Dec. 20 th. Golf this morning, hockey tonight.

Tuesday night was "a big Mexican dinner"(that's a song title from the Kentucky Headunters). We went to Bob and Janice's. I spent part of the morning researching Margaritas. That was our contribution.
So....with all the pertinent info in hand, we went to the Total wine store( you should see this place, there's not a beer  or wine or spirit left unmentioned. It's a Costco for booze), and bought all the pertinent ingredients.
Good tequila( we settled on El Padrino, on the recommendation of Suzie,one of the employees). Terrific choice, it received a 95 rating set by some international qualifications. Forget the Jose Cuervo!!!.
Of course you have to have Cointreau. Not!!! The secret, is a brandy based orange liqueur and the suggestion on the "web"was Gran Gala. Less than half the price(you do pay for the name) and it's base is V.S.O.P.  brandy.
Fabulous. Of course while we were there, we had to have  Scotch ( and again on the suggestion of Suzie who advised it was a very good scotch, better than my usual Glenfiddich), I bought a 12 year old, single malt "Speyside" I have yet to try it but I'm sure it'll be wonderful.
Okay back to the Margarita. Let's finish it off with 6, fresh squeezed Persian limes.
Here's the one we liked the best(we tried three different recipes). The 2-2-1 mixture was voted best in show.
2 oz tequila, 2 oz Gran Gala and 1 oz lime juice. We like ours on the rocks and shaken(not stirred)
We did buy the pre -squeezed Real lemon and Real Lime but we never got to try them. Why bother?
And...we got to eat a delicious dinner, prepared by Janice of Chile Relleno and re-fried beans. Fantastic.

Wednesday, Aprille went to a knitting group n the morning and we were going to have guests for dinner,but, Dave was recovering from a colonoscopy and John was on his way to Alaska(for 2 yrs) for a new job.
So... Aprille and I got to enjoy a wonderful Chicken Marsala dinner followed by a Pistachio frozen yogurt.
Oh dare I mention the wine?

Thursday Aprillle went for her 6 week cut, colour and whatever else, and sold another piece of jewelry. A necklace she was wearing inspired her hairdresser to commission one for her too.

Friday was golf at Shell Point. I got to try out my new GPS toy. It worked super. I was 4 swings away from an 84-85. I shot a 90. Not bad, but I'm determined o be a mid 0's golfer(on a regular basis)

Friday night we went to the Germain Centre, down in Estero, to watch the Florida Everblades play. I haven't seen a hockey game since we came down here.We went as a group, 5 of us, the girls bowed out. There was Maurice, Maurice Jr., John, Dane(another neighbour and myself . Too bad he home team lost. They didn't even show up. The final score was 4-1 for the North Carolina Road Warriors.  The shots on goal favoured the Road warriors at 37 - 31 but most of the  awarded SOG to the Everblades were sympathy shots I'm sure. But on a cool side...have you ever seen two Zambonies clean the ice?
$15.00 got us really good seats. There's actually not a BAD seat in the house. The arena holds around 7,000 people and I guess there were 2,000  in attendance.Oh ya. 2 beers( they were Labatts Blue) $17 dollars. Wow!!! I can buy 18 Heineken for that.
And guess who I saw at the arena? Lori Mornahan, from Cayuga. Really. What are the chances.? She's down with her husband for two weeks of vacation and hopefully we will get together for a beverage or two.

Tonight is carol singing and ugly Christmas sweater night at the office but we will pass. Aprille is not feeling the greatest. We were going to g to the beach at Cape Coral for a wine and cheese picnic, but that too will wait.
We did get a Christmas tree, Aprille bought a Christmas snow globe(with a windup player) that plays Santa Clause is coming to town.
He better put wheels on his sleigh. There's no snow here. LOL.
We have received a few cards and there are two stockings to be filled. So we are keeping some of the traditions. Go figure... we have our own bananas

On a follow up to the Speyside scotch.... it's good.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!
SYS

Movie night and senior rates

Well, we finally got a senior's discount.
We went to the show on Monday(9th) Dec. to see "Out of the Furnace" (a good movie by the way)
We got to ask for a senior's ticket and it was only $8. Super. The theatre complex is in the Bell Tower shopping mall and houses 20 cinaplex theatres.
The theatre was well designed with seats designed so that King Kong could sit in front of you and you could still see. The sound was just perfectly regulated and the AC was very comfortable.
And then there's pop corn, coffee and pop. So much for the seniors savings.

We went to the parrot sanctuary on Sannibel Island with Bob and Janice yesterday, and it was well worth the wait. Then another super lunch at The Grill.

Spanish lessons are now over till the 14th of Jan. We have actually learned a lot in the first 16 weeks. We'll have to be diligent during the following month off. You know what they say. "Use it or lose it"
No hay problema.

Wed. there was a pool game that lasted all afternoon. At night the girls had craft night here

Thur. Aprille and Sandra attended a "dress for success" seminar( a hands on event to launch small business ventures) Aprille has sold two pieces of jewelry now and we have set up a web site for her and she now has her own business cards. So check it out at applesjewels.com.

