My Dad - "Grandpa" - lives at the Sarasota Bay Club, a residence for people aged 55 and over. My picture is a view from the garden toward the central dining room. He has an apartment on the other side of the building to the left.
The Adams family was together, as has become our tradition, in Sarasota for Christmas. I, my brother, and his family, arrived on Friday, December 19, and left on Monday the 29th. It was great to have such a long family visit together. I arrived in the afternoon, and he and his aide (Myra) met me at the airport. I had dinner with my Dad in the Bay Club dining room and then drove to the airport to pick up my brother and his familly.
For the first time in many years, the family visited Myakka State Park, which is inland from Sarasota. (We tried to go last year but got a flat tire.) The lake was relatively high, due to some recent rains, so we were able to take the boat tour. We saw lots of alligators, but they were mostly quiet due to the time of day (early afternoon) and relatively cool temperatures.
On two days Grandpa and I had the distinct pleasure of baby-sitting my nephew, Evan, while his parents went shopping. He is more than content to have the attention of adults as long as there is enough to do. On this particular day "baby-sitting" consisted almost entirely of getting him a lunch. He spent the entire time putting together a book of dinosaurs. He drew some of them himself and colored in other drawings that we printed from the internet.
The Proud Author
The weather was delightful for visitors - sunny with highs in the upper 60's and 70's - which is to say that the locals found it to be on the cool side. We never went swimming but got to enjoy several visits to the nice public park next to the Bay Club. It has trees to climb on, good play equipment, and swinging benches from which to watch the sunset over Sarasota Bay and Longboat Key.
Steve and Evan
with a favorite pull-toy
We all went out on Saturday and bought a tree at Grandpa's favorite place. This year I did most of the decorating, as Evan did not seem to be as interested in that this year. Nonetheless, the day before he carefully got out all of the ornaments and sorted them, I think according to how well he liked them. And at one point I noticed him rearranging some of the ornaments to his taste.
On Christmas Eve we had dinner together in the Bay Club dining room. Then we took a drive to look at Christmas lights and to see the outdoor pageant of the Christmas story put on by Myra's church.
Grandpa invited all of us to the apartment for Christmas breakfast of his signature sourdough pancakes and waffles. We all gladly devoured at least seconds and thirds. Then it was time to open presents. Evan took charge and made sure that each of us received lots of good things. Lauren had volunteered to make Christmas dinner and went to work in the kitchen. She produced from scratch a magnificent meal - as always - of turkey, stuffing, all sorts of trimimings - even the delightful cranberry sauce that she made in California - and a wonderful tarte tatin for dessert.
Lauren Adams
Evan reads very well by himself now but often asks his Dad to read to him so that they can enjoy an activity together. And Steve manages a different voice for each character in the book.
Each year Lauren and Evan make a Christmas gingerbread house. For the last two years they have done it in Sarasota. This is Steve's picture of Grandpa and Evan displaying it on our last evening together.
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