O WHERE O WHERE HAVE THE HOLIDAYS GONE?????

They seemed to come and go in an instant.  Thanksgiving was spent at Mom’s, celebrating her 83^rd birthday on the 25^th. Corrie and I stayed overnight and had Thanksgiving dinner with them.  I cooked.  It’s really hard to come up with a menu for people who don’t eat vegetables.  Every single thing was a carbohydrate: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce.  I ate more carbs in one day than I do in a week!

 The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was spent working for the Red Cross and planning the annual “Volunteer Appreciation” event.  Fortunately, I had a helper who was able to get plenty of donations for raffle prizes.  Mostly restaurant certificates, but some nice hotel stays.  The Westin Diplomat gave us two nights.  VERY generous.  Then, a day spa gave us a certificate for a hair wash and blow dry.  What’s that worth??? $5? I was embarrassed to give it away, so I put it together in a prize package.

Frank went with me to the event, even though he had to work that night.  I got a Certificate of Appreciation for my work with Community Disaster Education program and won a couple of raffle prizes – one was a backpack crammed with Red Cross stuff.  Just my luck.  Oh well, I was able to “re-gift” a couple of things, like a Red Cross first aid kit.  Crap – my whole vehicle is one big first aid kit.

On Christmas Eve, Frank and I took off for Markham Park.  It’s a HUGE park located west of Ft. Lauderdale and right next to the Everglades.  We took bikes but no kayaks.  What one must appreciate is that we both drive SUV’s and they were BOTH filled to the gills.  Frank put up the tent, I blew up the mattress and “made the bed”, and Ginger did what she does so well – tangle up the cord on the leash.

We had picked out a recipe for Christmas Eve dinner.  Just a simple pot of corn on the cob, shrimp, Brussels sprouts, garlic and turkey sausage seasoned with Old Bay.  Problem is, I forgot the turkey sausage.  I had bought two pounds of homemade sausage from the Delaware Chicken Farm but it had fallen out of the package and sat overnight in the car.  I threw it out. As I am attempting to boil the water in the bottom of the HUGE stock pot, I realized that the shrimp weren’t getting cooked, so I threw in some olive oil and called it stir fry.

After dinner, Frank made a nice fire and we just enjoyed the outdoors and each others’ company.  Ginger was Ginger.  Bedtime comes early in the Everglades.  The first night was too warm to sleep inside the sleeping bags, so we slept on top.

Christmas morning, we had mimosas with a breakfast of roast beef hash, eggs, toast and fruit.  The park was closed to the public on Christmas Day and we had the whole place to ourselves.  I had stuffed Ginger in to her carrier (that attaches to me), climbed on Frank’s mountain bike and off we went.  Ginger seemed to enjoy having the wind in her ears and we went all through the park. We even went up on top of the levee that separates the park from the Everglades. I was uncomfortable, as there was a lot of loose gravel and my balance was already skewed because of Ginger hanging from my neck, so we stuck to the roads within the park.  We took a two hour bike ride and still didn’t cover all of the park.  

The day was so (literally) short, that we didn’t start dinner until it was almost dark.  I had brought some Matchlight charcoal that Steve probably had for ten years or more and it wouldn’t light.  That is, until we dumped the coals out under a tree and started over.  Then, they turned into beautiful glowing embers, of course.  Frank finally got the charcoal going, thanks to some wood from the fire and we were able to cook dinner – filet mignon, lobster, asparagus and salad.  YUM.

Christmas night was chilly and I was sure glad I packed warm clothes for both me and Ginger.  We had another fire and Frank had a Patron marguerite and I had a couple of Grey Goose martinis. YUM again.

The weather the next day (the day after Christmas) was funny.  It drizzled a little, the sun came out a little, it was cool for a while, then it was warm for a while. After breakfast, we headed out on the bikes again.  We stopped at the dog park, which is HUGE.  They have a giant fenced in area for big dogs and a smaller area for little dogs.  They even have doggy water fountains, structures to climb on, benches for humans and they even provide litter bags.  Of course, Ginger won’t leave my side.  She’s just not interested in socializing with dogs at all.  It was funny, at one point there was a “sniffing train” of about five dogs in a row, all sniffing each others’ butts. It was tons of fun just watching the other dogs.

After a stop at the dog park, we headed to the remote controlled airplane field.  There must have been about 20 planes – all shapes and sizes, even jets. There was also a Christmas tree decorated with airplane parts.  I took a picture for dad – I think he’ll enjoy it.   

We watched the planes for about two hours and struck up conversations with other people.  It was really a fun time.  We should have gone to the remote control boat portion of the lake but just forgot about it.  

When I tried to stuff Ginger back in her carrier, she wanted no part of it.  Frank suggested that we let her run beside us.  Since he was handling the bike much better than I, he took her leash. There we were, us on the bikes and Ginger running beside us on her leash.  One car went by and the occupants yelled “give that dog a skateboard”.  It was hilarious and she loved it.  By the time I went to stuff her into the carrier again, she was pooped and all too happy to get in!  Dinner was Frank’s country style ribs and a salad.  Once again, a nice fire and bedtime.

It took us over two hours to pack up and we were both glad that we didn’t have very far to go to get home.  Frank had to work that night, so he needed to get some sleep.  I think he slept very well.

Would I go again??? YOU BETCHA! Stay tuned for the next adventure.