New Year’s Florida Style

We escaped from Washington the day after Christmas and beat the weather – more snow, sleet and cold – to head to FLA for the last week of ‘09. The plan was the Fab Five (at least a few of us) would return to Sandpiper Marina for sailing, golf and New Year’s Eve.

We arrived to a chilly 70 degrees in Florida and were very happy to get back on the water. Needless to say, we lost the socks, put on shorts and had a relaxing drink to celebrate sunset.

Sunset from the Tiki Hut

As usual, the wild animals were out and causing trouble.

Wild Life at the Bar

The first few days of the trip, Phyll and I were in town alone and decided to try a couple of restaurants – expand our horizons so to speak. We ate at 11 Maple on Sunday in Jensen Beach. Good food with small plates that were very interesting. Monday night, we were back in Jensen beach and ate steaks at Peter’s Steak House. Tuesday, we were hoping we would be eating with Richard, but the timing just didn’t work. He was here for business and we could never get our schedules aligned. So Tuesday night, we hit the Black Marlin in Stuart for a very good meal. Tony, from Fortunate arrived Tuesday and joined us.

Sunday was a golf day. Got in 18 holes at the Sinners course with Jack. Phyllis, who doesn’t play golf, was happy to get her nails done. Monday, we got the roller blades out and went out for an hour. We hadn’t been blading for a while so it felt good to get out and get some exercise. Tuesday, Tony joined me for 9 more holes of golf. I haven’t played in a couple of years and it showed – ughhh. Only game worse than Tuesday was Thursday. The rest of the gang arrived and we had a foursome with Josh, Christy, Tony and me. I was terrible, but we all had fun as the whole crowd was here.

The Sandbagger - Josh cleaning up at Golf

Tuesday was a great day with warm temperatures and good wind so we took the sailboat out. The nice breeze let us get it really going and we hit 7.5 knots. Jack took a couple of hours off and joined us on our cruise. It’s fun going up and down the river looking at the houses. Only real difference between here and Annapolis is we end up tacking more often. Going down the river and back, we get about 9 miles of sailing.

Sailing on the St. Lucie River

Dan's House

This was the first trip where Phyll and I could spend time doing nothing and visiting the sites. We went down to the beach – for the first time – on Monday. Jensen beach was really pretty and relatively deserted. The weather was a bit chilly, but the beach was nice.

Hitting the Beach

Jensen Beach

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Well, I have just been told that we need to leave at 11:30 for our tee time today. I’ll have to finish this entry later. Lot’s more to add. Golf was rained out – our first day of bad weather since we got here. Actually, its nice to just sit on the boat and chill for a while. We’re watching the Winter classic, finishing the blog and reading the newspaper.
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Our time at the beach was fun. Beautiful sunny day and refreshing breezes.

Sunshine on the Beach

Every afternoon this week, Phyllis and I walked around the Club Med resort. It’s an interesting place filled with families and kids. They really have a lot of activities for the children including a huge circus program. We have been fascinated watching the trapeze training, really interesting and fun.

Ready to Fly?

Caught him...

For New Year’s Eve we were originally going to go to the parties at Club Med, but they were sold out. This actually turned out to be a blessing. We set up some tables between Fortunate and On Course and cooked ourselves a feast.

Lighting the New Years Lamps

Josh and Trevor enjoying Shrimp to Start the Night

Christy in New Years Attire

Tony Telling a Fish(?) Story

Susan Enjoying a Glass of Red

Phyllis in a Scarf and Light Shirt for New Years

Jeff Delivering the Roast Beast

The Crew for Dinner

Jack at Dinner

Another Meal with lots of Wine

Christy and Phyll

Tony Celebrating the New Year

As you can tell from the pictures, it was another tremendous evening with good food and friends. It’s hard to complain with New Year’s Eve being celebrated al fresco on the docks.

Christmas Night

Christmas was another wonderful day for us this year. The kids came over early and we had a huge Turkey meal and exchanged tons of cool presents. It was actually quite a retro-Christmas.

OMG - What a cool retro gift from the kids!

Phyllis and I went back in time for Christmas as the kids gave us a record player – remember those – and a couple of records. We rooted around in the basement and found a few old records and some 45’s. Felt like I was in middle school again. The kids now know what a 45 is. Pretty cool retro gift.

