Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving over....and on to Christmas...

December 3rd, 2013

Hello everyone,

Another week has slipped by with a mix of weather and the big American Thanksgiving.  There has been a fair amount of wind and rain with sun off and on as is typical we are told, for Florida November weather.  I manage to get to the pool everyday so by Canadian standards the weather is not too bad. It is usually myself and a few other hardy Northerners as we are called that are in the pool.

Thanksgiving is over but the shopping hype continues. Every day there are countless ads and emails about Black Friday sales Black Weekend sales and the approaching Cyber Monday.  We have not ventured into the swarms of eager shoppers, but have driven by the parking lots to see them full to capacity. This is especially true for Walmart and Target.  On Thursday, which was the real Thanksgiving here we went with a group of people to a great restaurant on the water called manatee Island. The food was fabulous and the view could not have been better.  Watching the water birds, the sail boats and other water craft cruise by was a nice touch to the day. There was the traditional thanksgiving food like turkey , ham, stuffing, regular and  sweet potatoes, but it was so nice to have the mahi mahi , shrimp, and smoked salmon.  The desserts were countless and Roger said the pecan pie was delicious but I opted for the warmed Bree cheese with fresh strawberry glaze coupled with fresh oatmeal raisin cookie; a good choice as it was to die for.  Our reservations were for three in the afternoon so we had time to walk off some of our meal before we headed to friends later for coffee and “holiday custard pie”.   Now we are on toothpicks and water for the weekend. Lol

We tried a lovely new wine this week called Gnarly Head which is an old vine zin. A beautiful medium bodied red wine that is very smooth and is great wine to sip and savour.   It is made in California and has won several awards. I hope we are able to get it in Canada when we get back otherwise we will just have to drink our fill while we are here.  Last week we tried Malee Point Shiraz which was also very good. I am not sure what next week’s pick will be, perhaps a new white wine is in order.

We look forward to the arrival of more of our friends now that Thanksgiving is over.  People seem to arrive in waves, the pre-Halloween, the post-Thanksgiving and then the post-Christmas crowd.  As some people arrive others go back up north for the holidays only too eager to return to the sun once the holidays are over.  We are excited to go home for Christmas and see everyone, but I know that we too will look forward to returning to the warmth and sunshine down here.

Last night we were out for dinner with friends as Carrabas, an Italian restaurant, which was extremely good. They call it “amore night” with great specials.   A four coarse meal for  12 or 15 dollars a person  depending on what you order along with dipping bread and half price drinks.  A pretty cheap evening out for dinner and lots of fun.

 The week ahead promises blue skies and sunshine with low wind, perfect for lounging at the pool.  The weekend holds the Santa Claus parade, the tree lighting on the harbour and our community Christmas party at the clubhouse.  Before you know it we will be on the plane home for the holidays.

Have a great week everyone!
Carol

No comments:

Post a Comment