Ethel VanDam hosts a day at the Beach, Pool and Lunch, July 21, 2010

    Ahoy mates. Reporting in after a wonderful day at Ethel Van Dam's home and beach. Ethel was a very charming and gracious hostess to her bevy of "Bathing Beauties". Nearly 20 of us "Bathing Beauties" (Gary DeLea included!) were greeted by Ethel with coffee and snacks. A great gab session was held starting around 9:30 AM poolside and carried on for a time until we decided to take to the beach.
    Walking down the path to Ethel's beach is like stepping back in time. It really was amazing to travel through a mini forest of Australian Pines-they go all the way down to the beach and provide plenty of shade for those times when you just can't take anymore of the sun. There was plenty of sun, with just tiny puffs of white clouds. The water was so clear you could see to the bottom without a mask and everyone remarked that it was as clear as they have seen in a long time. Good news for our neck of the woods. We also saw tiny fish and graceful birds soaring. Bettine and Gary were on the "lovebird" swing for two. Yes, Bettine got down there by her own two feet. After all us "Bathing Beauties" got waterlogged we headed back up to Ethel's beautiful home, took a great outside shower and got down to even more serious gabbing.
    We imbibed in a little wine and then we were treated by Ethel to a great luncheon. She did so much work to help us have a wonderful day. We also got to meet Ethel's niece, Francine, who is going to be joining us in Bitter Ends. (I almost typed Better Ends there! Whoops - our ends are fine - thank you!) Francine is really nice and it will be great to have her in the club. I forgot to mention that Sylvia made some classy éclairs that were so tasty I ate two. She claims they are easy to make. Hmm... We had such a perfect time - there was talk that we should be doing this all year, instead of hauling boats around. I'm sure that is just talk!
                   Report by Carolyn Holmes
                   Ethel VanDam, Activity Host
                   Pictures by Nancy Marik, Carolyn Holmes and Ethel VanDam
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