Musikhaus was not the only Feiszli LLC created this past year. Michelle has established a private mental health counseling practice, Shell Coast Counseling. She serves clients over a four-county region in an office near downtown Fort Myers and via telehealth. She left her longtime job at the Florida Civil Commitment Center in August and took administrative clinical positions for various mental health facilities in Fort Myers while she began to establish her practice. Currently she also serves as the part-time Clinical Director for Sprout Recovery, an outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment center in Fort Myers.
Shell Coast Counseling is in a corner suite on the second floor of an office building just west of downtown Fort Myers. Below her office is a coffee shop and a brewery. Across the street are upscale condominiums with a parking garage she and her clients can use. A shopping center is across the street on the other side. The Caloosahatchee River is at the end of the street.
Several years ago, Rachel taught Michelle how to crochet. Michelle mastered it quickly and began creating more than just blankets. She constructs incredible soft sculptures such as an entire Harry Potter-themed series. These are only a few examples of her craft.
I spend my time working part-time at Total Wine. In January I was named Associate of the Month. I’m on my sixth store manager in six years – maybe I’m too hard on them? I do occasional wine seminars for our neighborhood HOA. That’s fun. It’s like teaching classes again. Of course, I’m working on Musikhaus and content for it. In my many leisure hours I am also a house-husband so Michelle can continue to be fantastic. In addition to cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc., I am also (slowly) painting the interior of the house. We grew tired of looking at the builder-grade white walls that we moved into. The lanai/pool area is completely repainted and organized as much as my fanatic gardening will allow. The great room and guest bedroom are finished.
Other interesting things from the past 15 months:
I had replaced my pearl white Miata killed by Hurricane Ian with a cool-looking charcoal grey one (newer, lower mileage). Having moved to our new home in Babcock, I felt as if we might be getting back to normal. But on a beautiful Florida day in February 2025, I was at a stop light coming home from work. An idiot decided to run across the road directly in front of me to get from one side of the road to the other, hitting the rear end of a big van coming towards me in the other lane. The van was turned into me, crushing the front end so badly the car door would not open. So, I’m now on my third Miata convertible. Newer, lower mileage, but (IMO) doesn’t look quite so cool <sigh>.
In 2014, while in Sandusky for my father’s funeral, we found a beautiful little calico kitten covered in fleas digging through garbage in the street. Took her home to South Dakota, named her Taco, and brought her to Florida in 2018 with our two other cats. In late September, Taco suffered a stroke. Michelle discovered her lying on the floor and rushed her to an animal hospital, but too late. I miss her climbing into my lap and rolling around. In two years, we’ve gone from 3 cats and a dog to an old cat and a dog with a bad leg (more on that later). Tiger has had to get used to being a single cat, although she may have decided to make Loki part of her clowder (go ahead, look that word up).
I flew to Ohio in September to attend a gathering of music alumni from Mount Union College, classes 1972-1978. It was a somewhat renegade reunion instigated by four of us music majors from the class of 1975 in celebration of our 50th anniversary of graduation. When the official “Class of 1975” fiftieth anniversary announcements went out, we realized that it wasn’t the other majors from 1975 that we knew, but rather the people with whom we interacted in our music endeavors. So, we skipped the official Class of 1975 reunion and organized an event for music people from the classes before and after us. So, I was able to drive my sister there as well. Great fun. Saw lots of people not seen in 45 years or more.
In early November we visited St. Augustine to celebrate Jim’s eldest brother’s 80th birthday. Robert and Mary live in Tacoma, WA but came to Florida to see Bob’s newest great-grandchild. We drove over, spent two nights in their timeshare, ate some good dinners, visited the old town, returned to SWFL with them, and hosted them here for three nights. It was great fun to spend time with them. We were sorry to see them leave. As one gets older, family time becomes more important.
Since 2024 we’ve enjoyed our daughter Rachel and her partner Parker living 45 minutes away in Punta Gorda. But even more exciting is that they will soon be 10 minutes away. They will be moving to an apartment in Babcock Ranch in May! They were here for both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. At the latter, as we were exchanging gifts, Rachel opened her gift from Parker, and it was an engagement ring! (She said, “yes”).