Great gifts were had by all but another one that I got from Phyll was the Canon PowerShot D10 camera. A neat small 12.1 mega pixel camera that is supposed to be waterproof. We’ll try it out in FLA this week and see what we see underwater.

Ricky and Maria came over for dinner and I think everyone had a good time although we missed Phyll’s mom who stayed home with the flu.

Ben looking cool...

A Happy Sarah

Phyll Trying on her Boots

Tug and his Toy

Spinning Some Very Old Vinyl

We pulled out Phyll’s old – very old – records and there were a bunch of 45’s in the box. We started playing some of the tunes and I was amazed at how many of the really really old songs the kids knew. We need to get the band to play some of this prehistoric rock.

Everyone Helped with Dinner

Sarah Cooking - no it's not that funny...

Phyllis Supervising

Tug Begging

Ben Smiling

Overall it was a great Christmas. Now it’s upstairs to pack for our trip tomorrow – we leave at the crack of dawn – but we’ll be on the boat for happy hour.

Chilling Out on Christmas Eve

Monday afternoon the plows finally made it on our streets. It took a couple of passes but they got the snow cleaned up – or at least piled back onto our driveway.

Freedom - Our First Plow

Getting the Streets Clean - Finally!

Well the plows did a pretty good job, but they left your hero with another round of shoveling. Will it ever end!

Incredible Sense of Deja Vu

With the streets clean, we could now get out of the neighborhood. So Monday, for no real reason, we ran out to get our laundry, some gas in the car and to buy a couple of things for dinner. Later that night, we had our yearly visit from Santa Claus. It’s a great experience, the Glen Echo Fire Department visits all the streets in an emergency vehicle with lights flashing, sirens wailing and Santa waving.

It's Santa

Santa riding with the Glen Echo Fire Department

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent catching up on all of the things we missed while buried under the snow. We were in Annapolis Tuesday shopping for a new boat – actually talking to Bentley from Sabre, Garth and Tim from AYS about what a 46′ Sabre would look like. Basically, we were helping thm design the next generation of the 452 – to be called the 456. Basically, Bentley was working with all of the little things we think are missing on the 426 and designing them into the new 456.

As we have explained before, we love our boat and have been having a heck of a time identifying the next boat for us. Some people ask us why we need another boat? Good question and there really is no good answer. We have a list of about 10 things we would change but they are not mandatory. Working with Bentley, Garth and Tim this week, we solved all 10 and added about 10 nice to haves and maintained all of the lines and performance characteristics of the 456. But is it worth upgrading for 4 feet? Probably, but it is a question we’ll ask ourselves for a while. It would be our last boat and would need to last 10+ years and be able to cruise everywhere around the Caribbean and Florida. Interesting prospects – with what we added we would be able to live on the boat for months at a time. It would be a great second home for retirement.

Wednesday was a very painful day – shopping.

Today, we are relaxed and enjoying the calm. Well, I did have to shovel again – needed to clear the Grill so I can cook the Turkey tomorrow. Will it ever end?

Shoveling and Getting ready for Turkey

Other than that, it is a quiet day. I’m sitting here updating the blog listening to the new Jimmy Buffett album and thinking about the warmth of the Florida sun where we will be on Saturday. I’m also thinking about how lucky we are this year.

More Deer in the Yard

Celebrating the Peace of the Season

Life is good. Merry Christmas everyone…

Sunday Morning in a Winterwonderland

What a beautiful sight this morning. The snow was gorgeous. The sky was that beautiful winter blue and the neighborhood was alive with wildlife and people clearing the snow. We were joined at breakfast by three deer in the back yard relaxing in the snow.

Breakfast Visitors

Looking for a place to get comfortable

Deer Enjoying the Snow

As we ate breakfast, the deer moved over to our neighbors yard. I think they saw Phyll serving Salmon and Bagels and decided to move over to a less civilized breakfast.

After we ate it was back to the driveway and another round of shoveling – much easier today as there was only 3 additional inches since last night. Looks like we got 18 inches at the house – not bad for being 4 miles inside the Beltway. It’s a lot of snow and we no longer have an SUV so who knows when and if we’ll get out of the driveway. Of course I have to do my Christmas Shopping and we need a tree and a turkey for Christmas Day. No worries, these things always work out.

