It’s Christmas Time at the Plantation

Well, it’s that time of the year again and it’s no different here at the Plantation – except maybe the number of people coming for dinner!

There are a few events that lead up to the day, group happy hours, lighted boat parades, blue grass and touring Christmas light displays – not that different than back home right?

The new comers to the row here – Jerry & Betty – hosted a happy hour for all the residents here on ERPU row – about 27 people. Of course these are bring your own beverage and nibbles to share. It was warm enough that we had to move the food table to the shade so some of the treats didn’t melt down into a puddle. Some of the folks also kept moving their chairs out of the sun. It was a fun time with lots of chatter going on.

TruGrass, a blue grass band, were performing again at Wales West and we try not to miss their concerts – they are talented and enjoyable musicians. Wales West also puts on a terrific light display for Christmas.

 

The next night was the Fish River Lighted Boat Parade and again, this is another event we try not to miss. Some years we have been late arriving (2014) but always fun. The weather was warm and dry. Bill & Ann joined us and with our favorite beverages to fight off the cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Christmas morning and the jolly man found us all the way down here in LA! Barb & I have a casual morning, having our gift exchange – yes, it is more difficult each year to find something for each other, enjoying our traditional rum & eggnog and breakfast. Barb went over to the clubhouse early to set up our table of 12 for dinner. After breakfast, we still had time to enjoy the weather out on the deck on a Christmas morning – another reason we come down here!

 

 

 

 

 

It seems to be an Escapee thing to be early when food is involved and today is no different. Many people arrived at the club house by 1:15 for our 2 o’clock Christmas dinner. Soon the room is full of the 120+ diners and the chatter is deafening – until dinner is served of course! Barb likes to make a small take away for each place setting or couple. This year she made cloth Christmas balls that can be hung on the Christmas Tree.Bridgette made us all tree shaped napkins so we had a very festive table.  After the meal we all stay to socialize as we can’t hear anyone during the festive affair and this works great.

On Boxing Day, we had Bill, Ann, Jerry and Betty over for a brunch. Last year we heard a lot of talk about Canadian bacon and what we saw of it was a little insult to what was referred to as our back bacon. We brought down a slab and decided to prepare and serve it to our American friends so they know what it really is.

 

At our family Christmas in Ontario, Corrie and Dean announced that they were soon to be grandparents! Our minds immediately went to Mackenzie who is out east at university but they were talking about Dean’s son, Paul! Whew….. anyway,  congratulations Paul and Sabrina on the arrival of your son Mason. 

Mason, our new family addition is pictured here with Corrie, his grandmother.

Well, that closes out 2016 for us our friends are a treasure and our family is growing again, we are so blessed.

I hope all is good where you are.

Alive and Well in Alabama….

If you have been wondering what and where we are, so am I! It has been sooo long since I have updated our blog that I can almost remember what to do….

Here it goes…. the last blog showed us entering the north end of Alabama and we arrived here at the Plantation around dinner time that day. We stopped to pick up some groceries for a few days and Bill had started the fridge so it would be cold on our arrival. We were on a bit of a time constraint coming down because the quilt ladies were going on a shop hop for fabric and other quilt supplies 2 days after we landed. We left a day lee way in case we had problems on the trip down, so Barb had a day to recuperate so she was fresh to shop! It is good to be back – we do miss our little house but we also miss the fun, the activities and the friends we have here so it is a trade off. The day off kind of disappeared – we hit the road running and we haven’t stopped since. There is nothing wrong with that – we like to be busy.

One of the ‘jobs’ that has to be done when we get here is attending to the rig. It survived better this summer as we prepped it better when we left in the spring – charcoal in pans, cat litter top absorb moisture and odors and the dehumidifier running to help reduce the humidity. We made  it much easier for Bill then we did for Ron.  Thanks for a job well done Bill.  This made less clean up inside than we had the previous year. But the outside takes a beating – the humid weather along with the deathly sun, the outside looked terrible but nothing that soap, water and elbow grease can’t fix. You may notice in the pictures, how big the sago palms are getting…. when we took this site, the lower fronds were on the deck!

 

Now that we’re all clean inside and out, it is time to set up for Christmas. We have hung the outdoor lights and now we decorate inside. All without our customary rum & eggnogs – we overlooked the eggnog the last time we were out shopping.

 

We have new neighbors and friends on the row here, Jerry & Betty have finally got their site. To thank everyone for all the help to get them moved from one site to this one, they kindly took us out to Big Daddy’s for lunch! That was very generous of them and of course we welcomed them to the street!

Stacy, our neighbor turned 75 and wanted a few of us to go with her to McSharry’s Irish pub – who am I to say no – so before long, she had 15 other neighbors and the p a r t a e was on! Soon, with the dinner served and the beer cold, Stacy was on the floor – almost the table – doing the jig to the live Irish band playing in the corner. It was a fun time. I’m sure I may have said this once before, but I am sure there is a law somewhere the prohibits us oldies from having this much fun! If there isn’t, I’m sure we’ll be taxed some how….

The ladies of the park all go to a luncheon once a month at a predetermined restaurant. Usually, about 40 ladies attend and all have a good time. The men are not that well organized but we manage to find our way to some watering hole to keep ourselves fed.

 

This little excerpt takes us to the middle of December. Here is a picture of the front of our site and an azalea bloom on one of our plants in the back. I will post more soon if you dare to come back or have not fallen asleep from boredom!