Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Games, galavants and guinea pigs

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Jan. 28-30, 2013


Dunedin, FL – Twice today our RV radio has turned on automatically with wind warnings for boaters on the gulf. Weather alerts are a feature of the radio but they sometimes catch us by surprise, like when we come back from doing something and hear voices inside the RV before we open the door!

The palm trees have been blown inside out all day today, but it was still sunny and quite warm. We have started using the fitness room at the park, which offsets some of the good eating we’ve been treated to here, and keeps us limber.

It has been a relaxing couple of days, with truly summer weather (I think we hit a record warm yesterday of about 82 degrees). On Monday morning I joined the throng of park residents at the weekly morning coffee meeting, where newcomers are welcomed, upcoming events announced, anniversaries and birthdays celebrated and jokes shared. There’s even a live band (musical residents who play anything from violins to drums and glockenspiels) who entertain everyone as they grab coffee and a donut and find a place to sit.

Fawn and I were back there again after supper for Bingo night. Having only experienced Bingo here at this park, I have only an inkling of what it must be like in the big halls, where prizes run into the hundreds. Players come with Bingo daubers in various colours tucked into separate pockets of their special tote bags, in which they also carry little mascots to place in front of them, or whistles they blow whenever the caller says N44. The concentration is keen as the cards fill up and people look for that one special call that will give them the prize. I did a lot of dabbing and hoping, but I didn’t do any winning. It was good fun though, and afterward I helped Fawn wipe down the tables.

We went for a drive yesterday with John and Fawn in their big red truck. The pelicans were still perched on the piers by the gulf waters, and ospreys screeched from their high perches on Bay Shore drive. Hibiscus flowers nodded in the breeze in people’s gardens and bikers glided along the Pinellas Trail. Down by the marina, boat owners hosed down their yachts and seagulls scrounged for bits of fish they might have washed loose. It was so pleasant to see the world go by from the back seat while John took us around!

To escape the humidity and wind this afternoon, Val and I went to the movies. We saw Silver Linings Playbook, one of the films in the lineup for the Academy Awards. We always enjoy seeing the chosen movies before Oscar night, and this one had some very good dramatic performances.

Our evening entertainment was making our own quesadillas on the quesadilla grill that John and Fawn received as a gift. Stacking a tortilla with salsa, peppers, chicken slivers, onions, olives and shredded cheese, topping it with another tortilla and squishing it between the hot plates of the grill kept us all busy, as did adding dollops of sour cream and more salsa, and eating the molten result. We were glad to be of service as guinea pigs for the new appliance, and declared the experiment a great success!

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