving back, unloading the car and working for three days, I can now relax in my home away from home and spend a few days writing and reading.

We are in the midst of the eastern bands of Tropical Storm Debby that is swirling, unorganized and undecided, in the Gulf of Mexico.  For those of you who live outside the range of tropical storms, these storms have winds 39 to 74 miles per hour that are cyclical or somewhat cyclical in movement.  The eastern side of a tropical storm has the bands of rain and storms that are the most severe, sometimes creating tornadoes.  The rain was non-stop all day and the closer to central Florida we came the gustier the winds were.  We thought about, for a fleeting moment, cancelling our trip, but then decided a few rainy days in Mount Dora are better then sunny days most other places, so here we are.   

Since starting this Manifesting Mount Dora project, I’ve been asked the same two questions multiple times: Why Mount Dora? and How did I find Mount Dora?  Perhaps explaining my personal story of Mount Dora would not only help others to understand why I want to live there, but just writing about Mount Dora will increase my positive vibrations about it and those vibrations are a key part of manifestation. 

I don’t remember when or how I first heard about Mount Dora, although for several years I was aware of the huge annual arts and crafts festival held here each fall and I knew that the town was famous for its quaint shops and antiques.  In the back of my mind I had the idea of visiting here someday.  Since Mount Dora is only about a two hour drive from my home, I figured a day trip would suffice. 

The spring of 2009 was a difficult time for me.  My daughter and her family, which included my newborn granddaughter and my almost 2-year-old grandson, moved far away and I experienced a sadness like none I had known before.  Everything at home reminded me of them and I cried more often than I wish to admit.  The need to get away and have time to reflect and heal haunted me, so I began researching where my man and I could go for five to seven days that would not be too costly and would not require traveling very far.  Mount Dora popped into my mind and subsequent online research assured me that it would the type of quiet, quaint place that I needed.  I discovered Tremain Street Cottages which had great online reviews and a five-day special rent price that was more than reasonable.  June, being an off-season month in Mount Dora, meant we would not be inundated with tourists and the town would be relatively quiet.  I booked our five-day stay and we headed south.

Mount Dora is located in what is called the “lake country” of Central Florida.  Although our state is famous for the Atlantic on the east coast, the Gulf on the west coast and the beaches on both coasts and for Disney World and other entertainment parks in the central part of the state, there are many lovely towns west and north of Orlando nestled among a myriad of lakes and rolling hills.  Mount Dora is approximately 32 miles from Orlando and overlooks several lakes, including Lake Dora and Lake Gertrude.  Mountains are not a geographical feature of the Sunshine State, but Mount Dora, which is 184 feet above sea level, qualifies as a “mountain town”.  Certainly not Aspen, but a Florida mount nonetheless!
 
The settlement of what would later be known as Mount Dora began in 1873 and was  named Royellou after the children of Ross Tremain who was the town’s first postmaster; their names were Roy, Ellen and Louis.  One of the earliest settlers was Dora Ann Drawdy for whom the lake was named and later, in 1883, the town.  The area originally became a popular vacation spot for hunters, fishermen and boaters and later became known for its arts and crafts festivals, historical buildings and quaint shops. 

We chose to drive down 441 rather than take the interstate highway.  We meandered through towns like Ocala, Belleview, Leesburg and Eustis until we turned on Donnelly Street and entered Mount Dora.  A lovely tree-lined street, Donnelly goes north to south dissecting what is called the “old city” almost in half.  Since it was well past lunch time and we hadn’t eaten, we stopped at the first restaurant we came upon, Pizza Amore, which had just opened for business that week.  The owner and her son welcomed us and we had a tasty meal while watching one of those catch-me-by-surprise Florida afternoon summer rainstorms. 

