Adventure Logan

Although the calendar said December 25th, there was quite a bit of deja vu today. After the 48 hour adjustment with the MacIntyres we reverted to true time and celebrated Christmas all over again. We dressed and headed for the Hall for the Venice Municipal Mobile Home Park Christmas Dinner. Our dear friends Peggy and Jimmy Laidlaw are responsible for this event so it was a must attend for us. I caught Dave and Jim eating their dessert first – I think they do that because there are always extras and then they go back for seconds when dessert time comes. It was a lovely meal and because it is partly potluck the choices were many and varied.

Today was a busy one – we were off to a great 1PM gathering at Tom and Denise Royer’s on Nokomis Avenue. What a beautiful sunny and hot day. Although there were lots of Christmas decorations, it still seems odd to be sitting in shorts among the palms! When we returned home, we finished the prep for our turkey dinner. The MacIntyre/Cluetts arrived at 5PM and we settled to a lovely and lively Christmas dinner.

As we were hosting the MacIntyre/Cluett clan for Christmas dinner – we had to make a few “adjustments” to our calendar. Janet, Glen and Justin are flying home on December 26th so to facilitate some sanity Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were moved a day earlier. We spent an hour with them at Sharkey’s where I enjoyed my second mango bango of the season. John and Justin received balloons which proved to be lots of fun until one after the other they drifted to the ceiling. Glen got some practice with a long decorative candy cane that he used to snare the balloons and bring them to earth.

During the month I was able to attend 2 Christmas Parties hosted by the two Red Hat groups to which I belong. Liz and I spent several hours at Ginny’s house for the Queen Ann luncheon. I had been there before but she hadn’t. Ginny is 94 and her house has been featured on the local TV station as it is totally decorated for Christmas. There is so much to see that it would take hours to look at each item. She even has floating items in her pool. Just one wall of her living room had 300 of the Hallmark Card type ornamanents. It is amazing that this lady sets up this display every year and is still keen to do so at her age. This week I attended the Red Hat Flappers lunch at the Jacaranda Golf and Country Club. One of the highlights of eating there is free valet parking! The nativity set in the lobby is stunning so this year I remembered to take a picture.

Yesterday Liz and Earl went home for Christmas so Monday night we did dinner at Sharkey’s to send them off to “winter weather”. We sat at the end of the pier and the breezes were actually quite warm. I enjoyed my first mango bango of the season. The restaurant was well decked out for the season – including the white tree totally decorated with sharks!

Liz and Earl

Sharkey's tree with sharks

Outdoor eating in December!

Mango Bango #1

Last May Dave began building me a closet. He added it to the side of the trailer and then sealed it up for the summer. When we arrived this fall, he cut a hole in the bedroom wall and got ready to finish the closet. After a stop period while the Daniels’ were here, he began work on it again. It will be a 9 x 3 foot space that will house the former built in cabinet from the bedroom as well as a 9 foot long clothing rail. Since we removed the window, there is a large hole in the bedroom wall – necessitating a remodel of the bedroom – yipee. As of today the closet has the laminate floor, the built-in bureau, a 9 foot wire clothes rail and is painted out.

May 2011

Dave and Earl doing surgery

Looking into the closet through window hole

Laying the floor

Bureau in closet

Mary and Bob spent the last week with us. Our schedule was packed full and we enjoyed every minute of their visit. The very first night Mary came carding with Liz and me. She is such a good sport and actually managed to make 4 cards. If nothing else we had a few laughs. Bob and Dave went to a movie and golfed 4 times. Mary and I shopped and Liz often joined us. Of course there were trips to the beach and lots of eating – Chinese, Pizza, and lasagna. Two highlights of the week were the Venice Boat Parade and the Punta Gorda Boat Cruise. For the boat parade Dave placed chairs along the Intercoastal about 4 days beforehand. We met with the others (Mary Evelyn, Gus, Shirley, Peg, Jim, Molly, George, Jan, Dave, Liz and Earl) about 4:30pm. Dave cooked sausages and hamburgers for us while we waited for the parade to begin. The parade was great -the 22nd annual with 47 boats all lit up for the season. Our vantage point (jetty on the Venice Island side) was super as we were able to see the boats coming down the Intercoastal, turn in front of us and head down the other canal. On Sunday night we headed to the Golden Corral in Punta Gorda and had supper before going dockside at Fisherman’s Wharf. At 9 pm we boarded for our cruise along the canals there to see how the “other half lives”. The mulitmillion dollar homes were lit for Christmas – as were their docked boats. We had lots of fun and many laughs! For the last night we headed to Service Beach for a sunset supper. The weather was wonderful and the sunset (our first official one too) was breathtaking. Mary and Bob left this morning but knowing they are returning in March was the bonus!

It was a balmy 20 degrees Celcius when we headed off to see the annual Venice Santa Parade. Liz and Earl were anxious to experience their first parade here in Paradise. After a great supper at Althea’s Restaurant we headed for our chairs on Nokomis Avenue. The residents here still scout the location they want and place chairs there for several days. Venice Avenue was lined with all kinds of chairs, blankets and enclosures for the last few days – quite a sight. The parade was over 2 hours long with lots of floats, antique cars, dance troupes and Shriners. The only glitch were the half dozen gaps in the parade which were half a block long. We had lots of laughs though – Earl got lots of beads and candy for the little boy sitting near us.