OK- been busy

so to catch up- as you remember - or maybe not- we were having family for Thanksgiving - we spent most of the time cooking and eating and hanging out in the courtyard outside the kitchen (for easy access to food and drink- LOL)

We did go to Indigenous one night for dinner but mostly it was a relaxed holiday weekend where we just spent the time catching up with everyone and enjoying the company of family and friends.  Just after the weekend, we headed to John & Barb's for a fabulous dinner and some fun rummikub throw downs.  We loved getting to meet Barb's mom Barbara- who can certainly hold her own in the rummikub arena - this gal is as sharp as a tack (as they say) and looks easily 15 years younger than she is- we would say 20 but we know how old her daughter is! LOL

the below photo shows John & Barb's courtyard which they have decorated for the holidays - we have no decorations but we did have a very pretty (but the least successful) Thanksgiving dish to display- made by Angela and Michele and me...

the veggie roulade - stuck to the pan and the veggies cooked at different rates making it less than optimal- the recipe needs some tweaking but I think could be good. Maybe next time...

Later in the week we caught up with my former Chairman of the Board (who lives about 45 minutes from us in the winter time) and his wife - Lew & Ellie... we did some catching up with them but since we haven't seen them since early last spring - we still have plenty to cover in our next "date"- Lew and I worked with each other for two decades and so some of what we talked was "shop talk" but they are travelers like we are and so we frequently found ourselves talking of trips we have taken since last seeing each other... Aperol Spritzes anyone?? LOL

we had a few meals outside and inside - one at Blue Marlin and the others at Clancy's and Tide Tables (both of those last two were the first time we had made it to those venues this "winter")

photos below from Blue Marlin dinner

then two of the beautiful day we ate lunch at Clancy's -

Then as the week after the holiday was coming to a close we had two music events!

Saturday the Bradenton Blues Festival and Sunday a concert by John McCutcheon at the Craftsman House... the headliner for the blues fest was Janiva Magness (you may remember her from the post about her concert at SPACE from our Chicago summer time) you can read that one here:

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2015/06/reporting-back.html

anyway- she was again magnificent- what a voice! and she sang several favorites - including When We Were Lovers and I Won't Cry ---

here is some info from the Blues Festival-

we arrived mid afternoon in time for some of Mike Zito's set and stayed until the Janiva was finished singing... around 7:45 or so... a beautiful day -

and to almost catch up- last night we heard John McCutcheon- an amazing talent who can apparently play any instrument you put in front of him as well as tell you stories, sing songs he wrote and at the same time tell you incredible music history from his font of musicologist's knowledge -

guitar (of both twelve and six string variety LOL)

 fiddle-

 auto harp-

 hammered dulcimer (he's a master!)

I hope this loads - I had a tiny video clip of his hammered dulcimer playing- 

banjo-

 keyboards-

we laughed - we cried - and we laughed while crying- he's that kind of artist... the venue is extremely intimate- kind of a semi house concert style- and is easily reached from our winter home so we will be back in the new year for other concerts!

so I think that catches you up on our last ten days or so... and soon (at the end of this week) we leave for Cuba-  so we will stop in Miami the night before and see Larry, and Michele and maybe my cousin Cathy (Michele's mother) if our schedules for visiting Miami coincide-

here is our trip on a map- and of course little Internet access in Cuba so we will be "radio silent" for the time we are there- back by Christmas- but don't expect much December posting -

look for a lot more details around the first of the year... Happy Holidays! - oh I sooo have to work on the letter and cards today!!!!  time is running out!

a quick interlude

A nice evening last night under the open sky in Desoto National Memorial Park (a National Park) on the Manatee River- we heard Dana & Susan Robinson play and sing.  They were sponsored by the Friends of Desoto. Bring a chair and or sit on the lawn. About 400 people showed up! And although it was chilly after sundown the venue is quite welcoming.

you may recall my posting about this tiny park (could be one of the smallest in the National Park Service) before - when I visited with Jen & Dave (the newlyweds!) last year- here are a few photos-

the grassy are shown in the center of the parking lot is where the concert was held last night- quite a bit bigger than it might seem - the roughly 400 folks only took up about half way back on the green-

and you may recall a recent post from my Maritime History class - on the four Spanish explorers who came to Florida and failed to establish a colony here... Desoto was one of them-

http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2015/01/back-to-school-catching-up.html

and my next post will be on the expedition of Pedro Menendez (terrorist of the 1550-1560 period in world history)- but of course it was "in the name of God"....