Another Great Week at Royal Coachman!!

  On Monday morning, Oct 17th, we decided on Venice for our beach fix.  After a delicious breakfast that John cooked we left the CG at 10:00 and headed to Beall's Outlet for a new beach bag.  

These beautiful large flowers are outside one
of the double wides coming into the CG.  Does
anyone know what they are??

Mom called and she sounded much better, but she told me that Dad was having some left side pain, fever and no appetite.  We'll have to keep tabs on him!  Somehow, we missed the Bealls in Venice and ended up all the way down to the one near Manasota!  Oh, well, we're retired....what does it matter, except for losing beach time!  So going into Venice beach from the south our GPS took us to Granada Ave into an area we had never been to before when we went with Bonnie and Ken.  It was very serene and there weren't any waves at all.  Just small ripples that hit the shore.  Because there were no shark teeth or shells I was able to just relax and read my Julie Andrews autobiography down by the water.  I really enjoyed it and it was a great beach for John to walk!

Doesn't get much more peaceful than this!

 

I think this might be an Anhinga looking
for it's next meal.

 

When I looked out across the water all I could
think of was "from sea to shining sea"

 

It was so much fun watching this seagull pick up the fish...

 

..."almost have it down".

 

Look close and you can see the fish's tail
sticking out of the seagull's mouth.

 

He threw it back up and...

 

...started the process all over again!

 

WOW!  Love the sun glistened water!!

  We left at 4:00.  After showers and supper I finished last week's blog post while watching The Voice and John did laundry.  I chatted with Heather, Cooper, and Jack.  Yes, Jack...he baby talked to me!  We watched some football and then went to bed.
   Tuesday, we spent the day in Venice.  Basically, I shopped, while John did some reading on his Kindle.  The one stop we made together was The Upper Crust Bake Shop.  It was highly recommended by Bonnie and Ken for their famous scones and Devonshire cream.  We weren't disappointed...they were delicious! 

It's a cute little Cafe' with...

 

...delicious baked goods.  John had an orange/
cranberry scone.  Mine was cinnamon/toffee.

We got back to Harvey about 5:00 and sat outside for a while. 

Couldn't help but notice this cloud on our trip back
to the CG.  Looks like an alligator.  See it's opened
mouth on the left.

Stephanie and Tom stopped by on their bikes and chatted for a bit.  We made plans with them to go to Sonny's Bar-B-Q on Friday evening.  Then we went to BrewBurgers for supper.  Watched The Voice when we got back and then played 5 Crowns.  John won again!!
   On Wednesday morning I made banana pancakes and then we took off for MacDill Air Force base in Tampa.  John wanted to get a couple more hats and we wanted to visit the Px and commissary.  We had "lupper" at the food court and headed home about 3:00.  BUT...I had John stop at a  "jackpot" mall near Sarasota.  There was a Marshall's, Ross, and TJ Maxx/HomeGoods!!  I still need a bird for my living room back home.  As a bonus there was a Nordstrom Rack store.  I recently found shoes called, "FitFlops"  that feel real good on my troublesome feet.  Michele had bought some there at King of Prussia when I was with her a few months ago, so I knew they sold them there.  I found 3 pair!!  We watched the Presidential Debate that evening...again, no comment...and went to bed.
   Thursday, I woke to the smell of breakfast.  Yes, my wonderful husband cooked again.  I talked with Dad.  He's feeling better, just tired and no energy.  Arlena called to make arrangements for some babysitting when we get back home.  Then I called my friend, Rhonda, who used to live in York and is now in Cape Coral, Florida.  We made plans to go to the beach on Monday.  John set up a table in the screen house outside, so I could work with the dremmel on some of my pins.  It was gorgeous outside, mid 70's, no humidity, and a slight breeze. I worked on them all afternoon and again after supper.  John watched TV, read, played games on his tablet, and napped.  Later that evening we played 5 Crowns-I finally won- and then Pass the Pigs.  John won that one.
   Friday morning my phone rang while I was still sleeping.  It scared me  because of Mom and Dad.  But, it was a fellow "Frogette", Jane, asking me if I could pick her up for "Trivia" tonight.  We had quite a laugh when I informed her that I would have to leave right away and still be very late because I was in Florida.  She forgot that I was here.   We went to Nokomis Beach today.  It's only about 10 minutes from here and very nice!  And it has shark teeth and shells!!  The weather was wonderful again...low 80's and a breeze and no humidity.  It was nearly perfect for a day at the beach! 

