Stranger in the Camp!

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If you have passed Lot #361 in the past day or so, you might have noticed a cool looking coach with "beetle brow" mirrors and mysterious dark windows. Well let me say right off that the FG Thought Police have checked this buggy out and declared it harmless. It is a Neoplan vehicle, basically a regular bus or coach that has been converted - similar to the Prevosts conversions by Marathon, Parliament and so on.

Neoplan is a 75 year old German company and they did open an operation in Colorado in 1981 followed by two other regional plants around the USA a little later. Click here for more than you will ever want  to know about these exotic vehicles. Neoplan USA was sold off as a separate entity and eventually went toes up in 2006. 
Neoplan in Germany has since been absorbed into MAN SE, a 250 year old German company in the top thirty German firms and THE truck manufacturer to beat. Neoplan is renowned for avant-garde coach design - some are certainly eye-catching. I have never seen a Neoplan with slides.
In our experience, the Germans are masters of creative vehicle design and use. Furthermore, if there was a World Series for Cheapskates, either the Germans or the Dutch would come in first every time. Here is an example from a camping trip in Slovenia a few years ago when we came across this Bottom-Dollar camping vacation. Check it out, maybe have a chuckle, but count your blessings!

Another two weeks of progress...

It has been a couple of weeks since the last chronicle of park progress. Since then, there has been a steady drumbeat of activity both in the beautification of the Clubhouse and the taming of the Phase II jungle. 
Add to this  a couple of Clubhouse events and it is high time for an update. For more details, click here.

Progress Report

Another week has passed with trucks and tractors chugging around the park and, slowly but surely, various things are beginning to shape up. To date the work has been either cosmetic in nature or preparatory effort for bigger things. The weeding of the front section lots is about complete and the park looks a lot more lived in just for that. Click here to see other activities.

Xyloglyphy & Mahjong

Two eclectic weekly activities that have faithful followings are Wood Carving and the Mahjong Meet. The xyloglyphists (a $2 word for wood carvers) congregate in the chameleon-like Hobby Room and within minutes are practicing their craft. Wood carving is dryly defined as "working wood by means of a cutting tool held in the hand, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine". It appears to be more fun than that might suggest! 

The Card Room is the venue for Mahjong, a four player game thought to have originated in China. It is a game of skill, strategy and calculation as well as chance and is played with a set of 152 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols.

For more pictures of these groups, check here.

Painting Class

Every Friday morning the painting class meets in the Hobby room. The class welcomes all aspiring artists wanting to hone their skills in the decoration of pottery and glassware. Using acrylic paints and a variety of brushes, almost any imaginable image can be produced on almost any item.
For a review of current projects and a tour-de-force around the world of acrylic painting, click here.

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow...

Riding around the reservation it is difficult not to notice the variety of decorative yard designs adding life and levity to the otherwise bleak, standard issue shrubbery. Click here for a tour of some of these distinctive efforts that daily brighten our lives.

Webster Churches

Cycling around Webster, one is struck by the number of churches in operation, from mainstream denominations to some quite obscure persuasions. There are so many houses of worship in fact that if every Webster resident attended just one church regularly (which is probably optimistic) the average congregation would be less than 80 souls. 

For a quick alphabetic tour of religion in Webster and to learn just how many churches there are, click here. 

Mont Saint Michel, France

By the way, if you're into churches and can stand to see some more, here are some European church exteriors to help numb your mind. After that, if you are still conscious and can stand yet more abuse, there are a few European church interiors waiting for you here.

Knitting a Cake?

No, that's not right. Knitting and Cakes - that's better. Knitting is in the Hobby room on Tuesday mornings, Cake Decorating is in the kitchen on Wednesday morning for the duration of the course. 
Cake Decorating is taught by an outside instructor, Kim Holt of Custom Cakes by Kim. For a quick commercial break, you can see Kim's website here. Every aspect of decoration is covered, from basic frosting through the construction of flowers and other motifs to the installation of these sugary gems on to the cakes. The finished products look awesome.

Knitting is another of those cover activities that justify a group of ladies congregating to talk. Occasionally, the conversation dries up and some knitting does get done as the pictures show. Click Cakes and Cardigans to see more.
If you have never knitted or crocheted but think you would like to try, stop by on any Tuesday morning and check out the action. Skilled practitioners are sitting by to help you!

Seen around the Park

Seems to me that a good way to meet most of the folk in the park would be to sit in a comfortable chair near the curbside of your pad and simply wait for them to pass by. Whether walking, strolling, exercising pets, riding  bicycles or motor cycles or simply to-ing and fro-ing shoppers - within a couple of days practically everyone this side of dead will come by. 
Check out some of our itinerantly inclined inmates.

Another week on...

There have been some further encouraging signs of progress this past week as the new owners begin to get a grip on the park. Apart from the obvious palm plantation sprouting around the Clubhouse, other clean up and preparatory tasks have got underway. Additionally, long promised Clubhouse accouterments such as big screen TVs, pool room furniture and various large kitchen appliances have arrived and have been installed. For details of some of these items, check the slideshow.

Spaghetti Night & Silent Auction

The word spaghetti is Italian for thin strings, and pasta in this form has been around in Western Europe since the 12th century. Traditionally, the strings were  about 20" long, but American know-how, convenience and marketing, progressively reduced the length to the current 10 to 12" standard. The dish Spaghetti with Meatballs that we know and love today is practically unknown in Italy and appears to have been developed by New York American-Italians in the early 20th century. 

In March of last year, Buca di Beppo, a restaurant in Garden Grove, California, successfully filled a swimming pool with more than 13,780 pounds of cooked pasta setting a World Record. Florida Grande spaghetti, despite rumors to the contrary, is not prepared in the swimming pool as the pictures here will show. 

Happenings for Thursday. January 20th

Thursdays bring no relief to the drumbeat of activities at the Grande. Pilates, Sewing, Quilting and Poker are part of the regular menu each week and practically everyone can enjoy one or more of these pursuits. First up, the lovely ladies of the sewing circle will dazzle with their needlecraft followed by a veritable tour de force by our very own poker practitioners. Click here for more exciting pictures! 

Wednesday at the Grande

Among the variety of events available on Wednesdays is the Line Dancing class. For more than you would ever care to know about this recurring terpsichoric craze, click here and be amazed.
Later in the day the Hand and Foot mavens meet in the Hobby room. No, this is nothing to do with the bovine viral condition - that is Foot and Mouth - this is a variant of Canasta and the rules are right here for your everlasting enjoyment.
For pictures of these and other activities of the day, see here.

Meeting the Owners

Today unfolded to be the formal introduction of the new owners of Florida Grande along with the management company chosen to market the park. A capacity crowd filled the Grande Room and much talking ensued. 
Three representatives from Madison Florida Grande and three from Bella-Terra Marketing were on hand to outline the future and answer questions. After ninety minutes, everyone apparently plateaued at their particular level of understanding and the meeting was adjourned. 
As usual with such events, if there were 200 attendees there are likely 200 differing opinions as to the outcome. Each to his or her own truth!  See here for pictures around the park to mark the day.

Tuesday at the Grande

Six days a week at Florida Grande there are regular activities for all who are interested. Tuesdays are no exception - click here for a couple of events from this week.
Check back from time to time for more Happenings at Florida Grande.