musings of a shell seeker

Thursday, October 22, 2009

and another view of the palm trees…

Next on my agenda was the main purpose of my trip: my 50th high school reunion!!!

Thursday, September 17 - After returning my rental car from the first portion of my trip, I met my old childhood buddy Carol at O’Hare airport for our trek to the suburbs. We then picked up my second rental car (don’t ask – it’s complicated!!!) and drove out to Huntley, Illinois to the home of our friend Karlith who was hosting the four-day slumber party! Sue, the fourth member of the “girls’ club” was already at Karlith’s awaiting our arrival. This was the first time in eight years that the four of us had gotten together! By the way, I wish to interject here that Karlith’s hubby Ed deserves to be awarded the Nobel “Peach” Prize for not only putting up with our raucous revelry but also for actually seeming to enjoy our company and taking pictures of us!

Here are the “girls” at breakfast…

Friday, September 18 – On Friday, we drove to Crystal Lake (our old hometown) for a tour. The first photo is at a park that was called Walkup’s Woods when we lived there, then renamed “Veterans’ Acres”. To be honest, I don’t know if that’s still the name, but we, of course, will always refer to it as “Walkup’s Woods”. The pond is where I learned to ice skate. There used to be a warming house with a pot-bellied stove where I spent a lot of time thawing our my frozen toes!

Another place I spent a lot of time was the “El Tovar” movie theater (later modernized and renamed the “Lake” theater. I was very happy to notice on this trip that the theater has been restored to its former glory, as shown in the following picture of the interior.

Later in the day, we participated in the school’s Homecoming Parade, riding the antique fire truck owned by one of our former classmates. I guess my friend Sue, who took this picture, thought the back of my head looked better than the front, and who am I to argue the point?

Instead of attending the homecoming game that evening, we elected to hang out in a local pub with many of our old classmates. It was wonderful getting caught up with everyone!

Saturday, September 18 – THE BIG NIGHT! More than 80 classmates attended the reunion (plus about 50 spouses). This was a great turnout considering there only about 200 members in the class! It should be noted that Crystal Lake was quite a small town “way back then”, so most of us went all through the school system together – from kindergarten through high school.

The reunion committee hung lots of pictures from our childhood on the walls of the banquet facility. Here’s one of Miss Knox’ fourth grade homeroom (that’s me underneath the red arrow).

This was one of the cakes served at the party…

And here is a “formal” picture of the gang: Sue, Karlith, Jane and Carol!

Monday, September 20 – After spending the rest of the weekend sightseeing (the four of us took a drive up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on Sunday), we went our separate ways on Monday, vowing that we would not wait so long for another get-together!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

View from the St. Simons Lighthouse – August 29, 2009

Jaime and I had ridden our bikes to the village on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and we were wandering around the park when the urge to climb our lighthouse hit me.

Mind you, we have lived on the island for five years, and I had not yet done this, so I left my bike in Jaime’s care and literally sprinted up the 129 winding steps. After taking a number of pictures (including some aerial shots of the new swimming pool and miniature golf course), I made my way back down.

Amazingly, I wasn’t even breathing hard after this exertion. Feeling full of myself, I couldn’t help but comment to Jaime how all my tennis playing and bike riding must have contributed to strength and endurance. Well, let me tell you how I felt the next day (actually, the next four days). I could barely walk!!! I never realized there was a whole ‘nother set of thigh muscles lurking beneath the ones I used on a regular basis! Oh well, at least I got some good pictures.

Rattlesnake encounter – August 18, 2009

On a recent day trip to the beach at Fernandina, Jaime and I stopped to take some pictures of an interesting derelict building outside Kingsland, Georgia. When I stepped out of the truck, I almost stepped on the biggest rattlesnake I’ve ever seen!

Fortunately, (for me – not the snake) it was dead. Apparently, it had been run over by a car but managed to slither its way back up the roadbank before expiring. I discovered later, via the internet, that the Eastern diamondback rattler is the largest, most venomous snake in the Americas!

Jaime saved the rattle for a souvenir.

FionaFest 2009 – July 23-26

Land sakes! What have I gotten myself into? What started as a little gathering of fellow Sudokuists to welcome Fiona and family from France to Florida turned into one of the larger Sudokufests to date! Fiona, hubby Eric and children Scott and Carla were to spend nearly a month in Florida (first at DisneyWorld, then a few days at Daytona Beach and then a week or two on Florida’s Gulf Coast (Clearwater and Sarasota). Daytona seemed to be the easiest place to converge, so several of us descended on the area, tiaras and boas at the ready!

Sue and Harry (Oklahoma) and LynnDee (Jacksonville, FL) rented a condo in Ormond Beach; Fiona et famille stayed at a hotel in Daytona; and Kathy (Valrico, FL), Heidi (Kentucky), Mamacita (Pennsylvania), Debby (Michigan) and I rented a beach cottage in Ormond Beach (about 2 miles south of Sue and Harry’s digs). We dubbed ourselves the “cheeky chooks”, and I must say, the weekend was one of the biggest hen parties I ever attended (despite the fact that there were actually two husbands in tow).

Sue and Harry, who had arrived a day or so earlier, served lunch on Thursday, July 23rd at their condo for those of us arriving that day. That evening, the “cottagers” hosted a beach party picnic which was the official start of FionaFest. Canuk Greg (Canada) - who was unable to attend - bought wine for the event which we all enjoyed. Actually, the entire evening was enjoyable – UNTIL the keys to my rental car disappeared. I will not go into the details, but suffice it to say, hours later (after searching everywhere – including the garbage bins – and spending more than an hour on the phone with the car rental people and locksmiths) the keys mysteriously turned up in the large cooler – in the bag of leftover fried chicken. Say WHAT????

