Eve of 2008

Day out in Naples
We've had a couple of busy days and some lazy moments too. The weather has continued to be fantastic here, warm and sunny. That is about to change just in time for our departure. A cold front is expected to come through on Wednesday and it is predicted to be near freezing on Thursday morning when we pack up to leave. It should be back up to at least 70F by Friday though. Anyway, the drastic temperature drop caused a flurry of hunting for different clothes for that particular travel day since shorts no longer seemed in order! Debbie has done a last day of laundry and all that remains is final packing and cleaning Margie's house for her housesitters before we go.
We have done quite a bit of last minute sale shopping for things both needed and completely unnecessary. We went to the Annual Naples Art Fair Weekend and strolled the closed off Fifth Avenue, before going out for lunch. Margie bought Debbie a Christmas present for next year. Clay bought arepas for us all to try. (Arepas are a local food in Central and South America. Griddle fried cornmeal cakes filled with cheese, in this case. These were yummy. For lunch, we went to the Dixie Moon Cafe in Bonita Springs. It is in an historic building that used to be a gas station. It is famous for fried smelt (little fishes) and fried green tomatoes and fried chicken (you might be detecting a theme here...). We have finally finished off the Christmas Dinner leftovers! Even Debbie finally got enough turkey sandwiches! Still working on pies and cookies though, and lots of peanut brittle still around. We took Pat (sister of Margie's deceased husband, Rick, and Debbie's aunt) to see Rick's memorial brick at the Hospice House. Debbie, Clay and Pat had never seen it. It was a very nice paved courtyard garden within one of the Hospice House buildings. Finally, last night Clay, Margie, and evidently Bob, were jonesing for some BBQ ribs. So, we went to Rib City where Margie ordered a rack of St. Louis-style and Clay ordered a rack of Baby Back ribs. They agreed upfront to split, so each could half and half. Since Debbie doesn't eat anything with bones, she just had a sandwich. Debbie ordered corn on the cob as her side, Clay ordered baked beans. Clay did not like the baked beans and so swapped for Debbie's corn. Everyone ended up happy. It was decided that the St. Louis-style ribs were the best and no one liked the Carolina-mustard BBQ sauce!
Tonight we are going to the early fireworks at the Naples Pier. Tomorrow we are going to visit Lee's grave (Margie's Mom and Debbie's Grandma). We have a crowd invited for a traditional Southern Good Luck and Good Fortune New Year's dinner later. We'll have country ham, baked sweet potatoes, collard greens, cabbage and black eyed peas. A day of rest and final preparations and then Big O Southern Adventure here we come!

December 26, 2007

Christmas photos
Since we last checked in, we took Grandpa (Bud) and had Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Pat's house with Uncle Sam. Ham and scalloped potatoes, yum!
Christmas passed successfully but not without stresses. The 23rd was the second anniversary of Rick's death, Margie's husband and Debbie's Dad. The 12th was the first anniversary of Lee's death, Margie's Mom. It is rapidly approaching the 1 year anniversary of Bud's moving into a care facility. So, all in all Christmas is not lately a very happy time for our family. We gave it our best shot but it is hard not to miss the way things were. But, in just over a week we will be at The Biltmore Hotel for the big kickoff to our Big O Southern Adventure!

Shelling!

Shelling photos
Sunday - December 23, 2007
Bonita Springs, FL
Debbie's brother, Matt, came by last night and asked us if we wanted to go out at sunrise to walk the beach and "shell." It was a full moon low tide and there should be "good shelling" at a particular pass. So, we decided to take advantage of our hard-to-find knowledgable, local guide. Matt came by the house with his friend, Tanya, and woke us up about an hour before sunrise. So, everyone had time to drink a strong cup of coffee and get woken up before we drove down to the beach access. We saw lots of birds and thousands of stranded sandollars, millions of shells and had a beautiful morning. After about an hour long walk down to the pass and back, we arrived back at the parking lot just before the tide had fully come back in. Margie took Clay and Debbie to Skillets for breakfast. Yum. They have Skillets potatoes, which are hash browns with sour cream and scallions. Debbie had an Italian Job omelet with pesto, sundried tomatoes and provolone. Margie had potato pancakes and Clay had 2 eggs with Skillets potatoes. It was pretty good and people were waiting outside with pagers when we left. Pretty popular place! On arrival home, Debbie and Clay went on a shorts quest. Clay's shorts were all missing! Rut-roh! On the fourth suitcase they were located and then mislaid briefly again. Geez! We are having a hard time getting organized. Rest of the day was restful for some of us. Margie got busy and baked pies.
Debbie is on the hook for sugar cookies tomorrow! Christmas countdown is on....

ROAD TRIP/ROAD FOOD!!

Road Trip photos
December 21, 2007
Yikes, we have a LOT of luggage! We had to rent a van to get to Florida and we're off. Here is Bob at the trip's first lunch. Maurice's BBQ in South Carolina. They are very proud of their all-natural golden-based sauce, which is made with mustard. Pretty good sandwiches. For dinner, we'd like to thank our sponsors, Clay's sister Frieda and the Tuckers for the Outback gift card. Bob loved it!