Parks

On Dec. 31, approximately 90 residents attended a New Years Eve celebration at our community center. The party was hosted by Chick and Annmarie Shackewyc, Dave and Barb Livingston, Gary and Carol Wilcox, and Ken and Cheryl Leone. A lot of work was put into these preparations as everything ran smoothly.

The entire community center was decorated by Annmarie, Barb, Carol and Cheryl, and, from what I understand, the decorating was done a few hours each day over the course of several days.

The dance floor was packed, and Billy Cole played a variety of music. There was something for everyone.

There was a lot of food and a variety for eating.

It was loads of fun and 16 door prizes were given out. The prizes were either monetary or a free breakfast. Each person, upon arriving, put a ticket in a big hat or bowl in which Billy Cole pulled out the winning names periodically.

It was a fun night and a night to remember. I wasn’t there this year, but I can still hear all the noisemakers blasting away as they greeted the New Year.

Our thanks go to all the volunteers as they did a wonderful job.

Several days later, on Jan. 3, our first egg n’ bag of 2015 was held in the community center and approximately 91 meals were served. It was a good way to start off the morning, and the event was hosted by Jim and Judi Leitzke, with help from Maurice and Jane Thayer, Clayton and Carol George, Colleen Smart Crandall, Galen and Sue Parker, and Ken and Cheryl Leone. They each had a specific job to do and it therefore ran nicely.

It was a nice breakfast that included eggs or egg whites, potatoes, orange juice or mango juice along with biscuits. Ken Leone prepared sausage gravy for the biscuits that, I understand, was just delicious. He did prepare it for last month, and it was such a success that he continued it.

From what I heard, the last appointments for taking photos are being done in January. This will result in the residents getting a new pictorial directory with phone numbers.

On Jan. 6, Cheryl Leone started her craft classes that she had the previous year. Six or seven people took advantage of this class and worked on creating Valentine decorations. These decorations, which were paper hearts, will be used by the community center for the Valentine’s Day dance.

Cheryl has plans for future assignments, all of which sound like fun. Thanks, Cheryl, for keeping the craft classes going.

We also had a luncheon for the lunch bunch ladies and guests of Grand Horizons. It was held at the Plant City Home Town Buffet and there was a variety of foods and so many desserts. Thirteen women attended, and we had one large table. There was much conversation among all the women.

There was a social club meeting on Jan. 8, and here is when they discuss all the events that will happen at Grand Horizons. It is very informative and you learn what is going on in your park.

About 30 to 35 people attended this meeting to welcome Cheryl Leone as the new Social Club president. She started the meeting with thanks to the people of last year’s activities. Also discussed was entertainment for next New Year’s Eve. We had discussions about the upcoming events such as the Valentine’s Day dance, a comedy night, a volunteer night dinner, and so much more. We also talked about having new curtains and went over all the pros and cons of this project.

By Helene Rubenstein

Published January 14, 2015

December continued with many celebrations and a show to beat all shows.

Approximately 70 people attended the lunch connoisseurs Dec. 12 at DiMaggio’s That’s Amore restaurant in Zephyrhills. The lunch, hosted by Ron and Joyce Bell, closed the restaurant to other customers. Ron and Joyce did an excellent job of planning. We had the complete restaurant to ourselves and were treated like royalty.

Lunch was started with each table getting some garlic bread, along with an Italian appetizer plate with cheese and pepperoni. We had a lunch that was superb.

The restaurant also had a spread of several desserts to end the meal. On the table that featured the desserts were all types of fancy cookies, cannoli, chocolates, peanut butter cups, cupcakes that were decorated nicely, and a delicious cake.

Everyone went home content and saying, “Dinner? Forget it.”

During the week we had our regular activities such as dominoes, shuffleboard, euchre, pinochle, bingo and more. We sure kept busy, and time just flew by.

Some 115 people at the community center enjoyed a Christmas show Dec. 20 performed by Johnny Ellis. Chester Cutshall joined him, playing the steel pedal guitar, and did a fabulous job of it. Chester has played with several major performers during his career, and the music he plays is quite good.

Along with Johnny was Sue Hovious. She has quite a voice and her antics were great.

Chester and Johnny were both wearing Santa hats, which added to the show and made it quite festive. The performance was done on a stage that had gold, red and silver tinsel in the background. It was a great Christmas show.

When we first entered the community center, each woman received a raffle ticket for later in the evening. Then Johnny, who donned his Christmas hat and red vest, sang one Christmas hit after another, plus other songs. He performed such hits as “Pretty Papers,” “Christmas in Dixie,” “Heartaches by the Number” and “You Are Always on My Mind.”

Sue sang several songs alone and several duets with Johnny. A couple of the songs that she performed were “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces.” She did a fantastic job.

Another song Sue did was “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree,” with a few cute dance steps and wearing a Santa hat along with a red dress and red earrings. She also did a good job on “Satin Sheets.”

When the two of them sang together, it was done to perfection and people were swinging and clapping from their seats. The very first hit they did together was “I Told You So.” This song was done perfectly, and it was a fantastic job with the antics of when Randy Travis and Carrie Underwood sang it together.

Then the two of them followed with an unbelievable job of “Jackson” that was originally performed by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

There were several surprises at the show, the first being when Sue came on the stage with rollers in her hair, two reindeer on her head, dressed in a white shirt and red capris, and wearing a necklace of red peppers and a bracelet, singing a Patsy Cline hit “She’s Got You.”

While singing this song, she pulled out shorts, a picture, a ring and more. This was hilarious.

The second surprise came soon after when Johnny and Sue were performing the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” During the song, Santa came into the community center. He shook hands with a good many of the audience members and stayed during the break to take some pictures with some of the people.

This was a genuine surprise, and it definitely made the show more interesting.

The third surprise of the evening came as Loris Weber, a resident of our park, joined Johnny to sing “O Holy Night.”

The show ended with everyone singing “Silent Night.”

By Helene Rubenstein

Published January 7, 2015