Author: Sue and Frank D'Elia

Road Food

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

No, I said Road Food, not Road Kill!

So, if you’ve read any of our travel blogs before, you know that our eating MO is to seek out interesting local places, rather than go with national chains or fast food places.  Our two exceptions are Cracker Barrel and Arbys, which are our two travel dining guilty pleasures.  So, let me give you an idea of our last two meals on the road!

Last night was our second and last night in Savannah, and like we often do in bigger areas, we turned to Open Table for help choosing a place to eat.  After going through the listings, and checking out menus, I presented Susie with 4 places I thought sounded like we’d enjoy.  We both picked the same restaurant as our #1 choice, and so we went ahead and made a reservation at Tondee’s Tavern over by the river.

Now, how to get there?  We could have taken the car out of the garage, but then there would be the hassle of finding the place and parking and being concerned about drinking, so for the second night in a row, we used Lyft to get us from our hotel to the restaurant.  We could have used Uber too, but for some reason I have a Lyft deal for the next couple of weeks, where rides are 50% off if the original fare is under $10, so Lyft it was.  Miss Shirley picked us up at the hotel, and took us to dinner.  Along the way we had some delightful conversation about both of our daughters getting married, and before we knew it, we were there.  The fare was $6.10 minus 50% so $3.05 and I added a $3 tip.

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It was a casual place, just the kind we were looking for, with a great menu.  We each had a beer (Susie Blue Moon, me a Miller Light) and ordered a couple of great dishes.  Susie had fall off the bone ribs and I had a pan grilled flounder stuffed with crab.  You’ll notice, no starch on either of our plates, and they had some great choices!  We continue to be semi-good.

We Lyfted (is that a word) with Timothy back to the Courtyard Hotel (same fare deal) and had a lovely night’s sleep!

This morning we got up after 8:00 and had a leisurely morning, then both showered, and were downstairs waiting at the valet for the car a little before 11 AM.  Our first destination of the day was just an hour away, Darien, Georgia.  We’ve stopped in Darien for at least the last 3 years for one reason and one reason only, a visit to B&J’s Steak and Seafood for a plate of their delectable fried shrimp!!!

Two firsts this year at B&J’s.  #1..this would be our first lunch visit, because we usually stay in Darien and have dinner at B&J’s.  #2…in 5 visits to B&J’s, this is the first time we got to park the car in front of the restaurant and not in some far corner of their lot out back!

As is usual for us, we both started out with a visit to the salad bar, and then each got a shrimp basket.  B&J’s Shrimp Baskets contain 1/2 a pound of the freshest, most delicious fried shrimp we have ever in our lives eaten.  Makes it kind of hard to order fried shrimp anywhere else! Again, we passed on fries, and had cole slaw instead! 

As usual, they were out of this world, and again as usual, we will also be stopping in 5 weeks or so, on our way back north, for another helping!  Tipped by a former work colleague years ago (thanks Abe), we have stopped every year since, and I’ve also got my Cousins Jeanne and Walt stopping there too.  If you head south or north on I-95, I suggest you make it a stop!

So tonight we are in Gainesville, Florida and tomorrow we will check into our condo on the beach for the next 3 weeks.  We only hope it’s as nice as the pictures and descriptions made it out to be.  Stay tuned!

Savannah

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

Separated by the Savannah River from the state of South Carolina, Savannah is a city steeped in history, and tradition, having been founded by James Oglethorpe in 1733.  It was Oglethorpe’s plan for the city, with 24 park like squares, that is largely what is now Downtown Savannah, which includes the Savannah Historic District, and the Savannah Victorian Historic District.  Although 2 of those squares are gone, the 22 squares and the surrounding tree lined streets and magnificent homes truly represent his vision for the city of Savannah.  

Of course, having recently seen the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and since I’m in the middle of reading the source book of the same name, written by John Berendt, and have started to listen to some of native son Johnny Mercer’s music, we were as prepared for our visit as we thought possible.

We started this morning at the Savannah Visitor’s Center  and History Museum just across from our hotel.  Inhabiting a historic Central of Georgia Train Shed and surrounded by the Georgia Rail Road Museum and Battlefield Memorial Park, there is a lot of history to be absorbed there, as Savannah was an important city during both the Revolutionary and the Civil War.  

