How to fill time in retirement

Someone had asked me to list the restaurants I went to this year. As I was perusing the list, I noticed that I did not have the Hilton in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  Al Siegel and I ate they twice, once on our way to the Galapagos, and once on our way back home. Of course, it would only make this list once.  Here are the new restaurants for 2015: Date Rank Restaurant Type City State 1/1/2015 2 Buffalo Wild Wings American Palm Bay Florida 1/9/2015 3 Hidden Treasure Rum Bar & Grill Seafood Ponce Inlet Florida 1/15/2015 3 Baja Tavern and Eats Seafood Port Canaveral Florida 1/26/2015 2 Goombay's American Satellite Beach Florida 1/31/2015 3 Tabone's PO Boy Cajun Melbourne Florida 2/6/2015 2 Ferrara Pizza & Pasta Italian Indian Harbour Beach Florida 2/17/2015 3 Cuban Island Restaurant Cuban Satellite Beach...

As a lot of my friends know, I made a goal at the start of 2015 to go to a new restaurant every week of the year. That meant I would have to find 52 new Restaurants to try.  It is only mid December and I have hit 58 new places.  A summary will occur after I talk about the latest. My latest new Restaurant was a Mexican Restaurant called La Marimba located in Rockledge Florida.  I went there for lunch after hearing about the place from some of my Facebook friends. I took a picture of the outside. La Marimba Cocina Mexicana   As you enter the place, there is a hostess stand and a bar just to the left.  The dining room is made up of both booths and tables.  I am pretty sure this use to be a Barbecue place because it reminded me of Sonnys, or Fat Boys, or any of the many chains that use to swamp Brevard County.  The bar seemed cozy and there was a TV playing. My only complaint about lunch was that Dr. Phil was on the TV. I would rather watch ...

My latest new restaurant is a lot different than any I have been to before.  I have never visited a South African Restaurant before; actually the owner is from Namibia, which is in the southern part of Africa.  The restaurant is named Otjundu and is located on Highland Avenue in downtown Eau Gallie.  Through the years, a lot of different places have resided on this lot, but not once have I been there.  Otjundu was the name of the owner's family farm in Namibia and means Elephant's watering hole.  I am big, they had beer, so I feel it is appropriately named. Sign out front of the Restaurant Beer List Did I mention that the owner's family is German?  That is why the restaurant doubles as a Biergarten. I have included the beer list.  I ordered the Warsteiner Pils but the waitress, Lori, said they had replaced that with Warsteiner Oktoberfest. That is what I ordered. The menu had .3L, .4L and .5L, but she said they also had Liters. I was happy wi...

On Thursday, I was shopping at Publix, buying some items for dinner when I received a text from my friend Dustin.  He said our mutual friend Tom had been promoted and they were having drinks at World of Beers, could I make it?  I try not to turn down offers from friends, mostly when a beer is involved so I asked how long they were going to be there. It was long enough so I left my groceries at the house, and headed to Viera.  Having a beer with friends is one of my favorite things to do since I retired.  Actually, I did it pretty well before retirement. Dustin, Gavin, Tom  Gavin was there, an USAF ex-captain with a PhD.  Interesting combo but I always enjoyed working with Gavin. Dustin is a Chemical Engineer, and quite the ladies man, or was that a manly lady?  I need to go eat at Franciscos with him soon. I miss his Spanish. Tom, on the right, was the recently promoted and the cause for celebration. Don, Troy, Greg (Jeremiah in white) ...

After visiting the Paquettes during their time of grief, as my brother Tom and I were leaving, David mentioned his father was going to be competing in the Addison County Fair & Field Days hand-mowing in two days.  I was suppose to being playing a round of golf with some Vermont golf buddies at Neshobe, but I felt that I may not get too many more chances to see Mr. Paquette mow. He was turning 99 years old in a week, but again, he has been part of Field Days my whole life. The original Field Days was started by Mr. Paquette in 1948 as a means for sharing (exhibiting) agriculture techniques and advancements.  You see, he was a local Extension Agent for Addison County and part of his job was helping the farmers and growers in the area.  One of the main exhibit halls at the current site in New Haven is named for Mr. Paquette. Sign on south side of building The Paquette exhibit building is very big and I can say it is appropriately named.  In my short time the...