Adventure Logan

While turning 74 might not seem good it was a blessing to have made it another year here on planet earth. Having a day to celebrate in sunny Florida was perfect. The sun shine and beautiful blue sky were wonderful. Flowers, cards, emails, messages and calls made the day more than special. The sunset at Sharky’s was magical as was the assortment of appetizers and my usual “MANGO BANGO”.

And because she really likes my birthday more than I do, when Mary and Bob arrived on Saturday we began the second portion of the celebration. She brought me this beautiful flower arrangement and we shared my special birthday cake (Raspberry Elegance) which we washed down with champagne! To make it even more perfect we went to Service Beach to see another sunset.

Our usually quiet Service Beach became a very busy location on Sunday when a 40 foot long sperm whale beached itself and then died. We walked from the next beach down (Sharkeys) and witnessed some of the necropsy that was performed by marine biologists. While it was a sad sight to see this beautiful creature in trouble and then in death, it was interesting for sure. Today they towed it out about 15 miles today and that circle of life will continue.

The annual Nova Scotia picnic is sponsored by the Canadian Snowbird Association and used to be held in Largo. Since Covid they have moved it to Fort DeSoto Park which is on the southern end of St. Pete Beach. The dates used to be fixed but this one was earlier than usual and although only 125-150 people attended it was a good time to meet up with our Largo friends – Joe & Patty Arseneau and Ross & Victoria Bruce. The weather was fantastic and the music wonderful.

Usually we have several large events at the clubhouse but Covid and an aging population here has altered that quite a bit. This year the big planned event was an ALHOA themed dinner and dance. Our little park of 185 trailers managed to have over 100 attend tonight’s event. The main meal was provided – pork and chicken sliders and dessert – the attendees brought the sides. It was a fun night and we enjoyed the band who used this opportunity to jam before their upcoming paid gig.

We continue to have more luck than we expected. Week five and six we were winners again at bingo -$20 last week and I won the $80 full card this week but had to share it with 2 others so I got $27. It is an embarrassment of riches for sure.

On the 8th we went downtown for the Chocolate Walk. It was like Halloween for adults with a huge crush of people clamoring for a piece of chocolate, a bite of chocolate cake or a drink of chocolate at stores along both Venice and Miami Avenues.

I forgot my camera but Earl captured this pic of Liz and a pet bearded dragon. After about an hour of the walk we decided we had had enough and headed to Perkins to have supper.

Valentines has come and gone but my lovely bouquet of flowers remains quite lively despite its age.

One of our favourite places to spend an hour is the south jetty. Its location means that it bears the brunt of storms and is often damaged. A city news release noted that while the parking lot and Jetty Jack’s concession stand have reopened, the South Jetty walkway is still closed because of damage caused by Hurricane Idalia. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to transport rocks to the site and begin work on the project in 2024. We visited the parking lot and took a few pics today.

There is a bingo night every Wednesday from January to March here in the park. We consider ourselves very lucky when we win but this year we are more than lucky. The first night I won $80, the second night I won $20, the third week Dave won $50 and the fourth night I won $30 (shared the $60 with another player) and Dave won $58 on the 50/50 draw. It is hard to imagine since there are so many players who never win anything year after year.

Today, along with the Corkerys, we went to Lakeland to attend the Canadian Snowbird Association Extravaganza. It was a great day of performances and booth hopping. The highlights included holding an alligator. Notice that only Earl and I were brave enough. There was a room filled with sponsors and vendors as well as groups advertising places in Florida and nearby states.

We saw four performances that were shown in three different theaters in the main complex. One was Jimmy Flinn a Dartmouth performer who David has known for 45 years. His comedy/music act is a classic.

We also saw the Next Generation Lahey. There are 6 children who perform and tour but 4 younger ones who are in “the wings” and also very talented. We saw them about 8 years ago at this same venue. They range from age 21 down to 4 and can dance and play multiple instruments.

Following their very lively show we saw a very funny comedian John Wing. We literally laughed until we cried.

The last venue had a Superdog show. What fun to see these dogs do tricks, agility and other skills.

We arrived here Monday, November 20 via an Air Canada direct flight and began the process of settling in for the winter. As we did last year, we will spend 30 days here and then return to Dartmouth for Christmas. While here we have enjoyed a visit from Molly and George so we got to eat out several times and to play dominoes three times. Our freezer died so we got a new one and managed to fill it with a trip to Costco and the 4 turkeys we got for 99 cents per pound. I got a new railing on the front steps and a safety bar in the tub. On December 19 we flew home for Christmas. Another direct flight which was delayed 4 hours but once we were home we were pleased to be there. We enjoyed our three weeks at home – Christmas Eve at our place with the family, Christmas dinner at Valerie’s, dinner with the Daniels, visits with the Ron and Claire Greenan, and with Carol and Steve Hiltz, dominoes with Molly and George, 3 Friday night restaurant outings with the gang and New Year’s Eve in the lobby at the condo. On January 8th we took the direct flight back with the Liz and Earl Corkery and Carol and Steve Hiltz. So we are here for the season and I hope to post more often than last year.

It is hard to imagine that we will be in Dartmouth in 15 hours! We have rented a large Suburban and along with the Corkerys are headed to Orlando (about a 3 hour drive) where we are booked on a direct flight to Halifax. Once again the time has flown and we are closing up our beach house for another season. While we are sad to leave this beautiful weather and life style, we are also anxious to see family and friends again after this much time away. We did make a special trip to Service Beach on our bikes and took in the sunset. These pics will have to keep us happy until next year.

We were pleased that the Largo gang got to visit with us before we all head home in the coming days. It was a stunning day and we met here at our place first and then were off to Sharky’s for lunch. I had my annual “mango bango” which I paired with a delicious chicken wrap. It was the consensus of the group that we are blessed to spend the winter here in Paradise. For us it is not new but for the Ross and Arseneau pairs it is! We even managed to plan a repeat visit next year.

Carol, Joe, Patty and Victoria

Victoria, Ross, Dan and Dave