PICKLEBALL PLAYERS GO BOWLING!!

June 28 – Every Monday morning, Village Lanes in Gloucester has Senior Bowling. For $5 you can bowl three games, have coffee, pastries and soft drinks, and you have a number of chance to win prizes throughout the morning!! This Monday a group of us Pickleball players went bowling. We arrived so early that we were sitting in the dinette area having coffee when another couple from Thousand Trails that we did not know stopped at our table and asked if we were from TT. We invited them to join us. That gave us eight bowlers on our lanes, and we had a ball!! (And I don’t mean Bowling Ball!!)

[Sorry, pictures on the Convoy Cell Phone don’t work too well indoors!!]

Here are the girls!! Faye, Dee, Sue, and Diane (the non-Pickleball player).

Don't know how Rich got in there!!!

And here are the guys!! Ken, Rich, Harry, and Harvey (the non-Pickleball player).

Each of us had to pose if we got a strike. (That's what Donna showed us in Wauchula, FL!!)

In the first game Rich challenged me and beat me by one pin!! In the second game, Rich he went looking for a stronger opponent and challenged Ken and beat him!!


But, in the third game Dee beat everybody!!! She said it's the first time she has ever beaten Rich. And, it was the first time she has ever beaten Ken!!! ~ Congratulations Dee!!!

Now, Harry could not hit the broad side of a barn door until I told him if he made four strikes in a row he would win a free game!! He got not one, not two, but THREE strikes in a row. Just missed the Four Bagger by two pins!! The TURKEY!!!

Harvey is the only one who did not strike. But then, who can bowl with a PURPLE ball!!??!!

After bowling we all went to Ginny’s Place and pigged out on their home cooked buffet.

PAULINE AND JUDGE SERVE SMOKED BEEF BUTT!!

June 26 – Another cookout!! This time Pauline and Judge invited the group for smoked beef butt that Judge said he had smoked all-l-l-l day the day before!! All I know is that it was mighty good!!

Our hosts Pauline and Judge!!

Judge slicing the roast!! Mike and Wayne helping!!

Now Jimmy, Rick and Melissa observe Judge's artistry!!

The cookout was actually held at Rick's site because they have a large space.

Some of the group that gathered for dinner -
Delores, Lynda, Joanne and Rick, Diane and Ken

Thanks Pauline and Judge for a great time!!

UNBELIEVABLE SNAKE PICTURE!!!

My son, Barry and his family recently took vacation along Skyline Drive in Virginia. They sent me this unbelievable snake picture!!! Barry said they watched the snake eat the whole fish – well, they watched the snake swallow the whole fish!!

DAUGHTER, STASIA VISITS US AT TT CHESAPEAKE BAY

June 23-25 – My daughter, Stasia came to visit us for a few days at TT Chesapeake Bay, arriving on Wednesday afternoon. After a quick lunch, we took a ride around the campground in the golf cart; took a swim in the Piankatank River and a dip in the pool!!




It just so happened that Pickleball friends, Krystal and Nate, had invited the Pickleball players to a Happy Hour at their site on Wednesday afternoon. That gave us a chance to introduce Stasia to some of our great Pickleball friends!!

Our hosts, Krystal and Nate, with Catherine.




Austin and Aric taking a picture of me taking a picture of them!!












Rene enjoying his barbecue and Myra.

Rich and Dee.

Krystal and Buddy.

Here we are -- Ken, Stasia and Faye!!

Thank you Krystal and Nate for that wonderful barbecue and a great time!!!

After the party, Ken played Pickleball with the group while Stasia and I went to the pavilion and did some line dancing. It was such fun – we danced and danced. She taught me some of her dances and I showed her some of the neat dances that Marge had taught me while she was here!!

On Thursday we went to visit my niece Debbie at their place on Lancaster Creek, tributary to the Rappahannock River in Simonson VA. As I mentioned in my article on Memorial Day, my aunt and uncle used to own a home just three houses up the creek from Debbie’s. Stasia had many unforgettable memories of times spent at that river house. Now she was thrilled to go back again. Thank you Debbie for a really fun day at the Rivah!!

On Friday, after a couple more hours of line dancing together, I had to say good bye to Stasia. It was great to have her visiting with us, even though her time was short!! I’ll miss you, Hon!!

FATHER'S DAY HAMBURGERS WITH MIKE AND DIANE

June 20 – Today is Father’s Day!! Ken heard from all of his children – that was great!! Mike and Diane called this afternoon to see if we could come over to their house for Father’s Day hamburgers!! Of course, we said “Yes!”

Before dinner we gathered on the back porch for drinks and cheese-stuffed peppers.

Ken and Mike preparing their burgers.

Thanks Mike and Diane for a great Father’s Day!!

CHICKEN FESTIVAL, CREWE, VA

June 18 – Our friends, Lois and Gene, invited us to go with them to the Annual Chicken Festival in Crewe, VA, about 50 miles West of Richmond. It is sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritans and Crewe Kiwanis. Lois said they would have snacks, two bands, and barbecue chicken dinner.

