FAYE DOES LINE DANCING!!

Since I can’t play Pickleball with a bad hip, I’ve taken up line dancing. Here at Peace River, we have line dancing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. At Torrey Oaks, about 10 miles up the road, the same teacher, Jenny, has classes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Whenever possible, I go to all of the classes. One thing we do in these classes is repeat, repeat, repeat!! I can now do the Electric Slide to anything from The Electric Boogie to Elvira to The Funeral March!!!

As you can see, I’m the only one here who knows how to do “Alley Cat”!! HA HA Actually, you know me -- I was posing for the camera and everyone else went on with the dance!!

I think this is SO FUNNY!!! You Seasonal Campers at TT Chesapeake Bay will appreciate this. Especially you, Brad, because you know how hard I worked to learn those line dances last summer!!

[For background information, Brad is a Seasonal Camper at Chesapeake Bay who has lots of awesome audio equipment. He frequently set up his equipment on Friday nights and played music just for fun and for his friends. We all gathered at the cement pad (once a Pickleball Court) near the horseshoe pits and danced to Brad’s music. The following dance is one we did three, four, five times every Friday evening all summer long!!]

On with the story. Our teacher, Jenny, is a little “flakey” at times, but she is funny. Last Thursday at Torrey Oaks, she told us that Ron, who plays musical instruments and provides music at their dances on Saturday night, asked her what she knew about the Stupid Shuffle – someone had asked him if he could play it sometime. Stupid Shuffle? No, she had not heard of it! But when she was looking through some of her papers later, she came across the name “Cupid Shuffle” that someone had asked her about. She went on line and got the dance steps. So, she said:

“We are going to learn the Cupid Shuffle! And after reading the steps, I agree. This really should be the Stupid Shuffle!! I have never seen anything so stupid! All you do is Hully Gully to the Right [Step right, slide left, repeat], then Hully Gully to the Left [Step left, slide right, repeat]. Then you do four Heel Stands [Right heel forward, then stand; repeat with left, and right, and left]. Then you have to make one-quarter turn to the left using EIGHT counts!! How in the world do you use eight counts to turn just one-quarter turn?? I thought about marching little steps, but that doesn’t work. Maybe you do it like this (and she demonstrated some kind of funny foot movements as she turned). Now isn’t that the most stupid thing you’ve ever seen??”

We tried walking through her directions. Finally, she stopped. “Does anyone know who this Cupid is anyway??” No one answered. I spoke up – “He’s a Rapper!” A RAPPER?? “Yes, I said. “And the song goes like this:”

I rhythmically chanted (uh, rapped) and demonstrated the dance: THERE IS A NEW DANCE AND IT GOES LIKE THIS -- TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT. TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT. NOW KICK, NOW KICK, NOW KICK, NOW KICK. NOW WALKING BY YOURSELF, WALKING BY YOURSELF [as I made tiny little baby steps, using eight counts to turn one-quarter turn to the left] and began again -- TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT, TO THE RIGHT. TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT. NOW KICK, NOW KICK. . .

Everybody laughed. “Oh, that’s so cute!! Oh, That’s such fun!! I really like that!!”

And so, we (THEY) learned the Cupid Shuffle!!

Thank you Chesapeake Bay campers for teaching me how!! I still have not conquered “Boot Scooting Boogie”! But, JoAnn, I can now Waltz Across Texas!!!

Saturday night, we joined our good friends, Cis and Joe (front left) at Torrey Oaks for pot luck dinner and a little entertainment and, of course, line dancing!

Here we are doing the Electric Slide (again)!

HAPPY HOUR AT STAN AND SALLY’S

January 11 – This afternoon Sally and Stan hosted another Happy Hour for all of the Pickleball Players.

As usual, we had a large group and lots of goodies to munch on. We get together like this fairly often at different sites. It’s a lot of fun and easy to do. Someone decides it’s time for a Happy Hour and extends the invitation. Everyone brings their own drinks, chairs, and hors d'oeuvres to share with the group. Lots of FUN!!

On this occasion, we had something special. A couple Pickleball Players (Steve and Jessie) also play Dulcimers. They brought out their instruments and provided some music for our enjoyment.

Then things really got CRAZY!!!

Jessie and Sally played the Spoons!!!

Stan went into his "Ham Bone" routine!!!

The rest of us just enjoyed the fun!!!

Ken and me.

Judy and Lee.

John and Rosa.

Sis and Paul.

Leigh and Pete.

Renate. Heinz was helping a neighbor and could not be here.