As we always like to do in a new city, we next took an Old Town Trolley tour, and got to see lots of incredible buildings and hear much about the history of this beautiful city.  Our guide Paul provided a lively tour hitting both the highlights and the low lights of the city, and referencing lots that we remembered from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Would love to be able to share with you beautiful pictures, but unfortunately, the weather is a bit brisk in Savannah, and because of that the plastic windows were rolled down on the trolley, making picture taking impossible.  (Do hope you enjoy the picture of the back of our tour guide Paul’s head above) Oh well, perhaps next time.

After the tour, we thought it time for a bit of libation, so it was off to the Savannah Distillery and Ale House for a couple of their Pickled/Spicy Bloody Mary’s and a southern staple, some Fried Green Tomatoes!

Then it was back to our hotel to write this blog, and to spend a little down time figuring out what we’re gonna do next!

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Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the temperature has improved, and after a night of rain, the sun and blue skies have again made an appearance.  It’s windy, and in the 60s, but still better than what it is at the beach in New Jersey!

Tomorrow Florida, but first a visit to B&J’s Steak and Seafood in Darien, Georgia and SHRIMP!!!  See you there!

Touring Charleston

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

Welcome to Charleston, South Carolina, which according to the AAA maps we have with us, is in the South.  Then why oh why did we wake up this morning to a temperature of 37 degrees???  Even now, as we approach the dinner hour, it’s only 48 degrees!  What the heck is going on with Mother Nature!!

Today, after breakfast at the hotel, we started our day at the Charleston Museum, America’s First Museum!

Then we headed across the street to the Charleston Visitor’s Center.  This is housed in what was Charleston’s first train station.   After looking at some of the exhibits, we caught our City Tour from Adventure Sightseeing!

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Our tour guide was very knowledgable about Charleston and it’s history, and provided us with a very good tour of many of the high points of the city.  Among the highlights was the Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina…..

Commercial areas of the city….

A lot of the beautiful homes that are a part of Charleston…

We also passed the Embassy Suites Hotel which he told us was the site of the original Citadel College until they moved to their new location in 1922.

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Along the way, we passed a horse drawn carriage tour, which would have been a great way to see the city, but frankly they looked a bit cold!  Glad for our bus!

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We returned to the Visitor’s Center, saw some Sea Grass Baskets being made, and watched a movie about Charleston’s past.  

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Having been fully submerged in the history of the city, we decided to cross the street and head back to our hotel and a late afternoon libation and to put our feet up!

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And that’s how we spent our day in the frozen South!

Dinner in Charleston

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 2 Comments

On our first night in Charleston, South Carolina, the question was where to eat.  Well, we answered it very easily by practically walking next door to the Coast Bar and Grill in Hudson Alley.  Literally one building away from the hotel, it seemed like a no brainer to us!

The restaurant inhabits an old warehouse, and between the art work and the ambiance, it was a very pleasant place to have dinner.

Oh and by the way, any dinner that starts with bubbly (Prosecco), and a Shrimp Cocktail, is our idea of how to travel!!

Dinner was wonderful with, for me, a Strip Steak with Creamed Spinach and Blue Cheese Butter and Sautéed Vegetables rather than potatoes, and for Susie, Grilled Monterey Chicken (Cheddar, Crumbled Jalapeno Bacon and Scallions), with Blue Cheese Slaw, also subbing veggies for the potatoes!

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We look happy, no?

After a delightful meal with a delightful waitress, we walked the few steps back to our hotel.  Oh, and here’s our next door neighbor, or the building between our hotel and Coast Bar!

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And we’re home!  

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Time to plan tomorrow and have a little nightcap!

See ya!

On The Road Again, Again!!!

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Yes, we are indeed on the road again!!  It started with our spending a very enjoyable weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina with our oldest Bill, his wife Lori, our two adorable Grandkids Layla and Henry, and assorted members of Lori’s family.  It was time for our 3rd Christmas, and this time, per Bill’s request, it included Susie’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner, shrimp sauce over linguine, and baked lobsters stuffed with baked clam stuffing!  North Carolina Bar-B-Que is a fitting Christmas Eve feast, but the kid from Long Island missed this traditional dinner he’s had since he was old enough to like lobster!

