Anniversary

We celebrated 40 years of marriage yesterday: it was a lovely warm sunny day, full of activity and friendship. We updated some of the gardens around the pool with Barb, Doris and Jack, Don and Bill. Then, while hubby headed back to the condo for a nap, I caught some rays and hot tubbed. Then, all dolled up, we were off to a lovely meal at the Bon Appetit in Dunedin with Fran & Bob, Judith and Paul, while the sun slowly set in the Gulf. A pianist played and we danced to the Tennessee Waltz. We lingered over coffee, conversing with our friends and soaking up the lovely ambiance. Not wanting the evening to end, we indulged in dessert & coffee at Hellas Bakery on our way home - damn the calories, full speed ahead!

And today, reflecting on yesterday, I realize what "happy" is...it's the above. Time, effort, food, conversation shared with others. When I'd asked my friend to join us for our anniversary, she asked, "Wouldn't you rather be alone, the two of you?" And while I love [relish !] being alone with my man, I have to say the inclusion of others while we enjoyed this milestone intensified our enjoyment.

David Brooks of the New York Times wrote about happiness in a recent column : "the daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing [after work] and having dinner with others." What more can I say? We's happy!!

Repetitive Emails

This is a simple request for all my friends and relatives to review their group contact lists to help avoid sending duplicate emails. Here's what I really mean:

A receives an email from B. B has also included addressees C thru Z. A also has a distribution list for C thru Z and forwards B's email on to these same people. The result is an email, most usually a joke, getting sent umpty-ump times to the same people....and so on.

So just a word to the wise: please check (if it's not a blind cc) to ensure you're not contributing to email spam. Thank U!

Dance ~

I've been dancing for years yet I've never fully understood until recently that dance is really language. As I dance with my partner, I realize he is "speaking" a language, conveying messages with his hands, his eyes, a turn of his head or body. In partner dance, the hands are the most important. For a man to lead, his hands must braille moves onto his partner's back or to the palm of her hand. His hand pressing on a lady's "angel wings"...he pulls her in here, pushes her there, a touch to the side,...a lifted hand, a hand pulled down, or out or away...it's all an indication of go here, go there, twirl now, keep twirling, swivel, stop, go past me, come back, do this move, do that move. Oh so easy.

But: when the touch is too light, it's hard for a lady to know where to go or what to do. If she guesses, she could make a wrong move. Also, the lady needs her partner's support, particularly when doing certain spins like "ochos". Being a pushy broad, I'm often told I'm "leading" but gentlemen: really, I only do it in the absence of your lead. I've recently tried leading (in our dance class there's a shortage of men) and now I understand why men sometimes have a soft lead. It takes a certain confidence to insist via pressure points on where you want someone else to go. So even though I am pushy (yes, I'm admitting it), I too find it hard to convey with a touch what I want my partner to do.

As with any language, it takes time. My partner and I, though we've been dancing for over 40 years, are still perfecting our "vocabulary" in dance. We have good days and bad days. When I insist on a stronger lead, he tells me he can't concentrate on the steps and me too! Dance is dance. As they say, it takes two to tango and we are learning the Argentine Tango so we must bear with each other while we learn this new "language". We love it though as it has drama, and unexpected action, and a sensuality we don't find in most North American dances. We ardently hope to become "fluent". Wish us luck!

Here's a little taste of the Argentine Tango music we dance to. It's on Youtube and is called Gotan Project's Epocha. Enjoy!

I believe

I do believe in miracles altho admit in my own life they've happened rarely. We each define miracles differently as Oxford in its definition acknowledges:

miracle
• noun 1 an extraordinary and welcome event attributed to a divine agency. 2 a remarkable and very welcome occurrence. 3 an outstanding example, specimen, or achievement.

— ORIGIN Latin miraculum ‘object of wonder’.

My object of wonder was a miraculous recovery of goods. I'd been shopping for pillows last Sunday at Sears, and my next stop was at Pier One where I bought a tacky little ring, a bracelet and an evening purse, all on sale. But once back home, I got busy, stuffing the pillows into their cases and prepping the house for my soon to arrive guest. I meant to show my hubby my purchases but time and busy-ness precluded that and it wasn't until after my guest arrived that I thought to dig out my latest buys. They were not to be found. Not under the bed, not in the closet, not in any drawer, not, not, not.

