The Daytona 500 Party!

One of the most important stops during our recent Florida sojourn was at our friend’s home in Clearwater.  I have been friends with Bob and Nona for 35+ years, since before Laurie and I even knew each other… Bob was a Store Manager and later, a key divisional merchandiser for the now defunct Venture Stores based in St. Louis Missouri.  I was in charge of loss prevention for the company.

Bob hasn’t changed too much…still hooked on hockey and auto racing!  He still gives Nona, (his wife), a little lip…and he still likes good food.  One real positive when we visit Bob and Nona is that my better half really likes working him over, giving him a rough time about everything! Mostly about cleaning the garage!  …which we’ve been told, has only been cleaned once since they moved to Florida!  “Get with it Bob!”

While Laurie takes a few shots at Bob, Nona and I usually take a few shots at each other… (She’s still short and I’m still pretty much bald!) My favorite is when she tells me, (in her New York accent), to "Cork it Dave!".  One other advantage of visiting Nona and Bob...is that Nona is a very good cook and we always eat very well!

Our pre-race finger foods and snacks included a couple different types of pizza, shrimp with cocktail sauce, coconut shrimp on a skewer, (see below), along with lots of crudités, nuts, chips, etc., etc.

This is a photo of the shrimp & coconut shrimp along with the sauces.  YUM!

What kind of Daytona 500 Party would it be without a bit of wine!  Plus there was a nice salad which was served with dinner… Of course, patience was needed for this race as bad weather kept delaying the start of the action.  We compensated by drinking, talking sports and resolving several domestic and world crises. 

Here’s Bob serving up some of Nona’s delicious Lasagna, with a side of meatballs and  her amazing Marinara sauce!  This was a very good meal!

Then of course…there were the sweets.  We had fresh healthy fruit, cookies, brownies, chocolates and a beautiful cheesecake.  Of course, there was a little more wine as well!

Have you ever noticed how most of the women congregate in the kitchen… It looks like Karen and Betsy are into a serious topic.  I think that the ladies stick together in order to escape the drone of the men talking about sports…or maybe just to escape the men!

Gordon, (he’s with Karen), and Dave, (he’s with Betsy) along with our host talked sports, world affairs and more sports.  As the afternoon went on the race was delayed even longer…and then it was finally postponed until the next day.  So the guy’s attention switched over to horse racing and whatever hockey game was on the TV.  Bob and Nona have every channel known to mankind on their TV… Two channels have nothing but horse races!

These were the youngsters at the party.  John is a pilot and Jolynn is a flight attendant...both for Southwest Airlines.  It must be their youth…or maybe they just like talking to people.  Both of them floated back and forth between the kitchen and the ladies and the living room with the guys.

Even without the race it was a very fun evening & we truly enjoyed spending time with our good friends & making new friends. FYI, yes…we did get together again the next night…to watch the Daytona 500 as well as Bob’s dream hockey team…The New York Rangers!

With one exception, ever since I/we’ve known Bob and Nona, they’ve had a Bassett Hound.  This is Jessie.  As you can see, this whole party thing just wore her out!  Jessie is the constant companion of both Bob & Nona.  Everybody loves her!  She’s a very sweet girl.

Ahh…I remember the days when Bob and I would go out and play a round of golf together!  We were pretty bad at the game but very well matched.  We found a ‘beater’ of a course in the St. Louis area and we spent a lot of time in the trees, sandtraps, high grass or just searching for our lost golfballs.  It’s fair to say that anyone who was any good at golf would not have wanted to play with us…

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for the party!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and my Co-Author, Laurie