We had a great time with our little kids, who were anxious for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive, and who had an entire agenda laid out for us to be involved in.  It was good being with our older kids, and as usual, Susie and I had a great time talking extensively with Lori’s mom Kathy!  All around, a great weekend!

So, this morning, rather than head North as we usually do, we headed South!  We traveled down Interstate 95, and of course, what’s I-95 through North Carolina without South of the Border!  Nowhere near it’s former glory, but Pedro still has great presence along the highway!

You definitely know you’re in the south…all you need to do is open your eyes!

Our route took us through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (eh), and as I write this, we are in the Hampton Inn in Historic Downtown Charleston, South Carolina.  This is a place we’ve never been before, so we decided to spend a couple of days here and see what it’s all about. The sad thing is that although it’s not as cold as it was back home (It was 9 degrees in Ocean City), it was just in the low 40s when we pulled into the hotel, so the cold seems to be following us!  Let’s hope for a warm up, because we’re tired of sweatshirts and fleeces!! 

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Stay tuned for more.

In closing, before Susie and I left OC we’d spent about 10 days doing the Keto Diet (well, more like a Lazy Keto…mostly low carb).  I lost 9 pounds and Susie 7.5 pounds, and it’s something we really wanted to try and keep going with.  If you’ve read these travel blogs before, you know that one of our guilty pleasures on the road is eating at Arbys.  Well, here is our lunch on Saturday…totally Keto Friendly!

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Those People

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 4 Comments

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FYI…we’ve become “those people” who lunch at Costco (come on..two huge hot dogs with sauerkraut and all the toppings, plus 2 sodas for $3.20 including tax…why not?) and who run off to Florida in the winter!

Susie retired in 2013, and in just a couple of weeks, it will be three years since I left WABC on January 29, 2016.  In February of 2016, we headed down to Florida for a few days at Disney World, and to catch a couple of the Mets Spring training games.  It was a real treat to experience a bit of a preview of the Summer of 2016, and I guess we got bitten by the bug!  In February of 2017, Susie and I participated in the  southern swing of the “Kenny and Chris Relocating to LA Tour”, and spent some time in Disney World with the boys, and then New Orleans with the boys and Krissi and Mike, before they headed off to California and we headed back to winter.  Last year we toured a large part of Florida, heading down in February and starting at Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf Coast, traveling down the Gulf Coast, then across the state, down the Keys to Key West, up to Hollywood, then to my cousins in Barefoot Bay, and we ended up with 5 nights at the Boardwalk Hotel in Disney World!  All told, a little over 3 weeks away from the winter!

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23d34fcc-bfe6-455b-98e7-d47076bcdfa0So, this year, we are being pigs!  We leave this Saturday with our first stop being Raleigh, North Carolina, the home of our oldest and his wife, and our 2 grandchildren!  It will be Christmas #3 for Susie and I, this time complete with Christmas Eve traditions of Shrimp Sauce over Linguine, and Lobsters stuffed with Baked Clam Stuffing!  After a couple of days there, we start slowly making our way to the Sunshine State, with stops in Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Darien, Georgia and our favorite shrimp place, B&J’s Steak and Seafood!  

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Last year we fell in love with Indian Rocks Beach, Florida and we’ve decided to return to the scene of the crime.  We’ve rented a condo right on the Gulf Coast for 3 weeks, and we look forward to a lot of warmth, sun, surf, pool, and fun!  During the course of our time there, our cousins Jeanne and Walt will come to visit, as will Krissi and Mike for a long weekend!  We only hope our favorite Florida bartender Lindsey, who we met at our hotel bar last year, is back on her feet and we can spend some quality time with her!

After that, it’s off to the East Coast and a 3 day stay at the lovely Doubletree Resort we really didn’t take advantage of during our stay there last year in Hollywood, Florida.  More pool, sun, warmth, and Tiki Bar time we hope!  Then we are off for 5 nights with our cousins Jeanne and Walt at their place a little further up the coast in Barefoot Bay, Florida!

