The Seminole Campground Group Pastime

Our friends at Seminole Campground are making our stay unforgettable.  The number is up to nearly twenty now and I'm trying hard to remember all the names. 

As a group of retirees we have plenty in common notwithstanding being from parts of the country. A favorite common pastime among us is to eat, as I noted in an earlier post.  Another way to spend the day is to throw verbal barbs at one another, followed closely by laughing to the point of tears. Fortunately, I've not gotten to the point of peeing my pants.

Last Friday afternoon we split five couples into two truck loads and and invaded Nino's Italian Restaurant for an "early bird special."  The maaavaaalous food was surpassed only by great company. 

Let's see now... Left to right... we have Charlie, Wayne, Ken, Rick and Mark.
Corresponding wives on the right, front to rear, are Joyce, my vacant chair, Nancy, Louise and Janie.
To this point, at least, we were well behaved.

Warm garlic rolls sprinkled heavily with parsley and Parmesan. 
We'll take a half-dozen baskets of these before we're finished.
  I should have simply applied mine directly to my thighs and mid-section. That's where they are today.

 

Wayne looking ever so confident ordering a special Chicken Divan dinner.
We were all so pleased when he asked the difference between Marinara and Spaghetti Sauce.
I think Ken is taking notes from this informative session.  Just guessing.

Rick (orange shirt) ordered his own personal pizza and was so accommodating to allow me to photograph it.
In this picture, I think he was accusing one of the ladies across the table of trying to steal a slice.  Touchy, touchy, touchy!
Mark, to Rick's left, was almost unrecognizable without his trademark camo baseball cap and sweatshirt.

I forgot what she ordered, but this delectable setting belongs to Janie.
Several in the group ordered lasagna and that's what this looks like but I just don't remember.

Here's Wayne chicken divan

And my chicken Marsala. 
Oooh so good.

By Sunday, our group was ready to talk food again and after some discussion I threw in my chips and invited the crowd for hamburgers. They're convinced, at least until now, that I really don't cook. With a last minute warning and a promise to let Wayne grill the hamburgers, they agreed to give it a whirl.  All the group except Rick and Louise, who had a prior commitment, would be there.  Uh oh.

Turned out we'd increase our group by five new neighbors and this was the scene early in the afternoon.

My labor of love.  Seventeen hand made hamburger patties.

If there is a "Ring Leader" in this hilarious group, it has to be Mark.
To know him is to love him and he's easy to get to know.

Left to right, this gang of undesirables would be Nancy, Ken, Janie, Russ, Cheryl, Mary (standing), Dale (waving), Wayne (standing in pink), Mark (sitting), Fran, Fran and Mary's daughter Victoria and their Spaniel, Zoey, Charlie (blue shirt), Joyce, Barb, Brad and Linda (green vest).

After the cookout we settled down for the Super Bowl (Ravens and Forty-Niners) and lasted until the two-minute warning of the first half.  By that time, the sane ones had already taken leave of the cold evening air.  Wayne and I, exhausted from all the unfamiliar hard cooking work, had a great time with a great group of people.