Thursday - 7 Jan/16

A dull day in the morning; however the clouds burnt off by afternoon and it was sunny with temps near 70 F.

Charlotte headed off to sewing at 9 a.m.  Those aren't lights on the car; they're the reflectors. It was so dark the auto flash on the camera went off.

While Charlotte was gone I did routine tasks. Because we find the new pull-out pantry I installed a few weeks ago so handy I am trying to figure out how to convert another kitchen cabinet. It is such a pain to have to empty a shelf to get at what is at the back. It's size, shape and location make it a difficult task as it cannot be removed like a regular kitchen cabinet. It will be even harder to work there being it is so small.

I had dinner made for Charlotte's return. It was a repeat of yesterday's offering.

We relaxed with TV until it was time to get ready for today's outing. We left at 4 p.m. for the Savannah Center in the Villages.

The 5 p.m. (early) show was a "Tribute" show featuring The Boxers (Simon and Garfunkle) and Fire and Rain (James Taylor.) They play The Villages about once a year. Our seats were right up front.

The Boxers appeared for the first half-hour. They brought us back to the 60's era and "Folk Songs". They played most of Simon and Garfunkle's hits and sounded as good as the originals. Can anybody say "Hootenanny".(grin)

Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Nowadays the word most commonly refers to a folk music party with an open mic, at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience. This was a staple of local entertainment in the 60's. Probably the forerunner (or at least inspiration) of Karaoke?

A short break then it was time for The JT Experience (James Taylor). The original group of 4 musicians expanded to 9. The same lead singer as previously; however in The Boxers he did not look like Simon or Garfunkle. Now he bore a striking resemblance to "Baby James" (except he was not bald under the trademark cap). This session provided over an hour of James Taylor's best. An additional treat was that 7 of the 9 sang. They all had strong, powerful voices adding to the enjoyment. As revealed by introductions during the show, all except for 2, were members of 2 families. This explains why the voices melded so well when singing in unison.

After the relaxing and most enjoyable entertainment we made an unusual evening (a little after 7 p.m.) stop at Joann's. Here Charlotte picked up some odds and ends needed to finish a few projects. I had the privilege of picking fabric for place mats she will be making for our girls - hope they like my choice.

This 6 lane section along Hwy. 441/U.S. 27 in Lady Lake,  borders the "Spanish Springs" section of The Villages. It is virtually one continuous shopping area with all the "Big Box" stores and restaurant chains you can think of lining both sides.

Feeling famished (my big word for the day - grin) we decided on the Longhorn Steakhouse on the other side of the parking lot. It was packed; however most patrons came for 6 p.m. and the wait was short.

We both order the featured sirloin steaks (upsized to 8 oz.). Charlotte ordered the Savory Parmesan Crusted Sirloin (Medium) w/salad and baked sweet potato. My choice was the Smokey Bacon (Medium-rare) w/salad and loaded baked potato. Both were perfectly grilled! As they advertise: "You Can't Fake Steak!"

Being dark, we decided on returning to OMS by the "Big Road" as the roads are well lit rather than taking the dark back roads. Traffic is light this time of night and the extra few miles weren't noticeable. What was noticeable were the signs of many stores and restaurants that aren't as visible during the day. Local sign regulations (Monument Signs) combined with landscaping make it hard to find many of these stores even when you know the area where they are located.

We were both tired by the time we got back to the motorhome. I didn't even turn on the computer to do the blog. We put the bedroom TV on timer and were both asleep before "Elementary" finished.