Let's make a date....New Year's Eve 2008

Once again we hosted the New Year's Eve cocktail party. Lots of food and laughter, after which we headed down to the lakeside to watch the fireworks across the way. Supposedly the home who hosted them was once owned by Willie Nelson and is supposed to belong to Eddie Van Halen now...I'm in the process of checking that out before I swear to it.....

After the fireworks we headed to the clubhouse where Elvis was performing....see I told all of you he was still alive! Ok, so he wasn't exactly Elvis, but he was very good and played great 50's and 60's music. We even got Salt up "fast dancing"....he loved it....and he is GOOD!

Since there are no mirrors in the hall (except in the bathrooms) once that music starts playing we all forget we are collecting Social Security!

This is our neighbor Blanche...she lost her husband last winter, needless to say we were all happy to see her out and cutting loose.


And here is poor Gordie, who took a fall and hurt his back. No dancing for him this year. He's desperately trying to heal before we leave on the cruise in 2 weeks.

Look Emma....all of Grandma's and Poppy's friends can do the chicken too!!!

Here are our friends Carol and Rick Gates (TN) to my knowledge, Rick didn't sit out a dance.

Elizabeth and Milton (VA)....my bosom bingo buddies!

Tom and Ann...this was the end of the evening.....I think he may be getting tired!

Terry and Susie...

Gene and Ruth.....

New Year's Dave Kone cooked the main course for a traditional "pork, kielbasa, sauerkraut New Year's dinner. Here Ralph Willis loads up.....after all there isn't another until Sunday night when we will have the first annual "tree burning" ceremony down at the big fire pit!!

Dave proudly stands in front of his smorgasbord. On the right is Bob Hillis (Ralph's dad). He also lost his wife last winter.....we have all sort of "adopted" him. Needless to say, he eats well as a result!!
and last but not least....Salt and I wish all of you a very Happy New Year!!!

Girls, Girls, Girls are made to love!

Finally....an update of my Virginia Beach granddaughters....They are beautiful and growing so fast. We will be stopping for a few days on the way home and then heading back in June for Sarah's graduation. A few weeks after that, Rachael will be coming to the island for a part of the summer. We talked to Dave on Christmas and he wants us to "hurry home" so he can get to the island...NO WAY Dave, not until there is no chance of snow!!!

It's the Redneck Yacht Club

Another week to catch up on. We have been on such a run again that by time I get home in the evening I am just too tired to blog. Being able to stay outside so late with the beautiful Florida evenings, we never hurry home.

Right before Christmas we decided to go out to Sam's with some friends and stock up on goodies for the holidays. On our way home we stopped at the Olive Garden and Salt and I used the gift certificate Robin and Mike gave me for my birthday....thanks kids...great gift!! Love their Soup and Salad lunches! NO, I don't have Mickey Mouse ears on. I had my sunglasses on top of my head and sat in front of two plants!!

We started the Christmas week with a delicious brunch at the home of Terry and Susie Muldoon. Terry cooked his famous fresh pineapple pancakes.....along with tons of other goodies.

I think this is the first time I ever attended a Christmas Brunch where you could cook and eat outside! The weather was beautiful!
Here is Terry showing off his skill with the grill!

Salt, Doug and Darlene Rowe waiting for the food....

We hosted the Christmas Eve party and just did tons of finger foods and desert. We knew Ruthie was doing a big Ham Dinner on Christmas day so we needed to take it a little easy....yeah right!

Dave and his fancy duds....

Ending the evening with a fire in front of the Christmas tree.....what fun!

Christmas day was a big dinner at Gene and Ruth's but I forgot to charge my camera battery so I have no pictures from Christmas day. I will have to get some from Gene and add them later.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. We missed the kids and grand kids, especially after the wonderful Christmas we had last year at Disney. It just wasn't feasible this year but they have guaranteed me they will be home this summer. They all seem to agree they want to spend their time on the river.

Here we are on Daytona Beach....We had a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel so decided we should stop and walk it off before we attended the Lipizzaner Stallion show.

The show was great....these horses are absolutely beautiful, so well trained and so proud!! This was the beginning of the show where everyone stood and sang the Star Spangled Banner...of course I choked up!!

This was called the dance of three....all of the horses were so in sync it was amazing!

The horses were first trained for the battlefields during war.....they have all these maneuvers that were used on the battlefield to fight off the enemy.

This guy was the featured rider and it was so cool to watch him....he sat in the saddle and you couldn't even see him move in the saddle. He was SO bonded with this horse.

Salt and I found a free afternoon to go see the new Will Smith movie Seven Pounds ...what a great movie. It was a happy/sad movie and VERY moving.

Then on Friday, myself and three girlfriends had a girls day and went and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet....another good movie. I didn't realize that the story was written by F Scott Fitzgerald, which explains a lot. I definitely recommend it!!

