90 Ormand Beach

Security was relieved to have this "big rig" gone.

   On our beach walks we had passed the Ocean Deck grill and decided to give it a try, Larry was hungry for gator bites and we had two "Trawler meals" for the price of one, crab legs for two, no sharing tonight. Everything was great, one of the most memorable things with our meal was the side dish of rice, I believe it was island rice and it had pineapple in it.  

they brought their Bocce Ball

     Sat January 18   It was 43 degrees and I was the only one in the out door pool, heated of course.  Back home Michelle was traveling to Chicago for her audition for the "Voice" we were relieved that her sister Tammy and niece Briana were traveling with her.  After a long day of waiting and messages back and forth it was disappointing to find out how they conduct the auditions.  Literally hundreds of contestants scheduled for the same time slot and rushed thru like cattle.  They missed a lot of good singers, there loss, I think sometimes they are looking for the oddity or shocking to stir up the show.  At least she gave it a try, they made it home safe, had some bonding time and one humorous event.  We had read the guidelines for the event many times and it stressed over and over "no accompaniment" and the last line. Do not even bring your guitar and of course she sent me a picture of someone in line with their guitar.  I think they said something about No chicken costume's also.

Serious beach treasure hunter.

    Gene and Carol, our friends from Minnesota had arrived just up the road in Ormond Beach.  The plan was to spend the next week with them.  Tonight along with Larry, found us at Alfies, one of their favorite places to eat.  They had raved about the Clam chowder, they were right, delicious.  Gene treated the table to fried ice cream to share.  Going to be tough to get in shape for the horses if we keep eating out with friends. 

     Sunday the 19th Larry went back to Minnesota and we moved up the beach to Gene and Carols. The weather had turned windy and cold so Gene and I watched some of the football playoffs while Ruthie and Carol went to the larger outdoor flea market and picked up groceries for the week.  Another week of good cooking.  Carol is a great cook and packed all her spices with her for the trip, never seen that before.  I found out that Gene doubles as her sous-chef.  Had to look it up, carries out the head chefs directives I think that is pretty accurate,  We had many wonderful salads, scallops and tilapia.  She seems to put a lot of thought into her recipes, nutrition and meal planning, One of her statements I found interesting.  "The whiter the bread the quicker your dead".   Mornings usually found Carol and I up before the other two.  I was working on the blog, stretching or just visiting with Carol. 

     Ruthie and I still tried to walk the beach as much as we could.  On one particular day we had walked quite a distance and were headed back home.  A couple stopped to talk to us and commented how long we had been walking, they said they had seen us going South from the balcony of their hotel and now we were headed the other way.  Curious, I wonder how they knew it was us from that distance.  It is hard to walk on the beach and not look down, the lure to find some unusual object, shell or perhaps something of value.  Even the shape of the sand is changing and interesting everyday. Today we met Sue on our beach walk,

Ruthies beach shoes, maybe a clue as
to how they recognized us.



   She was intent on photographing some birds, I tried to motion to Ruthie so she wouldn't walk in front of her and spoil the picture she was taking.  We apologized and found out she was taking pictures of three one legged birds standing together.  She couldn't believe the intelligence of these

disabled birds that had banded together for support.   Should we tell her?  Finally had to break the news to her that they were Okay, and prove to her they had two legs.  Did we do the right thing?   You must be from Boston, I said.   I missed it, she had moved down from Brooklyn. She had trusted a handy man, paid him up front and he never showed up again.  We offered to help her when we moved down to our next digs if she needed it.  

      When ever we had a break I helped Gene and Carol with their iPad operation and updates it was good for me as it gave me a chance to learn another operating system. 

     One of Gene's favorite games is slot mania, what a scrooge he is, we had to stop at the Verizon store for some help.  I wanted to make sure we didn't lose any of his coins, he has half a million of them.  They have no real value you know, but don't try and tell him that.  We needed to play the game to see if it worked and he complained because I spent to many coins.  What's the saying about I bet he has his first nickel? 

  And then an evening of 500 cards, (I may be asked to leave early), sometimes you just get the cards, Gene asked if I was married to the joker, not sure what  he meant by that,  I knew I would be in big trouble if I said yes.

     This was a very friendly time share, what they lacked in elegance they made up for in social functions.  A hamburger get together, ice cream and lots of community events.

     Because of the wind outside I decided to work out in the fitness center,  evidently I had pushed it a little to hard that day, my neighbor on the machine next to me "preparing for the Olympics are we?"

     The day before we were to leave I was shocked to hear Gene say "I wonder what a beer would taste like?". I just assumed he had one before.  We drove across the intercostal waterway to Caribbean Jacks, pretty cool, we sat outside under radiant heaters.  The theory is that they heat objects and not the air.  I couldn't keep my hands off the table, it was warm and toasty like when you wrap your hands around a mug of hot chocolate.  For his first beer Gene seemed quite comfortable with it. 

     I coined a phrase for them.  Gene saying "I wonder what a beer would taste like?" would be like Carol saying "I wonder if I would enjoy shopping?"