Well…fall for southern Florida at least…there won’t be any leaf colors to be had but temperature and humidity wise we’re starting to see some changes for the better.

No post for 17 days…but ya know why doncha? It’s because you can only say nothing’s going on so many times before running out of ways to say it. Nonetheless…Ima gonna give ‘er a try.

We did have 3 somewhat momentous occasions since 9/11…a trip to the dentist for our semi annual cleaning, Connie got trained up as a volunteer bartender at the Elks Lodge, and we went to the FLoE (Florida Ladies of Elks) convention up in St. Augustine this past weekend.

Dentist…not much to say there. Cleaned and all is good but one of Neil’s fillings needs to be replaced and it’s too large so he’s got an appointment for a crown in a couple weeks and we’ve got appointments 6 months from now for our next cleaning.

Connie the bartender…well, she’s been doing a bang up job muddlin’ here at home but sometimes the Elks need some bartending help. There’s a paid one most of the time but whenever she’s not available one of the Elks members fills in as a volunteer…unpaid except for whatever tips they collect but that’s like 20 bucks tops. There are only 3 or so of them now so Connie volunteered to get trained up and help out. She spent parts of 2 nights learning the routine and last week she essentially went solo as the paid bartender just stood by in case she needed assistance and gave her the go ahead to work solo when it might be necessary. 

Oh yeah…there was Italian Night as well so I guess that makes 4 momentous things. Dinner was $20 and included spaghetti and meatballs, Italian sausage, shrimp scampi and tiramisu for dessert as well as a glass of house wine. All the food was cooked by some of the female Elks or spouses of Elks with the lodge picking up the cost of the ingredients…so a decent amount went into the charity kitty the Elks use to fund their various good deeds.

Last weekend it was the Florida Ladies of Elks…or FLoE…convention up at the Embassy Suites St. Augustine right on the beach. We drove up Friday morning and got there early afternoon. Connie had a practice for the passed members memorial service, then in the evening it was the banquet. For a banquet meal the food was actually pretty good…salmon for Connie and airline chicken for Neil and it actually wasn’t over cooked like most banquet chicken is. Neil had never heard of airline chicken but essentially it’s a boneless breast but they leave the upper section of the wing and its bone attached…the upper section is the one like a chicken leg and is roughly comparable to the upper arm on a people arm. Dunno why they leave that bone in but obviously it’s something that the airlines used to do back in the olden days when they actually gave you food on the plane…hence the name.

The other thing about the banquet was that Neil apparently inherited a harem…while we were sitting out at the free Manager’s Happy Hour before dinner a couple of the ladies were talking about how they always went out with this couple and referred to themselves as the man’s harem. Once we got into the banquet Neil was the only non female at the table so the group volunteered to be his harem for the evening since that other guy wasn’t around. 

Here’s s shot of them all…there were actually two more that came to the convention together but one of them started feeling disoriented after an afternoon on the beach and happy hour…it seemed like she was just dehydrated so Neil and her friend took her back to their room so she could rest. She was better by the next morning so all was good there.

Saturday Connie had meetings all day and then the Delegate Reception in the evening. While she was gone Neil sat in the room until lunchtime…he was originally going to go and take some pictures of the lighthouse and fort a couple miles away…but by the time they finished breakfast the sun was well past the golden hour that photographers love so he blew it off. About noontime he walked across to the Circle K and got lunch then went down to the pool area and took a nap in the shade for a couple hours. Connie found him after the convention sessions, memorial service, and installation of officers and they met a couple of her friends from our LoE group for the Manager’s Happy Hour before the reception…no reason to turn down free cocktails ya know.

Sunday we were up early for 0800 Mass a couple miles south on the beach and then we headed home, arriving back about 1400.

And that’s about it…you’re now up to date with all the happenings.

This morning when we got up it was cooler outside than inside…first time that’s happened since April or so…so we opened up the front and back doors for a couple hours to get some fresh air. Dinner tonight will be leftover BBQ ribs from last evening’s Date Night feast.

And that’s about all the news fit to print. Still no wildlife to speak of although the sightings are starting to pick up a bit as the weather cools off…we’re really looking forward to being able to turn the A/C off and open the windows for fresh air. That will happen sometime in October and then we’ll essentially be open most of the time until the late spring.

We briefly considered flying over to the UK late this month for a Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony concert but decided to pass based on the testing requirements. At the time we were thinking about it…the UK required a negative covid test within 72 hours of arrival and the US required another one before coming home…and at the cost it just wasn’t worth it for a single concert. 

Interesting things found on the net…these are some old ones since Neil’s laptop drive crashed. Luckily it’s under warranty and even as I type the new one is winging it’s way back to us…but he doesn’t have easy access to all the good ones he had for ya…well, actually he does but he’s using a temporary drive in his laptop and doesn’t want to rebuild it twice so had to use some old ones.

Cyas.