You may not have noticed, but it is cold.
No silly, the 30s is not your age, but the morning temperature.
Most people our age up north close the doors, turn up the heat and wait it out. Ha! Florida seniors break out the sweaters and head for the Rec Hall for the day’s activities. We know it will pass quickly. Break out the cards, the crafts, the shuffleboard pucks, horseshoes, and whatever else tickles your fancy. Participation warms up the old bones and hearts.
So what is going on around the park these days?
(Photos courtesy of Ian Marwick)
Heather Graham, again with her excellent crew, put out 150 slabs of ice cream with cupcake toppers to a happy crowd. Amazingly, they do the whole thing in about an hour from start to finish. Great job. Luckily it was all finished by 7 o’clock, because those rambunctious Chase the Ace players were staring down the stragglers to make sure they yielded the hall. Boy, for so little money, they get hot. Too bad they did not hit the Power Ball, or they would have gone ballistic.
It must be a northern thing, but a turkey shoot is “shoot a turkey.” Newcomers always have a wry little smile when it is explained to them that we shoot pucks. Oh well, Ken Knight put on the first turkey shoot on the shuffleboard courts this season, and it went off with a few surprises. Dona Austin, from Maine, whipped the guys with 119; George Applegate, from Kentucky, with 103; Bill Degan, from New Jersey, with 91; Bob Evans, from Ontario, with 88; and Ron Gillard, from Michigan, with 85. And, as usual, the hotdog lunch special of a dog with the works, bag of chips and a cola for $2 was again a great success. We love to eat. Thanks to Roger Yerdon and crew.
The horseshoe gang, in the Tuesday Morning League, are doing well with their new players. Practice makes perfect, so they were warming up naturally on the morning it hit the first 32 degrees of the year. It wasn’t too hard to encourage tossing a little harder that practice. Ralph [Squeak] Caughlin, godfather of shoes, was leading the way. It’s never too cold to throw, when you are having fun. Don Briegel wondered out loud if the wives who caught the casino cruise that day were behind checking out Wednesdays practice to ensure the husbands were not out gallivanting. Purely coincidence.
There also is a kind of mysterious overtone these days all over the park. Old timers just nod and accept that this is the time of year “they” always come back. Newbies sense a change with some residents skulking around bushes and trees, mumbling and laughing, slapping their knees and nodding that this will be goofy. That IS it. Goofy Golf is back. Get prepared, because you will be “goofied” on Feb. 6. Find your funny bone, and clothes, sign up and join the fun. See you there.
By Ian Marwick (the happy scribe)
Published February 3, 2016
