A Funeral for a Friend

We had one heckuva storm last night, lightening, thunder, pouring rain, wind, the whole shebang.  Willis slept soundly through it all, not the least bit bothered by it.  Cap'n and I were both up and down several times, closing hatches, checking lines- the usual stormy routine when you live on a sailboat.

By morning, it was still cloudy, windy and cool, and on the radar, it looked like more wind and rain was headed our way.  Suddenly our plans for Bahia Honda, voodoo juice, and hobos on the grill were scrapped.  This is also quite common (to have plans scrapped) which is why we say, "All plans are written in sand."  If anything, living on a sailboat has taught me to be more flexible and to go with the flow.  Once the decision had been made that we were not taking the gang on Biddi and the Beast to Bahia Honda, we settled on meeting up at the pavilions for hobos at lunchtime anyhow, since we had all of the provisions.   On to Plan B....



We fueled ourselves up with some Cuban coffee and guava pastellas to get started :)

 

Off to the Dolphin Research Center!

 

It took about 40 pics to get one great jump :)

 

The animals are clearly loved and cared for at DRC.  They get lots of kisses...I'd be kissin' 'em too if I worked there!

 

Santini with the newest addition, Reece, who is about four months old.  The babies we saw in the Gulf yesterday were smaller than Reece.  So cute.



Jax (who was in a shark attack as a baby) was posing for the crowd.

 

Karen was looking for a warm spot in the sun, but there was not much sunshine today.  Sad face.

 

I loved sharing DRC with our friends, Mike and Susan.

And then there's Donnie; we don't know about him.

We got back from DRC and got the hobo party started :) 

Diesel loves hobos, too :)

And then the foolishness began- the voodoo juice was freely flowing.  The boys set to make their "Viking hats" for Lucky's funeral this evening.  Mike wasn't about to let Donnie's horns be bigger...but he looked more like an insect than a Viking!

 

You can add your own caption...my filter isn't working so very well :)

6pm marked the beginning of Lucky's funeral.  If you remember, Lucky was here to greet us when we arrived at Banana Bay three years ago.  She was a well-travelled bird, and loved by many near and far.  She had a series of unfortunate mishaps in the last few months, and had to be taken off life support last week.  Fran and Polly have been busy planning her funeral/Italian wake/Viking send-off ever since.  It takes a lot of planning and organizing for a flamingo funeral.  I never knew it before tonight.

 

There was a guest registry, memorial cards, a memory board, flowers, and more....

Our Viking Masters of Ceremonies

We paid our respects to Lucky....

We visited and consoled one another during the viewing.

No funeral is complete without food....lots and lots of food.

....and music....lots and lots of music to soothe our aching souls.

Polly made chocolate martinis to heal the hurts.

...and then the funeral director (a REAL one!) gave a very touching eulogy for Lucky

...and there were tears all around....lots and lots of tears.  It was so very sad.

But Nancy and Lucille made jello and pudding shots....lots and lots of jello and pudding shots to take away the pain of it all.

Bryan gave Kenny a touching memorial plaque of how she looked in her better years.

During the reading of Lucky's Last Will and Testament, we were reminded of her sense of humor.  What a bird.

 

She was given a proper Viking burial at sea.  What a send-off.  At just the moment she began drifting from shore, a tropical breeze blew up, and the flames made her look like a glorious swan!  It was a God moment, y'all.  R.I.P. Lucky.