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An Evening in Inverness

October 13, 2015 by KTgreen

I haven’t done a restaurant review in a way long time.

I need to make up for it.

So today I’m writing about a whole town on a Friday night

okay, maybe not the whole town,

just parts of it.

Inverness

Which I’ve been to many times. It’s that town that got cut in half by that big highway.

But SO MUCH MORE!

Let’s talk about romantic evenings.

Somewhere, somehow, someone mentioned that McCleod House Bistro was the best restaurant in Citrus County. When we found out that our local favorite place in Crystal River for special dinners was closed for remodeling we were like, well, okay, we might as well try a new place….

Made reservations and they asked if we were celebrating anything special, oh yeah, it was our anniversary and Terry’s birthday.

And this was our menu:

In case you can’t see it…..

Okay, we’ve dined all over the country at many different places for our anniversary, and this was a first. Maybe that’s what restaurants are doing now! Since we only have an anniversary and birthday together once a year, how would we know????

And here I am having some Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay. We ONLY order this on our anniversary. Ka-ching.

And our dinner…

We both ordered the specials, Terry’s is the red meat variety.

Service was extraordinary and the food was excellent.

We opted for no dessert but they brought us key lime pie with a lit candle for Terry’s b’day.

OH geeeeez, now we have a new favorite local anniversary restaurant. What are we going to do when our other favorite local anniversary restaurant reopens????

As we left the restaurant, Inverness city manager Frank DiGiovanni was dining on the porch and gave us a wave. Yes, he has no idea who we are, we either looked really important in our special going out to eat at a special place clothes or he just waves at anyone and everyone. So everything we read in the paper that makes us think he is a cold hearted politician is all WRONG!!!!! He’s our new BFF. I know if we had just gone over to his table we could have shared a nice glass of Cabernet.

But anyhow let’s move on, we could hear a classic rock band playing around the corner which sounded like fun, but we had a destination. We were headed to Fox Den Winery for one last sip of wine. (Okay, I use “we” loosely, I was drinking most of the wine!)

Not only was there a band playing, but there were a whole lot of people hanging out on the streets of Inverness. And they didn’t look homeless. There were no special events scheduled so I was surprised that Inverness was so busy on a Friday evening.

Fox Den Winery had several tables filled but there was room at the bar for us. The owners remembered us and we had only been there one other time. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

I told the owner that we just had an anniversary dinner and a lovely bottle of Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay. And she said, oh you had dinner at McLeod’s House Bistro!

We enjoyed listening to the acoustic duo that was performing.

Next we headed over to the Valerie Theatre so we could see it lit up at night.

I took lots of pictures, but I either had the wrong lens filter on or was using the wrong setting. Or had too much wine. (Good thing that I wasn’t driving!) The snaps didn’t turn out all that well.

Gosh, I love sparkle lights and shiny fountains. It was a great evening, the weather was perfect, Think we will be returning to Inverness for another romantic evening. Soon.

Looking out my Back Door

October 5, 2015 by KTgreen

We had a couple of our kids here this weekend and the weather was blah so we just hung out at the house and played games and watched TV. A very laid back and relaxing weekend for us but I didn’t get out and cover any local events. So rather than skip posting, I’m putting up some of “Project 365” photos. There’s only a few people that check it out every day, so these might be new to you. Here’s my favorite photos from my yard in September….

Bottle Brush — Day 269, September 27, 2015, Thought the hummingbirds were gone for the year and then saw the bottle brush were blooming. The hummingbirds just moved to the front!

Day 268, September 26, 2015, Storm on the way

The View — Day 261, September 19, 2015, Didn’t get a pic today so was just out looking for something to snap. and wow! How about those colors!

Day 257, September 14, 2015, Passionflower

Day 256, September 13, 2015, Beauty Berry

butterfly — Day 245, September 2, 2015, Butterfly

Renovation Reality 2015

August 27, 2015 by KTgreen

A Few Projects from the Basement Renovation

Our annual visit to see our kids and grandkids in North Dakota lasted six weeks again this year. It was nice to get out of the heat and rain here in Florida and fun to play with the grandkids. (We missed those days of perpetual rain) Most of our time was spent working on renovating the basement.

A little history for those who are new to the blog, three years ago, our son Alan suggested that we renovate his basement so we would have a private place to stay during our long visits.

Sounded like a great idea since little Miss Pippety Piper was not appreciating being moved out of her bedroom every summer. I would walk into what was now our bedroom and there would be Piper, facedown on the bed and clinging to the bedspread.

Or sometimes she would just be wistfully staring our of the bedroom window. ‘ I used to live here. This was my space. So Sad. Heavy sigh’

DIY Pouf — This was from our visit in 2013. Hated throwing her out of her room. But it was a question of survival. Was I going to sleep in Riley’s room? Not happening!

If she had been a little older she probably would have figured out how to chain herself to a bed leg.

The basement was kind of finished but not really usable for anything other than laundry and storage. Alan and Lauri designed a new layout with a guest suite, a bedroom for Riley, a laundry room, and a large ‘Jack and Jill’ bathroom.

When we arrived for our visit last year, the new walls were just being built. Before the end of our visit, we had doors, the walls and ceilings were painted, and flooring was installed, We bought some very used bedroom furniture that was hideous but sturdy, a new mattress. A shower/bathtub went into the bathroom and a base cabinet was added to the kitchenette. We actually got to sleep in the suite a few nights before driving back to Florida.

Before our arrival this year, Lauri had went “Black Friday” shopping and scored a new shiny refrigerator and smart TV for our suite. (The TV had Netflix and we were hooked on House of Cards by the time we left).

Then Terry and I arrived on the scene.

First job–a toilet in the bathroom! Followed by a countertop and sink installed in the suite’s kitchenette.

Next, a coffee maker!

Toilet, sink, coffee–we could see a light at the end of the tunnel!

We debated over the seating arrangement. Recliner and chair? Loveseat? Sofa Bed?

We finally settled on a small couch and after lots of shopping for an inexpensive but perfect size, we bought this one.

And it’s gray. But looked baby blue once we got it down to the room with the beige carpet and cream colored walls. Another challenge. But I assured everyone that I would bring it all together with new drapes, comforter, and pillows.

A vanity went into the bathroom right before company arrived.

Jes and Andrew being mobbed by Piper, Riley and Adley.

Then back to work. I don’t do power tools–I leave that for Terry. (I’ve sewn over my thumbnail with my sewing machine, I can’t imagine what I would do with a table saw!) But I did all the staining and helped with the installation of the door trim,

While we got A LOT done and the space is quite comfortable, there’s still much more to do. Baseboard. Some trim around the windows. (And fixing up that U G L Y bedroom furniture) Unlike me, Lauri likes working with power tools and plans to get the baseboard installed before our next visit.

But here’s a few shots of we did get done…

Still need an upper cabinet and microwave in the kitchenette. That’s a sliding glass door behind the drapes so we have our own entrance!

Had to squeeze a picture of Maggie into the post!

Renovation Reality 2016. End of the series? Probably not–next on the work schedule is a bathroom remodel for the second floor.

Next Thursday I’ll share a few of the projects that we worked on to make the basement home.