Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Condo Christmas







The gray, cold, windy beach and surf outside our view filled condo made a perfect cozy retreat for a fun family Christmas. We couldn't get all four kids' families to join us, but we had a very special time with the St. Augustine contingent.
We laughed our butts off watching what could only be visiting Canadians building sand castles and frolicking in the frigid surf. It was 45 degrees out! And windy! The middle picture above shows a warmly dressed mother making 5 bathing suit clad children pose for a photo op. Brrr.
We, by we I mean I, were positive that Panama City Beach would be partying on Christmas eve. Au Contraire. After calling almost every restaurant in the yellow pages and having no luck, we finally found Dirty Dick's Crab House open for dinner. Turns out the food was better than good and our service very attentive. We had a terrific time there & will go back at some future date.
Christmas day we pretty much vegged. I did an oven ready ham dinner and between me & DD Danielle,we had desserts out the wazoo to choose from.
The following day was movie day. Pier Park has a new 16 theater multiplex with comfy stadium seating. We were divided on what to see, but that was no problem. We just split up between Robert Downey, Jr in Sherlock Holmes and George Clooney in Up In The Air. It was the first movie in an actual theater that DH & I had seen since Christmas 2008. We don't get out much.
But...plans are already underway for next year. We're thinking we'd like to try Savannah again. We were there several years ago and just loved it.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and it's also a rare blue moon, which I take to be very auspicious. So when I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year, I truly believe it will happen.
Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Redneck Christmas Parade


Dang! I'm sorry I missed this one, so here below reprinted without permission is the descriptive article by Tony Simmons, On Line Editor of the Panama City News Herald.
It was just about the perfect way to complete a Christmas season vacation, and considering we missed the Panama City Jaycees parade for the first time in a decade, I was glad to be there for the annual Chumuckla Redneck Christmas Parade.
These photos (note from Michele: I only printed one), don't even do the event justice. Thousands showed up and lined County Road 192 in Santa Rosa County on Sunday, and the rain held off long enough for the hour-long procession and then some. The participants included tractors, mud-covered pickups, trailers, floats, boats, stock cars, horses, buggies, 18-wheelers, and more.
They threw Mardi Gras beads, Twinkies, packs of crackers, Slim Jims, Skoal cans, chicken feed, pecans wrappen in aluminum foil, and other things-including actual candy. One float passed with a barbecue grill going, and a woman tossed chicken hot off the grill into the crowd.
Men carried spit cups. They played musical instruments made of bed pans. They wore wigs, bad "teeth," and camouflage-lots and lots of camo. One float had a tent marked "redneck resort." A couple featured tree stands, and a couple of others featured Santas in camo sitting on old toilets instead of "thrones." There was a fake outhouse on one float, and an actual port-a-potty on another.
Decor included garland made of beer cans, a Rudolph strung up for harvesting (complete with red streamers coming from it's belly), misspelled signs, granny panties with the words "naughty" or "nice" written on them. Children wore antlers on ropes around their necks.
I hope you can see the humor in all of this. Everyone had a great time, laughing at themselves and the cultural stereotypes and no doubt thumbing their noses at anyone who just isn't in on the joke.
Michele again: I would never approve of mocking the true meaning of Christmas, but Rudolph is fair game...get it...fair game.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Too Cold for a Christmas Parade?




I was watching an "Alabama" Christmas music special this evening and saw that a Jaycee Christmas parade was coming on the same station right after the concert.

I love community parades. There's nothing more american, endearing or amusing. Besides, I 'm a past president of a Jaycee-ette chapter myself, so I'm gonna watch this. Since there was no mention of the location of the parade, I thought it might be out of Nashville. But it turns out this parade is actually in Panama City tonight.

I tuned in to hear two local TV "personalities" doing the commentary and the first thing I hear is "Oh, this must be the coldest night in the parade's 52 year history." They're whining, "It's 44 degrees out here & we're freezing." I went outside to double check. OK, it's 44 degrees, no wind, balmy, beautiful. As a matter of fact, there's a gorgeous crescent moon in a clear sky. Maybe just a tad warm for the Christmas season, but then again, you never know what you're gonna get in December in Florida.

Wow, these TV "personalities" are telling me how lucky I am to be watching the parade from the comfort of my home. Let's send them to NYC to sit through the Macys Christmas parade or how about the Mummers parade on New Year's Day in Philly. Jeez, what a couple of wusses.

As I finish this up, a guest who just checked into #6 came to ask me how to turn on the heat. Is everyone nuts around here? This is great sleeping weather. Open the windows!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Southwest to PC

This is big news for this area. Southwest Airlines is going to begin nonstop flights at reasonable rates from Panama City to Baltimore-Washington, Houston, Nashville and Orlando. Service begins May 2010. This surely means more tourism, more business and more economic growth for the Florida panhandle. Bring it on!



We've been pretty busy around here the last couple of days and that's a good thing for December. It's mostly been workers, but I had a couple of my regular fishermen in room #8. Bill H and Bill B are good customers both around my age. They're friendly guys who come to Port St Joe fishing several times a year.

