life gets busy

LOL and so the blog gets neglected....

let's see - since the last post - when we were at the Cortez Village Festival - I completed my photo books for both New Zealand and Sydney this was quite time consuming hence the failure to get much else done. 

We had lunch with Al & Carol before they left for their six week cruise around South America... tried Dry Dock- food was good but the place was jammed - had to park way out on Gulf Drive -  would go back but not in season- Carol and I had the grouper tacos and Phil and Al had the lobster rolls...

Next my cousin Michele came for the weekend- and we did nothing- LOL- seriously we just hung out - went to lunch, went to dinner, got up the next day and repeated the same routine... hit the regulars (Moore's, Waterfront, Baci, Linger Lodge) - she found a new favorite drink along the way--- and we had a really nice bottle of burg at Cafe Baci-

Penny waited for Michele to arrive by blending in with the big cats on the bed covers in the guest room - LOL

and Lucy waited for Michele by drinking from the large bowl in the back yard- LOL

Penny looks on skeptically-  LOL

 

After Michele left we went up to Tampa to spend the night with CBGB- the boys went to a brown bag wine tasting and dinner and GA and I had dinner at home and discussed next year's travel plans- the four of us are going to do a barge cruise in France.  Wine - cheese - chef prepared food - and a small  bit of touring on the side - what's not to love. 

We met our Hawaiian friends Jan, Hiram& Adele and Doug & Debbie on the last barge trip we took for Phil's 50th--- and ahem, next year is our 60th year - and CB's 65th so as time flies - seemed like a good idea to do this at least one more time... we blocked out dates in May of 2014 for the trip along with some Paris time around the cruise dates-

The next day GA and I went to our class on The Romantics at the Tampa Art Museum.  This was the fourth week and each one has been very interesting and enlightening- I guess I slept through the lectures on this in college because all of this seems new to me once you get past the poets (must have been awake for that part!)

After class Phil met me at the museum and we saw the exhibit of selections from the Phillips Collection.  Some excellent works were included in the exhibit including a number of the panels from the Jacob Lawrence "immigration" series... and three baseball themed paintings I wish I could have photographed to include here-

our stickers from admission-

 

above Marjorie Phillips' Night Baseball and below a selection of thumbnails from the show-

 

We headed home to Pelican Point and Phil started to pack for his week in Chicago. But before he left we had gotten tickets to see the very last production of the Manatee Players in their old theater.  Their March production will be presented in their new space at the Performing Arts Center.  The last production in the old playhouse was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...

We had never been to the old location and so we were happy we got to go while it was still held in the traditional venue.  But the musical seriously did not hold up, and by the intermission we both had enough of the not-so-funny broad farce, and we left. 

Yesterday Phil left for Chicago and I have been organizing things for the closing on the condo (flood insurance- yes or no? mitigation report on the roof scheduling? etc etc...) Michele is coming up to house/cat sit and accept deliveries - LOL... the good news is everything ordered for the condo is coming ahead of schedule - the bad news is - I wont' be here.  Michele has graciously agreed to spend some time here next week while I am away at Marissa's Bat Mitzvah.

So it may actually be a while before I post again because we get back late on the 11th and then between the 12th and the 31st we have two plays, a big wine event at the Ringling, two baseball games, the walk through - the closing - the moving - the cable install - the alarm install and some furniture delivery- -- -- -- oh and yes, Lew & Ellie are coming for dinner...LOL

so coming up- for those who do better with visuals-

 

will keep you posted of course-