Beautiful Manasota Key

Our own Manasota Key residents Franklin (Clem) and Mary Clements brought to life “the child” in all of us once again during the MBC Member Olympic Games played annually, and hosted at the perfect backdrop of the Manasota Beach Club!

Clem, I have gathered through the years originated the event but Mary has always been at his side.  So hats off to this lovely, enthusiastic and energized couple!

There are a lot of organizers involvement leading up to the great day of fun, including great dinners. The Hess’, the Roberts, the Jezerinac’s, the Hunt’s, Tony, and of course the Buffum’s, all plan well ahead for the event!

The Grand Prize Winning Team was captained by Harold Morrison and his team members were CiCi  Cook, Juergen Matt, and Carol White! GO Team #7!!!

A perfect day was topped off with Hot Dogs, Chicken, Brats, salad beer and wine!

So please dear members of our wonderful Manasota Beach Club look toward next year and how much fun it would be to have you join in the games or come and be a spectator!!

A wonderful luncheon was held in honor of the Manasota Key Association’s Annual Luncheon. Super to have our returning residents return home to fantastic weather!! For me it is a privilege to look around the room  seeing so many faces that have become like family and certainly this feeling must be shared among so many who have lived “on the Key” for many years and generations! When this is brought up throughout the season there is always the same response….there is so much unity among the residents of Manasota Key that makes living here so special! The location was the Italian restaurant La Stanza on Dearborn Street. Great food and service! A perfect choice with just enough room to be close and yet not crowded. The acoustics were excellent when the time came for a few of the new board members to deliver current news concerning our piece of paradise! This luncheon is not meant to be a business meeting so it was more of a social event. In fact this luncheon was also a new location with a new twist in the seating arrangements. We were seated at tables separate from our partners. It was very cool, though at first it made you think, why? But everyone seemed to enjoy getting to know their table buddies and were able to share their summer stories with one another. It was catchy, as a show of hands proved the majority liked the idea. Richard Hess delivered some news that you may or may not have been aware of and these are merely bullets. ( Please don’t hold me accountable I wrote these on a napkin.) 

• The Refurbishment of the Pavilion at north end is put on hold. It appears the County is having its own trouble getting permits in order! They are just planning the bath house and reconfiguring the parking lot.
• Zoning at south end of Key  has changed its course and will not make changes in zoning without residents approval.
• John Geist was at a meeting in Sarasota as our meeting was taken place. He was getting as much information as he could to bring back to us about new homes and remodeling of existing homes that will be constructed forward of the CCCL. Hopefully this will be a positive meeting as it effects so many of our older homes with sales and remodeling.
• Iquana report was basically it will be impossible to remove all of them, but definitely, we should be able to keep them under control. 
• Chris Boone spoke about events that will be held each 3rd week of the month. Next will be a class on CPR. We should all know about CPR! It will be easier to learn if you have no already among friends.

It is a busy week on Manasota Key with returning residents settling in,  the annual Manasota Key Association Luncheon held Thursday, the Manasota Beach Club’s  Cocktail Party, Friday, and the Hermitage’s Annual Lobster Fest Saturday! The weather’s beautiful for all activites, and then there is football!! So get out there and enjoy your “life is good” on Manasota Key! Please if you would like to add to this blog any events or information please contact me at debi@debihealy.com best to all!

We are all so excited about the privilege of being a part of a syndicate group that has adopted a horse named ”Whisper” for this year! I can’t wait to share with you the excitement felt by a recent group of donors, who happen to be residents of Manasota Key! First you must know that  Whisper  is a beautiful horse that belongs to an outstanding organization named In-Stride; please check out www.instridetherapy.org  for all the details!! Check out how beautiful  Whisper is , but his beauty is within! By the way we got to name the syndicate on our visit to the facility and the winning name was “Manasota Whisper Keepers’ was picked among many entries. We are all pleased with the chosen name!

Because Whispers meets the requirements that make a sound therapy horse Whispers will be working with individuals with special needs through hippotherapy! Oh, if you are saying to yourself, “what is hippotherapy?” You belong with the group from Manasota Key that attended the InStride facility last week. We found out that hippotherapy is a highly effective physcial therapeutic strategy that provides kinesthetic stimulations, eight times that of traditional therapies! It simultaneously engages riders in physical, occupational and speech stimulations. The Manasota Key group were amazed to find out that the human pelvis’ move like those of horses. Other therapies cannot give this same simulation.

The awsome ladies who started the hippotherapy program in the summer of 1994 have had to move InStride eight times! They are now in a new state-of-he-art, debt free facility on 76 acres located at 1629 Ranch Road, Nokomis, Fl. InStride needs your support and invite you to come out and see their operation in full; but you must call ahead 941-412-9333; so someone will be available to give you a proper tour and possibly be able to observe some of the therapies in progress. Our very own Allison Geist and Janet McIntyre work as volunteers and have a lot of heart invested in this wonderful organization! Please find time to gather a group and join your Manasota Key friends in supporting InStride! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and felt so good about InStride we will be talking about this organizations “good deeds” for a long time!

 Mission: Partnering with our horses, we challenge individuals with special needs to reach their fullest potential!

Vision: We envision a time when everyone who could benefit will receive our hippotherapy services!