Well, here I am sitting in the office last night & on my security camera, I see Bill H hauling the microwave from his room into the lobby area. "Hey Michele, can you show a guy how to work this thing," he says. I suggest that we take it back to his room and plug it in so I can see what buttons he's managed to push to screw the thing up in the first place.

We approach the door to #8 and Bill H says, "Go on in, it's OK." I open the door and here's Bill B bent over the bed wearing nothing but his tightie whities. Now, I'm not fazed by this, but poor Bill B grabs his pants and dashes into the bathroom, while I get the microwave working again.

I don't know which Bill was more embarrassed, the one who carted his microwave to the office or the one caught in his skivvies, but the whole thing gave me a chuckle. Can't wait 'til your next visit guys.



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Cristmas Wrapped Up


All the wrapping is done, out of state gifts mailed, on their way and today I'm delivering our veteran's bag of goodies.
Every year we adopt a disabled vet and do our best to fill his Chistmas wish list. We are told the first name, last initial and branch of service. Ours has been navy for the last several years & I must admit that buying navy blue hoodies and Old Spice was getting a little boring.
This year, our guy is Danny H., navy. Yes, he wanted his navy blue hoodie, but forgot to put down his size and in my mind's eye I saw Danny H. as a wiry little guy. However, one never knows, so we went with an xtra large hoodie. Then things got more interesting. He asked for action films on DVD & I found a couple of good ones. His request for dark chocolate and Folger's hazelnut coffee added a little dimension to his personality and were easy to find.
The final item on his list just ain't gonna happen. Sorry sailor, I don't buy cigarettes for anyone.
Merry Christmas and today is a great day to quit smoking.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Quick Hop to St Augustine








DS Nick and lovely family were passing through St. Augustine for just a day and since I haven't seen them in a year, I made the quick hop, if you can call 5 1/2 hours in the pouring rain a quick hop, over there for a little visit.
Of course that entailed a "quick hop" back again the next morning. This time 5 1/2 hours in dense fog. Totally worth it though. We had a great visit before the Vitola clan packed up & headed back to NJ.
I generally find driving long distances very relaxing. The rain & fog just served to keep me awake. No auto pilot this time.
I took along an audio book as I usually do. For 3 hours on the trip over, dead bodies kept turning up. In the closet, behind the bed, in the trunk of a car. And on the return trip, the bodies kept coming and although eventually the murders were solved, I don't think I'll nominate this one for a Nobel prize in literature. Good thing I drive an old car. By mistake, I bought cassettes instead of CDs.
When I wasn't listening to the book, I amused myself by cursing out the other drivers on the road who must all have been on leave from the nursing home. No offense intended. Yeah, right.


Monday, December 7, 2009

More Manatee


Here's one of the boats belonging to the manatee wranglers. Oh, that's their van also. Before the evening was over, we had 11 federal and state employees, two boats, the van and 5 other vehicles all here to rescue one manatee.
Since these folks operate on our tax dime, I couldn't help but picture those road crews we see with one guy working and 7 more standing around scratching their asses.
Happy ending though. The big guy was safely on his way back to Tampa by early afternoon.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Manatee Rescue


The Florida Integrated Science Center has a group staying here at the Dixie Belle tonight. Their mission is to round up a misguided manatee who wandered west into cold water and needs to be relocated to warmer waters near Tampa where they hope to raise his dangerously low body temp. They know the body temp and location from his attached id tag.
There are only 2500 manatees left in the US and their only predator is man, so we are pretty much responsible for the survival of the species which originated 25-40 million years ago. The majority of their injuries and deaths are caused by damage done by outboard boat motors.
Susan, one of the scientists, told us that generally, manatees are pretty smart, but this guy not so much. He was in the Carribean & should have headed east into warm winter water but chose instead to head for the Dixie Belle Motel for Christmas. We'll invite him back for the summer months, but for now the rescue team needs to relocate him and warm him up.
It's a good thing that manatees have some smarts, 'cause they sure can't rely on their good looks.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Trailer Trash Christmas







Ho, Ho, Ho. Well, my Christmas decorations are up. Totally tacky & half-hearted. That's a major improvement over last year, which was no-hearted.
It's so hard to get in the holiday groove here in LA (lower Alabama, lest you forget.) Not having family or friends close by affects one's mood as well. On a positive note, I'll be driving over to St. Augustine next Saturday to hook up with Nick and family for one night while on their way home from a visit to Disney. Can you imagine dragging two kids around Disney World? Everyone knows it's a place for adults to play. As for me, I'd like to move into Walt's (Disney, that is) apartment over the shops on Main Street. But I digress.
We're actually going to have a real Christmas at the condo in PCB. We booked a 3 bedroom unit this time and Danielle, Ike & kids are driving over from St. Augustine to join us. We'll even put up a tree. I'm drying the ubiquitous backyard lemons(dried slices look like stained glass) and glittering seashells to use as ornaments plus wrapping tons of junk to put under the tree.
We'll be beachfront, but whatever the weather I'm planning lots of family fun and surprises. I'm thinking I may be going into this thing whole-hearted after all. One never knows, do one?