Sunday, February 1, 2015

It's January And The Gang's All Here! Almost.

Arrivals for Winter...

By the end of the first week in January, almost all of our usual gang had arrived at Seminole Campground and the friendships took up right where they left off last year.  Here's some of what went on during that first month....
Susan and Telephone Bill... among the last to arrive in Januar

Campground Activities...

In early January, I suggested to the activities director that we try to incorporate a pet adoption event into our Saturday morning pancake breakfast and dog parade. She agreed.

Yeah, we have a dog parade.You can get away with a lot of silliness as a senior citizen.

The post-holiday date slipped up on me though and only by the skin of my teeth was I able to secure pets from Gulf Coast Humane Society for introduction to the campers. Neither of the adoptable ones were taken but it was a start and hopefully, the trend will continue.
Betty looks on as Nancy tries to convince her husband to adopt this little fellow. No dice. 


The two Gulf Coast Humane Society volunteers with Petey, an adoptable shiz tzu mix breed. 
Following the delicious pancake breakfast, the adoptable dogs got some oooh's and awwww's and then participated in the January Pet Parade.  Some of the pets dress for the event and awards are given for outrageous categories like being largest and smallest, doing the best trick and so forth. Lexie and Ozzie didn't win any of the categories but they were certainly cute and well behaved riding in their stroller draped in their personalized blankets made by my friend Donna Wisnieski.

Lexie and Ozzie dressed for the Dog Parade

Pastimes...

Our Seminole Campground group is obsessed with eating and we some of us take pictures of food.  This particular evening, eleven of us went to Ciao's, a favorite place in Coral Springs.

My fish dinner
Fran and Mary

Dale is missing from the group this time.
I think he was on an "out of retirement assignment" in Mexico.
Fortunately, he didn't mind as Ciao's isn't a favorite restaurant of his.  

Dessert at Ciao. Always Dessert.

Tampa RV Show...

As usual, in mid-January, Wayne and I took the coach to Florida State Fairgrounds for the annual RV Show.  We stayed Wednesday, Thursday and most of Friday. We bought our usual array of RV accessories but not a new rig, thank goodness.

On Thursday, Pam and Ernie came from Naples to pick up Charlie and Joyce at Seminole and take in a day of the show with us. Fran and Mary came too. Pam brought delicious fresh vegetables from a farm market she found in Naples. We made sandwiches and fought off the misery of an almost-all-day rain.

Pam
Joyce

The Wayner scoffs up a chocolate drizzled funnel cake. 

More Eating...


More eating occurred throughout the month of January as we had good cooks among us and I am always ready for good food.



Even Lexie and Ozzie get into eating at the campground.
Here, Linda gives them tiny bites of canned cat food! Ahh, they love it! 

Lee County RV Show

In late January, the RV Show came on down to Lee Civic Center in North Fort Myers. Friends we met in Bradenton during January 2012 drove down to visit and take in the show with us. The picture below was taken after a terrific lunch at Horsin' Around Deli, just down the road from the campground.

Friends, Grace and Tom

The Mullet Festival at Stan's in Goodland...

Every year, during the weekend before the NFL Super Bowl, a mullet festival is held in Goodland, Florida -- that's on Marco Island. Goodland is a sparsely populated fishing village that explodes on the day of the grand finale when the Mullet Festival Queen is chosen.

Joyce and Pam

Charlie, Joyce, Wayne and I drove to Naples where we were joined by Pam and Ernie and we all began the day with a smashing good outside lunch at Snook Inn on Marco Island. Pam set the tone of the day with her new cowgirl hat and turquoise accessories. Wouldn't take much to get us all into a fever pitch before going on to Stan's Idle Hour for an afternoon of fun.

Inside the Island Woman boutique, Joyce was encouraged to find just the right cowgirl hat. Pam on the right. 

Pam and Ernie 

Charlie and Joyce 

A couple of unidentified Mullet Festival Queen contestants.
Note: Neither was the winner. 

Good seats alongside (nearly behind) the bandstand.
Charlie, Joyce, Wayne, me, Pam and Ernie


Other January Stuff

The huge bee hive in this picture captured our attention one afternoon when we pulled into a local parking lot to take Lexie and Ozzie for a walk. The tree limb hung directly over the sidewalk but proved to be tough to photograph well. The cluster probably measured 18 - 20 inches across and was strangely shaped like a valentine.



Always a few trips to Bellacinos Pizza
Left to Right: Charlie, Nancy, Wayne, Mary, Dale, Fran (mouth open), Nancy, Joyce and me.
Linda was back in Ohio

Then there's nighttime putt-putt golf.  This particular outing came after the Bellacino's pizza visit.
In this photo, Charlie is giving Joyce a putting lesson. 
Go Joyce. Nothing like having a gallery of onlookers for the big putt.




End Everything With A Trip To DQ


Left to right, Fran, Dale, Mary, Joyce, Charlie, Wayne, Nancy and Ken
This particular stop came after the putt-putt
I should note here that Pam and Ernie hadn't arrived at Seminole Campground yet. They spent January in Naples and joined us in February.


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