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Although a stay at Disney World has been a part of our last 3 escapes from winter, we decided to pass on it this year.  Even with my Disney  Retiree benefits and discounts, it’s still an expensive stay, and that 3 week condo rental is costing us enough.  Plus, we were so disillusioned by all the crowds there last year, and the attractions that broke down, that we think we’ll take a year off, and decide again next year.

So that’s it.  If you did the math, you’ll have come up with five plus weeks away this year.  We hope to be in warm weather for the better part of 5 weeks, only dipping out of shirts and flip flop weather on the way down and back up.  I told you we were being real pigs, but there is nothing like that Summer Preview you get from spending some time in warmer climates, when it’s snowing at home!

Ahhhh…RETIREMENT!!

Christmas 2018

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

When our kids were little, and the entire family lived on Long Island between Bayside and Huntington, Christmases were a lot easier.  It was totally expected that we would all be together in part or whole on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and the only thing we had to worry about was a forecast of snow, and traffic on the Long Island Expressway!  But times change, kids grow up and head out on their own, parents die, people retire and move, and traditions change.  In other words, life happens.  Take our family, and Christmas, 2018.

Shortly after their October wedding, Kenny and Chris started their Liberty of the Seas contract with 2 1/2 months of rehearsals in Miami.  They had about 10 days off from rehearsals for Christmas/New Year, and they spent part of that time with us in Ocean City, so they were the kids we shared our actual Christmas with this year, and we tried to include just about every D’Elia Family Christmas tradition we could.  One set of kids done!  

This past weekend, it was time to share our second Christmas up in New York with Krissi and Mike. Susie and I haven’t been back to Long Island since mid-September, so it’s been close to 4 months since we’ve had the joy of Long Island traffic, but we made our way safely to Mike and Krissi’s apartment in Astoria. The plan was a low key Christmas, without a lot of the traditions, just enjoying a couple of days together.

In the course of the afternoon, Krissi, with her Mom’s help, put up a picture shelf in their living room, while Mike and I helped with advice and comments on their progress.  Then Mike announced that it was 5 o’clock, and drink time!  The Master Mixer went to their bar, and shook us 4 excellent vodka martinis that just hit the spot!

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Dinner that night was too many yummy appetizers and wood-fired pizzas at Milkflower, and then we returned to their apartment, drank eggnog, and opened Christmas presents while watching a Christmas movie!  As is usual, Kristen Anne didn’t make it to the end of the movie!

The next day we all enjoyed a great trip to the Museum of Moving Image, which is just a couple of blocks away from their apartment, and across the street from the Kaufman Studios.  Among the many exhibits was one dedicated to the late Jim Henson, and all the wonderful work he did during his too short life.  Of course, well known to our family were his Muppets, and older son Billy’s favorites, the characters from Fraggle Rock!

They also had an exhibit on “ancient” computer games, where we saw our first computer, a Commodore 64, and lots of Nintendo games Susie and I remembered from when our adult children, weren’t!  Krissi and Mike enjoyed going back to the last decade and century.

Mom and Dad Ubered home, and while waiting for Krissi and Mike to arrive, commented on what a gorgeous sunset was in progress.

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The kids suggested that we visit their building’s roof (where they will get married in June), and we got some wonderful pictures of the New York skyline.  

Also, thanks to Mike’s long arms, a good selfie!

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Dinner that night, was totally decadent Greek Bowls from Crave, followed by some TV…and another martini!

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We said our good-byes to the kids before bed, because they’d be up and on their way to work long before Mom and Dad crawled out of bed!  Monday we had an Eye Doctor appointment, so we killed some time driving around Jackson Heights, where I grew up and lived till I was 19, before heading out to Whitestone and our Eye Doctor!

We wrapped up the weekend by visiting one of our favorite old Mineola haunts, the St. James! (after Susie had her nails done!) It was great to visit with our bartender friend Dennis and our waitress friend Mo, and experience one of the things we truly miss from our 31 years in Mineola!

We also passed this very Christmasy house on Roslyn Road, just around the corner from where we used to live.

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By the way, back when Billy was a little kid, we had church friends that lived in that house, and one morning, Susie delivered our friend’s baby in her bathroom on the second floor.  The house didn’t look like this back then!

