STROKE LECTURE AND FISH FRY

STROKE LECTURE AND FISH FRY

Travelers Rest Resort, Dade City, Florida
Monday, February 17, 2014
Sunny, 70s F

In case anyone wonders what there is to do at a camper community like TRR, here we go! To be fair TRR started out as an upscale resort for people who owned Airstreams. The place has evolved considerably.

Now any large camper can be located here. People who live here seasonally own a share of the land as opposed to renting. Every “land owner” has a say in how the place is run, sort of like a city with votes, a president, and a board. One section of TRR is reserved for temporary campers, those who stay for short periods of time. Some people have cabanas—Scorchy and Mary Lou have a cabana with two rooms and a bath where we stay, in addition to their 34 foot camper. Another section of TRR has beautiful manufactured homes. TRR has a 9-hole golf course, a lake, a very large garden area, several activity centers, a heated (87 F) pool, a fitness center, and so on.

Activities include garden club, photography club, genealogy, model airplanes and boats, carpentry, sewing, quilting, computer workshops, and on and on!

First thing this morning we went for coffee and muffins at the main community center where a heart surgeon assistant from Dade City medical center was giving a presentation on preventing strokes, recognizing the symptoms, and what to do if one has the symptoms.

 After the lecture and while Scorchy was golfing, Tim, Mary Lou, and I took a long walk along the TRR gardens and lake. Mary Lou is a member of the garden club and they plan the layout, compost, plant, prune, and really take good care of the gardens. Tomorrow is a garden club work session to plant replacement bromeliads—they meet once a week. Palms, gardenias, poinsettias, bamboo, hydrangea, snake plants, shrimp flowers, and more populate the area, as well as a variety of birds. We saw an egret and a hawk today.

Our next project was breading fish for a neighborhood fish fry. Scorchy brought walleye from Lake Erie for this purpose. We went next door to Geri and Gene’s “home” (from Elk _____, Michigan—retired firefighter and teacher) and soon Norm and Lois (Milton, PA), and Stan and Sharon (Canada) joined us. The menu was fried walleye, grilled walleye, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and sweet potato fries, none of which I ever eat. But, I stepped up to the plate and tried all of it. Not bad and I didn’t starve. Sharon made delicious pineapple upside down cake. These neighbors are fun and we have met them before. A fun afternoon and evening.