These birds were sitting on this spot ALL DAY. 
They barely moved when someone got close to them.

 

You can see how breezy it was.  His feathers
are all ruffled!

 

Honestly, most of the birds just stood there
like this all day.

 

He is apparently bored with the whole thing.
Nighty Night zzzzz

We came back about 4:00 so we could get ready for our trip to Sonny's with Stephanie and Tom.  Dustin and Ellie called John on our way there.   It was Stephanie and Tom's first time at Sonny's and they enjoyed it.  They came back to Harvey for a while afterward and we just chatted.  We invited them to take an air boat ride up the Myakka River with us on Tuesday. They left around 10:00.  It was a fun evening...nice people! 
   On Saturday I didn't get out of bed until 10:00!  (I was watching Pit Bulls and Parolees).  I'm so glad we don't have a TV in our bedroom at home!!  It IS fun while we're travelling, though!  It was just a bit cooler outside this morning, so I decided to head outside with the pins I had put together on Thursday and paint them.  It was absolutely gorgeous outside under the roof of the screen house!  John went walking.  By the time John got back I had finished my pins, so we headed down to the mini golf course here in the CG.  I beat John by 1 point!  Yea!!  It was so much fun...at least for me! 

Steady..don't over think it!



Come on, come on...go in, go in.



Yea!!!!  I did it!

What an adorable bear carved from a pine tree stump.

And "behind" the scene.

Then we headed back to Harvey to get ready for the Octoberfest the CG was hosting.  They provided everything...bratwurst, sauerkraut, hot German potato salad, regular potato salad, coleslaw, German choc cake, beer, and soda.  It was very good except for the German potato salad.  It was a bit too sour for us.

There were about 100 people there.  Some were
to the left by the pool.  That's me in the middle
with the yellow shirt on talking with the nice couple
across from us.

 After supper we played shuffleboard.  We waxed the pucks before we played.  I won 74 to 40. 

How's my form??

When we got back to Harvey I polished a bunch of shells with mineral oil that I wanted to use in the mason jar lamp that Lyn and Jack made for me.

All done.  Now I have to find a cute shade!

Then we watched the Penn St/Ohio St football game.  Wow...what a nail biter.  We couldn't believe that Penn St pulled it out!!

   Sunday morning Cooper called me just after I had gotten awake.  We chatted for about 20 minutes.  John cooked breakfast and then he challenged me to another shuffleboard match.  He waxed the pucks again while I got dressed.  The outcome was different this time.  I WHIPPED Johnny Boy 82 to 6!!  The poor guy couldn't stay out of the minus 10 space.  I consoled him by agreeing to go back to Nokomis Beach because it's such a good walking beach.  We were there from 12-4:30.  It was a pretty good shark teeth and shell day again, too.  And another gorgeous day! 

A lovely beach!

 

 

I know, I know...I can't help it...gotta
have my shark tooth fix!

 

Look how the sun makes the water glisten. 
I love that!!

 

We watched these two pigeons for at least 15 minutes
doing a "courting thing"  I guess this is foreplay.

 

This is just before he jumped on her back.  I didn't
think it was proper to photograph the rest!!

 

More glistening water with sailboats and birds.

 

We did all right today.  John found the conch shells
during his walk way up the beach.

Dustin sent us a text showing us what Ellie wants for Christmas this year. 

Her 2 front teeth (and maybe a tongue depressor :)

John grilled a delicious tenderloin steak for supper.  then I called Mom to check on her and Dad.  She sounded awful again.  Her cold and cough came back today.  Dad isn't feeling too good either.  Still tired and so cold all the time.  Can't seem to get warm.  Wonder what that's all about??   Then Bonnie called to check in.  They are still out West, currently in Utah with Ernie and Noella, their friends from Canada.  They are having such a good time visiting Nat'l Parks.  We watched football the rest of the evening and I worked on the blog after John went to bed.  We'll catch up again next Sunday, the day we leave here and start our trip back North. Hope you all had a great week, too!!