Listen to the story of Susie delivering our friend’s baby…courtesy of WABC Radio

Oh, and remember me mentioning traditions back in the opening paragraphs?  Well, after 2 years of living in North Carolina, our oldest misses some of the traditions he grew up with.  Specifically, Billy told us he missed our Christmas Eve tradition of Spicy Shrimp Sauce over Linguine, and Baked Clam Stuffed Lobsters, so on January 19th, we are heading down to Raleigh for Christmas 2018, #3!  Even though the presents have already been distributed, and the tree will be gone, he wants a taste of our old traditions to go along with their new Christmas Eve tradition of North Carolina Bar-B-Que.  Sounds good to us!!

Christmases Past, Present, and Future

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 4 Comments

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Christmas in Mineola

On this Christmas Eve, 2018, a little Christmas reflection…..

Christmas has always been a big deal in our household.  Early in our relationship, it became obvious that it’s Susie’s favorite holiday, and one that she waits all year for.  Indeed, because of her love of the holiday, it was on Christmas Day in 1978 that I asked her to marry me, and she said yes! Talk about giving…her saying yes was the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten!  So from our first Christmas in our apartment on Firwood Road in Port Washington, just months after we were married in 1979, we have always gone all out to decorate and celebrate the holiday!  

Every year, when the kids were small, sometime in early November, we’d journey to Lancaster, PA, for a weekend in Amish Country, and every year, that’s when the D’Elia Family started listening to Christmas music!  Indeed, our selection of Christmas music grew over the years to the point that when we cleaned out our 100 CD changer, close to half the CDs were of Christmas music.  Now we’re all digital, with music stored on the Amazon Cloud, but Christmas music still makes up a large percentage of it!

Our Ocean City house became ours at the end of January 2005, and when the next Christmas rolled around the decision was easy…we were going to decorate two houses!  That first year we got a table top tree and bought ornaments, and house decorations on the cheap from Big Lots.  It wasn’t as grand or beautiful as we did on Long Island, but we even had a small Manger we’d gotten at Big Lots, and lots of outdoor decorations.

Over the years, more and more items were added to both our Mineola house and to the Ocean City house.  A year ago, on November 9th, we sold the Mineola house, and made Ocean City our permanent residence.  That meant we now had to meld two Christmases into one.  Think that wasn’t a hard job?  Well, the fact that we had to make 3 trips with a fully loaded SUV to transport our Long Island Christmas decorations, to the shore, and the fact that our Christmas Decorations then took up fully half of our rented store room, may give you an idea about the scope of the job!  Last year, the consolidation started, and it’s continued this Christmas too!

First things first…the Christmas Tree! 

From our first 1979 Christmas, a live tree was the only way to go for the D’Elia Family.  We did the “cut your own” version, but the kids got kind of tired of that after a couple of years, and after one year of doing it ourselves, Susie and I tired of it too, so it was a yearly trip to Hicks to pick out a tree!  That lasted till we started going to Ocean City and realized when we got home the beginning of January, the tree was severely dead, and we’d missed a lot of it’s life.  The next year the first artificial tree made it’s debut in the D’Elia’s living room! 

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IMG_1556As I said,  for our first Christmas in Ocean City (2005), we bought a 4 foot tree at one of the craft stores, and put it by the front door, on top of our porch table, and we decorated it with ornaments we’d purchased at the Big Lots in Somers Point.   We continued for a number of Christmases in Ocean City with that table top tree and the our Big Lots ornaments.  In 2012 we bought a new artificial tree for Long Island.  It was our 2nd “fake” tree, was much more lifelike and sophisticated, prewired with lights, and all the set up we had to do was pop the three sections together and it was done and wired!  Of course, the next Christmas we decided to get a thinner version of that same tree for Ocean City.  When our last Christmas on Long Island was over in 2016, we decided to take our bigger tree to Ocean City, move some furniture in the living room for the holidays, put the big tree in a new location, and enjoy more room for presents under it!  It was worth it.

