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The original plan was to attend the New Year’s Eve party here at my RV resort. But the tickets were $50 each, the band was the “house band” – a bunch of residents who jam together and are decent but not great (especially on vocals) and the food last year was just awful. Marlene found a party at the American Legion in Lehigh Acres that was just $50 per couple and included a dinner choice of prime rib or fish. So we went to the Legion.
Accompanying us were Marlene’s neighbors, Chris and Lynne, and her bff, Dottie, and their friend John. The band was good, but not great – as was the food – but we all had a very good time. Kudos to Marlene for finding a better option for ending 2022.
MarleneChris and LynneJohn and DottieThe ladies with the band
Another year in the books. So let me review what was good and bad about 2022.
Highlights:
Meeting Ooma. Meeting Ooma was, at the time, not just a highlight of the year but a highlight of my life. I said at the time that I was “smitten” and that is an apt description. The first two months were two of the happiest months of my life. Sadly, it didn’t last.
Meeting Marlene, I was fortunate to meet a second wonderful woman in 2022. It is too early to tell if this relationship will last, but we were still having fun as 2022 ended.
The Buckingham Blues Bar. Ooma introduced me to this establishment and I fell in love. Great music and cheap beer – a winning combination.
The Thanksgiving trip to Oregon. It was a grueling trip both ways, but worth it as I got to meet my sister’s grandchildren and reconnected with her kids.
The 10-week trip north (TN8 and TS8). This was a very long auto trip that had a mix of good and bad, but more good than bad.
The trip to Austin (TX1). This was part of the “good months” with Ooma. A fun wedding and a chance to see some family for both of us.
The trip to Orlando. This was a fun trip to a book award event – a first for me – and a chance to explore the Orlando area.
The weekend in Naples with my cruise (PCL2) friends. A fun weekend with some fairly new friends.
Getting the damage to the truck repaired (finally!). It took nearly 6 months to repair the damage from the tire blowout, but it finally got done. A relief.
A visit from my son Frank. This was a lot of driving, but, overall, a nice visit.
Winter softball. We didn’t win but my team did pretty well. And so did I.
Lowlights:
Hurricane Ian. It is hard to describe the devastation caused by this storm. The whole southwest Florida area – which I now call home and have grown to love – will take years to recover. Heartbreaking.
The breakup with Ooma. Two months of pure joy were followed by 4 months of conflict and, frankly, bafflement. A woman who I thought I knew became an enigma. I still don’t fully understand what went wrong, but it certainly did go wrong. The most devastating breakup of my life.
COVID-19 for both me and Ooma. Three vaccinations were not enough to keep me and Ooma safe. I got it first and, fortunately, it was mild and I had recovered by the time Ooma got it later in July. Her case was worse.
The floor rot in the RV. This was a surprise but shouldn’t have been. I should have questioned, when I first discovered the rot several years ago, what was causing it. I should have taken more aggressive preventative measures then, but didn’t. I think I have dealt with it now, but it was a lot of work and the fix is not flawless – the slide, when I bring it in, is not as smooth as it was pre-rot.
Dodging tornados. Both hurricanes and tornados are things that I have a desperate need to avoid while living in an RV. But hurricanes provide more warning. Getting a tornado warning, grabbing the dog and escaping in the truck – twice – is not fun.
Bottom line: 2022 provided some intense highs and some intense lows. It is hard to say that it was a good year. But it wasn’t a totally bad year, either. It was a year that I finished. And at my age that is a good thing.
This is #21 in the series of books by Preston and Child featuring Aloysius Pendergast, FBI agent extraordinaire. Probably the last one I will ever read.
I have complained before about the Pendergast stories being too weird. This one is the weirdest of all. The mystery that Pendergast is trying to solve this time is the baffling series of deaths in Savannah GA in which the victims are completely drained of blood. The press hangs the label “Savannah Vampire” on the unknown killer. But the truth turns out to be far more fantastic – and hard to swallow – than a bloodsucking serial killer.
I don’t want to ruin the “fun” for anyone who wants to subject himself to this nonsense, so let me just say that the story begins in 1971, jumps to 2021 and ends in 1880. Yes, it involves time travel. But it also involves D.B. Cooper. Yeah – D.B. Cooper, time travel and a Savannah vampire.
Too much for me.
4 out of 10. It would have been 1 out of 10 were it not for the fact that Preston and Child are skilled authors and can make even a ridiculous plot interesting.
The high temperature on Christmas Day in Ft Myers was 51. The low was 39. The resort groundskeeper covered the flowering plants to prevent damage. People walked dogs in winter parkas and mittens. Rusty didn’t want to go out.
Definitely not your typical Florida Christmas.
I didn’t have a lot of Christmas spirit, but, fortunately, others did. I did help Marlene decorate her tree.
This is #10 in the series of books by Coben featuring his crime-solving talent agent, Myron Bolitar, and his skull-cracking aristocrat buddy, Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood III. I have read seven books by Coben now – three of the Bolitar series – and this is not one of his better ones.
The problem is that the plot is about relationships and the relationships are so strained and twisted that they defy belief. I really wanted to like this book but couldn’t. There are no heroes in this one and a couple of the deaths seem to lack motive. There is also an accidental death which would have prompted an immediate police response, but it was “covered up.” Really? How? That wasn’t mentioned.