My guest, ever logical, had me retrace all my steps. Retracing my steps in itself is a miracle as "memory serves" is an expression that no longer applies to me. But I did recall putting my Pier One bag in with the pillows to carry them into the house more easily. Well then, my bag must still be in the Sears bag. Where is the Sears bag? Well, it's over at the local charity, the Gulf Hospice, where we weekly deposit all our plastic bags for them to bag their clients' goods. Now that happened on Monday; it was now Friday.

Being an optimist, I go to the Gulf Hospice and enquire. The ladies check all the bags. Nothing. But the manager asks what I lost; I describe the items. "Here's one," she says taking me over to the jewellry counter where my bracelet is hanging still with the Pier One original sales tag and the discount tag! Amazing. "Give me a minute," she says then returns with a big bag of jewellry which contains, miraculously, my evening bag and ring!

Now understand that Gulf Hospice is an extremely busy second hand store, with all kinds of goodies at very cheap prices. It's incredible that my items weren't sold in minutes. Or maybe it was Divine Intervention. Or maybe my taste is sooooo tacky, that one one else in their right mind would buy my stuff even at bargain prices!!

Christmas 2009

2009 was our first Christmas in Florida and I faced it with some trepidation. Yes, we are here by choice, having chosen a temperate clime over a frigid one, but that also meant choosing to leave family and our own little traditions behind at a very special time of year.

But friends, old and new, made the days before, during and after Christmas a joy. The marvels of modern technology too meant we could communicate with our loved ones to share the joy of Christmas season.

I practiced Christmas carols daily on my new piano, and my friend from down the street dropped in regularly as well to practice her piano carols and we actually played some duets which I really enjoyed.

We attended a Living Christmas Tree concert and enjoyed looking at the spectacle (similar to the one pictured here ) as well as listening to the many carols, old and new, which the “tree” presented. There were also short skits and scenarios representing various aspects of the Christmas story, all very entrancing.

Friends made sure that early in December we enjoyed a good, old homemade turkey dinner replete with all the fixin’s including very potent rum balls! Boy, was it every good!

Friends made sure we were invited to a pre-Christmas party, where we enjoyed meeting new people, renewing our acquaintance with others and sampling a wonderful table groaning with a variety of decadent hors d’oeuvres!

Friends made sure we had a Canadian friendship Christmas Eve...we both invited other friends over to our place to share an evening of music, singing, conversation and good food and drink. That it was the “White Lake contingent” but for a few other Canadians and Americans, was lovely.

Hubby made sure we attended an almost midnight mass...so it started at 9pm but the well-practised choir made sure we enjoyed and participated in singing carols for an hour with the occasional solo by very good singers, a trumpeter (female!) and a flutist. Then the actual mass began, and although everyone was in warm weather attire - I was sleeveless! (no parkas or tuques to be seen), it could have been a Christmas Eve mass anywhere.

Friends made sure we went out to a lovely restaurant for Christmas dinner and again, turkey, dressing, all the trimmings made sure our tummies felt the usual over-stuffing despite our annual best of intentions! And the margaritas were an added touch!

Floridians are like people all around the world when it comes to Christmas lights. The home and store displays were spectacular! Some homes have actual poinsettia TREES! Beautiful. So, there’s no snow but there is still plenty of beauty for the eye to soak up. And in the dark, one barely misses the lights’ reflection on snow.

Our tree was the smallest tree we’ve ever had (a tiny fake evergreen, festooned in pink and gold). But it twinkled merrily and red candles, a flaming red poinsettia (a gift from our neighbours), cookies from friends and my painting of a great big Christmas tree on our patio door, all added to the festive look of our condo. Our neighbour festooned our joint condo with outdoor lights which illuminated our corner of the street, always a welcome sight driving home at night after being out dancing.

One thing I didn’t miss was the trepidation of driving in the snow...and I breath a sigh of relief as I write that.

So, in sum, Christmas in Florida ain’t half bad. It came and went as it always does, too quickly. We enjoyed each other, our family and friends, and our little home-away-from-home albeit in somewhat different ways from what we are used to. But the fellowship of Christmas remained intact as did the spiritual celebration. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?

The above image is thanks to Dave Dieter / Huntsville Times.