Back in the car, we found Tremain Street Cottages just a couple of blocks east. The cottages consist of an old cracker-style house in which the bottom floor is a two-bedroom “cottage” and the second floor is a small one bedroom unit.  Behind the house is another two-story building that may have been a garage or possibly a barn at one time, but now contains two more one-bedroom cottages.  All the cottages have kitchens and small dining and living areas.  Ours was the bottom cottage in the back building.  It is called the Nantucket and is, no surprise here, decorated in nautical style.  The bed is huge and I later learned, could be separated into two beds.  The living area, which is part of the bedroom, is small but comfortable and boasted a TV larger than we had at home.  The kitchen is complete with a small stove and oven, full-sized refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker and all the dishes and cooking utensils we needed.  A tiny dining area is in the back of the kitchen next to a door that leads to a small wooden deck, where we chose to have our breakfast each morning.  Besides a bathroom and a roomy hall closet, there is a small sitting room which is the perfect place for me to read, write or meditate while my man os watching TV or sleeping.  Only on one of our trips was the Nantucket unavailable, so we stayed in the unit above it, which was also nice and comfortable but lacked the additional sitting room and the deck.  Last year I brought my daughter and grandchildren to Mount Dora and we rented the two-bedroom “main house” which was plenty large enough for us and included a separate living room/dining room combination and a spacious porch. 

Tremain Street, a quiet, mostly residential street, is one of the highest spots in the Mount Dora and leads to Lake Dora and two of the nicest parks in town.  Grantham  Point Park, commonly called Lighthouse Park, has a boat ramp, fishing and boat docks, and a man-made peninsula that juts out into Lake Dora and holds one of the best known local landmarks, the less-than-full-size Lake Dora lighthouse.

Benches are scattered along the lighthouse peninsula and provide a fabulous view of the lake and its breathtaking sunsets.   Grantham Point flows into Palm Island Park, an eight acre nature park with picnic areas and a wooden boardwalk that hugs the shoreline of Lake Dora and allows you to stroll along, spotting alligators, great blue herons and a wide variety of water birds and even the occasional racoon or other wildlife.  Rather than the boardwalk you can choose to venture through a wooded nature area full of native trees and flora.

Across from Grantham Point Park is Gilbert Park, a children’s playground paradise with the “Kids Castle” and other unique and state-of-the-art playground creations, as well as two picnic pavilions and numerous picnic tables.  The park is beautifully landscaped and even has a creek and a bridge.  On weekends Gilbert Park is alive with the sound of children playing as the pavilions are set up for birthday parties and the tables and grills are occupied by picnickers.

 

Two and one half acre Donnelly Park, on Donnelly Street and right below where we stay at Tremain Street Cottages, is the main city park and has a large recreation center where dance and exercise classes, concerts, movies and art shows are held, as well as gardens, a fountain, benches, tennis and shuffleboard courts. 

There are many other parks in Mount Dora, small and large, and even though we have visited here eight times, we have yet to visit them all because there is the town itself, with its many shops and restaurants, to keep us busy and entertained.  When making the plans to go to Mount Dora, I worried that I might have problems finding food to please my man, who is very particular about what he eats - although he denies the label “particular” and says that he just knows what is good and what is not.  As a small southern town, I was concerned that the restaurants of Mount Dora would be more of the bar-b-que, down-home-cooking types that would not be acceptable to my travel companion.  Fortunately, my concerns were washed away when we discovered Copacabana, a Cuban restaurant; Pisces Rising, a seafood and steak restaurant with a tiki bar that looks out on Lake Dora;  Cecile’s French Corner, a sandwich and crepe eatery; One Flight Up, a sandwich, salad and coffee house; Cody's on 4th, a breakfast, sandwich, salad and soup cafe; and Palm Tree Grille, a steak, seafood and pasta restaurant.  As with the parks, there are many other restaurants in Mount Dora that we’ve heard are great, but we just have not gotten around to eating at all of them. 

The streets are lined with a variety of shops offering antiques, artwork, jewelry, books, imported furniture, clothing, pampered pet supplies, gifts, home decor, wine, coffee and tea, bakery items and fine cheeses and meats, kitchen and dining products, garden accessories, footwear, bath and body items, music and photography products and even, I am sorry to admit, a gun shop (we are in Florida after all).  There are also several spas, although I’ve never indulged in their services.

