It seems the beginning of this week was nothing but non-stop eating. After that huge meal at Dixie Crossroads last Sun., Mon. brought a customer appreciation event at the local TGI Friday’s. Paul and Anne have been going there for a couple years when they’re in town and have become quite friendly with the manager, Tom, or as Paul calls him “the bald guy”. We joined them there for dinner one night shortly after we arrived, and Tom was very funny and cordial. He definitely knows the meaning of customer service! Anne is the queen of finding bargains and discounts and had signed up f
or their frequent diner program called “Give Me More Stripes”. Once you sign up, you receive all sorts of coupons by e-mail to entice your return, and sure enough I received a Buy 1 entrée, Get 1 free coupon, which came in real handy the next time we went with them, plus the coupon is returned to you for use again! It was during that visit that Tom told us he was putting together a little appreciation event for some of his loyal customers and asked for our e-mail addresses so he could let us know when it would be and encouraged everyone to bring guests. He scheduled it from 2-4 on Mon., March 16, and the 4 of us plus Scott got there promptly at 2…there was already a line out the door! You offer old people free food, you better expect a crowd! And those old folks can get a little testy and pushy, but the staff was great and the food kept coming. It was set up buffet style with plenty of soup, salad, sandwiches, chicken wings, pot stickers, and non-alcoholic drinks….all you could eat and drink! The staff kept it fun as they hustled to replenish drinks and sometimes even come by with a tray of food. Keep in mind the restaurant was still open for regular business, too! One of the cooks actually took the above shot of Russ, me, Paul, Anne, Tom, and our waiter, Ali (Scott was elsewhere and missed being in the shot…not that he minded.)
The next day was one o’ me favorite days o’ the year…St. Patty’s Day!! The resort was holding a dinner/dance but at $15/couple, we figured we could have a whole lot more corned beef than what they were probably going to dish out. Besides it’s a tradition for me to cook corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes so we invited Paul, Anne, and Scott over for dinner and initially our thought was that after dinner, we’d go up to the clubhouse and list
en to the band. Scott made some Irish soda bread and Anne made a chocolate cake (and made me add carrots to my corned beef meal :-). Russ also invited another neighbor, Bob, to join us. He works part time, lives in upstate NY, and travels by himself so we thought he might enjoy a wee bit o’ Irish cheer. After dinner we chatted, watched the news and Jeopardy on the outside TV, and just never made it up to the clubhouse, but a good time was had by all.
Scott prepared to leave Wed. morning heading for NC, but right after we said our goodbyes and he pulled out, the check engine light came on. So he came back around the loop, and for the next 45 min. or so, Russ, Paul, and another neighbor, Jim, tried to help him figure out the problem. Finally they found the phone number for a local Cummins engine repair shop in Orlando, and he drove over there. The shop has a nice area in the back with electric and water hookups so he was able to spend the night till they could get it fixed the next day.
Wed. night we joined Paul and Anne at the Boston Lobster Feast (www.bostonlobsterfeast.com/RestaurantIndex.cfm), a local all-you-can-eat seafood buffet complete with whole lobsters. The car in the picture is their advertisement and on occasion you see someone driving it around town…definitely makes you do a double-take! Anne has wanted to go there for a couple years, and we arrived shortly after 4pm to get the early bird rate. Though Paul isn’t a big seafood person, but as it turns out, they have an a la carte menu so he ordered himself a nice strip steak with a couple of sides. The three of us, on the other hand, pigged out on the buffet! Russ really enjoyed the sushi plus ate 4 lobsters. Anne and I each had 2, but then Anne started on the Dungeness crab legs and I wasn’t sure she was ever going to stop! I think she loves crab legs more than me! We had an awesome waitress and just really enjoyed spending more time together before they hit the road, which they did yesterday. So now all our friends are gone, and it’s just Russ and me...oh well…tee hee!
The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival started this week and part of this annual event is the Flower Power Concert Series featuring entertainers from the 60s. In the past the concerts have been nightly, but this year they’re only on the weekends. Three 35 min. performances are held by the entertainer each night at the outdoor American Gardens Theatre, and this weekend featured Davy Jones of the Monkees! The first show was at 5:15, and when we arrived at the theater at 4:45, the place was packed. We found a couple seats and waited for the show to begin. Precisely at 5:15, his band started playing, and one of the guys announced him as “the greatest tambourine player in the world” among other comical titles, and out bounded Davy singing Daydream Believer. At 64 years he’s still got lots of energy and puts on 
a nice little show sprinkled with lots of “old age” jokes. For instance, he was saying how some of the younger folks in the audience might not know him but he was once a heart throb…now he’s just a coronary. Ba da bum! He mentioned that Herman’s Hermits would be playing in a few weeks singing Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Walker…ba da bum! He came out into the audience on a couple of the songs, and though he didn’t make it close enough to where I was sitting, he was at the end of our row and with the zoom lens I got a good shot of him. My sister loved Davy Jones back in the day so when he started singing Daydream Believer again at the end of the show, I called Julie on the cell and said “I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear this” (though it was very loud, I wasn’t sure if the loudness would distort the singing going through the cell), and I held up the phone towards where he was singing. She had known I was going to see him and said that call just absolutely made her day.
