Sweet Tomatoes Here We Come!

   It's chilly again this morning with a strong wind.  We're going to skip breakfast because we are meeting Bonnie and Ken and Doloris and Fred at 11:45  in Sarasota at the Sweet Tomatoes Salad Buffet.  We have never been there, but Mom has repeatedly highly recommended the place although she calls it "Green Tomatoes".  We had to leave at 11:00 for the 45 minute drive, but we ran into a lot of traffic and were about 10 minutes late.  Where the heck do all these travelers come from, where are they going, and why aren't they at work?  Do you think maybe it's all those darn retired northerners clogging up the highways??  I called my Mom on the way but she didn't answer so I left her a message rubbing it in that we were on our way to Sweet Tomatoes and the temp was to be in the middle 60's today.  When she returned my call I said "hello", and she proceeded to call me a "smart A--"!  I guess I deserved it.  All seems to be going well for Mom and Dad.  His floor is finally out of quarantine, so they can visit with each again.  We arrived at Sweet Tomato and what a treat!!  There was a huge salad bar with just about anything you can think of to put on a salad.  And 8 soups, fruit, choc mousse, 4 kinds of muffins, cornbread, 2 kinds of cheesy bread, 3 hot dishes and ice cream.  All for $9.99 (with senior discount) plus your drink.  We each got 2 cookies, too, for being "first-timers".  We had a great time, eating, chatting and laughing for over 2 hrs.  We also made plans to have a cook-out and play some shuffleboard in our CG on Thursday.

 

Look at our plates of food... no wonder we're smiling!

  John and I headed back to Port Charlotte while the rest of the group was going to a rum factory, Costco and Walmart.  We stopped at Walmart to find clips to use on our new frog lights for Harvey, some groceries, and to get a knee brace for John.  He has been having trouble with it ever since his last walk on the beach on Monday in the mushy wet sand.  He's been taking such good care of me...I guess it's my turn to take care of him!  We both took a little rest after we got back.  I talked to Heather and Cooper and was sorry to hear that a couple of her water/heat pipes broke yesterday because of the cold weather and caused some water damage to her kitchen ceiling.  The repairman was working to get her heat restored.  We had a few leftovers for supper and then got ready to go to BINGO.  We got to the clubhouse about 6:15, choose are seats and bought all the necessary card strips and tickets.  But it didn't start until 7:00, so we went to the library to kill time.  I worked on a puzzle while John checked out the books. 

Yea...I found a piece!

Now where's that one darn piece at the top...
It has to be here!

BINGO in these CG's is very complicated.  They play all kinds of weird combinations like 4 different games on one card and designs like champagne glass and hearts.  You really have to pay attention!!  All we did that night was contribute to whatever they use the money for because we won nothing.  Came close a few times, though.  We watched a bit of TV when we got back and then went to bed.