Wednesday I felt like I was coming down with something and by Thursday I had no voice and knew I was on the edge of not feeling well. Friday I did go to the pool for the day but Saturday I was even worse so I stayed inside and didn’t venture out at all. Today (Sunday), I’m better. My voice is still husky and I had about an hour of coughing this a.m. but I feel that I’m doing better. Got to the pool at about 9:30. Water felt wonderful. Hopefully I can shake it.

I only stayed at the pool until about 1:30. One symptom of this bug is being really edgy. Friday I stayed too long and the chatter from those seated close to me annoyed me like nails on a chalkboard. By the time I left I was ready to scream. Today I left before I reached that point. Our house is comfortable and peaceful.

I must get feeling better!!! March 1st, Friday, is John’s 75th birthday. My 71st birthday is Monday, March 4th. On Saturday, March 2nd, we’re going to have a joint party at Alpha Pizza House in Apollo Beach. We’ll arrive at 4:30. Alpha House will have music in the lounge from 5:00-8:00. We’ve invited a bunch to join us there. Should be a fun time, if we both feel up-to-it.

I’ve been pretty quiet lately. We were kind of “hibernating.” John wasn’t getting over his “bug” so we tried staying inside, especially since it was pretty chilly. But now it’s beautiful again with blue skies, puffy clouds and warm temps.

Yesterday the Michigan Club held a huge pizza party. (I was the chairman for the third year.) We were set up for about 160 but ended up with about 140. Our entertainer was John Cortese, a really fun 88-year-old who does a patter of senior humor. He got a standing ovation (he said it was his first).

The pizza (ordered locally from a mom and pop local pizza shop) arrived on time and HOT!! And the salad Richard made drew rave reviews.

Last year we ran out of beer so we doubled our order this year and also didn’t allow before-the-party drinkers. As it turned out, we had twice as much beer as we needed. Today we discovered that the store has a NO RETURN policy, even though the keg was untapped and always cold. Hopefully we can sell our unopened keg to a club that’s holding a party within the next month. The party store will allow us to keep it refrigerated until it’s needed so it’ll be perfect. If the club won’t buy from us, we’ll have a huge party of our own!!

Unfortunately while I was so busy working yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well. I pushed myself and accomplished what was necessary and it was a successful event, but today I have no voice. I actually don’t feel as bad as I sound. I would have headed to the pool to soak up some rays, but I figured that lazing around here might get me back to normal sooner, so I’m inside and in an hour, I’ll get ready so we can go to the clubhouse to dance with our friends.

John slept most of the day. He’s definitely not well…

We had an invitation to a dinner party starting at 5:00 p.m. at Bob and Judy’s. It was supposed to be the prelude to a Baby Boomers Club Valentines Dance.

John rallied enough to clean up and go to the dinner, but immediately afterward, we came back home and he’s now sleeping. No sense going to the dance alone. It wouldn’t be fun. So we missed the dance, but hopefully he’ll get over this bug and there’ll be many other dances.

In fact, we have one another fancier dance Tuesday so we’ll get to shake our boody then. I just want him to fell better.

John’s has been suffering from a cold (or some bug) for several days. This fall and winter he was doing really good. He usually toughs through anything and keeps on going but this virus(?) has knocked him for a loop. It started a couple weeks ago with a sore throat but until Wednesday he felt had it under control and was improving. He even played pickleball Monday and Tuesday and claimed he was over it, but then he had a relapse and has been suffering for the past couple of days. Thursday we went to the Tampa racetrack, but he should have been home in bed. Yestreday he slept much of the day but I can’t keep him down. He insisted on going to town in the afternoon to “get out” saying he could do what he wanted faster without me, so he wanted to go alone. When he got back, he admitted it had been too much but last night and today he’s been taking it easy. We have nothing on our calendar until tomorrow evening, so I’m hoping he’ll just rest and get over it. He needs to just let me baby him and rest but my guy doesn’t do well in this situation. Glad we have nothing planned today so he can devote his energy to getting better.

It’s February and we have less than 100 days left before we head back to Michigan. We feel like we have to hurry and crowd lots into our precious time.

Last Friday we went to Busch Gardens. It was a little chilly when we started out, but all-in-all not a bad day weatherwise.

The shows we attended were awesome! We saw Chubby Checker at 11:30, the ice show at 1:00, and at 2:00 we took in “Let’s Get Loud.” Chubby and the ice show we’d seen before, but this year they were even better. Chubby got the audience totally involved and it was truly fun.

Saturday night we attended a country dance (hoe-down) with Bill and Donna. Totally enjoyable.

Sunday was “Super Bowl” Sunday. We’d planned to go to an Oldies but Goodies dance but at the last minute we decided to stay home. Good choice!

Monday, 22 of us went to Little Harbor to celebrate our friend Dave’s birthday. We had a chilly dinner at Sunset Grill. We were very cold by the time we headed home but the warmth of the group made it a good time! And the sunset was lovely!!

This week we have a full schedule: Today I’m going to the pool and, since it’s finally warming up, I hope to get there most every day this week to soak up the sun. We’ll go to Karaoke tonight at the clubhouse. Maybe we’ll make it to Busch Gardens either Wednesday or Friday to see Paul Revere and the Raiders, but if we don’t go, we have a dance class Wednesday evening and/or spaghetti evening at the Ruskin Elks. We have tickets for a day at Tampa Bay Downs racetrack on Thursday. Sunday our plans include a dinner party at the home of friends followed by a dance. It should all be fun!