Finally a Cleared Driveway

Phyllis Clearing the Steps

Our Path to the Mailbox - as if the mail will come...

Our Snow Covered Street

House in the Snow

We have no idea when we will be plowed. My guess is Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. We are on a dead-end street up in the hills above the Potomac River. There may be 50 houses up here. The problem is that the street is very narrow and there isn’t that many places to push the snow. To get into the neighborhood you need to go up a big hill then around two switchbacks with very steep hills on both sides. We’ve never lived here when there has been a big snow but our neighbors say in takes a good 48 hours or more before they get the plows up here. Good thing we bought wine and food on Friday!

It doesn’t bother me to be stranded. Yesterday I fired up the photo printer and went through 20 sheets of Glossy paper before I ran out. I still have 20 pictures to go – maybe I’ll try fine art paper today. I also need to create a book of our trip to Florida for the coffee table. If we get bored with that, I can crank up the guitar and play for a couple of hours. It is also a good time to go take pictures – everything is so beautiful.

Gusty Winds Blowing the Snow

Bluejay in the Trees

Cardinal at the Feeder

We’ll definitely survive if we are snowed in for a few days. Then again, we are supposed to have dinner with a partner of mine tonight – he is in Washington with his kids this weekend as a Christmas trip – how cool would this be if you are coming from Atlanta. Monday night we are meeting people at Ris for dinner. And I need to do Christmas shopping. Either way, plowed or not, a 20 inch snow is really cool.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

A big Nor’Easter moved up the coast starting last night and clobbered DC with snow. We woke up to about 9″ and the worse weather had yet to hit.

Backyard View at 10am

Looking out Front

With 9″ and more snow to come, I decided it was time for shoveling. We’d never be able to get 18″ off the driveway so we decided to go ahead and get 9″ shoveled away.

Tackling 9 Inches

Boat or Shoveling - Wonder which one I Prefer!

Our Driveway?

When we started clearing the driveway we had about 9″ of snow. When we finished – we had another 2″. We actually shoveled the whole thing twice, I hope that makes it easier this afternoon when we do it again. We need a smaller driveway.

Second Pass on the Driveway

Even the birds are nestled in the trees.

A Cardinal in the Holly

According to the weather man, we have another 6 hours of this. We’ll end up with 16 to 20 inches of snow. I wonder if the street will be plowed before Christmas? I hope so, I haven’t started shopping yet.

Backyard at 1pm

Update – latest picture at 4:30. Lot’s of snow. Still coming down with another 3 to 6 inches predicted. I want sun and warmth…

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow...

Sunday morning and the sun is out and the snow is over. Official total in DC is 16.4″. Here in Bethesda we got closer to 20 inches. Very pretty at the moment. Hopefully the street will plowed today so I can start Christmas Shopping.

Sunday Morning Final View

Snow Canyons on the Driveway

Madam’s Organ

Friday afternoon, the band double parked in front of the bar Madam’s Organ and unloaded our equipment. We were playing that evening for charity to support the Platelet Disorder Support Association and the Alzheimer Association. It was our first performance in front of people in over a year and, I believe, our first performance with Vin on lead guitar. I think we were all a little nervous when we showed up at the bar and saw the space for the first time.

The Stage at Madam's Organ

The bar is in a typical DC row house in Adams Morgan and is owned by Bill Duggan, who was very kind to let us play for charity on Friday night. The bar has two floors both long and narrow and can hold about 150 people in the band area. They have music all the time and host a number of national bands. I like the place, very funky.

The Bar

We started playing around 6:30 and played two 45 minute sets. The stage was very small and we were crammed in pretty tight. But it was fun and it worked. A small stage probably helped us a lot since we don’t dance around much.

The Dots Crammed on Stage

The Dots tight on Stage

Humby and Jerry Singing among Guitars

We ended up with a pretty good crowd. Not sure how many but it was crowded and it appeared that people had fun.

Ben Standing above the Crowd

Phyllis Providing Red Stripes

Tony, Tammy and Abby supporting the Cause

Bob Cranking out Bass Lines

A number of our friends from Deloitte came – great to have their support.