On Friday, we all congregated at a wonderful restaurant called “Inlet Harbor” on Ponce Inlet, south of Daytona for the official FionaFest luncheon. Linda (Minnesota) and Ceecee (Florida) joined up with us at lunch and hung out with us the rest of the day. The food was wonderful (I had a seared ahi tuna wrap that was more than I could manage in one sitting!), and the conversation flowed like wine! Everything we did all weekend turned into a photo op, so I don’t think anything happened that wasn’t duly recorded!!!

After lunch, we headed back to the cottage, and several of us spent some time at the beach. I should mention, at some point while we were all gathered at the cottage, the skies turned black, and we observed some intense winds blowing from all directions. We discovered the next day (when we purchased a newspaper) that a tornado had formed the day before directly over Ormond Beach, whizzed past us and touched down just south of Daytona, severely damaging 161 homes (only one person was injured, thank goodness!) We are assuming that the tornado was a result of all the hot air emanating from the cottage.

Friday night, we went to a great little restaurant (discovered earlier in the week by Sue and Harry) called Betty’s Café where several of us dined on fried lobster. Yummo!

On Saturday, Tami (Florida) her mom Bobbi (also a Florida Sudokuist) and Tami’s boys Dylan and Mitchell joined us for lunch at Lenny’s New York Pizza Place. What a find that restaurant was! The pizza was terrific, and Lenny put on quite a show for us! We spent the afternoon at the beach, then, by unanimous decision, went back to Betty’s Café for dinner!

On Sunday morning, most of us headed home. I took a meandering drive up Route A1A along the Florida coast, savoring the views and memories of a fun-filled weekend.

40th Anniversary Celebration! – June 19 and 20, 2009

Forty years of marriage. Yikes! It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since Jaime and I exchanged wedding vows on June 28, 1969. We were married in Chicago, honeymooned in Aspen, Colorado, then 6 months later moved East - living first in New York City; then Solebury (Bucks County), Pennsylvania; then Richmond, Virginia and – finally – St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Now I realize most folks wait for their 50th to celebrate on a large scale, but since we weren’t sure our marriage was going to last, we decided to make a big splash for our 40th! In any event, we rented the American Legion Hall for the party and hired a DJ to provide music. Jaime cooked his famous “pulled pork” on the grill, and I steamed some local shrimp and made several other dishes. Jaime and I had a blast, and we hope everyone else did, too!!!

We also treated our out-of-town guests to a seafood sampler dinner at Bonefish Grill the night before the party.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Ferry/Bike Ride to Fernandina Beach – May 30, 2009

It’s Saturday, 11 am, and friends Brenda and Phil and Jaime and I are boarding the “Bald Eagle” ferry with our bicycles in St. Marys, Georgia.

We are planning a day of biking at Fernandina Beach, Florida.

The ferry leaves on time,

and we enjoy a leisurely cruise across Cumberland Sound to the Amelia River, passing by Cumberland Island where wild horses can be seen along the shore, and arriving in Fernandina in time for lunch.

We enjoy a wonderful lunch at “29 East”, a restaurant Brenda and I discovered on a previous shopping trip to Fernandina, and then we pedal off for the day. After spending a couple of hours in Fort Clinch State Park where we discover an amazing seashell-strewn beach, a fishing pier,

and a gorgeous view of the marsh and lighthouse,

Brenda and Phil pose for a picture,

and so do Jaime and Jane

before heading down to the oceanfront to enjoy a libation at “Sandy Bottoms” restaurant.

The ride back to “downtown” Fernandina is mostly uphill, so we take our time but arrive with an hour to spare before our ferry takes us back to St. Marys. Our trip back is enhanced by a spectacular sunset!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Fabulous Fripp Island, South Carolina - April 20-26, 2009

Once again, Jaime and I were honored to be invited to spend a week with friends Kathy and Rob at their amazing oceanfront beach house on Fripp Island, South Carolina. This year, their friends Wanda and Alan also joined us from the Tampa, Florida area (where Kathy and Rob reside when they're not globetrotting).

We enjoyed incredible weather - warm days and cool nights - and spent the week biking, walking the beach, swimming (well, kind of; the one time I actually planned to swim, it was low, low tide, and I had to walk what seemed like miles out into the water!); visiting historic Beaufort, SC, and eating wonderfully well! We ate most of our meals at the house, taking turns cooking (smoked salmon, steaks, fresh salmon, tuna salad with fennel (thanks to my niece Kim's recipe), gourmet chicken salad, rum cake, chocolate chip cheesecake, and many more luscious treats! We also dined out two nights at a fantastic seafood restaurant where Jaime and I had the best soft-shelled crabs we'd ever eaten and a wonderful Mexican restaurant. Sadly, I have had to return to my diet this week. Boo hoo!!!

This is the gorgeous beach house that Kathy and Rob share with 12 other families. Each family gets to enjoy the house four weeks each year - one week per season.

Wanda, Alan, Jaime, Jane, Rob and Kathy on the deck of the beach house.

South end of Fripp Island at low tide.

Early every morning, Rob would take their dog Ebony (as well as Wanda and Alan's dog Sheila) for a walk on the beach. I took this picture the one and only morning I was up early!

You never know what you're going to find on the beach. I thought this was an interesting piece of driftwood.

Early in the week, Jaime and I had lunch in Beaufort with old friends John and Diane from Wisconsin who just happened to be staying at Hilton Head Island while we were on Fripp. Hilton Head is the next island south of Fripp, and Beaufort is more-or-less midway between the two on the mainland.

Although it was hard to tear ourselves away from the island, Kathy, Rob, Wanda, Alan, Jaime and I did spend another wonderful afternoon in Beaufort enjoying a horse-drawn carriage tour of the historic district. Here's Jaime patting "Rocky", the Percheron that pulled our carriage.