In December Jackson and Nathan flew in from South Dakota for a week. It was great to have the entire nuclear family together with their respective partners. We had fun times in the pool, cooking together, and just being family.
On January 1st, Michelle’s parents came in for ten days. Tom and Diana brought some of their South Dakota weather with them, so the temperatures were not exactly Florida warm. But Diana loves Loki and spent much of her time spoiling him. They got to see Rachel and Parker and get away from cold South Dakota and relax in the relatively warmer climate of Florida.
This February we made a trip to Orlando to watch the Harry Potter stage show The Cursed Child. We stayed at a fancy downtown hotel, ate dinner at a nice restaurant, and then walked to the theater a block from our hotel. The show itself was simply amazing. Great writing, great stagecraft, wonderful choreography, and fantastic acting. The music by Imogen Heap was also phenomenal. We have vowed to do more of those things. Photos of that trip will be posted here soon.
Loki’s 2026 began horribly. Rescued from a puppy mill in 2020, Loki had parvovirus when we got him, survived that, and became a loveable dog. Not even six, Loki began to favor his hind left leg. We backed off from rough play and became careful about sudden movements. Didn’t improve. Took him to a local vet. Examination. Medications. “Take it easy”. Got worse. Second vet. Same recommendation as before. Got worse. Third vet (experience with big dogs). Exam. X-ray. Inconclusive. Anti-inflammatories and painkillers to see if he improved. Did not. Fourth vet (ortho specialist). “This dog has a torn CCL. Surgery required. I can get you in three weeks from now. BTW, he’ll probably blow out the good leg due to over-working it.” Fifth vet (another ortho, further away) – same diagnosis. MUCH more expensive but could do the operation right away. Pulled the trigger.
Surgery done. Drove an hour the next day to pick him up. Got in. Waited. And waited. Finally, the vet comes in and tells me Loki won’t stop bleeding. They need to keep him for another day. Drove home.
Waited all day the next for a call and got one at 6pm. “Come get him.”
We drove the hour+, were told we owed an additional amount due to bandages, etc., and finally got Loki. Drove home in the dark, only to find that he is still bleeding. Spent the night holding pads to his leg to see if we could stop the bleeding. Called the hospital numerous times for advice. “It’s just oozing a little. It’ll stop.” It didn’t. After the third call, they tell us that we should drive the dog 2.5 hours north (this is 3:00am) to a hospital that can treat Von Willebrand’s disease – a blood clotting disorder to which Dobermans are prone. Called the hospital up north. They have a facility in Fort Myers! The local one doesn’t have the necessary medication, but they can put the dog on plasma and courier the medication down. At 4:30am we’re taking a bleeding dog to a SIXTH vet. Four days in hospital. After two treatments for clotting, blood transfusions, pressure bandages over the affected leg and incisions, Loki began to improve. He finally came home after a total of seven days. We are now rehabbing him to rebuild the injured leg. Scary part is: He tested NEGATIVE for von Willebrand’s factor. No idea why he had the bleeding problem. He can never have surgery again.
As this is being posted we are in the midst of the annual visit by my sister Sue and husband Rand. They live in suburban Cleveland but have a timeshare in Sarasota. We met them at the Sarasota airport and brought them here for two nights. They left us to go back to their timeshare for Easter week. We’re going up tomorrow to have dinner with them before they head back north. was great to spend time with them. Photos to follow.
So here we are, a little older but still having fun and enjoying our life together here in Florida. Despite living in a country and state that are both pretty screwed up right now, and despite living in a community that is still under construction, we like our new home. The evenings are very peaceful and quiet. We never tire of the amazing sunrises and sunsets and love the fact that we’re surrounded by wildlife. Our community is as safe as it can be for hurricane-prone Florida. In all, we love and support each other and feel fortunate to have the life we have.
We appreciate our friends who support and reach out to us and enjoy visitors. Happy to host you if you’re in the vicinity.
Best wishes from southwest Florida.
