On Thursday, our plan was to meet Deeny at Snook Haven for lunch. She teaches a pottery class at the Venice Art Center on Thursday mornings so off she went at about 8:30. I went to the grocery to pick up some things for dinner. Publix is much like our Price Chopper and apparently the owners of Publix down here in Florida wanted to be sure that there was a Publix at least within every 5 miles. These stores really are everywhere. Winn-Dixie is its competitor, but I see many more Publix stores, some being “super” stores.
Christine and I drove to Snook Haven, which is owned by the folks who run Sharky’s at the Pier. Snook Haven is a restaurant on the Myakka River and is a “down home” kind of place. It’s a restaurant, performance venue, bar, boat ride dock, kayak/canoe rental place and a real fun place to spend some time. Deeny took us there our last visit. One of the attractions is every Thursday is a banjo band, which we heard the last time. I was interested in seeing this collection of banjo players, mostly older people who enjoy playing the old tunes. Deeny was going to meet us there after her pottery class.
When we got near Snook Haven, we were directed to a large parking area along the highway about a half-mile from the restaurant. There must have been 200 cars already parked. Lots of people were queued up for a little trolley that was shuttling people from the parking area down the road to the restaurant. We decided that this wasn’t a good idea, especially for Deeny who wouldn’t want to walk down the road to the restaurant. And, we figured there wouldn’t be any seating available due to the large crowd. I guess the weekly banjo band concert has become a huge hit in the area. There certainly were loads of people attending.
We decided to try and get back to the Art Center before Deeny left. We were sweating bullets about missing her, especially since the traffic going into Venice was very heavy. But we got there in plenty of time. Deeny, of course, was really surprised to see us.
Christine saw a trolley bus outside the Community Center across the street and found out this was a free scenic tour bus that made a 20 minute circle around Venice. So we hopped on the trolley. We had seen most of the area the trolley circled, but it gave a little different perspective. Deeny wasn’t driving so it gave her the opportunity to look around and see some things she’s not noticed before.

Deeny then took us to a little French restaurant, Le Petit Jardin Café, where we had a delicious lunch. Afterwards, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon back at the house. After dinner, Deeny’s brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine, came for a visit. George and Lorraine built a house in another section of the development where Deeny is. Over the last two visits, Christine and I got to see their house being constructed, and then the finished product. They have a lovely home. George and Lorraine were really nice to us the year we visited Deeny when she was ill and hospitalized. And they were very gracious to have us visit them at their home, so it was nice to see them and catch up on their travels and lives.
Friday was a beach day. We’ve had such beautiful weather the whole trip and Friday was no exception. We drove to the Sharky’s at the Pier beach and picked our spot. Surprisingly, there really weren’t many people at the beach.

Christine and I went for a nice walk down the beach. A few hundred feet down the beach we came to the dog beach. There were many more people in this section and it was fun watching owners throwing balls and floaty things into the surf for their dogs.
The gulf is such a beautiful color and with the bright blue sky, it is a sight to behold.

All too soon, we needed to be heading home. We planned to have dinner at a French bistro where DeLuna is playing. And later, we were going to hear the Venice Symphony.
The bistro is Cote France. It’s a small place, but very nice. DeLuna has arranged to play there on a somewhat regular basis.
DeLuna managed to tuck herself inside near one of the entrances.
Deeny made a point of telling our server how wonderful it was to have live music at the restaurant. When Christine made our reservation, she also made the point of asking whether the harpist would be playing Friday evening. So we’re doing our part to support DeLuna. She’s been working hard to make contacts around the Venice area. She’s busking a lot, but needs some more dependable income.
We had a great meal. The food was really good. Deeny and Christine had shrimp and I did an unusual thing and ordered fish, which was snapper. All meals were delicious. Christine also ordered a Kir, a drink containing white whine and black currant liqueur.
We shared a terrific dessert, something with white chocolate mousse and coffee something or other. It looked just like a cup of cappuccino when it arrived on the table. Christine had ordered a cappuccino, so we were initially confused. But we soon dug into the dessert and found it heavenly. Unfortunately, we couldn’t dawdle because we had a date with the Venice Symphony, but it was great getting to experience DeLuna playing at the bistro.

Then off to the symphony. There is a new Performing Arts Center attached to the Venice High School. I think that is a great match in that there is a performance tract at the school and kids can participate in all kinds of arts learning and participation. The auditorium is very nice and comfortable. The Venice Symphony is a really good orchestra. Imre Pallo is the interim conductor. The symphony is on the hunt for a new conductor. Deeny thinks Maestro Pallo has really improved the orchestra and thinks he may be in the running.
The concert included a Dance Suite by Bartok, which was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the joining of Buda and Pest and was full of Hungarian folk music. Then a favorite of mine, the Prokofiev Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet. It’s a great piece, especially the Montagues and Capulets movement. We played this one year at GrassRoots and it’s really fantastic. Then the Venice Chorale joined the symphony in a performance of the Poulenc Gloria. Unfortunately, the soprano soloist, Elisabeth Slaten, was not at the front of the stage, but rather behind the orchestra in the middle of the front row of the chorus. She had a great voice, but it seemed that she was really trying to project to be heard over the orchestra and it was difficult to see her. That was a real shame to me because the soprano part has some really moving moments. But, we enjoyed the performance very much. It was nice of Deeny to get us tickets. She has season tickets with her brother and sister-in-law, George and Lorraine.
Time is flying by and the visit with Deeny is passing quickly. We leave on Sunday. I’m not sure how we’ll be spending Saturday, but I know we will be going south to Englewood late in the afternoon to again see DeLuna perform. I’m sure we’ll have another wonderful day.