Dawn and Carl.

Dawn and Carl brought over their photo albums that had pictures of numerous Pickleball Players from all of the Thousand Trails parks where they had played. It was more fun sitting around and comparing notes on all the players that each of us had also met!!! Norm and Marti, Spike and Linda, Wayne and Nancy, Del and Jerry, Carolyn and John, Guenter and Ute, Marion and Tom, just to mention a few. Many of us at the happy hour also had our mugs in the albums! What fun!!

Faye's Cream Puffs for Jane - I knew Jane really liked my Cream Puffs that I had taken to an earlier get-together. I figured she would be at the Happy Hour at Stan and Sally’s, so I made Cream Puffs just for her (and everyone else, too). The recipe is really easy – you get it from the back of the Stella D’ora Anginetti cookies bag in the specialty cookie section of the grocery store.

Yep!! Jane still likes my Cream Puffs!!!

Jim likes them, too!!!

Thanks Everybody for a great time at the Happy Hour!!

FUNNY GORILLA STORY ABOUT STEVE

A little background. With a lot of new Pickleball players around, Ken has been ordering and selling Pickleball Paddles made by Spike, a friend of ours out in Arizona.

One day, the trim on one of Jessie’s paddles pulled away from the paddle itself. She called Ken to see if he could glue the trim back in place. Ken said, “Well, I guess so. I’ve got some Gorilla Glue over here.” Jessie and Steve showed up on our door step. “Why, that’s not one of MY paddles,” Ken stated. “I know,” said Jessie, “but, I thought since you make paddles, maybe you would not mind gluing mine for me.” “I don’t MAKE the paddles, I just sell them,” Ken told them, “but, I’ll try to glue it for you.”

He got out the Gorilla Glue and they began to glue the trim back in place. A characteristic about Gorilla Glue is that in order for it to work, the area has to be wet. So Ken wet the area thoroughly and they applied the glue under the trim and used rubber bands to hold it in place until the glue dried.

Steve told the story later at Sally and Stan’s Happy Hour. After leaving us, he had stopped by the restroom. He felt something a little sticky on his fingers, so guess what?? He washed his hands!!! The Gorilla Glue went to work!!! Steve’s fingers stuck to everything!! He said, after using the toilet, he could NOT get rid of the toilet paper!!! He tried everything, but it was STUCK!! I can just see him now!!! What a laugh we all got out of that!!!

DINNER AT THE CELTIC CROSSING

January 10 - Jim and Jane, our friends from England, recommended an English Pub on Main Street in our little town of Wauchula, FL. So, a group of us went for dinner at The Celtic Crossing. It was a really neat pub, decorated with an English flair.

A great time was had by all with plenty of Fish and Chips, Shepherd's Pie, Breton Chicken, and all kinds of tasty English food. YUMMMMMM!!!

[Jim is at the head of the table; Jane is standing.]

Thank you, Jane and Jim, for the recommendation!

We had a great time!!

[EDITED] PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT AT TTN PEACE RIVER

January 09 - On Friday morning, TTN Peace River hosted a Pickleball Tournament with players from both Peace River and nearby Torrey Oaks. There were eight women and sixteen men participating, with each player having the opportunity to play five matches with different partners and opponents. Stan organized and ran the tournament without a hitch!! Ken and I could not play because of weak hips, but it was fun to watch!!

Stan, Tournament Organizer, and Ken

Participants in the Women's Tournament. Stan presents trophy to First Place Winner, Theresa. Sally won Second Place and holds that ribbon.

Men's Tournament participants. Torrey Oaks men won First
and Third places. That's because they are so young!!
Jim won the Second Place ribbon.

ACTION PICTURES:

Ron

Joe (above) and Cis (below) came over from Torrey Oaks.

Jim

Sally

Thersa in action against Sherri.

Renate

Bruce

Theresa thrilled about winning her trophy!!

I RIDE THE TRIKE!!! WHEEEEEE

Remember in the earlier article about visiting Cis and Joe at Torrey Oaks and their neighbor building the Trike Bikes? Well, today (January 8) I visited the trike builder again. Stan is his name. He showed me his trike up close and personal. And, guess what, he even took me for a ride around the park a couple of times!! He said this trike was a 2004 two-wheel model that he converted and added his own special touches. (That is Cis and Joe's rig in the background on their site at Torrey Oaks.)

On the dash, there is all kinds of fancy equipment -- a stereo radio, a CB radio, a GPS, a tape deck player, a place to mount his telephone so he can switch a button and talk hands free through his helmet, and who knows what else. It has an extra high windshield to keep wind and rain off the driver and the passenger.