My airport shuttle job has gone for a dump. The insurance issues are impossible to overcome.
Okay bring on another windmill.

Friday morning we went to the Fort Myers flea market. Now that's huge. You could easily spend all day browsing. We were good. We only bought two things(that we needed) Aprille found a vendor that sold bras(nice!! one's I might add.). 6 for $12. Really. And a new micro fibre mop to replace the piece of sh.....! we currently had.At 6 pm we went over to my golfing buddy, Dave, for dinner.Great job. A delicious feed of smoked salmon and spinach dip for appetizers and a huge feed of angel hair pasta with a delicious cream sauce and craw daddies. Dessert too. Tiramisu and chocolate cookies.

I now own a V300 Sonocaddie GPS. A real time GPS tool that follows you in "real time" on the golf course and feeds you all pertinent info(that should help you,theoretically, to manage the course better) I first saw the device in action last week when I golfed with Barb. She had one. It is  a must have.She bought hers on line for $60 last year. I went home and immediately went  on line. They retail for $399. No way Jose!!! There as only one used one(advertized as "in excellent condition") at all the sale sights. It was up for bidding at $70.99. There was 2 hrs left in the auction. What luck!!!I won. It arrived 4 days later and as advertized it was in excellent condition.I'm chomping at the bit to try it for real.

Sat. I met the riders(and some of their wives) of the Lost Riders motor cycle club. I met the president at spanish class and he invited me to join them for a  ride for toys. It is an annual event hosted by the L.A.M.A.
Latin American Motrcycle Assoc. to give toys to poor families in Immokalee.
A great event and a great bunch of guys and gals. There was enough toys to fill the back of the dually pick up and the U Haul trailer, plus what people brought on the back of their bikes.

Sat night we went to the dog races,also in Immokalee, and we won enough to pay for the "refreshments". don't blink. Each race  lasts around 30 seconds. A good night out. Cheap and fun and you get to wager.

Happy birthday Annette!!!!

Yikes it went down to 47 degrees on the 27th Nov.

But all is good. It went up to 80 this afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving and a special mention to our son who thought about his grandfather(farfar) on Remembrance Day "Cherishing the ones who paved the way to live our lives. Especially my farfar. Rest in peace. Thanks Adam.

We had a great get together here at Baybreeze on the 23rd. It was an opportunity to mix and mingle with the complex providing turkey and all the trimmings. Lovely. There was karaoke too that night. What a blast. We got to meet some new friends and neighbours.

Well that was quite a treat (Thanksgiving Day) The day started at John and Sandra's at 2 pm. There was enough food for 20 very hungry people and there were 10 of us. I lost all the pics by accidentally formatting the camera. Oppps!!!

We went to Periwinkle Park (on Sannibel Island) on Wed the 4th of Dec.with our new friends Bob and Janice (they are bird lovers and in particular, parrots) to see Libby and Dave Baird(who used to teach at MM Robinson high school in Burlington and actually taught Aprille before they retired) who run the parrot sanctuary there and put on  a free demonstration at 10 am. So guess what?????
There is no show on Wednesdays. So, we spent a great deal of the morning walking the beach at Lighthouse beach(our particular favorite). Then a great lunch and Tom Dick and Harry's.

Sunday, the 7th. I went up to Tampa (150 miles door to door) with my buddy John, to see the Bills and Bucs at Raymond James stadium. Awesome place. 65,000 capacity with armrests on every seat. People actually sat down to watch the game instead of standing and blocking our view ie. Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo. We had great seats(thanks John, with shade by 230 pm) on the goal line 7 rows from the field. Nice.
We arrived around 1020 am(we left Fort Myers at 8 am ) and spent the morning and part f the afternoon tailgating. What a blast. We met some great people and played "corn hole" with our immediate neighbours. I have a set of toss bags(all official weight and size of course) being delivered this week. We have the boards here at pool side but no bags(kids!!!!) So we will have yet another excuse to drink beer. LOL.
We tried to get an invite for burgs or sausages at the tailgate grounds,but alas, it was not to be.
We had to eat at the stadium. Don't ask.
We pre-drank at the parking lot.
Anyway, we were a part of Bucs history. We  were there when they scored a touch down from the  line of scrimmage( an 82 yd running play) which was the lost in team history and it was scored in the first 18 seconds of regulation which was the fastest TD ever scored.

It's now Dec 11th and it's hard to wrap our head around the fact that it's almost Christmas and we are basking in mid 80's during the day and mid 60's at night.

I just went on line to book tickets for the Florida Everblades hockey team for the 20th. I have not seen a single hockey game since the start of the season.

We  have new neighbours now, Ian and Ashley, a very nice young couple. Aprille baked some treats and they reciprocated with local Star fruit and bananas from his moms garden on Cape Coral. They were "the bomb"