My favorite shop is Em’z on Fifth, a women’s boutique, where I can always find a unique piece of clothing that is just to my taste.  The owner, Clara, has a knack for remembering the preferences of her customers, even those who only come a couple times a year.  She and I always find time to chat as I shop and we are now Facebook friends.  In fact, that is one of the my favorite things about Mount Dora, the eatery and shop owners typically work at their places of business so they take a personal interest in the customers who come back again and again.  Because our first trip and most of our subsequent trips have been during off-season times of the year when the flow of tourists and the town itself have slowed down, we have had the pleasure of getting to know many of the business owners and their staff.  Alberto, who owns the Copacabana and is from Cuba, lingers long at our table talking to my man, who is from Argentina, about food, tango, Che Guevara and life in Cuba, Argentina and Florida.  They, along with Alberto’s Mexican son-in-law who also works at the restaurant, have already made plans for an asado (an Argentine cook-out) to be held at our future home in Mount Dora!  We always look forward to reconnecting with our Mount Dora friends when we are here. 

During our first trip we had breakfast on our deck and then  wandered the streets, visited the shops and strolled through the parks in the morning before the heat and humidity settled like a blanket over the town.  Before noon we would stop for a cool drink and a snack, often on the outside balcony at One Flight Up,

and then after noon we would return to our cottage and rest - I would read or write and my man would read or watch TV.  Sometimes we indulged in a nap.  In the late afternoon we would again take to the streets ending up at a restaurant for a delicious meal.   While we were there that year, the NBA championship was being televised and the Orlando Magic was playing, so the locals were glued to TV’s every evening.  Several times we went to the tiki bar at Pisces Rising and spent our evening watching the game on the bar’s TV and watching the sunset over Lake Dora. 

On our first trip and on a later trip with my daughter and grandchildren, we took the nature boat tour of Mount Dora and the Dora Canal.  Skimming across the lake is so refreshing on a hot, humid, sunny afternoon.  We saw eagles, alligators, many water birds, turtles and fish, as well as lovely houses that rim the lake.                               

              

 During our five days I indulged in the rest I needed so badly, I re-awakened my creative writing that laid dormant for years, I healed some, but not completely, from the heartbreak of my daughter and grandchildren moving far away and my man and I fell in love with this lovely little historic town called Mount Dora and Mount Dora became my "righteous fantasy". 

     

5/23/12 Righteous Fantasies

I was raised by a father who rarely took a vacation and often worked six or seven days a week.  I followed the same path.  I worked long hours, sometimes ten to twelve hours a day often for seven days a week, month after month.  I rarely took time off and when I did indulge in a vacation, it was usually to visit family and, as many know, those types of holidays from work are not always restful and often not fun.   My husband, now deceased, had a similar childhood experience.  When his family rarely took a “vacation”, it was a two, possibly three, day trip to one of the beaches east of their home in Gainesville.  Not exactly great travelers, were they?  At least the few vacations my father initiated took us out of our state! 

During our nearly thirty year marriage, most of the vacations my husband and I took were what I call “obligatory vacations” - visiting long-distance relatives, attending weddings or funerals, or pre-move trips to find a place to live, etc.  Those obligatory trips often had some moments of fun and joy, but, especially for me, were still working vacations.  First, we traveled long distances, usually driving  6 to 16 straight hours - not restful or fun.  And, spending a week at a relative’s home did not excuse me from domestic duties.  I still helped with food preparation and cleanup.  I still did laundry.  I often helped with childcare and housework, depending on who we were visiting.  A few days off from my paying job was nice, but sometimes I did more domestic work on vacation than I did at home. 

Because cash was always in short supply, these obligatory vacations were less expensive and all we could afford.  Because of our lack of funds and because of the long hours necessary at the majority of my jobs, the most we could manage was possibly one vacation a year that lasted for more than a long weekend.  Many years we did not even take that one week.

In my childhood, I dreamed of traveling.  In fact, I wanted to be a travel writer, venturing around the world and writing articles, stories and books about my experiences.  But, as often happens, I grew up and discovered, or decided, that life had different plans for me.  Rather than being a world traveler, I reluctantly and resentfully became a home-body.  My world travels were reduced to a very few obligatory vacations to visit family and friends with the longest trip being from Florida to Maine to visit my mom.  Two exceptions were trips to Niagara Falls, Canada - one to accompany my niece to a wedding she was attending and another to attend a wedding of my own friends.  Both trips were fabulous, but definitely the exception to the norm of my life. 