We didn’t see many of the flowers and topiaries that are on display but plan to in the next few weeks since the Festival goes until May 31, and I’ll talk more about the Festival in future entries. However, I did get a couple photos like the one at the left which is a topiary of Aladdin on his magic carpet near the Morocco pavilion. At the Japanese pavilion is a bonsai collection, and the photo below left is of a bougainvillea. It’s the largest bonsai plant we’ve ever seen and is 50 years old though not the oldest bonsai on display. The one in the photo below right is 75 years old, and I was able to get not only the Japanese gateway in the picture, but if you look just inside the right posts and under the lowest branch, you can see Spaceship Earth (the golf ball) off in the distance.
or their frequent diner program called “Give Me More Stripes”. Once you sign up, you receive all sorts of coupons by e-mail to entice your return, and sure enough I received a Buy 1 entrée, Get 1 free coupon, which came in real handy the next time we went with them, plus the coupon is returned to you for use again! It was during that visit that Tom told us he was putting together a little appreciation event for some of his loyal customers and asked for our e-mail addresses so he could let us know when it would be and encouraged everyone to bring guests. He scheduled it from 2-4 on Mon., March 16, and the 4 of us plus Scott got there promptly at 2…there was already a line out the door! You offer old people free food, you better expect a crowd! And those old folks can get a little testy and pushy, but the staff was great and the food kept coming. It was set up buffet style with plenty of soup, salad, sandwiches, chicken wings, pot stickers, and non-alcoholic drinks….all you could eat and drink! The staff kept it fun as they hustled to replenish drinks and sometimes even come by with a tray of food. Keep in mind the restaurant was still open for regular business, too! One of the cooks actually took the above shot of Russ, me, Paul, Anne, Tom, and our waiter, Ali (Scott was elsewhere and missed being in the shot…not that he minded.)
The next day was one o’ me favorite days o’ the year…St. Patty’s Day!! The resort was holding a dinner/dance but at $15/couple, we figured we could have a whole lot more corned beef than what they were probably going to dish out. Besides it’s a tradition for me to cook corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes so we invited Paul, Anne, and Scott over for dinner and initially our thought was that after dinner, we’d go up to the clubhouse and list
en to the band. Scott made some Irish soda bread and Anne made a chocolate cake (and made me add carrots to my corned beef meal :-). Russ also invited another neighbor, Bob, to join us. He works part time, lives in upstate NY, and travels by himself so we thought he might enjoy a wee bit o’ Irish cheer. After dinner we chatted, watched the news and Jeopardy on the outside TV, and just never made it up to the clubhouse, but a good time was had by all.Scott prepared to leave Wed. morning heading for NC, but right after we said our goodbyes and he pulled out, the check engine light came on. So he came back around the loop, and for the next 45 min. or so, Russ, Paul, and another neighbor, Jim, tried to help him figure out the problem. Finally they found the phone number for a local Cummins engine repair shop in Orlando, and he drove over there. The shop has a nice area in the back with electric and water hookups so he was able to spend the night till they could get it fixed the next day.
Wed. night we joined Paul and Anne at the Boston Lobster Feast (www.bostonlobsterfeast.com/RestaurantIndex.cfm), a local all-you-can-eat seafood buffet complete with whole lobsters. The car in the picture is their advertisement and on occasion you see someone driving it around town…definitely makes you do a double-take! Anne has wanted to go there for a couple years, and we arrived shortly after 4pm to get the early bird rate. Though Paul isn’t a big seafood person, but as it turns out, they have an a la carte menu so he ordered himself a nice strip steak with a couple of sides. The three of us, on the other hand, pigged out on the buffet! Russ really enjoyed the sushi plus ate 4 lobsters. Anne and I each had 2, but then Anne started on the Dungeness crab legs and I wasn’t sure she was ever going to stop! I think she loves crab legs more than me! We had an awesome waitress and just really enjoyed spending more time together before they hit the road, which they did yesterday. So now all our friends are gone, and it’s just Russ and me...oh well…tee hee! 
The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival started this week and part of this annual event is the Flower Power Concert Series featuring entertainers from the 60s. In the past the concerts have been nightly, but this year they’re only on the weekends. Three 35 min. performances are held by the entertainer each night at the outdoor American Gardens Theatre, and this weekend featured Davy Jones of the Monkees! The first show was at 5:15, and when we arrived at the theater at 4:45, the place was packed. We found a couple seats and waited for the show to begin. Precisely at 5:15, his band started playing, and one of the guys announced him as “the greatest tambourine player in the world” among other comical titles, and out bounded Davy singing Daydream Believer. At 64 years he’s still got lots of energy and puts on 
a nice little show sprinkled with lots of “old age” jokes. For instance, he was saying how some of the younger folks in the audience might not know him but he was once a heart throb…now he’s just a coronary. Ba da bum! He mentioned that Herman’s Hermits would be playing in a few weeks singing Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Walker…ba da bum! He came out into the audience on a couple of the songs, and though he didn’t make it close enough to where I was sitting, he was at the end of our row and with the zoom lens I got a good shot of him. My sister loved Davy Jones back in the day so when he started singing Daydream Believer again at the end of the show, I called Julie on the cell and said “I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear this” (though it was very loud, I wasn’t sure if the loudness would distort the singing going through the cell), and I held up the phone towards where he was singing. She had known I was going to see him and said that call just absolutely made her day. 
We didn’t see many of the flowers and topiaries that are on display but plan to in the next few weeks since the Festival goes until May 31, and I’ll talk more about the Festival in future entries. However, I did get a couple photos like the one at the left which is a topiary of Aladdin on his magic carpet near the Morocco pavilion. At the Japanese pavilion is a bonsai collection, and the photo below left is of a bougainvillea. It’s the largest bonsai plant we’ve ever seen and is 50 years old though not the oldest bonsai on display. The one in the photo below right is 75 years old, and I was able to get not only the Japanese gateway in the picture, but if you look just inside the right posts and under the lowest branch, you can see Spaceship Earth (the golf ball) off in the distance.
1 comment:
Julie still loves Davy! ;)
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