Here is Stan’s card so you can place your order!!! HA HA

BARB AND DENNIS HAVE A FAREWELL DINNER

Sunday, January 04 - Barb and Dennis had a wonderful ham dinner at TT Peace River on January 4th, inviting a number of their Pickleball Friends. The dinner had a three-fold purpose: 1) Celebrating the fact that their grandchildren, while they are of course wonderful kids, had finally left to go back home; 2) A farewell dinner because Barb and Dennis are leaving Peace River tomorrow and going to TT Orlando; and 3) Another chance to socialize with friends. Thanks for including us among them!!!

Barb, our Hostess, and Faye

Jane and Jim from England, and Stan

Heinz and Renate from Canada


Judy and Lee

Sally with our Host, Dennis

Ken and Sally (She just can't make up her mind!!)

FRIENDS, JOE AND CIS, COME “HOME” TO TORREY OAKS

January 01 - We met Joe and Cis on the Pickleball courts in 2006-07 at TT Peace River, and we have come to think of them as very good friends. In fact, we stayed with them on their beautiful farm in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2007, when we were traveling between TT St. Clair, MI and TT Hershey, PA. What a beautiful, peaceful place!

We saw them again in Florida in 2007-08 at the Thousand Trails parks. That year, they bought a site at the newly developed RV Park Torrey Oaks north of Wauchula, FL and about 10 miles from TT Peace River. (Torrey Oaks was the site of the Pickleball Scramble mentioned previously in our BLOG.)

They arrived at Torrey Oaks for the winter season early enough to settle in for all of the New Year’s football games. We visited them on New Year’s Day before the games began.

Their neighbor across the street at the RV Park builds these beautiful Honda trike bikes from some type of kit, adding his own special touches. This group of trike owners is preparing for a “Ride”. Note the color coordinated outfits

NEW YEAR'S EVE

We had a quite New Year’s Eve with our very good friends, Stan and Sally. We went to their rig for a dinner of Sally’s Chicken Fajita Pizza and a Mexican salad I had prepared. Afterwards, we moved outside and sat around a big fire Stan had built. Mike and Kim came by, and then Leigh and Pete joined us, too. We had a champaign toast to 2009 and went home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVERYBODY!!!

A BIG PAIN IN THE BUTT!!

Thursday, December 18 – Going Back - I have been having a pain in my right hip since October. Recently my hip has been bothering me even more and both Ken and I have pretty much given up all physical activity. Yesterday afternoon while shopping, I felt a “catch” in my hip and after that I could hardly hobble back to the car. Today we moved from TT Orlando to TT Peace River, about 60 miles. We’ll be here until February 1 (renting the month of January). My hip hurt me so badly I decided to drive myself to the Emergency Room in Wauchula at about 12:30 while Ken got things set up at the camp site.

Going into the Emergency Room, Wauchula, FL

I was attended to immediately and taken to a curtained off gurney, covered with a warm blanket and waited for the doctor. He came in and reviewed my symptoms. I was amused that he seemed more impressed with Ken’s cane that I was using. “Who’s been treating you?”he asked. “No one – this is my first treatment.” “Where did you get that cane?” he asked. I told him I had taken it from my husband who had recently had hip replacement surgery. “Well, that’s a really nice cane! That’s a good idea!” Then he ordered two shots for me, one in each hip; one for muscle relaxer and one for pain.

Shortly I was taken for X-Rays. While waiting for the results, I snoozed. The doctor returned. I had a contusion on the hip (a bruise with some bleeding and swelling), only I didn’t have the bleeding and swelling. He said he would have the nurse bring a couple of scripts for pain and muscle relaxer. While waiting, I snoozed.

Eventually, the nurse came with the prescriptions and discharge instructions. She said she was in to see me earlier, but I was sleeping!! With Rx’s in hand, I finally left the ER at about 4:00 PM, went to Wal-Mart to fill the prescriptions and pick up a few items.

Leaving ER w/X-Rays and Rx's

Have you ever been in Wal-Mart and heard the booming voice of God from above -- “Faye Ewbank. Please come to the front of the store. Your party is waiting.” Scared me to death!!

Is that You, God??

Ken was worried about me and had gotten our friend, Stan, to drive him to the ER. They learned I had left, so they surmised that I must be at Wal-Mart. Good thinking. Ken and I picked up my filled prescriptions while Stan picked up Pizzas for dinner. Good thinking, Guys!

[More to come.]