 

 

 

Mineola                                   Ocean City  

 

The Manger

Of course, the Mineola Manger won out over the Big Lots version.  The Manger scene that graces our Ocean City home now, has been with us since that first Christmas in Port Washington 39 years ago.  Bought from a long defunct Long Island department store, (A & S), with additional pieces purchased at a 5 & 10 on Plandome Road in Manhasset, it moved from a table near the front door in Mineola, to the top of a book shelf in our living room in Ocean City!

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The Big Lots Manger

 

 

 

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Mineola                                                             Ocean City

 

Snowman Village

For a number of years, Susie put up a huge Department 56 Snow Village display in our Dining Room on Long Island, but furniture and styles changed, and the Snow Village went bye-bye.  Susie has always loved Snowmen (and women), and with a desire to go in a new direction, she did a Snowman display on the top of our entertainment center on Long Island, with a smaller version in Ocean City.  Of course, now her big production has moved to our corner cabinet in the living room, that transforms from a bar to a winter wonderland during the Christmas Season.

 

 

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And that’s but a small part of the Christmas Displays at our home during the holidays.  Over the past couple of years, we have weeded through lots and lots of ornaments, bows, house decorations, Hallmark animated displays, and hundreds of Christmas items, big and small, cheap and expensive.  It hasn’t been easy.  We know that when we unloaded our storage room into our garage this year (2 trips with the CRV fully loaded), we realized we still have too much Christmas “stuff,” and perhaps this year, we will be able to part with some items.  But there are regrets….like the two snow globes we had, one from Susie’s Mom and one from my Mom.  These globes graced our living room in Mineola for many years, but sadly when we decorated in Ocean City last year, they were nowhere to be found.  Did we make a conscious decision after Christmas 2016 to let them go, or did we put them in the wrong box, and it got left behind?  We’ll just never know, but every Christmas, we will think about them, and wonder what happened to them.

There you have the story of our Christmas dilemma and how we tried to solve it.  Let’s just say, it’s a work in progress! 

 

 

As we share our Christmas this year with Family and Friends, near and far, just one last thought.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / Leave a comment

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I’m sure we’ve all heard the 1963 song, made popular by Andy Williams, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”  Indeed, during this holiday period, it’s hard to go through a day without hearing it on the radio, in a store while shopping, or around your house.  You know the song…..

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year

With the kids jingle belling

And everyone telling you be of good cheer

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s the hap-happiest season of all

With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings

When friends come to call,

It’s the hap-happiest season of all….”

 

But is it?

img_1062-1Yesterday, Susie and I spent some time at the Shoprite in Somers Point, and as we were walking out, I commented to her, “Wow…there are some really, crabby unhappy people in this place”.  Sourpuss faces, grumpy dispositions…a generally cranky population!  

As we went back into the parking lot and unloaded the wagon into our Honda, the general theme continued.  Folks were honking horns at each other, attempting to beat fellow shoppers to parking places, demanding that others move faster, and generally acting like they were the most important person on earth!  Wow…”the hap-happiest season of all”?

Then we ventured out of the parking lot and onto Route 9, and believe me, it didn’t improve there!  We saw no “kids jingle belling” and certainly never heard anyone telling us to be “of good cheer”.  What we did see was the usual crappy driving you see this time of the year.  People cutting others off, turning the wrong way down streets, driving while on their phones, and not signaling so you have an idea what their intentions are.  Generally living up to my theory that the state issues thousands of licenses that are only valid from Thanksgiving through New Years, and you best pay double attention to your fellow drivers on the road this time of year, if you want to find out what you are “Doing on New Year’s Eve!” 

How sad is it, that so many at this “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” act like it is anything but!  Are there crowds in the stores and traffic on the roads?  Yes, but it’s Christmas, what do you expect?!  I’m reminded of a woman I met standing in line a long time ago at the Fortunoff Department Store back on Long Island.  We were waiting to pick up some merchandise we’d just purchased, and frankly it was a rather long line, as we all were there for the same purpose.  After a few minutes the lady, who was in front of me, turned to me and said, “Why are the lines so long this time of the year?”  Huh?  I wanted to tell her that if she perhaps did her Christmas or Hanukkah shopping in say July, she might find less crowds, but I didn’t.  

