I'm originally from western Maryland, but have lived in several States on the east coast. We transfered to Florida 38 years ago because my husband worked for IBM. Our kids pretty much grew up here, and are married and they still live in Florida too. So it can't be too bad here! We have sunny, blue skies with the cleanest air to breath anywhere. We're an hour away from the beaches on the east coast and 45 minutes from the beautiful Gulf coast. There are many types of beautiful wildlife in our area. I've seen Florida panthers and even a bear this summer. The palmetto bugs are the worst bug ever, so don't plant any palm trees or pine trees near your home! Don't walk barefoot because you'll step on painful sand spurs! If you have cats, please keep them indoors, because there are coyotes here. But, for the most part, FL is a pretty nice place to live, even though I still miss the beauty of western Maryland, especially in the Fall of the year. And, there seems to be a lot of quilters here and they're very friendly, so I hope you'll like living here.