For the first few years of my “new life” after leaving my husband, money, and credit for that matter, was even tighter and the most I could manage was a couple of days in St. Augustine each year.  Then, I sold my former home in the country.  By the time of the sale, the real estate market had crashed and the purchase price had been reduced several times just to release me from the mortgage, insurance and tax expenses.  After paying off the mortgage and a few home-related debts, the cash in my pocket was much less than I’d ever thought possible.  Most of that cash went to pay off other financial obligations, leaving me with even less.  But, still, that less was more than I’d had in my bank account for many years.  After experiencing such rough financial times, my plan was to save the money, using it very conservatively, when needed.  It wasn’t much, but it was all I had, so a hoarding mentality took over my mind.  Even though I’d been practicing the Law of Attraction and even though I know that money only has energy when it is being used, I chose to live small and hold tightly to what little I had.  Until. . .

One day, while my man and I were passing time in the public library while some repairs were being done on my car, I picked up a book called “Do Less, Achieve More - Discover the Hidden Power of Giving In” by Chin-Ning Chu.  That book and “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain are the two books at the top of my prosperity recommended reading list.  The book is short and easy to read, so please make the effort. 

While reading that book, I had what Oprah calls a “light bulb moment”.  The author tells the story of a 53-year-old woman (I was 54 at the time) who was raised in France and immigrated to the U.S. in her twenties.  She longed to return for an extended visit to her homeland, but the expense of such a trip and her loss of time from work led her to settle for no more than week-long trips, which were never long enough.  Even after being offered a rent-free home for two months in France, she hesitated because of some pressing responsibilities at her job and because she feared losing her job if she took so much time off.  She struggled in vain to find a way to connect such a visit to France with her job so she could justify the lengthy stay with her employer.  Frustrated and disappointed, she nixed the idea of a two-month stay in her homeland.  When she told a friend that there was no way she could go, the friend said, “You weren’t born to work yourself to death.  You were born to fulfill your desire for experiences.  To love well, which includes fulfilling your righteous fantasies, leads you to complete your desire to experience life.  To your soul, the fulfilling of fantasies is as important as accomplishing your career goals.  It is wrong to die without satisfying those fantasies.”  The woman heeded those words and scheduled her trip. That extended stay in France changed her life forever.  She reconnected with an old high school boyfriend, their romance was rekindled and they married.  Her American employer valued her work so highly that he allowed her to continue working for the company from her new, permanent home in France. 

That story was my light-bulb moment.  The words “righteous fantasies” energized and haunted me and, while sitting in the library, I made the decision to use some of the cash from the sale of my home to take a long-dreamed-of trip to New York City.  Within a week, reservations were made and in less than a month, my man and I were off to the city he loves so much and to which he always wanted to introduce me.  Our trip was amazing.  I’d always wanted to visit NYC, but I never dreamed I would love it so much.  Visiting NYC was one of my “righteous fantasies”.  I took ten days off work - the longest I’d ever been away from any job and the longest time off I’d taken since starting my business 11 years before.  Since then, we return to NYC every year and each trip is as amazing the ones before. 


I would have thought that leaving my work for ten days would be impossible, but once I voiced the intention of the New York City trip, all fell into place with amazing simplicity.  The travel plans came together easily.  My work magically slowed to a level that was reasonable to abandon for ten days.  Loose ends tied up into lovely bows of anticipation.  A trip that had once seemed impossible became righteously doable.  And, I have found that to be the case when engaging in other plans.  If the plans are truly righteous, if they are truly what I need and what I desire, if they will elevate, educate and evolve me, if I will have time for rejuvenation and fun, all the details come together like cake batter ingredients - smooth, sweet and tasty! 

It has been years since I thought of “righteous fantasies”.  It took Manifesting Mount Dora to bring those words to mind.  The word “righteous” means morally or ethically justified.  It seems odd to think of our fantasies as being morally or ethically justified.  Righteous just does not seem to be the correct adjective to pair with the word “fantasies”.  But, why don’t we think of our fantasies as righteous?  We are here to live large, to experience boldly.  But, most of us live small and in fear.  I pledge to start visualizing and manifesting other righteous fantasies.  Mount Dora is already in the works.  What next??