We Attended Two Seminole Basketball Games On Monday

The FSU Golden Girls Dance Team performs at every basketball game

Our view for the men's game

FSU men won by 8

The women's game as seen from our regular seats.
We sat with George and Joel Dawson. 

Monday we got to see two basketball games. Even though the students went home for the holidays - both the men's team and women's team got an early game in before heading home.

At 2 PM - the boys took on Samford University- beating them by 8. Although the Seminoles have a 12-1 record - they never quite put away the Bulldogs. FSU schedules a hand full of small schools to start out the season and fatten up their record. The crowd was sparse - between the 3000 that they announced and the 1100 I counted. Our friends Paul and Michelle gave us their season tickets - so it was free for us - and we moved down to sit behind the announcer at court side.

After that we went to Sonny's for supper. Sonny's is my favorite barbecue place to eat in town. Next we took a walk in the mall to kill time.

At 6 PM the women tipped off against the University of North Florida - a small school in Jacksonville. It was a laugher and FSU won by about 50 points.

FSU men and women have identical 12-1 records. The men lost to Temple after being ahead by 18. The women lost to UConn by 5 - but were playing without their best player - Leti Romero - the Olympian from Spain.

The men next play Wake Forest here on Dec 28th. We have 8 tickets for that game and plan to take our kids and grandkids. Games will get more difficult now that FSU starts their ACC schedule.

We Got A Little Sprinkling Of The White Stuff Last Night In Tallahassee

A picture of our white stuff

We are decorating - getting ready for the Holidays. Nature provided a sprinkling of the white stuff to make us feel at home - like back in the Coal Regions of Pennsylvania. Temperature dropped down into the 50s - it was 59 degrees at 4 AM.

Last Night We Visited Damfino's - It Just Opened On The Town Square In Downtown Quincy Florida

Damfino's across from the Court House in Quincy

Thursday night gave us an opportunity to head over on route 90 to Quincy for two important events - the downtown Christmas parade and the soft opening of Damfino's restaurant.  Damfino's is the new enterprise of Max and Cassie Gross and their partners.  Max is the son of best friends Josh and Melissa Gross and we love spending time with their family.  If you have been reading my web page you know them as the Thanksgiving Pie People.  Max and Cassie met when they were students at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park - where they train world class chefs.  They have been putting their other talents to work in Tallahassee and FSU but now is the time for Max to put his training to work in the restaurant business.

Damfino's got its name when they were readying the space.  When they exposed the brick, a large painted sign with Damfino's appeared on the wall. Home of a former dry goods and grocery store they decided to incorporate the sign and use the name.  The exposed brick, modern lighting, and handmade wood tables give the place a nice vibe.  For the soft opening black bean chili and a soup made with pork was available which Lulu and I sampled.  I had a bowl (which is quite large) and Lulu could only eat a cup - which is also large for a cup.  Each was accompanied by a slice of Max's homemade bread (that was his "major" at the Institute) and there were sticks of real butter at the tables.  Lulu snatched up the last loaf of bread to take home to freeze and serve at Christmas when the family is here.  I also had a terrific hot chocolate.

Damfino's is a place where you can have a meal but also purchase local sourced products like the bread. There was also a load of fresh vegetables, local ice cream and yogurt, honey, and Bradley's sausage.   They are open for breakfast, which judging by the reviews on Facebook, was phenomenal.

After we ate we took our camp chairs and set up to watch the hour and a half parade.  The floats and marchers were impressive and since it was chilly, I went back for two more hot chocolates.

We wish Max and Cassandra great luck with Damfino's and highly recommend it to our friends.

Watching the Court House while
eating at Damfino's

Quincy is sure proud of their Talquin electric trucks

Parade Float

Antique cars

Court House form the judge's stand

I forgot to post a picture of the Bookmobile - this is not it.

Max's Other Grandparents Came For A Visit - Paul and Evelyn Askew

Evelyn and Paul at the FSU Hall of Fame
in front of one of the Seminoles three
national championship and three Heisman trophies.