Laura, Renee and Elaine Supporting the Band

Jit and Jeff

Everyone invited friends and family to make sure we had a good turnout.

Phyll's Brother Rick

Kris, John & Lynn

That’s about it for the pictures. We had fun. I think the people who were there also had a good time. Who knows maybe we’ll do it again in the near future.

The Green Dots

What a Difference a Week Makes

Last week we were on Comocean heading down the St. Lucie River under spinnaker in swim suits and short sleeves enjoying a glorious Thanksgiving in the Florida sunshine.

Phyllis Enjoying a November Sail

Back Sailing - Heavenly

This week, we’re back home in Maryland and enjoying (not quite the right word, probably tolerating is a better word) a new storm from Mother Nature.

First Snow of the Season

The prediction was snow off and on all day and total accumulation of about 1 to 3 inches. Well, this picture was taken at lunch time and it looks like 1 inch will be the minimum we are going to get.

Better than an Inch of Snow on the Rails

Phyll and I headed out early to the grocery store and filled the fridge with enough food for the next couple of days. It is an interesting phenomena that happens when it snows, the grocery stores fill with people stocking up on everything. In our case, we had nothing in the house having been away since Thanksgiving (at least I had been away and only returned Friday morning, Phyll got back Monday but was only feeding one so no need to fill the fridge). The Whole Foods was so crowded that there were no parking spots and we had to separate to get groceries, but we were successful. Beef Bourguignon tonight and possibly Chili or some other concoction tomorrow.

Being a lazy snowy day is also letting me catch up on the blog and our photographs. I haven’t really had the time to go through everything we had since the trip and now is the day. Print those we like, update our gallery and create a book of our experiences – sounds like a great day! If there is time, we’ll watch a movie and catch up on sleep – heaven. I’ll also change the strings on the guitar so I am ready for next week.

One Week to Go – Madam’s Organ

Friday night the band assembled for what is to be our last rehearsal. We started around six and played our first set. Needless to say, we were very rusty and all of us were wondering if we would be ready for next week (at least we were all nervous).

Being in a band is interesting. First, we all have full time jobs, stressful full time jobs. I play because it is a release from the day-to-day stress of what we do (much like writing this blog – it’s an outlet different than how I spend the majority of my time). I also play because it’s fun to get seven people together and assemble a sound that none of us can do alone. Most importantly, I play for me – not for anyone else. As long as it’s fun, I’ll keep doing it.

We have two singers in the band. First is Humby who has a great voice and adds a great dimension to the band with her range and ability to sing a variety of songs.

Humby Belting out the Tunes

Kevin is our second singer and is really strong on the bluesy rock-and-roll numbers. He adds a punch when we need it.

Kevin Running Through A Song

Bob is our bass player and keeps the bottom from falling out of the band. Bob and I have worked together for 10 years, started at Deloitte a month a part and are the two leaders of our SE CFO practice.

Peter is our drummer and the lead AERS Partner for the Washington DC area. He is also the Chair Person of The Platelet Disorder Support Association which is one of our two charities we are donating all of the proceeds to for our show.

Peter Keeping the Beat

Tickling the ivories is Jerry – another consulting partner and former lead partner for Consulting in the Washington DC area. Jerry keeps the band honest as he can play any song he has ever heard (I need music, Jerry just needs a record). He has two key boards and has a beautiful Hammond B3 sound which is perfect for us old guys and the rock we grew up on.

Jerry on the Keyboards

Vin is on lead guitar and is also the lead tax partner for Deloitte in Washington – he runs our practice. Vin is our newest member and had to learn all of our songs while the rest of us only had to learn a couple of new ones. He adds a punch to the band and has let us play more guitar songs than ever before.

Vin on Lead

Last member of the band is yours truly. I basically play four chords and try to keep up with everyone else.

After playing the first set and getting frustrated, we retreated to upstairs for dinner and some wine. Peter and Barbara presented all of us a very nice gift, a framed ticket from our first public performance. What a treat!

Our First Ticket

After dinner we went back downstairs and ran through all of our songs. What a difference a meal makes! We’re ready. Next Friday we load in around 4, sound check at 5 and play around 6.30. Proceeds go to the Platelet Disorder Support Association and the National Capital Alzheimer Association. Should be a blast.

