Land Yacht Safari Blog

Brewing with Karen and the Bubbster.......

November 30, 2008....Sunday....at midnight...the dawning of December 1, 2008....we are taking down our hurricane hex sign....thank God for another quiet season....glad to see it go....we have up our Christmas tree....I will put up our front door wreath after the hurricane hex sign is put away for the winter.....recently, our friends, Karen and Jim....aka Bubbster....had a gathering to celebrate beginning a new batch of brew..... .....Jim has been doing his homemade beer for about seven years and bottles about twice a year.....he had some of his prior craft beers on hand....one was a Belgian beer I named Belgian 8.5 because that is the alcohol content.....an excellent beer.....Jim is very easy going but scientific about the process....he cooks the batch in this outdoor cooker fueled by propane..... .......here are J and me with the brewmeister, Bubbster.....and Heather's husband, Ted entertained us with guitar music....along with J and Ray....Karen cooked up several crockpots of soups that were delicious....and we visited with their cats, Lucy, Simba and Katie......wonderful home and family..... ....sort of an artistic view of Ted and his strumming....... ......Sandra and Dan...Karen and Jim enjoying the beer and cool weather.....we get soooooo excited about cool weather..... .......thanks, Karen and Jim....we look forward to tasting this new batch...stay tuned for another First Friday Art Walk in Village of the Arts with our music and on Saturday....Ines and Adam with a showing of their art at a new art and community center....

Lisa's Lani, Lucky and Baby Lyla.....

November 24, 2008.....Monday.....oh....so precious.....I emailed my baby sister, Lisa, and asked her for an update on her adopted baby, Lyla....she was very generous and sent me these photos I thought you would want to see....... ......Lyla on the beach when she visited Grandma...... .......this one of Lani, Lyla and Lucky looks like it might be the Queen's dogs and might have been a royal painting from the 1800's.......they are the Queen's dogs..... ......another royal portrait......so gorgeous...thank you, Lisa....kiss them for us......love all of you......

Old Friends.......

November 20, 2008....Thursday....the other night we went to a Harvest Party in the fishing village of Cortez....our longtime friends, Mike and Ines, were the hosts.....it was great to see them and their children and grandchildren and some of our son's other childhood pals.....the weather was crisp and windy....and the company was warm and familiar.... ........Sallie with her brother-in-law, Adam...... ......Mike with the pipe and grandson, Zack........... .......J.P., me, Dee and Ray...... .....Mary Ann, another of Mike's gorgeous daughters...... .....wooo hoo....Dee won the arm wrestling match with Nelly....... ......Ines shines on and on...... ......our two boys.....Tank and Dee.....kiss, kiss..... .....good Bluegrass music..... .......thanks, Mike and Ines.....it was a pleasure being with your family......friends.....longtime....not old.... now that I think about it......

67 Days.......

November 14, 2008.....Friday.....before the election, Obama was in Florida several times....we had gone to see him in Tampa....we went again when he came to Sarasota......I missed a Farm day to go see him and to mingle with other kindred spirits.....we stood in line with thousands of excited people for almost two hours......at one point, people started aiming their cameras at something.....it was a huge American Bald Eagle perched on a nearby cell phone tower......as we were looking at it, I caught a glimpse of a plane on my right....I turned to look.....and it was Obama's plane headed for SRQ with his logo on the tail fin shining in the morning sunlight.....the pilot tipped a wing at the huge crowd on the ground.....people were jumping up and down and screaming and waving.....perfect..... ......and here he is....our President Barack Obama....in 67 days....jogging out onto the field...big smile....thundering crowd.... ......we left early and rode out to the airport....we waited an hour hoping to be there when his plane taxied down the runway headed for Virginia or wherever his next appearance was that day....we left when we heard he was in downtown Sarasota at a church pumpkin patch....picking out a pumpkin to take home to his girls...... ........I loaned Ray my treasured donkey pin for his hat ........ .......and back home Chi Chi was happy too.....curled up and sleeping like a baby........ ........and a barred owl flew in over our friend Sue's house.....hoo hoo....wooo hoooing away....first time we had ever seen him around.....Wisdom, Hope, Change, Peace, Respect......67 days....And We Are Counting!!!!!!!!........

Wormy.......

November 8, 2008......Saturday......expensive worm messed up our computer.....just got it back home....hope to post to you tomorrow....hold on......