February 29, 2024 - March 11, 2024 - Back Home and Activities of the Week

The morning after Bob and Ronnie left I walked up to the kitchen sink to get water for my coffee and felt water on my feet. I opened the cabinet door under the sink to find the bottom of the cabinet covered with about an 1/8 inch of water. I took everything out, dried the bottom of the cabinet with a towel, and crawled in to make an inspection. I found this hose, which extends the hot water faucet connections, was dripping.

Taking it apart to get a replacement I found the fitting wasn't very tight. I could have just tightened it to stop the leak but, not knowing how old the hose was, I decided to replace it. A quick run to Home Depot and the hose was replaced. This is why I ALWAYS turn off the water when I leave home for several days.

We went to a garage sale on Wednesday and purchased this painting for the bedroom wall. We are happy with how it looks.  Good colors that won't keep me up at night. After hanging it we decided it needed to be raised a little higher.

At the market we visited in Panama Kelly purchased two water colors which were done by a gentleman with a booth there. They needed to be framed so we made a trip to Joann's Fabric. We found two frames on sale but even being on sale they cost more than the watercolors themselves. Here they are hung in the living room on either side of the front door. A nice splash of color in that area of the room.

Sunday we made a trip to Ikea in Tampa to look for a different kitchen table. The kitchen  eating space is small. This is the table that was there. We moved it to the lanai. I may paint it black to match the chairs.

We wanted a smaller table for the kitchen area but had not been able to find anything at garage sales or on Facebook Market. At Ikea we found exactly what we wanted. They didn't have any in stock so we ordered it online before we left the store. It arrived in three days. Since it is from Ikea I had to assemble it, which was quite easy.  Here it sits giving us a little more room in the walkway. The framework is steel and well-made.

Tuesday morning, with Celina and Joanne, we made a trip to Shark's Tooth Beach in Venice. The women wanted to hunt for shark's teeth. They didn't find much but it was a beautiful day to be at the beach.

I got in the water but it was too cold to be comfortable plus there was a little rip tide that I didn't trust. The beach was much more crowded when we left than when we arrived but there was still plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the sunshine for a couple of hours. Between rain, cold, and doctor visits, we've had very few days all winter to enjoy the beach. 

Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. I had a Men's Club Meeting. These meetings are the most disorganized of any organization I have ever belonged to. They are like a free-for-all - no agenda, no control of the meeting by the President, etc. A major reason for the meeting each month is to get a count on who will be helping with the Pancake Breakfast the following Saturday. At this meeting the new Treasurer took it upon himself to: suggest multiple changes to the by-laws, suggest we follow "Parliamentary Procedures", rather than "Roberts Rules of Order, and then presented a detailed report of what was spent for the last pancake breakfast and what inventory was needed! I politely told him that I appreciated all of his work but this was not his job as Treasurer. These matters should be handled by committees. This idea went right over everyone's head. After that the group voted to make the suggested changes to the by-laws without even reading them. This was my last meeting of this season and probably will be my last meeting ever. 

We had bought tickets for the Scott Woods Show taking place at 7:00 p.m., which is a fundraiser for the Theater Club. Scott Woods is a Canadian Fiddle Champion, as are the other band members.

We sat up front and I was able to take a number of pictures and videos. The show was fantastic. These are very talented people.

The young man in the group, Leo,  just completed high school. He is a fiddle champion and the Canadian Open Step Dance Champion. Here is an example of his dancing.

The lady in the group is Scott Woods' sister, Kendra. She was a school music teacher for years and is a multiple winner of the Canadian Open Fiddle Competition and three-time winner of the Canadian Open Duet Fiddling Class, as well as a classically trained pianist, and accordion player.

Since the show was had a hoedown theme Kendra did a "Minnie Pearl" routine that was quite amusing.

Scott is a multiple winner of the Canadian Open Fiddle Contest, the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship, and a Canadian Fiddle Entertainer of the Year. He did a few tricks like playing his fiddle with a coat hanger and playing while rolling on a barrel.

 

The piano player, Germain, is an accomplished fiddle player, piano player, and composer. Scott did some trick playing on his fiddle. Germain did not want to be outdone so he played a song with his hands behind his back. We could only see it on the screen since he was facing us. The picture isn't very good but you get the idea.

Quite an enjoyable evening for all who attended, most of which were Canadians from here in the park and other nearby parks.

Wednesday evening I had a Theater Club Meeting. The spring show, for which I had volunteered to be the music coordinator, was cancelled. The reason was that not enough acts had signed up, time was running short to put a show on, and March is a very busy month for everyone. The club usually put on two shows - a Christmas Show and a Spring Show. The group voted to just have one show in February of next year. 

Thursday morning Kelly had her last cataract surgery, which went well. John and Carlene, our good friends from Perryville, arrived in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day visiting.

Friday we went to the American Legion Hall in Madeira Beach for a nice lunch by the water. It was the first time we had been there on Friday and found it to be quite crowded 

From there we went to Pass-a-Grille Beach to watch sundown. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our time there but we ended up leaving before sundown. (We all got a little tired of sitting most of the day.)

Saturday I helped with the Men's Club Pancake Breakfast. It didn't seem to me that the attendance was as high as prior months. In the afternoon we went to the "Sausage Fest" sponsored by German American Society of Pinellas Park. It was a beautiful day and thus really well-attended. Actually we thought there were too many people for the size of the area. We were glad it was a success for them.

A highlight of the event was Dachshund Races. Here are Kelly and Carlene waiting for the event to start.

The race is only fifty feet long so it was fast and furious as you will see.

Of course a couple of the dogs didn't really worry about winning. They just took their good old time walking down the track checking out the spectators.

We tried new to us sausage sandwiches and headed back to the house. In the evening we watched a great movie.

Sunday after church we went to the AMC Theater in downtown St. Petersburg to see "Cabrinni". It is the story of Mother Cabrinni's work to build an orphanage for Italian immigrant children in New York and then other orphanages throughout the world. It was a wonderful movie, I highly recommend it.

After the movie, to celebrate Carlene's recent birthday, we were headed to 4th Street Grille in St. Petersburg when we found out it was closed on Sunday. We then headed to Caddy's at Madeira Beach, in the hopes of getting a table overlooking the ocean. We got a table but it was inside. The place was incredibly noisy and the food was mediocre at best. This will probably be our last trip there. 

After arriving back home we all had an after dinner drink and visited the rest of the evening. Early Monday morning Carlene and John headed home. We really enjoyed their visit and hope they can find time to come back for a few days next year.