We had planned to go to lunch and do a little "after Christmas sales shopping" but Ruth received a call from her husband. He and Salt had been out boat shopping and he needed the checkbook....RIGHT AWAY! Yep....they....well Gene bought a pontoon boat.

So......today I packed a picnic lunch and off we went for the maiden voyage.


Here is Ruthie boarding....


Salt the mechanic....


and the skipper...(captain??)

Doesn't he look happy to be back on the water and behind the wheel!!!

Dave and Gene brought their fishing poles but we did more cruising than fishing. They are saving all their luck for next Tuesday when the boys have chartered a boat to go out deep fishing. We are praying for lots of Grouper....are they in season?????

Tomorrow night cocktails and snacks at our house and then off to the clubhouse for a 50's and 60's band.....yeah. Fireworks at midnight!!! Life is good!

We wish you a Merry Christmas....Meow, Meow

So now I know I have truly found "my place" I didn't get to go caroling as I was still fighting this ridiculous head cold (which is much better today)...but all our friends came and serenaded us. When they sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas" they did it all in "meows". It is nice to know I landed in a group of friends just as (well almost) as crazy as I am.

We also have a Secret Santa going around....tonight is our turn to be Santa!!
And I will close with a picture from our summer home (St. Lawrence River).....here is
Emma helping her dad shovel!

Such a pretty face should be dressed in lace....

One of the guys who works here at the resort, clued me into the fact that his mother made doll clothes for American Girl dolls. I was amazed at the intricate detail an 82 year old woman gave to these outfits. When we sent Emma her Christmas presents we sent an outfit for each of her two dolls. She has been so excited about Christmas and the packages under the tree. I text messaged her tonight and told her I thought maybe her dolls should open their packages because it might be something to wear on Christmas. Well, that made her happy!!! Here she is with the the girls dressed in their new clothes. I am going to be very sad when she outgrows dolls!!

Oh yes...if anyone is looking for a good movie. Salt and I went to see the new Will Smith movie "Seven Pounds". It is excellent! A real sad/happy movie. I cried....

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....NOT!!!

Before I came down with this ridiculous head cold, we had a very busy (FUN) week. We headed for a new market in Sanford....where I bought nothing but a new cell phone/camera case.

This is a conversation piece which sits in one of the isles. In 1986 they had a contest to guess how many pennies were in here. The person who came the closest won that amount of money....not in pennies though. Here is the bummer....no one was around who knew the amount...anybody want to guess. I will have an answer shortly.

Wednesday morning we headed to Susie Muldoon's for coffee and Amish sweet rolls. Susie and Terry will also be hosting the Christmas Eve Day Brunch. Ruth Starcher helps Susie serve.

Tuesday we all headed for Deleon Springs State Park. What a cool place this was.... Here is the gang in front of the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Pancake House (inside the park).

The Menu....
And here what was so cool about it. The grills were built right into the tables and everyone cooked their own food. We all choose the "famous" pancakes.

Darlene and Salt with the "Dueling Spatulas"....

Yummmm....I was concerned about the lumps in the batter but was told that they would bake out and made the pancakes lighter......

There were alligators all along the river banks.....


Here I am about to stick my feet in the "Fountain of Youth".....OK, so you thought the Fountain of Youth was in St. Augustine right. Well, come to find out there is no Fountain of Youth. It was a myth first introduced by the writer Washington Irving. I guess Ponce Deleon had no interest in a Fountain of Youth.....bummer, huh?


We took the boat ride and got to do some bird watching.....

Took a walk on the nature trails.....here is Methuselah...

Oh yes....on Saturday we took in yet another Christmas play...the Santa land Diaries.

The boys finally caught enough fish for our first fish fry. Doug has the secret recipe and did all the cooking.

From the look on his face it would appear Gene was enjoying!!

Five or six of the guys have lined up a deep sea fishing trip for the 6Th of January. Salt is very excited....they will go quite a ways out and I am hoping Grouper will still be in season.

Saturday we went into MT Dora to watch the kids slide in the park. The lights were beautiful throughout the town.

And here are the little Floridian kids with their only taste of snow. Every year they make snow and let the kids slide. OMG you should have seen the lines. I was SO glad we didn't have any kids with us. It was fun to watch them though and just walk and listen to Christmas music. They have the quaintest little shops in MT Dora....unfortunately with the economy as poor as it is, they are suffering like all of Main Street USA.

After we came back from MT Dora we stopped in at the Clubhouse for some Karaoke. Boy would I love to have Alice and Janna here to get up and do the Dixie Chicks "Earl has to Die".This crowd would love that show!!

I guess that about brings me up to date.....Salt has been going and doing while I try to recuperate from this cold. After bowling on Friday, he went with the Starchers into Daytona (to the beach) and to pick up tickets for the Lipizzaner Stallions. We will be going to see them after Christmas and before the cruise.