Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Bob (m/v September Song) has been planning a surprise 60th birthday party for Stephanie for a few weeks now, making preparations long distance while they were in Sarasota for a DeFever rendezvous (at which their two dogs Cassie and Godiva made a presentation).  She wasn't totally surprised, since some friends called with regrets the day of the party, but she was somewhat taken aback by the crowd and of course the wonderful decorations, which were the finest Daffy Doug's and Dollar Tree had to offer.

Bob hired a great band (Tim Dee and Jim Hill) and Dockside made some delicious appetizers.  Bob even had drink tickets for all the guests!  There were the regular dock possums, some DeFever friends who will be traveling with all of us to the Bahamas, and lots of old and new friends.  The cake was big enough to share with the whole restaurant, and some kids at a nearby table enjoyed Stephanie's scented bubbles.

 

  

 

 

There was laughing, dancing, some real and gag gifts, and a great evening of fun.  One guy in the bar apparently was worn out just from watching the party!

Thanks to Bob for the great food and music, and thanks to Stephanie for finally joining all the rest of us in our 60s.

Tennesseans are taking over the Keys

It's great to have 4 boats from Tennessee at Dockside, and even greater to run into Tennesseans here and there.  It's happened so often during our travels that we shouldn't be surprised, but we always are.  Last year in Key West we ran into friends Steve and Peggy from Kingston at Schooner Wharf (our home away from home),  having had no idea they were anywhere near us.  We joked about coincidences and caught up on several years' worth of news.

When we went to Key West last week to get our U.S. re-entry certification, of course we were in Schooners.  And once again, out of the blue, there was Steve!  They'd come back to Marathon for several weeks in their motor home, accompanied by other friends from Kingston.  Turns out some of them knew some of us (or our kids knew each other), and we had a fun visit.
 

Steve and Peggy and their friend Nancy (I can remember her name) came to Dockside to visit Monday night, and we decided to run into each other accidentally again.  What a treat!

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Sunday was a slow day, since the fishermen were all worn out from sacrificing bait and everyone else was recovering from the not-fish fry the night before.  So we took a well-deserved trip to the pool to cool off and let our cabana boy (William) serve us poolside.  Not everyone was lazy though, because just before the pool trip, we spotted two kayakers zipping through Boot Key Harbor and into the marina docks.....Phred and Candy!

Chicken of the Sea

The guys have been itching to go fishing for weeks, and Saturday was finally The Big Day.  Rick and Therese (m/v Capt. 'n Hook), friends from Twin Dolphin in Bradenton, have lots of fishing gear and a great boat for the trip.  Captains Rick, Bob (Floating Stone), Bob (September Song), and Jay (Serendipity), accompanied by the lovely Therese and Katie, spent all day in the hot sun trying to catch dinner.  The potato salad and slaw were already prepared, so all we needed for another dinner at the Table of Wisdom was the catch of the day.  We all rushed to the dock when they arrived back around 5 to see if dinner would be mahi, snapper, grouper, or something else.

The rotisserie chickens went well with the potato salad and slaw, and the hors d,oeuvres and tossed salad were great too.