Madam’s Organ only holds about 100 people where the band plays so it might be crowded, but if you are in the neighborhood drop by and have a drink and buy a ticket – it’s for two great causes.

Sailing in November – Heavenly…

On the boat last two days after a great Thanksgiving. A couple of highlights – Skip and Harriet – always a great time with them. Sailing on Sunday – full Spinnaker cruising on the river. As promised – pictures with few words to make up for the last post.

Thanksgiving at the Breakers in Palm Beach

Beautiful place for Thanksgiving…

Roughing it in Paradise

There were only small waves this week as compared to the 6 to 8 footers when we went into the Ft. Pierce inlet.

Calm Seas this Weekend

Only thing to do was be stressed out at the pool.

Julia and Richard

Dad and Kate

Breakfast room at the Breakers.

100 Year Old Elegance at the Breakers

Stressing Out

Comocean, Kika, Fotunate and On Course - Everyone is Home

Phyllis Leading Dad and Kate to Comocean

Back at the Breakers

Richard Looking up Julia's Middle Name

Marina Neighbors

On Saturday we got to see Skip and Harriet for the first time since October – it was wonderful.

Skip & Harriet

Everyone is Happy to Get Together

Sunday, there was some wind – about 5 to 7 knots – perfect for a trip around our new home and the St. Lucie River.

Comocean Happy to be Back Under Sail

Another Neighbor - Wayne Huizenga's House, Golf Course and Marina

Roosevelt Bridge Marina - Home to Bobby Smith

We had a very good sail – not much wind but really relaxing. The wind was blowing directly up the river so we tacked back and forth all the way to the bridges. Once we headed back up the north fork, we got the spinnaker out and headed back to the marina. Only difference between sailing here and in the Chesapeake – the depth. 7 to 12 feet is the normal depth here – a bit thin but doable.

Heading Back up River Under Spinnaker

Sunset and the end of a great Holiday

Thanksgiving in FLA

We left Thursday morning and caught a 10 am flight to West Palm Beach for Thanksgiving. Originally, we were cooking a turkey and having a party at home for Phyllis’ mom and brother. But alas, her mother was not feeling well so we went to plan B – two days at the Breakers in Palm Beach and two days on the boat.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we caught up with my father and his friend Katie, and my brother and his friend Julia. The hotel was wonderful and we had an absolutely wonderful dinner. Then we had one more glass of wine at the bar after dinner while we watched the Giants.

On Friday, we woke up at the crack of dawn (10am) and rushed to breakfast so we could eat before it ended. Then we grabbed dad and Kate and headed to the boat – we needed to visit it to pick up some clothes – it seems all of our summer attire is on the boat as well as the majority of my underwear. We were back to the Breakers for lunch and sitting by the pool in the afternoon before heading to Cafe Boulud for dinner.

Now Cafe Bouloud is supposed to be the next 5 star restaurant in Palm Beach but I thought they had issues including their inability to serve moules & frites at the same time. But it was fun and, much to our surprise, reasonably priced. Once again fun was had by all.

Saturday dawned and we rushed to breakfast. We were supposed to meet everyone at 10 and Phyllis slept till 9:45 so we quickly got her organized and headed to our last meal with Dad and Richard. Then we checked out and headed to the boat.

Saturday afternoon was a tremendous delight as we spent it with our good friends Skip and Harriet. They are taking their boat Moondance to the Bahamas for the winter and are at Harbortown in Ft. Pierce for the next couple of weeks as they make preparations and head to Tennessee for Skip’s Mother’s 90th birthday.

As always we had a great time exchanging stories with Skip and Harriet and drinking wine. After a couple of bottles, we headed to dinner at Conchy Joe’s in Jentzen Beach and had a wonderful meal. We may see them tomorrow if we are lucky. They are having an absolutely wonderful trip and can’t wait until they get to the Bahama’s sometime in the middle of December.

Phyll and I will be at the boat until Monday when she heads to Washington and I go to Atlanta. We’ll post more tomorrow and some pictures – I left the cable at home with the other computer so we’ll need to buy a new one.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll try something new and only post pictures – then again maybe we won’t.