Friday, March 8, 2013

Seminole Chippendales, Meet Janie The Birthday Girl!

One of the original West Side Trailerhood members celebrated a birthday last week.  Janie turned 62. Like Nancy, Janie's looking forward to receiving an "old folks" check from Uncle Sam now.  Also like Nancy, she's a great friend and a really good sport.  Anything less than a "good sport" can't make it in the West Side Trailerhood, folks.

Devious as we are, several of us set about scheming a prank for Janie's birthday. We opted for a dark solemn look, complete with black decorations. Mark assisted by taking her out of the campground for an hour or so before the surprise. Would she be suspect of a prank? Yes, she would so we had to make it good.  Don't want to disappoint!

Right on schedule, the decorated birthday carriage arrives to collect the birthday girl, already carrying her black birthday balloon bouquet (complete with dead flowers), wearing birthday headdress and the traditional birthday lei.

Several of Janie's friends coordinate with black attire for the birthday theme.
To Janie's left - Louise, Ken, Joyce and Linda


Notice the "Minnie Pearl" look on the lovely thrift store bonnet.
That's Janie, the fashionista!

Such a happy birthday queen!
She's thrilled to have received Mary's bouquet of sticks, moss, weeds, dead blossoms and black balloons.

What?
Halfway through the traditional birthday tour, we came upon this odd new arrival to our otherwise tranquil little campground.  The birthday carriage came to a screeching halt!  Janie wanted a closer look.  Was all this in honor of her birthday?  I think not.

What the heck is that?

"I posed for that image," Janie insists.  Not surprisingly, she ran onto the campsite and struck the exact same pose as the image on the coach. Ruthie snaps a picture.  I wondered if the owners of the coach were curious at all...
No, nothing could seem curious to the owners of such a vehicle.

After the brief impromptu visit of the strange new motorhome, I suppose Janie was satisfactorily convinced it was not part of her birthday surprise -- not was it her gift. The carriage moved on.

Nancy, Louise and Janie.  I can't make out the other face.  Maybe Linda?

As we passed the Seminole Campground office, Stephanie emerged from inside to greet the birthday girl and receive the honor of posing for a photograph.  Janie was not signing autographs this day, however.

Stephanie and Janie

And so the honking, overloaded, black ballooned buggy moved merrily along the remaining streets of the campground.
All the while, Janie faced the rear, happily waving and singing "Happy Birthday To Me!" -- off key, of course.
The birthday carriage returned to Linda and Dale's campsite where Act II would commence. This would be the opening of the well wishing, sarcastic birthday cards and opening of gifts which included medical supplies and personal hygiene products for the elderly.  Beyond that, each reader must use their own imagination. 

Linda and Dale's place, complete with campfire.

Unable to read the birthday card greetings without glasses, Dale is eager to help with a magnifying glass.
Meg, the lei thief, looks on.

And then it was time for the presentation of the birthday cake

Ken presents the birthday cake to Janie while Dale and Rick look on.

"Ohhhh, thank you all sooooo much"

"It's beautiful!  You shouldn't have"....

Little did we know, the birthday came came with it's own surprise.  We knew it was decorated with an "Over The Hill" message... But what happened next surprised even those who ordered the cake.

That little black cupcake that was so cute atop the birthday cake would quickly turn Janie's lips, teeth and tongue black.

And she continues to be such a good sport!

Jean was careful to avoid the black icing...
I think Jean knew all along.

A big ole birthday kiss from husband Mark allowed Janie to share the black food color.

After all the cards were read, gifts opened, cake eaten and birthday wishes shared, we explained to Janie that we really wanted to do something special for her birthday but just couldn't afford to have the Chippendale dancers.  That's when, the original Seminole Campground Chippendales sprung onto the scene and into dance action!


The picture is blurry but it doesn't take much imagination to see the thrill of having such talent among us.
It's mild mannered Ken in his Angry Birds briefs and cool, calm Ron wearing Superman speedo!  Wow.

If a better photograph of the Seminole Chippendale dancers exists this blog author would love to have it.

No comments:

Post a Comment