Best to all ! Debi

We are back from a perfect vacation in North Carolina as so many know this time of the year shows us so much in leaves of gold! We left sunny Manasota Key with temperatures in the mid eighties and returned to Manasota Key with temperatures in the low eighties! We missed the constant blue skies, warm gulf, and sandy beach, for sure!! However, we were looking for that once a year change and our timing could not have been better! There was still some colors in the leaves at the base of the mountains but not so muchat 4000 feet as you see in the photo at the left! The trees our cousin warned us before heading north were a bit barren .. But this did not stop us from having a blast!! We drove ATV’s through the snow, ate gourmet meals, drank too much, threw snow balls at one another and bonded deeper with our first cousins! We are home and looking forward to all the events in this coming week! There is the Manasota Key Association meeting on Thursday, November 18th and what fun it will be aside from business to see all our friends! On Friday, November 19th is the Openning Cocktail Party held by the Manasota Beach Club that we all have been looking forward to and another opportunity to embrace our neighbors! Saturday, November 20th, is the Hermitage’s annual Lobster Festand well dear readers and residences of Manasota Key, we will all be looking forward to the football games and relaxation I am sure on Sunday. But how wonderful to be home on Beautiful Manasota Key with our friends!!! There is no place in the world like Manasota Key, Florida!!

 HOPE TO SEE YOU THIS WEEK!! DEBI

It has been an active season in 2010 for our precious Loggerhead’s! We are thrilled to know that we are ahead of last year’s nest count both on the northern and southern part of Manasota Key. Below are photo’s taken by one of most artistically talented residents on Manasota Key. She also has a great sense of humor and has added a few captions that should make you smile.

“Quick where is the  labor shore”!

coming ashore to dig her nest!

Evidence of being in a hurry!

A neonatal Unit along the shores of Manasota Key

 And “Away we go!” into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico!

   We have had a stellar year at the office of Nelda Thompson & Associates Inc., despite the stock market’s ups and downs and the horrific devastation of the BP Oil spill. And we thank you! The  residents and  realtors who specialize in waterfront properties of Manasota Key feel really blessed!!! The gulf is said to be resilient and I am a true believer of this, I have never seen the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico look so inviting!!  

Have you felt the BIT of Northern breeze from the upper part of our great state dipping  down into our Southwest utopia?If you are living at the elevation on Manasota Key it is heavenly!! Our friends on Manasota Key have discovered it this week and certainly have welcomed it after the “dog days of summer” continue on with many of the days heat index’s being record breaking.

    Even with the heat” life is still a beach,” on Manasota Key! Today the Turtle Patrol were busy digging the eggs out of a matured nest. Many residents gathered on the beach at 7:30 a.m. to witness this incredible adventure of and  the new hatchlings with their first sight of light as they walk to their home the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. If you have not seen this you must come down or up depending on where you live! The season will be over the end of October, so come now!!

The Gulf of Mexico is still very warm and though Tarpon season officially ended July 15th, there are plenty still around. They will remain till the waters drop to  low 70’s. All the sport fishing seem to have a very late start this year and local guides feel certain it is because we had such an unusual cold winter for Florida! If you have not fished Tarpon off Manasota Key it is not too late. I was paddle boarding yesterday and went along side a school of small ones. I was so excited I almost fell off the board!

Looking out into the beautiful waters of the Gulf as I write this blog to you, it is likes gems glistening on top of the water! We are so fortunate to live here and hope that if you do not that you will consider coming to visit us! One visit will entice you to become a part of our family….promise!!!

The two Manasota Beach Clubs met for their annual luncheon held at the wonderful Manasota Beach Club. Blessed that the cold weather had left us and we were able to be seated under the natural setting of the MBC Clubs lovely Florida Oaks!  We were delighted that one of Manasota Key’s own residents, Brenda Seabrooke, was able to join us and read to us  her new book,`TWAS THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. She was able to share the real story of Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem and why and how he wrote  it  through her research.  It was facinating listening to how history makes it all come to life for an author. I think we all walked away today with anew admiration for what it means to be an accomplished author. Brenda’s new book CEMETERY STREET was nominated for the 2009 EDGAR AWARD and 2009 SIBA AWARD.

        Happy New Year!

My Wish for You in

   2010 be the best

            year of your life!!!

Every year a group steming from one of Manasota Key’s book clubs gather to hold it’s Anual Progressive Dinner! I am so pleased to belong to this group because believe when I say the food presented by each hostess is all gourmet!! 

With the clear sky, the stars out, and the breeze off of Lemon Bay, last night could not have been a better evening if we could have special ordered  it.

Manasota Key residents delight in entertaining with their windows and doors open to the natural bay and sea breezes.  “It does not get any better than this.” was echoed throughout the evening. It was not just about the gourmet food presented either.   Manasota Key is home to a most unique group of residents living on both sides of it’s pristine waters. I hope I live long enough to meet and get to know all of it’s residence. Everyone has a common bond on this barrier island, they are all living their dream!

Stop for a minute and think of how truly blessed we are to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends if our family cannot be with us. And if your family is with you how wonderful !

 Help us, dear Lord, to be ever mindful of those less fortunate and those who

 Could  not be with us today ~ especially the men and women of the armed

  forces. My hope for all of us on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day is that we never

  forget what is worth remembering and . . . . remember to forget  what is best forgotten!

Written by a dear friend of Manasota Key! Hope everyone enjoys their family and friends on this wonderful holiday. If you have already arrived on Manasota Key fantastic! If not and plan to arrive soon, be careful in your travels, but hurry we miss you! The weather is balmy, gulf is still warm, and the season is upon us!

                                             Happy Thanksgiving to All