Adventure Logan

Craft Central

I have spent some time doing crafts – which as most of you know is one of my favourite pastimes. My first project was to make pirate hats, eye patches and parrots for each of the 20 kids who will be attending John Cluett’s third birthday party. I loved every minute of it and can’t wait to see pictures of the party later this month.

For the last 2 Tuesday evenings I have attended a Stampin Up class called Technique Tuesday. The gal, Maureen, hightlights a technique and we make 4 cards using it. This week since Mary was here she wanted to come with me to see how the process works. We had fun and she was very helpful with ideas – she certainly likes her glitter!!

Drum Circle at Nokomis Beach

At sundown this evening we headed to Nokomis Beach to see the Drum Circle with the Daniels. There were quite a few characters there this evening. The first was this very curvaceous belly dancer. The guy with the jester type hat was there last time too and he seems to be the one who encourages the watchers to form a tighter circle around the drummers and dancers. The guy in navy blue is busy making that plaintiff call of the conch shell. Below that is a fellow who put on quite the performance with feathers, drums and other instruments. A collection of drummers were there this evening – as well as others with noise makers with which they helped drum down the sun.

Happy New Year – New Decade – 2010

Dave and I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all of you!! We hope for the best for you in 2010 – which we think can be summed up as family, friends and good health. Life is good here at the beach and we hope to see some of you this winter or to at least hear from you.

New Year’s Eve

What would New Year’s Eve be without a trip to the beach. Mary and I made our way to the beach for an hour around noon today – sunny and warm! It is so great to have her here for the celebrations. While at the beach, she made a list and we planned the day.


At sunset (5:45 pm) we went to the beach for champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, cashews and other treats. There were lots of others there cheering the last sunset of the decade

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The last sunset of the decade was a stunner. We toasted it with champagne and waited for the moon to come out as it is a blue moon!!!
After leaving the beach we headed to Mission Valley Road to show Mary and Bob the light display. Mary enjoyed the snow machine and said that all snow should be like it!
On our way home from Mission Valley we stopped on Shamrock Drive to show them the penguin display that grows larger each year. The blue dome was added this year.

Upon arriving home we had drinks on the patio and then BBQ steak and salad.

Once we finished our dinner we watched the New Year’s Eve show from Grand Parade on our Bell Expressvu and then switched back and forth between it and the USA/CANADA hockey game. The fireworks from Halifax were most impressive!

December 30

Busy day today with social gatherings. We were invited for drinks at Doug Wood’s house near the beach.

They live next to a large place that we all thought was a condo but found out it was a single dwelling of 20,000 square feet which is about the size of 2 full floors in our condo. What a place right on the beach!
The best news of the day was the arrival of Mary and Bob Daniels for the week. I set the table with my Christmas dishes and we enjoyed our first supper together.

The Right to Bear Arms

When you are in the United States, it is sometimes hard to think of being in a foreign country (after all they live much like we do and it isn’t hard to imagine that they are just like us). Perhaps the one exception is their belief in the right to bear arms. Dave and I are on the Board of the park and the Board members agreed to work to eliminate the feral cats which prowl the park. Dave and another Board member got humane traps from the SPCA and we went about catching cats. When a cat is trapped, the SPCA comes, collects them and try to find homes for them. Occasionally Dave has managed to catch something else! Yesterday the tasty Christmas carcass lured a possum into the trap. A Kentuckian (who will remain nameless) heard that we had one and he came to “help” Dave with the disposal. Dave was planning to take to the nearby wooded area about 5 miles away. He offered to help and then much to Dave’s surprise showed Dave the handgun in his pocket. It took Dave a bit of work to dissuade him from shooting him right here in our yard. Oh the gun lobbyists would love that!!! The possum is currently relocated to Caspersan Beach.

Christmas Day in Venice

We awoke this morning to rain so David had to forget about the golf game he had hoped to get in this morning. Although it was really warm (75 degrees), it took until about 2 pm for the sun to appear. That was fine by us as we were hosting the gang here (9 adults + 2 kids) and that meant cooking and moving most of the living room furniture out to make way for the banquet table. Dave got busy with the peeling, cutting and making dressing – I set the table!!!!!

We served the food buffet style and that worked very well as we had heated trays and crock pot keeping things hot. Mary Evelyn, Jan, Dave T and their son Chris.

Janet, Mary Evelyn, Gus, Jan, Dave, Chris, Carol, Glen

Dave and I really enjoyed having a large group for Christmas dinner and hope it is first of many. Yes, Christmas in Venice was wonderful.

Christmas Eve

We attended the MacIntyre Christmas Eve party this evening. It was so nice to see the excitment of John as he got ready for Santa (putting out cookies and reindeer food). He spotted a sparkly yellow bowler hat at a store this week and allowed me to wear it in this picture with him.
Dave T, Chris, Christine and Mary Evelyn

Dave, Jan, Jim, Dave, Carol Wood, Walter and Ruth

John, Jan, Christine, Walter, Glen, Dave and Jim

Carol, Christine and Mary Evelyn

Wing Night at Honoluana Grill

No one wanted to cook this evening so we went to the local grill which is literally at the end of our street by the airport. Delicious wings! I also had shrimp as I wasn’t sure whether I would like the wings. Next time I will be sure to get them as they were large, meaty and tasty.

Manasota Beach (Dec. 20)

Today it was a little cool but we did take a trip to Englewood and scouted the beach there. It is only 15 minutes away and would be a nice alternative for a beach day.