further back

from the present to the first part of February due to my being too busy to post while we were moving.... these are what would have been posts in chronological order and now they are reverse chron order- LOL

so working back another week in the missing posting-

We went to a spring training baseball game at Ed Smith stadium in Sarasota to see the Orioles and Cardinals in a slug fest that ended with a 9-10 score in favor of the Cards!

We had dinner at Blue Marlin to drink a 1971 bottle of Corton Renardes from Alexis Lichine that Neil had sent down to drink with Max (his birth year)

below is a nice photo from their fB page - of the bar and communal table - such a great place!

And- I went to see the Ballet Hispanico with Barb W. - beautiful dances and lots of energy and fun...

 It was hard to pick a favorite among these three... each was unique and the movement followed the theme and music so well that they were truly three completely different works.

after the ballet we went to John & Barb's to play a few games and then out to dinner at Bridge Street Bistro where we had a lovely meal and saw the last of the sunset-

and just to round out our week - on the prior Saturday we had the Salzburgers' 1970 Reunion - four plus decades later they still try to keep in touch- this time we did a Sarasota Bay boat tour and dinner at Captain Brian's followed by a concert at Fogartyville of half of Aztec Two Step (Aztec one Step I guess LOL) The concert was so bad we left at intermission but the boar ride and dinner were lots of fun!

  

and one more event - the night before closing on our old place we went to the symphony for a program we had mixed reviews for- not crazy about the Bernstein piece but liked the remaining music - an overture from Rossini from the Barber of Seville and then Beethoven's Sixth Symphony so more good than bad overall... and a nice evening getaway from the craziness of moving!

So we are now back to the day after closing on our old place - and three days after moving into the new one- so cast your minds even further back into the month of February - cold one that ti was all over the nation- because the catching up is near- and will be done in the very next post... with our trip to Chicago right on the heels of the closing on the new place...

game day!

So today we were off to a new stadium for a spring training game between Phil's beloved Cardinals and the local Sarasota team, the Orioles.  The Orioles have been playing their spring training games here in SRQ for the last five years or so, since the stadium was completely rehabbed... it is a very very clean place with nice ushers and probably the best food we have had at the five spring training parks we have been to so far (except for the strawberry shortcake with ice cream at the Tiger's Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland near the Plant City strawberry capital!)

Our seats were in the sun and it was quite hot- high mid 80s in "real feel"- so I kept moving between a shaded grove and the seats but Phil was a true fan and followed the every move of the lackluster (until the ninth inning) Cards... when we left in the middle of the 7th they had left 12 men on base... but they got 3 runs in the 9th and won 8-6... so yea!

 the above photo is from the architects website but the rest are my own- 

a card from the stand where I got us excellent snow cones (red cherry flavor)

I would say the afternoon was a little warm for my taste but it was nice to check out another ball park used for spring training here in the Grapefruit League. We have now been to the Yankees, Twins, Braves, Orioles, Tigers and Pirates... still trying to get into the Red Sox spring training - maybe next year...

and tomorrow we are off for our annual visit to Bern's in Tampa -home of the more than 500,000 bottle wine cellar- we haven't seen CBGB since Forks & Corks in January so we will be catching up with them before Phil leaves in less than a month! Time flies!!!!!!