Paul standing in front of his namesake building -
The Askew Building

Just like us - Paul and Evelyn are new grandparents - of our grandson Max. Paul is Liz's Dad and Evelyn is Paul's wife. Last week - they came to visit with us and stayed a couple nights on their trip to Sarasota and Naples. They were visiting other friends and family down in the tropical section of our long state.

While they were here we toured FSU campus and the Capital City. They treated us to a very nice dinner at The Edison - a restaurant in Cascades Park housed in the town's former coal fired power plant. We also took Paul to an FSU basketball game.

FSU Beat Gators 4 Times in 2 Weeks

This is the 4th football victory in a row.

This is the 3rd mens basketball victory in a row.

Pretty soon FSU will be saying "You are not our rival."

Seminoles Complete The Grand Slam of the Gators - Wins in Football - Volleyball - Mens Basketball - Womens Basketball

It has been a wonderful 2 weeks for Florida State Seminoles Fans. Today they completed the Grand Slam - beating the Florida Gators in Mens Basketball. Just a few days ago - the Seminoles also beat the Gator Womens Basketball Team - the Gator Womens Volleyball Team - and of course on Thanksgiving weekend - FSU pummeled the Gators football team.

The Gators/Seminoles rivalry is steeped in history starting right after World War II. At that time FSU was called the Florida State College for Women. The University of Florida was for men. Many soldiers - sailors - and flyers were station in Tallahassee during the war. Many learned to fly at Dale Marby Field just west of town. They wanted to spend their GI Bill with the FSU women.

Burt Reynolds and Lee Corso were teammates on some of the Seminoles early clubs. The good old boys from Florida did not want to play the Seminoles. It took a threat by the state legislature of passing a law that finally had the Gators agree to play the lowly Seminoles. For years - the Gators refused to cross the Suwanee River to play in Tallahassee.

Florida State has won the last 4 football games. It is becoming a little embarrassing for the Gator fans that their big SEC east champions football team has had to go into their championship game 2 years in a row after a loss to FSU.

Probably the best victory in the last 2 weeks was the Womens Volleyball team. The match was held in Gainesville. FSU offered free bus rides and game tickets for people to make the 150 mile trek southeast. In that match - Florida jumped out to a 2 game lead - the Seminoles were losing in the third game and the Gator fans were being a bit boastful. They started too soon - because FSU stormed back - and won the last 3 games. FSU won and moved onto the NCAA Sweet 16 playoffs.

Today it was Mens basketball at 4 PM. Lulu and I went over without tickets. It was a good crowd - but nowhere near a sellout of 11,000. I am guessing there were 8000 tickets sold - and maybe 7000 attended. The ticket price was $40 - but no one was asking over face value. Then a very nice lady gave me a pair behind the Gators bench for free.

FSU carried a small lead most of the way - small enough to keep the crowd sitting on its hands the whole day. At one time FSU shot up to an 13  point lead - but the Gators had one more run in them. In the end - the Seminoles won by 5.

It was dark when we got outside the arena. After a 3 block walk to our free parking spot - we drove home enjoying the Grand Slam - 4 straight victories over the Gators in 2 weeks.

Two tickets for gators and noles - free

Christmas Tallahassee - and Then There Were Nine

All the stockings were hung by the chimney with care......

...the Everhart 9 appearing together for the first time December 25th 2016.

Christmas in Tamaqua PA

Our good friend - Don Serfass - posted this picture of the Tamaqua Train Station. The train station was vandalized and set on fire in the 1980s. There were calls to tear it down. But a group of Citizens led by Ken Smulligan - made an effort to collect money and get state grants to restore it. Now it is a beauty mark in town and the pride of the community. Every time we return to town - we have supper in the station.

Tamaqua and the Station are at the intersection of Route 309 and 209 in Schuylkill County - Pennsylvania. Tamaqua was the center of the railroading and Anthracite coal industry. The Florida Coal Cracker grew up and spent the first 55 years of his life here. Lulu was also raised one mile from the building. We both made train trips from this station down the Schuylkill River - thru Valley Forge - to Philadelphia.