As you know by now, Dick & I have been professional pool prunes for about 2-3 weeks now.....that is, we are working only on our tans, which are coming along nicely, thank you very much.  Each day, we visit the pool for an hour or 2, then we go about our daily business....shopping, eating, geocaching, sewing, reading, or just plain g5ofing off.  Oh, and square dancing on Wed nights.

Well, there was a big dance this weekend.  Big, as in people came from as far away as Austin, Houston & even Lake Charles, LA.  About 12 squares, give or take, and one lady selling stuff.  And BIG, as in price.  Typically, we paid $6-8/person to enter a dance of this size in NC; perhaps as much as $15-17/person for weekend or convention dances.  Well, THIS dance was a whopping $35 per person.  Yup, you read that right!  I wasn't planning on going, once that was noted, but Jose thought it was within the budget, and the callers did come highly recommended (Gary Shoemaeke & Ken Bower).  And, it was a Plus/Advanced dance, so theoretically, we'd get a chance to strut our stuff.  Ya know, that stuff we forgot back in March.  OK, so, we called & saved $10 by signing up in advance of the opening, and away we go.  Friday, we got to dance well from 8 to 10 pm, then we got in 2 tips of Advanced.  Thankfully, the square we were in was very tolerant and helpful & pulled us through.  Some steps we remembered, some we remembered in time, even.  All in all, it was fun.  Then, Saturday, we learned a new move or two at workshop, then went out with the rest of the local club to the local fish house for dinner. 

After waiting for a table for 12 (shades of Raleigh, huh?), we got seated and placed our orders.  Of course, I ordered shrimp (is there ever anything else worth ordering????) and Dick got an opportunity to order country-fried steak & gravy for a change.  Dinner was OK, nothing to really brag or write home about, but it did take 2 hours total, leaving us too short on time for a planned swim between dance sessions.  Bummer.  Well, we did get showers in before getting all dressed up in the dreaded "attire" -- when it's 100* outside, NO ONE wants to dress up in long pants, dress shirts with long sleeves & poofy skirts -- and get back to the dance hall on time.  Given that the hall is only 3 blocks from our campsite, that's not really all that difficult.  hehe.  Sooooo, there we are, doing well, and having fun.  One of the couples we'd met at dinner kinda took a shine to us and felt compelled to join us in some hijinks....oh, and I should tell you that the local club had a single girl, 15 yrs old, that we took on as a Siamese.  That means that Dick danced with both of us at one time....she was right hand, I was left and as long as everyone treated us as one, all was fine.

Back to topic....so there we were, doing what we normally do...have FUN.  Sometimes we'd slide down the middle instead of walking around, sometimes we'd bridge instead of promenading, sometimes we'd get goofy, whatever.  All fun, right??  Well, on the very last tip, we finally got back-to-back with this other couple, and it was all prearranged & planned, that on the first promenade around, they'd swap places with us & we'd switch squares.  Usually, when we do this, the other couples are surprised, and often, the caller is too.  Well, we watched the caller memorize our square, and off we went!  Thanks Robert, you taught us well, and the transition was smooth as silk.  And, we were greeted with customary smiles, but when we all finally caught up with our original partners & squares, the one dude in our original square was grumping, "if you get in my square, you stay in my square, and if you don't wanna stay in my square, then don't get in my square."  Well, Dick & I both wondered what made it "HIS" square to start with, but managed to keep quiet.  His wife, however, had the right idea and told him, "don't be an a$$" and said exactly what was on the tip of our tongues!!

What a party pooper he was!!!  The other couple agreed - he was a jerk and too bad he didn't know how to have fun!  Theresa, we couldn't help but think of the night in Georgia, when we switched squares and before the tip was over, EVERYone was going EVERYwhere, and poor ole Bud couldn't keep up with us & got us back with a scatter promenade!!  We just hope he gets over it and doesn't take revenge out on any of the local club members.  We're leaving, but they're stuck with him!  Anyway, we did get to do FISHERMAN'S LUCK, and while it was all the same steps & clearly sung, it wasn't as quick as Robert's version.  But, it was still fun, and I even am almost over the $35 a person tickets!!  Lucky for us, there was no hotel room involved, as they ran $100 a night, I understand.  YIKES, we got the whole NC state convention for that price!!  As we go around this great country, dancing as much as we can, we realize just how lucky we were to have the caliber of callers that we did...Robert, Tony O, Tim Tyl, Tim Marriner, Bud, Jerry Story, Jimmy Roberson, etc. 

Oh, and how was the hip after all that dancing?  Back to usual, and the wonder drugs have worn totally worn off.  Back to square one, I suppose.  Follow up is on Wed, and I can only wonder what's the next treatment and how much is IT gonna hurt?

For our dancer friends, we thank you for all the good times and WE MISS YOU!  For all our former co-workers, keep your chins up, have faith in your skills, and we miss YOU, too!  Y'all take care!!