Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Our first full day on Marco Island was a pleasure for most of our contingency. There are always some issues, or “little situations’ as daughter Beth describes them. However, I have chosen to concentrate on totally ignoring them. As long as neither my Wife Barbara nor I or someone in our family did not do or say something seriously wrong, I am going to do the best I can to ignore the situation.
Barbara and I spend a great deal of money trying to give our family a really nice and quite luxurious one full week’s vacation. If anyone does not, for whatever reason(s) want to make the most of the experience, it is their problem, not mine. I did not always feel this way. I used to get quite upset and try to fix every little hurt feeling or whatever, but no more. We do the best we can and that has to be good enough.
Son Steven arrived. Charles’ Wife Cindy arrived with our last two grandchildren in tow and grandson Ryan’s girlfriend, who everyone thinks is just terrific. Ryan is 6 foot 7 inches and Nicki is about 5.0. Granddaughter Alanna is still a little under the weather but made it. The entire Miller clan is now here.
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Beth did a great job of organizing both lunch and dinner on the beach. The food and service have been excellent. We are not an easy group because we have vegans, gluten issues, people who eat only left-handed fish and some who eat everything.
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After dinner, almost everyone in both families congregated in our hospitality room. Many played various games. There is a strong contingency of jigsaw puzzle aficionados, and many watched the Dolphin-Saints game. The Dolphins won their 7th in a row and kept their playoff hopes alive. I thought they played a mediocre game, but the Saints, without an experienced quarterback, played worse.
Even if the Dolphins win their last two games against teams better than they are, the Dolphins are just not good enough to be a true Super Bowl contender. I, however, give a lot of points to momentum, and like teams that are peaking, but there are just too many other teams that are markedly better.
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Stock market did well yesterday and the futures are up today. I find that counter-intuitive given the Covid situation. Part of that “situation” is the scarcity of testing needs. That is hard for me to understand. Why are stocks up whenever stores are closing? Apple just closed all its New York stores, but the stock is near a new high. They are calling it “The Santa Claus Rally”. I don’t get it, but I’ll take it.
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I talked to Stefano yesterday. His hotel in Florence is sold out or nearly sold out every night. The number of Covid tests is rising but almost everyone is vaccinated and not becoming seriously ill. Everyone is wearing a mask. He says it is, most generally, just like getting a cold.
The internet at the hotel is really good. Among other things, that means Barbara has no trouble participating in her yoga classes. She just loves them, and I think she now has one and a half hour sessions four times a week. I do not think there are too many women or men as fit as my Wife.
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Because we have such a large group and because we are returning very good customers, we have dedicated places on the beach and in other places just for us. I am sure lots of people are wondering why they see so many signs that say “reserved for private function”. Still, some of us are wearing masks inside. However, the vast majority of the other hotel guests are not wearing masks even in crowded places. Of course, we are in Florida, the land of nuts.
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With almost no one in Washington, I must say it is a pleasure not to keep seeing and hearing about Joe Manchin, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz just to mention three from my All-Star Schmuck list. The bad news is that I see no indication that the holiday season has mellowed anyone or that things will get better anytime soon.
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I expect to have a nice day and I hope you will.
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