Happy Thanksgiving

  We would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. This is our first holiday away from friends, family, and former co-workers. Even though we are in Tampa, FL the weather the last few days has felt more like fall in Pennsylvania so today had more of a homey feel. The temperature got down into the forties last night and the high might have reached 60 today. We had dinner here at the campground. Everyone signed up to bring a dish and the campground provided the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. We brought a tossed salad and dinner rolls. I also took a box of white wine. We sat with some folks from Ohio who stay here most of the year. Dinner was at 4 and I was ready for a nap by 5:30. We came back to the trailer and I had to take a walk. Now I await the start of the Steeler game tonight. I don't have good memories of the Steelers playing on Thanksgiving day. I recall a crushing defeat in 1983 by the Lions; a loss to the Cowboys in 1991; and the infamous coin flip game in 1998 in Detroit that led to an overtime loss. Hopefully playing the Ravens will better our chances.
  My last post was two Sundays ago and there has not been a whole lot to write about. My big day was getting a haircut. I looked around for a barber shop that looked like a regular barber shop. It was last Monday and the first couple I saw were closed. Another had a few guys waiting and women barbers. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I am used to Rocco and Sal and Mike at Cambria Barbers in Reading. I pulled into a place that looked slow and was greeted by Ahmed. He and his coworkers were speaking in a language I was not familiar with. Something Middle Eastern perhaps. My guess is Armenian. He did a great job though and I got to watch a rugby match. As you can guess we didn't have much to talk about.
  After my last post I decided I would go out to watch the Steeler game so this past game we went to Beef O'Brady's. They are a chain restaurant and bar down here and I know that they have plenty of televisions and good specials. We had $5 pitchers of domestic beer and a $10 pizza. The game was a victory over the hapless Browns and we are back in the playoff hunt.
  We made only one sightseeing trip lately; that was to the Pinellas County Heritage Park on Saturday. Once again a freebie. It was actually better than I thought it would be. They have taken a couple dozen buildings from the area that were built in the late 19'th and early 20'th centuries and relocated them to the park.

The park is also connected to a botanical garden which was nice.

I guess Santa was off today:

We ended the day at Indian Rocks Beach at a restaurant called Guppy's. The food was excellent. I had lightly breaded calamari for an appetizer and locally caught fresh black grouper with mango salsa and garlic smashed potatoes for my entree. I don't remember what Doreen had and neither can she. I guess hers wasn't that memorable as mine. Okay gotta go; the game is starting.