Gilchrist Park is a large public space on the south side of Charlotte Harbor in Punta Gorda FL. On a nice day it is a great place to walk, bicycle or skateboard. But at sunset on Tuesdays it is home to a jam session by local musicians who serenade, gratis, anyone who cares to take their sunset with music. It is a lovely way to spend an hour or two. Especially when it is snowing up north.
Island Troy
I have been to Gilchrist Park several times in the past month, in the company of a new lady friend, Marlene. She introduced me to the free concerts as she has been attending them for years. The music is usually pretty good, depending on who is jamming. The singing – it is a bit of a karaoke scene as the musicians let anyone who wants to sing have a turn at the mic – is… shall we say “uneven”.
If you want better music and some good food, you can walk along the shore to Hurricane Charley’s which has music most nights. We did exactly that last Tuesday and were serenaded by Island Troy, a troubadour with a good voice and a fine repertoire of beach and island tunes. We dined on some good jambalaya and – and this was a surprise – sushi. Hurricane Charley’s is a rare sushi-on-the-beach kind of place.
Marlene, like me, is a widow. But, more importantly, she is a dancer – loves to dance – and is easy-going and a lot of fun. I sure could use some easy-going fun. We already have plans for New Year’s Eve together. I expect we will be dancing.
MarleneMarlene telling me what she wants for Christmas
When Ooma and I embarked on the 10-week auto trip north we knew it would make us or break us. Well, it broke us. We discovered things about each other during that trip that we found intolerable. We hung on until the trip finished and even attempted to reconcile after we had each had a chance to consider what we were losing. But to no avail.
We will call it “irreconcilable differences.” The fact is that she wasn’t the person I thought she was when we met and certainly wasn’t the person that I needed if I were to have a long-term relationship, She very likely would say the same about me.
This was a “getaway” day. Everyone who stayed with my sister and her husband – and she had 7 houseguests that last night – packed up and left. I visited a casino on my way out of Tillamook (Spirit Mountain where I dropped $100), had a farewell lunch with my sister, Lois, and her husband, Chris, there, then drove to Portland, returned the rental car and embarked on a grueling 6.5 hour redeye flight home (via Chicago). I didn’t sleep at all and arrived in Ft Myers completely exhausted.
I watched football, walked two miles, caught up on my mail and was in bed by 8pm.
Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was, as is often the case, a day of rest and recovery, with turkey leftovers. It was a raw, rainy day in Tillamook, so it was spent indoors, at my sister’s house until dinnertime, then we moved the party to the beach house of her son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Taylor.
I blogged in the morning and participated in a game of Mysterium in the afternoon. I would characterize Mysterium as Clue, with inkblot clues. It is a collaborative game, which was interesting, But we all lost. So much for collaboration.
Nightscape view from the balcony
Dinner was at the beach house in Cape Meares, which I had heard about but had never seen. It has a wonderful view overlooking the Pacific Ocean which I couldn’t fully appreciate as I arrived after dark. But thanks to the Nightscape setting on my phone’s camera I was able to get some idea of how great the view might be.
Dinner, thankfully, wasn’t turkey leftovers. We got uncooked pizzas from Papa Murphy’s and baked them at the beach house. My first Papa Murphy’s pizzas and they were pretty good.
The evening was conversation and roughhousing. The kids were energetic and wanted to gang up on the old guys – mostly brother-in-law Chris (grandfather to all) and me, but Michael jumped in at the end. Hopefully we tired them out and they slept well.
On the other end of the age spectrum, family friend Stephanie, who is somewhere north of 80, demonstrated how she could still do 20 pushups. Impressive. And a reminder that I need to resume my core exercises.
Maya taking some of her first stepsMichael roughhousingStephaniePushupsMaya, Taylor, Lois and AmyThe whole crazy family
Thanksgiving Day. One like none other – 16 adults, 7 children (all under 8), 8 dogs and 1 cat. Pandemonium.
Chris, throwing a disc in a losing effort
But it started quietly. Brother-in-law Chris and I did a round of disc golf at the local middle school. The course is not particularly difficult in terms of terrain – very flat, few trees, no water. But the course designer did well with what he had to work with by putting in many boundaries (“out of bounds beyond the sidewalk”), a few doglegs and a couple of targets carved into the edge of the woods. Plus some ridiculously long par 3 holes. You would have to be a disc golf pro to shoot par on this course.
I won, handily.
Then people started arriving. For a while the house seemed almost sedate. The calm before the storm.
Kurt, Chris and Ellen (Chris’ sister)Emily, Stephanie, Michael, JonathanTaylor and Kurt, table before setting
Dinner consisted of two turkeys – one regular, one smoked – mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, polenta, cranberry sauce, Waldorf salad and lots of desserts. All delicious. Nobody went hungry.
Guests to my leftGuests to my rightRio and MayaThe kids and their tableMaya asking for moreJonathan doing… well, I don’t know
2022 in review
Another year in the books. So let me review what was good and bad about 2022.
Highlights:
Lowlights:
Bottom line: 2022 provided some intense highs and some intense lows. It is hard to say that it was a good year. But it wasn’t a totally bad year, either. It was a year that I finished. And at my age that is a good thing.