I think too many people lose sight of what this holiday is all about.  It’s about family and friends, its about “parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow”.  It’s about, “hearts will be glowing when love ones are near, and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.”  Like the birth of a little baby in a stable in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago.  Yes, we all have a lot to do, and sometimes the doing becomes stressful, and dealing with people becomes a chore, but please think of the lyrics of this song, and the real reason we celebrate.  Christmas wasn’t created by Macys or Walmart, Target, Costco,  Coca-Cola, or even the Hallmark Channel! 

It’s about that little baby, it’s about family, and friends that are like family, it’s about spending time with the ones you love, and spreading the joy of the season as much as you can, even if it’s just smiling at a stranger in the store, or holding a door for someone, or thinking of those around you.  Yes indeed, it is the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and my wish is that we all remember that everyday, and try and make it true.  I know Andy Williams will appreciate it!

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Another Saturday Night in OC

/ Sue and Frank D'Elia / 1 Comment

If you read our recent multi-part story about how, why, and when we ended up being retired in Ocean City, you may remember it said, “We loved being down here, and as we spent more and more time, our Ocean City Family grew.  We attended weddings on the beach, parties at neighbor’s houses, Saturday night dinners out, several Pennlyn Place Block Parties, St. Patty’s Day and New Year’s Eve events, and even went to a couple of local fundraisers.”   Those Saturday Night dinners I spoke of,  are an important part of our Ocean City life. While some weeks it will be 3 or 4 of us going out, some weeks it can be as many as 12 or 14.  Some weeks it’s just us, and some weeks, friends will bring friends and relatives and our group expands.  While we do go out a lot, many weeks we will get together at another’s house.  It can be a planned dinner, a pot luck, or an impromptu “order take out” night. All things being equal, just about every Saturday, some members of our group will be together.

Here’s a selection of some past Saturdays!

Having said that, let me tell you about a recent Saturday, where a number of us headed out to Carmen’s in Sea Isle City, for their last night of the season, and what they call their “Carmen’s Belly Buster”.  We’d been there only once, earlier in the year, and our waitress made a point of telling us about the Belly Buster night, and it peaked our interest.    Our good friend Denise called and made a reservation, and worked out transportation, and on Saturday October 20th, it was indeed Another Saturday Night…but this time in Sea Isle City! 

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The funny thing is that the Saturday before, we’d also been with Denise and her husband Chris, and our friends Patti and Meade, but that was in Lake Tahoe, Nevada!  It was great having some of our Ocean City Family with us at Kenny and Chris’ wedding, and it was a Saturday night, and yes, we did end up in our room after the close of the wedding!  On the side of the Atlantic Ocean, or the shore of Lake Tahoe, a Saturday is a Saturday for our Ocean City Family!!

But let me get back to Carmen’s and The Belly Buster!  The place seemed very festive when we got there with large groups of folks at tables on the outside deck.  It was a little chilly (Denise wore my jacket) but they did have side curtains and most of us were fine.  We started at a tight table, but then asked, and they moved us to a great octagonal table, where we had lots of room and we all could see each other!  Lucky they did!

The meal started with a hot crab chowder and a nice salad.  Then pass-around fried sea food (shrimp, scallops, clams, etc).  Dale and Denise are not seafood eaters, but there were several Chicken dishes in the next round of pass-arounds.  Then they lowered the boom on us with the Main Attraction of the evening!!

 

While we’d seen other tables with big disposable pans of mixed sea food, we somehow got the mother lode, pilled high in a huge fancy bowl!  Not quite sure why we got singled out, but we did end up on their web site, so I’m thinking we got the “display” portion!  Here’s that picture!

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It was loaded with clams, mussels, crab legs, and at least 4 lobsters!  Oh My God!  By no means did we eat it all, but we tried!

There was lots of laughs that night as we ate and drank our way through dinner (it is a BYOB), but there was still about half left (mostly mussels and clams) when we’d had our fill, and they wanted us to take it with us.  Nobody at our table was interested, so we passed it off to a lady at the table behind us!  She may still be dining on our leftovers!

It really doesn’t matter what we do, or where we do it.  What matters is that we are together, having fun.  Family Chosen is a Great Thing!