Sunday, March 11, 2012

Since the 1st of March, we have just been enjoying the opportunity to relax at home.  I looked back at the calendar, and didn’t see anything special.  Our good friends, Larry & Carolyn, spent the past week packing things in their shed, motorhome and car so they could lock up the motorhome and head back to North Tonawanda, NY (near Buffalo) and  a chance to eliminate Larry’s “carpal tunnel” problems.  Of course with Larry and Carolyn leaving we had to have Sunday’s several times this week (we had given up Manhattan’s except on Sunday to reduce our caloric intake).  I pulled everything out of the bottom of the motorhome so I could vacuum again before washing the house.

On Wednesday, the 7th, we barbecued Alaskan Halibut for 7.  It was another delicious dinner with friends.

Then on Friday 9th, 11 of us went to Coyote Roja in Bushnell, FL for wonderful Mexican dinners with great company.  It was our farewell dinner to Larry & Carolyn.

A couple of months ago, Marilyn was contacted by her college roommate, Sandy Johns Andrews.  Sandy was also Marilyn’s Matron of Honor at our wedding in 1967.  She told Marilyn that she was going to be visiting some friends in Holliday, FL (near Tampa), and wondered if we might get together.  So, the 5 of us met in Port Charlotte at “Catches Restaurant”.  All of us had Basa fish sandwiches for lunch.  They were delicious.  We enjoyed meeting Sandy’s friends.  Marilyn and Sandy enjoyed catching up on each others lives.  The last time we met up with Sandy was in 1997 (we think), and our only contact in between has been Christmas cards.

After lunch, we returned to Sumter Oaks RV Park in time for their ice cream social at 4:00pm.  Right after the social, we were entertained with a “Fractured Fairy Tale”.  It was directed by Dick Stott.  We had Evelyn Monat and Gordon Dembsey narrating.Doug Hill provided signs to prompt audience participation, and Jean Pertick helped when an actor or actress forgot lines.

The King’s 5 daughters were turned into chickens by the witch (our 6th chicken), and our prince has to determine which chicken is the witch before he can claim one of the daughters as his bride. Here are the chickens trying to eat candy corn through their “paper hat” beaks.

Our king meets with the prince and explains the deal.

Then the prince dresses as a beautiful young blond to try to get the witch to identify herself.  But an Ogre grabs the beautiful young blond prince only to be fought off by a nearsighted knight.

However, the prince found a broom, and the witch couldn’t resist flying off, so the 5 chickens were restored to beautiful daughters, and the King gave the prince his choice.  Then everyone took there bows. 

As we walked back to our house, we noticed this SUV with an orange kayak (they belong to Frank Cebula and Joan Dwight.

Monday–Thursday, 2/27 to 3/1/2012

We were asked to host a “Low Country Boil” Monday afternoon.  Since we did not have to do the cooking, of course we agreed.  Bennett brought his cooker over early in the afternoon, and we sat around watching the pot boil.

It did rain, so some of the cooking was under umbrellas.

It did stop raining long enough for us to eat, and what a delicious plate of food.

We ate so much, the serving dishes were emptied.

Then after we ate, we had to sit around and discuss world problems.

On Wednesday, we returned to Busch Gardens to see one of my favorite groups, The Ventures.  I had several of their albums when albums were on vinyl. 

Nokie Edwards on the left, and Don Wilson on the right are the only remaining original members of the band.

After the concert, we took a group picture, and had lunch.

Then it was time to take some more animal pictures.  There were lions being fed, African storks being fed, some Mearcats, and a Hyena.

Today (Thursday), we had another Escapees lunch at the Golden Corral in Clermont, FL.  It was another good turnout.  The picture below was taken with an app called PhotoSynth.  You start it with a screen tap, and as you move the phone around, the app takes additional shots which it stitches into a panorama.