Sat - Feb 17/18

Today started with the OMS Yard Sale. This event ran from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Charlotte wanted to go to Martha's site for two reasons: 1) Last year she had Catnip Cat Toys for sale and Charlotte wanted to buy some for Max and Jesse (our cats back home). She also wanted some advice on constructing "Florence the Flamingo".

I dropped her off at Martha's and went to check the Post Office - nothing.

Then I crossed the road to the car wash area and washed the pollen off the Del Sol. Martha's site was right behind the car wash area. I could keep an eye on Charlotte as I washed the car. No Catnip Cat Toys this year; but she did manage to find a cat toy and a few other items.

We returned with these to the motorhome to leave our new found treasures before heading off to the Marion Flea Market.

We have never seen it so crowded. All the inside booths were manned today. There were also many outside booths compared to only a few on our previous visits.

Charlotte always enjoys looking through the "As Seen On TV" section. Nothing needed this time.

Along the way we found out "Elvis was in the building"...a Limited Edition Elvis PEZ Collectible, that is (grin) Our daughter Liz collects PEZ. Of course, we don't have any idea if she has this one or not (she has hundreds) so we called. They (Nick and Marty, too) were relaxing in front of the fireplace at a ski lodge at Mont Tremblant, QC when we called to check. I remember when we used to like snow - that was years ago. (grin)

Charlotte managed to find a number of nice decorated T's she liked. We also bought to 2 small pie servers (one for the RV and one for home) at the kitchen supply booth. The servers we have are too large for the smaller diameter pies we usually purchase at Publix.

We ventured down to an aisle at the beginning that we never ventured down. It was mostly mattresses and pillows and that type of item; however at the Webster Flea Market a vendor mentioned he had a booth here and would have what I was looking at this location. I managed to find him and he did have 2 Business Card Cases that I purchased to replace my current case when it needs to be replaced. Wallets are everywhere; but Business Card Cases are very hard to find.

We then departed the Flea Market and headed just a few miles south on US-27 to Camping World. There I bought 2 new windshield wipers for the motorhome. I need a special model of blade for the Bounder as it attached to a holder by a pin which in turn is attached to the wiper arm using 2 screws.
Luckily, they had a pair in stock.

Now it was time for lunch. The closest of our usual restaurants was Cracker Barrel a few miles more along US-27 in Lady Lake, FL. Here the US-27 highway is also co-named as US-441. The best part of Cracker Barrel, after the food, is the Old Country Store. Needless to say she always finds a few items "To Go" (home with her).

We continue to enjoy the great convertible weather by taking as many "Back Roads" as possible on our return to OMS so we wouldn't have to "speed".

I got involved trying to do as much of this evenings blog and didn't notice the time. Thankfully Stu and Gladys saved us a seat at the Rec Hall. (Whew!) Tonight's "Diamond" show (a Neil Diamond Tribute) was SRO (Sold Right Out).

Charlotte and I left the show as the last song was starting to "Beat the Rush". We were back at the RV in a few minutes. I then worked on finishing the blog.

Once again, thanks to Stu, I have great photos from the show that he sent just as I was doing the blog. Some of the excellent photos are included with my show description below.

Jack Berrios has been doing a Neil Diamond Tribute Show for the last 15 years. Berrios brings high-energy to his show, complete with a backup singer, a conga player, his son on keyboard, a costume change and background lights." 

He sang many of Neil's hits and sounded remarkably like Diamond. Songs, included crowd favorites, such as, "America," "Cherry, Cherry," "Solitary Man" and "I'm a Believer "were interspersed with stories about Diamond's life and career. Jack came down and interacted with the audience on several occasions.

He also had a member of the audience join him for a duet of Neil and Barbra Streisand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers (Anymore)". The show was enjoyable and moved at a relaxed pace. With a short intermission it lasted almost 2 hours.

I lost the Wi-Fi connection just as I was about to publish the blog. I got up Sunday and was able to publish before we started watching CBS Sunday Morning.