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CALOOSA WINNIES
December 2013 outing
Pictures by Nancy Miller
December 5 – 8,
2013 was the annual Christmas celebration for the
Caloosa Winnies held at Oak
Haven Park in Arcadia, FL. Bill & Sue Fuss, Lois & Gene Hogan, Jim &
Sally Rayburn were co-hosts. Happy Hour started us off on Thursday at 4pm as everyone entered
the rec hall with all the wonderful Christmas decorations. Dinner was
served by the hosts, Chicken in Souper Gravy, mashed potatoes and a
great assortment of dishes each member contributed! The residents of the
park joined us for an Ice Cream Social, everyone had a great sundae and
it was nice meeting the residents as they allow us to take over their
clubhouse this weekend! We played Bingo with the combined groups and
this year the “money pots” were evenly split between the Caloosa’s and
the residents! THANKS to David Nobert for calling the numbers and Jerry
Miller for handling the money!
Friday morning the
hosts were busy at work making pancakes and cooking sausage. Everyone
had a full plate and it was all fun – especially the Mickey Mouse
pancakes and other various characters made by the cooks! After cleanup
was done, many of us headed out for a day trip to Englewood Beach. It
was a bright, warm, sunny day and the Englewood area was really
gorgeous! We all met for lunch at Lock & Key Restaurant right across
from the beach. The food and service was excellent. We spent the rest of
the afternoon driving around the area looking at the big mansions along
the beach road! Back at the park we were ready for Happy Hour at 5pm,
and in place of a dinner we all contributed heavy hors d’oeuvres – which
turned out to be mostly a dinner anyway! Food was great and we enjoyed
the time together. Of course we had a game – teams were formed and the
teams had to pass a variety of items in their pan – with one hand using
chopsticks! It was a fun experiment to see who could handle those
chopsticks!
Saturday morning
everyone brought their favorite dish and we all enjoyed a great
breakfast! The business meeting was called to order by President Corinne
Wightman at 10am, and included in the meeting was the reading of the
Slate of Officers by Charlie Zucker. Nominated for President was David
Nobert & Janice Cummings, President; Ed & Carolyn Thomas, 1st
VP; Bud & Sue Swift, 2nd VP; Jim & Sally Rayburn, Secretary;
Jerry Miller, Treasurer. There were no nominations from the floor, the
vote was cast, the new officers duly elected. Installation followed
during the meeting making the new officers official.
After the meeting the rest of the day was free time for shopping,
visiting, enjoying the great weather! At 4pm it was time for Happy Hour,
followed by a Ham dinner served by the hosts and all dishes donated by
the members. We have the BEST cooks – everything was delicious!
At 7pm it was time
for our Pound Auction! Every year we have an auction to donate the
proceeds to our charity – Joshua House. They do a tremendous service for
children who are abused and homeless with nothing. Our auctioneers –
David Nobert and Mike Sofarelli pulled out all the tricks to get us
bidding – and with 20 some packages we had a hilarious evening – and
raised $1,944! Various members also matched the contributions which was
a wonderful gesture of faith and kindness! This is always a fun event
and we thank David & Mike for sharing their talents with us!
Sunday morning was our day for donuts and bagels and ending the
weekend! The wishes for a Marry Christmas and Happy New Year were spread
among the group! We thank everyone for their sharing and generosity
during this Christmas season. We were soon all on our way to the next
destination and we look forward to a new year of fun and games for the
Caloosa Winnies!
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