Food, Glorious Food...

Here we are doing what we do best - EATING! A lovely evening of dinner and theatre with all my Mah Jongg friends. Top photo (L-R) Judy Emmett, Carol Rosenberg, Bobbie Wolff, Mah Jongg players Sandy Cadorette (L) and Elaine Berlind, Tom Cadorette (L), and Marty Klinghoffer, Me and Hinda Klinghoffer.

Show Me

Mah Jongg friends out for dinner and a show at our beautiful theatre here in Sun City. Jeff (L) and Jack Wolff, top photo; Ken Rosenberg (L-R), Sam Emmett, and Ray Mintz; Jan Mintz (L) and Judy Emmett; Carol Rosenberg showing off her cold weather attire at dinner.

I Shot the Sheriff....

I am so proud of Jeff! He is a volunteer with Safety and Service. These fine folks work at the front gate handing out guest passes and Jeff enjoys driving around on patrol in an official looking truck. Only the paid employees can give tickets, but Jeff likes the riding in solitude and being available for emergency calls. The top photo he's showing off his new badge from the local sheriff and his diploma. Don't worry, he's not a deputy, just being a great helper.

Catching Up

Lots of stuff to catch up on. Last week we went to sunny Florida in HaRVey the RV. Cousins Marilyn and Terry from Chicago rented a place in The Villages, so we decided to go see them and made a trip of it. We were going to make our usual stop at Disneyworld, but when I checked ticket prices I decided that they had priced themselves out of our price range. $79 (plus tax!) for a one day ticket with no park hopper privileges. Thanks, but no thanks.

So we headed for Sarasota because we had never spent time on the west coast of Florida. One of my best friends from Lawrenceville and Boston, Keith Montgomery, lives in Sarasota. I had been looking for him for years without success. Lo and behold I found him on Facebook, of all places. I stood up for him at his (first) wedding and knew his daughter as a little girl. (She is now 41!) I hadn't seen Keith in about 35 years.

I will let Judy fill you in on the details of what we did, but here's what happened. We got to Sarasota in the very late afternoon on Thursday. They wanted to meet for dinner, which we did. We met Keith's wife, Bunny, and we all hit it off. We had figured we would have a pleasant dinner and that would be it. To make a long story short, we spent all three of our days in Sarasota with them and had a great time.

Then we went up to The Villages to see cousins Marilyn and Terry, and Rick met us there. Somehow we have all managed to stay close even though we live 1000 miles apart. We spent most of our time with them doing what we do best - eating. It was great to see them both.

Now the interesting part. We hit sunny Florida during a record-breaking cold snap. In The Villages it got down below 20 degrees at night. It is by far the coldest weather we have spent in the RV. Frozen pipes, ice on the car, and icicles hanging from the awning (see picture above). We almost had a catastrophe when I realized on the last day that we were almost out of propane and could not find any on a Sunday! It was like the miracle of Hanukkah that the propane lasted the night.

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree

I am adult education chair at our temple and just ran a seder for Tu B'Shevat, the new year for trees and nature. We had 90 people enjoy the morning which included eating fruits and nuts that grow on trees and sipping wine. The top photos shows the pretty table setting. Next are friends Art Rosenzeig (L) and Sam Emmett serving the wine. Bottom photo are the wine pourers, (L-R) Susie Rosenzweig, Judy Emmett, Lynn Mooney and Sandy Diamond.

There's No Business Like Show Business

Jeff and I are part of a play reading group and we performed for the entire theatre club. It's a lot of fun and you don't have to memorize anything so that's a real plus. We did two short plays. The Ledge was the first one, and is about a young man who wants to jump and end it all. He's not very realistic and other characters come along to coax him off the ledge. Jeff played a window washer and I was a bitchy lawyer.

The second reading was At Halftime and Jeff played a grouchy coach with five inept, over 60 players who were losing badly to a team of nuns. Jeff was great and got to yell and blow a whistle. I was one of the players.

Cousins

Here they are - the fabulous Glazer's. That's Jeff standing and his brother, Rick, seated with twin cousins Marilyn (L) and Terry (R) all enjoying a laugh. Marilyn and Terry were escaping the cold in Chicago by renting a villa in The Villages and freezing in Florida. We had a few fun days together and ate and reminisced. I thought how proud our parents would be that we enjoy each other and make time to get together. Rick travelled on to the Sarasota area and we journeyed home.

Heart of My Heart

A great day for me! As if seeing the manatees wasn't enough to make me ecstatic I spotted these nesting birds from the road. I made Keith turn around and I jumped out to take a closer (but safe distance) look. As I suspected these are Sandhill Cranes. These birds live in the tundra and migrate south for the winter and Florida is one of a few states where they go.

Octopus's Garden

Still in Sarasota and still very cold. We walked on the beautiful white sand beach at Siesta Key and then our friends Bunny and Keith took us to the Tampa Electric Company to see the manatees. I've been trying to view manatees in the wild for years with no success so this was a real treat. The electric company discharges warm water into their inlet and the manatees come in from the cold ocean to warm up. There were 50 to 100 creatures in the water and they may look like gray lumps in the photo, but they are amazing to see. They float and then come up for air and you get to see their snout or a flip of their flat tail. There were also spinner sharks and spotted eagle rays who would jump out and do some acrobatics and make a great splash. All very entertaining.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Here we are still at the Ringling estate and Jeff poses in front of the villa. We never got inside and hope to do so in the future. What would an estate be without your own art museum? Oh yes, they built their own Uffizi complete with a replica of the David. Inside was a vast collection of Italian art and several huge paintings by Peter Paul Rubens. Later we shopped at St. Armand Circle and enjoyed some gelato. Still near freezing temperatures and record cold for Florida.

Ringling Bros. Grand Entry

Yes, the title is a circus march and here we are at the Ringling estate in Sarasota, FL. This lavish estate was the home of John and Mable Ringling situated on the bay. Jeff is posing at a scenic pond and the last photo I am in front of a huge banyan tree near the home. The trees were a gift from Thomas Edison to the Ringlings. We loved visiting the miniatures display created by Howard Tibbals which take up an entire building and several hours to walk through and examine. It was quite cold, but that didn't diminish the beauty of the grounds and the thrill of learning about the circus in many informative exhibits.

Auld Lang Syne

New Year's 2010 and we add on another decade. We had a fun party at the home of Jan and Ray Mintz with most of our good friends there to celebrate. In the first photo Jeff is setting up the Wii competitions. Nearing midnight our host, Ray, in formal attire plied us with champagne and we got a little crazy when Judy Emmett had us singing songs and dancing to her electronic keyboard. Laura and Hinda are singing along and the ladies did some crazy dancing. We actually stayed up after 1 am which may be a Sun City record.