Despite the sunshine, it really is beginning to be winter in The Villages.  Tell-tell signs include the appearance of holiday decorations and extra shopping opportunities, like the Fall Arts and Crafts Show this weekend at Spanish Springs Town Square.

As the Florida winter closes in, Village residents are taking care of gardening chores like culling old bulbs, weeding, mulching and setting late season vegetables and herbs. During winter, grass and plants usually need less water, but The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s governing board still voted recently to extend the water orders that restrict lawn and landscape watering to one day per week.

Water management is just one of the governance topics always on the mind of Villagers. This week residents had a chance to meet with representative of water management and other agencies at the 13th Annual Government Day held at the Laurel Manor Recreation Center. More than 60 agencies representing The State of Florida and Marion, Sumter and Lake Counties had booths where residents of The Villages could ask about issues and learn more about what each agency does. Several veteran’s groups and representatives for area legislators were also on hand.

The mild Central Florida winters also bring us baseball. The Florida Winter Baseball League season got started recently, with our new local team, the Lake County Black Bears, tied with the Miami Diamantes, at leading the league with a 6-2 record.

If folks in The Villages weren’t out enjoying local baseball or catching their favorite football teams from back home on TV, they were out taking advantage of the ample sports and recreation opportunities at The Villages. With the 18th annual Florida Senior Games State Championships just a month away, individuals and teams were out practicing. The games, being held this year in Lee County, feature competition in almost 20 sports, including archery, tennis, swimming, volleyball and pickelball. Participants from The Villages have a solid history of participating in the Senior Games and bringing home medals. Villagers are expected to continue their winning tradition at the Championships as well.

This week in another post we covered some updated real estate numbers in The Villages. Be sure to take a look if you happened to miss that.