We did join them and had a grand afternoon. The weather was perfect. The bands were great!! They did have snacks – chicken livers, gizzards, nuggets, wings, and rooster stew!! And beer or wine – all you could drink! In fact, we enjoyed the snacks so much that we could not eat the dinner, so we all brought our barbecue chicken home for dinner another night!!

Some of the crowd. We commented that there were a lot of people, but it didn't seem crowded -- we never had to wait in a line!! Amazing!!

Me with our friend, Lois. (Picture including the men did not turn out!!)

UPDATE ON THE NEW VERIZON AIR CARD

June 17 – Well, it didn’t take long to discover that the 250MB Air Card is next to worthless!!! My friend, Suzanne, could have told me that from the start. I had used almost half of its usage in just three days!!! I could just see me worrying about how much I had used, had I gone over? Worry, worry, worry!!!

Went back to the Verizon store and asked Ken, our salesman, to upgrade our Air Card to the next level, which is 5GB for an additional $20/month!!! Now that is far more than I will ever use, but what are you going to do??!!

BONEFISH GRILL – FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!!

June 16 – I heard on the radio that Bonefish Grill had a special on their Bang Bang Shrimp on Wednesdays – only $5!!. I immediately called our friends Lois and Gene because they go to Bonefish all the time. What is Bang Bang Shrimp?? Lois said it was really good – a pile of shrimp with a spicy sauce. It’s an appetizer and they order it whenever they go to Bonefish. There is only one such grill in the Richmond area and it was 25 miles away, but we decided to drive over this evening. None of our friends or family could join us. Too bad – they missed out!!

Here we are with our Bang Bang Shrimp!!

Since the shrimp was on special we both ordered it and shared a salad. The waitress brought fresh baked bread with pesto dipping sauce and beer was at Happy Hour Prices!! What more could we want!? Only for the Manager to stop by our table and welcome us – which he did!! He said the waitress had told him it was our first time at Bonefish. Needless to say, we were quite impressed!!

(If you noticed our pictures are not so good, see the next article!!)

SONY CAMERA IS BROKEN!!

June 14 – You all know how much I have enjoyed taking pictures and posting them on our Blog. What am I going to do?? -- Our camera is broken.

Fortunately, we bought the 3-year Extended Warrantee when we bought the camera from Target a couple of years ago. I packed it up today and sent it for repair. In the meantime we will have to use our new Cell Phone for pictures!!! (See below).

NEW VERIZON CELL PHONE!!

June 14 – Would you believe it!!! After all the hassle we had last summer with Verizon, we finally got everything straight and we had a plan with which we were happy!! Then today, the darn phone broke – not the phone but the flip top broke off!! I dreaded it!! Not because of the phone but because I knew we would have to get a new plan!!

We went to the nearby Verizon store and after confirming that our phone could not be fixed, we talked extensively with the salesman. We tried the Blackberry; we tried the Drone; we discussed all our options including how we could get internet connection for my computer. Ultimately we decided on a Samsung Convoy – basically a utility type cell phone – nothing fancy. Very much like our old LG but it DOES take pictures!! We also bought a device to move the pictures from the phone to my computer.

I still want to use my computer for e-mail, Blog, etc, so we needed a way to connect. We could no longer “tether” our phone to the computer, so we bought a Verizon Air Card. We decided to try 250MB of usage for an additional $39.99/month. Hope that’s enough.

There was some good news – the phone was discounted, something about the government using it. With our $50 Verizon credit toward a new phone, the phone actually cost $0. There was a $50 rebate for the Air Card so it only cost $15. Ken got 25% off the accessories due to his being a Veteran. So we made out OK with our purchases. And, our new plan is only $25/month more than we were already paying; I so guess that’s not too bad!!

Here we are with Ken, the salesman, giving us our New Verizon Cell Phone!!

MICHAEL’S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION!!

June 12 – We drove down to Goldsboro, NC for the weekend to attend my Grandson Michael’s graduation!! It was a huge success. Michael graduated with honors – we are so proud of him, although I know it was not any of my genes that made him so smart!!


Mother and son before leaving for the ceremony.

Michael's name was called. That's him far left with the white Honor Club neck wear. His best friend, Robert, receiving his diploma.

Michael with his Diploma!

Michael with brother Jason!

And with girlfriend Jessica!

After the ceremony, a group of friends gathered at their home for light brunch.

A platter of fruits.

And a mountain of Krispy Kreme Donuts!

Michael opens some of his gifts!!

A Box of college supplies -

A Math Clock!! After noticing that 6 . 2 top center = 12, and the next formula = 1, we quickly knew the answers to all the remaining complex formulas!! Neat clock!!

A check from his Grammy and Ken -

And from Loraine, a friend of the family -

Big brother Jason BUILT him a bike for riding the campus of Chapel Hill!!

Michael with graduating friends!!

And Gammy with Ken

It was a very impressive event!! We are so proud of you MICHAEL!!