Only in the Warm Coastal States--Florida and a few others

A Happy and Blessed 2010 to All!!!

There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.  Genesis 6:9-10 KJV 

It is always good to get home.  It is great to spend time away, but it is always good to sleep in one's own bed and have the four cats welcome us back.  There is nothing like knowing where one's dishes, tea and silverware is without having to open every cabinet.  I will say I have opened enough cabinets at Lynne and John's over the years, that I do not have to waste extra energy.  We have spent so time back and forth in each other's homes that the other house is like a second home (even though we are approximately two hundred miles from each other). 

We went South for New Year's eve and a couple of following days.  John was being installed presiding officer of his Lodge (more about this later--another day perhaps).  At the time of Y2K we lived in the same town as Lynne and John.  . We spent that New Year's Eve with them; then went home.  Ten years later, we spent New Year's Eve with them once again. This year, however, we stayed was several nights. Steve went to bed a little later than his normal 8:30. Lynne, John and I made it to 12:05. Then off to the arms of Morphious!  (Guess this is gonna be an every ten-year tradition--meetcha again in 2019!!). 

The first item on Steve's agenda was to go to the beach. He loves the beach. There is a lady who sells hot dogs at one of these beaches. I think he has a crush on her, as that was most of what he talked about on our voyage south. He loves to walk the beaches. He has met many people there.


Another item on Steve's agenda was to visit old friends. Darrell and Jenny were ate the top of his list. I go south a lot more often than he does. But he wanted to make the rounds of friends of days gone by on this trip. I like Darrell and Jenny a lot. Some of his other friends, however, are not particularly folks with whom I wish to spend much time.  So, I decided to visit with Lynne.

Thursday, December 31, he dropped me off and went out to visit.  When he got back, he mentioned Darrell and Jenny.  He had stopped at their house and found him home, but she was not.  Steve was reminded of the next morning's picnic, however...at the regular spot on the beach.  Get there between 9:00 and 9:30 am.  Steve is always too early for everything.  So, we left with Lynne about 8:30 (John had to work--yeah, I know it is New Year's Day--but he works for a company that is open, so...) on Friday. 

We have known Darrell and Jenny since we moved to Florida twenty odd years ago. We were often included in their various celebrations--birthdays, neighborhood get togethers and New Year's Day Beach Breakfast Picnic. They have been celebrating the New Year for twenty-seven years with friends, relatives, acquaintances for breakfast. Their regular venue is a covered pavilion at the beach. No one is particularly invited. No one is turned away. The only criteria are to bring something--a dozen eggs, kielbasa, bacon, OJ-- and your own chair. After all these years, everyone seems to know what to bring and who is going to do the cooking, etc. Some years there have been several dozen people; some years, just a handful. We are now into third or fourth generation of those attending. Since we moved from that town in 2004, we had truly missed these events.

 

The sky was blue to the East, but it was starting to darken coming in off the gulf.  Within a short time, we had thunder booms and then, and then it poooouuuuuuurrred.  A couple of inches in a very short time frame.  A decision was made to retire to Tom's house several miles away.  Everyone picked up their stuff and started down the beach road.  The puddles were amazingly high.  We got to the Intracoastal just as the bridge was about to go up for a waiting sailboat.  He was heading back in.  The weather stations had shown the showers had moved north.  But, big surprise... we got hammered.  We were half way cross the bridge when the blinking lights came on.  Lynne and I were in the last car to cross.  Unless one is familiar with draw bridges, one might not know that one does not want to get caught on the barrier side if one is in a hurry.  It is a long, slow process.  We even beat the host back to his house.  His wife, Pauline, had stayed home and had gotten a surprise when he called to say he was moving the party to his house.

At the beach people bring all kinds of cooking devises--Coleman stoves, cookers, pot and pans.  And, of course the pavilion has several places with which one can use charcoal.  They had just barely gotten the charcoal lit when the rain came.  It came so hard and fast, I thought we should be gathering animals two by two.  We get rain somewhat like this most SUMMER AFTERNOONS, not in January.

Lynne drove to the address we had been given.  When she heard the street name, she mentioned that John's brother and his family lived on the same road.  As it turned out, it was not just the same road, but the house next door.  As we pulled up a lady with a large white and red umbrella (it was raining so hard that we could not see a face and barely a shape) came up to the car to say we could park in their driveway.  Both Lynne and her sister-in-law were surprised to see each other.  Unfortunately, time was getting away from us by now.  Lynne had a million things that had to be done for John's impending installation.  So, she dropped me off and went about her errands.  I was supposed to meet her back at her house around 11:00 to help her get things ready.  While we were visiting at Tom's house, a message came to me that I did not need to be back until after noon as Lynne had not finished her chores yet.  It was a good thing that the timing changed.

Because the facilities in one's kitchen in considerably different that would have been at the beach, everything took longer...no insult to the cooks, but just circumstances.

Some of the kielbasa was pan fried and put out on the table.  We munched at that.  The next thing that came were some cinnammon rolls--immediately devoured.  Next came a supply of wonderful Christmas cookies.  My philosophy for a number of years has been "Eat dessert first, life in uncertain!"  So, the cookies worked well into that.

In the meantime, as more people appeared, other goodies started to show up on the table including the makings for morning alcoholic beverages--tomato juice, OJ, celery, onions, Grey Goose, Absolut. I am a tea-totaler; Steve drinks only beer--but never that early in the day. So, the alcohol did not make me nearly as happy as the food.  Coffee came, and so did the brandy.  Ghiradelli Chocolates. 

Buckeyes--home made chocolate covered peanut butter crispies.  Some of these folks are from Ohio and have not yet figured out this is GATOR country.  The Buckeyes were delicious--as one of the boat captains at Silver Springs had been known for saying:  "Buckeyes are Gators favorite meal."  That was the year University of Florida beat Ohio State in both basketball and football championship games.  

Several people were cooking more kielbasa, friend potatoes with onion--true "home fries", scrambled eggs, bacon, peppers.   Amazing quantities. YUM! YUM! YUM!

We ate about 11:30.  The early fixin's kept us going.  It was good to be with some long lost friends once again. I hope this traditional lasts another three/four/five generations.  The youngest person at this bash was sixteen months old--age progressing to retirees. 

Thank you Tom and Pauline.  It was great of you to invite us into your home to preserve a bit of tradition.

Rain, Rain, go away. 

It would be nice if you came another day.

But we can party anyway!