Ice Cream and Dancing

Saturday turned into a fairly busy day in a good way. I awoke and made a pot of coffee and a strawberry/banana smoothie (love that I brought along my Vitamix blender!). Then, some housework: I stripped the bed and washed/dried the sheets. I swept and then wet mopped the kitchen floor (really like that Swifter product!).

I then packed the gym bag and headed over to Planet Fitness. I was in good need a shower/shave anyway, so this way I figured I could get in a nice workout and cleaned up at the same time.

Back at the apartment, I made myself a BLT on the excellent homemade bread I got at the farmers market on Friday, and had that with a little potato salad. Threw another load of laundry into the washer, including the workout stuff. Took a little chair nap, and then awoke feeling like I could use a little treat, so drove out to the Love Boat Ice Cream shop mentioned earlier to check out their flavors. Oh my gosh. So much ice cream goodness packed into a business establishment so small, that you would drive right past it if you didn't know it was there. Really good ice cream, like Ice Cream Shoppe ice cream in Wisconsin. And strictly ice cream, shakes/malts, sundaes, and cones. No hot food of any kind. I settled on a double scoop in a bowl ... coffee/toffee crunch on the bottom and caramel swirl on top. I then bought a two-scooper to go of watermelon sorbet and classic vanilla ice cream for a "dreamsicle" type concoction that I ate back at the apartment. Mmmm.

Niece/nephew Kris and Jim got sister Dawn's new computer hooked up today, and this afternoon we had a short video Skype session from my apartment and Dawn's condo. It was very much fun seeing Dawn and chatting with her!

At this point, I had to get ready for my evening out at Cadillac Jacks with the meetup dot com crew. I changed into my one good outfit, then headed to CJ's and met up with the crew and settled next to a group of ladies who promptly informed me that I had better have my dancing shoes on, because they were expecting to dance. We had about an hour before the band started, so this was the opportunity to socialize and order off the abbreviated menu to meet the obligatory $10 per person spending minimum to help pay for the band since there was no cover charge. I ordered an appetizer called the "Zing Zang Shrimp," which is a platter of eight crunchy fried shrimp drizzled with a moderately spicy remoulade sauce, and I ordered a Miller Lite as my beverage. I chatted with my table mates, all them interesting in some way except for one fellow I didn't particularly care for, but still tolerable. The fellow to my right introduced himself as Bill Brower, a professor emeritus from Marquette University in Milwaukee (College of Engineering), and who now lives in a condo on Fort Myers Beach. I quickly realized that I was the youngster (at 58 years of age) among the group of about 26 that were there.

The 11-piece band, Alter Ego, started promptly at 6:30, opening with Ain't Too Proud, and they played a nice mix of classic R&B, Motown, and rock. Vocals were good and on key, and the 3-piece horn section (two trumpets, one alto sax) added some great punch. They did many bar-band classics including Shining Star, Dancing in the Streets, Old Time Rock 'n' Roll, and many more. But they also did a couple of more unconventional numbers, like Vehicle, the great tune from the one-hit-wonder band, Ides of March. You don't hear it played by bar bands very often, and you absolutely MUST have a horn section to make it sound good. They pulled it off very nicely.

Yours truly made it out to the dance floor on three occasions with a very nice lady seated to my left, named Karen (from New Jersey), who was a good 10 years my senior, but nevertheless had some great moves. One of the group leaders took my picture with "Karen" and if it gets posted to the meetups page, I'll put it here on the blog. My god, I haven't been out on a dance floor in over 25 years. My dear Gwen, with all of her many gifts and charms, was completely self-conscious about being seen on a dance floor, and hence we never danced once. So this was great fun.

The band did a 90-minute set, and then took a break. I saw that several group members were taking their leave, and decided it was time to head out myself. I got back to the apartment at 9 p.m. As Dawn pointed out in a phone conversation Sunday morning, you can tell you're in a retirement state when you get home from a night out when most bands are just starting to play in the clubs that cater to the younger crowds! My entire food/bar tab, including the 18% built-in gratuity, came to just $20.11, and this included the shrimp dish, and three Miller Lites (16 ouncers). so this was a fantastic bargain for such a good time.

Anyway, my "take" on the singles/couples group thus far is that it will be an outlet for me to have some fun and socialize, but I'm keeping expectations low as far as pairing up with anyone. Next Friday is the art/music walk in downtown Fort Myers, so the atmosphere may be more conducive to socializing and may draw a completely different group of people, so we'll see what happens.

Today is Sunday, and I'm just kind of kicking back so far. Had a nice leisurely breakfast at the apartment, changed out Abby's litter, and watched CBS Sunday morning. I diced the rest of the tomatoes from the farmers market (that got bruised on the way home) and made them into salsa so they wouldn't go bad sitting on the counter. Catching up on emails and the blog. Several eBay lots end this evening, so there will be packages going out tomorrow. Abby is working on her 20 hours of daily sleep, sacked out on the bed. The weather here looks good for the next couple of days, so I may head over to Sanibel tomorrow or Tuesday for a day on the island.

Take care everyone,

Bruce