ANOTHER PICKLEBALL HAPPY HOUR!!

May 20 - Today is the day of the partial lunar eclipse out west and some of the players planned to go to the top of the hill to watch.  Tom said he has a welder's helment that you can use to observe the sun without harm to your eyes.

The Pickleball players thought it would be a great idea to have a Happy Hour before the eclipse, and that's what we did!!

After a period of eating, drinking, and talking, I announced that we had recently had a Happy Hour and most pictures from that occasion were subdued.  I said:  Your task at each table is to come up with some wild and crazy pose for my pictures of tonight's Happy Hour.

The first was at a large table, so the group of ten decided it would be fun to shoot pool with Pickleball paddles!!

Heads from left to right: Jean, Alan, Ed, Becky, Sue, Donald, Trudy, Rita, Jack and Tom.

There were only four in the next group.  They went deep into the mural forest for their picture with all the forest animals!!  Crazy!

Jerry, Diane, Marilyn, and Tony.

The group at our table decided to take our act from YouTube.  See if you recognize it!

 The stars:  Ken, Sandy, Faye and Del.  Jerry was our coach!!

After all the fun, Sue wanted one serious picture of the group.

But, that didn't last long! We all had to get wild and crazy again!

 Fun Happy Hour!!  Now off to view the Eclipse!!

Thanks, Tom, for the great pictures!!

A FUN MORNING OF PICKLEBALL!

Apr 19 - There were a lot of Pickleball players at the courts this morning.  I tried to capture some of players, either posing or in action.

Our long time-friends Jerry and Del stopped by TT Verde Valley for a few days after they left Happy Trails on their way to Colorado!  Welcome Jerry and Del!

Part of the 10-Pack, Sue and Jack.  They are actually staying for a week at Camp Verde about 5 miles down the road, but came over to play Pickleball.

More members of the 10-Pack, Donald and Jean.

Here are Trudy and Alan.  We met them here at TT Verde Valley last year.  Trudy told me today that they are joining up with the 10-Pack for part of their trip this Summer.  Guess it will now be known as the 12-Pack!

New friends Tony and Marilyn.  We met them earlier at TT Palm Springs.

Just met Jim this morning.  The young lady is his Niece!!  Oh sure, Jim!!  We've heard that one before!!!  HA HA

SOME ACTION PICTURES!

Jack playing with Del.  This is Del's first day here this year!

I missed the action on this court but got a picture of the players as they met at the net.
Alan, Sue, Jack and Ed.

Marilyn and Tony, a formidable husband and wife team!

Donald and Jim put up a good fight!

Couldn't take the action pictures of this match!!  Faye, Tony, Marilyn and Ken

Rita, Sandy, Jack and Del had a good match.

Marilyn and Ed.  Becky on the other court.  Notice how many players are waiting at the top of the hill!!

The end of their match.  Marilyn, Ed, Donald and Tom.

Glynn, Del, Alan and Jack after their match.

Jack and Ed are partners.

Tom and Donald are their opponents!

I was up on the deck and ran across the Colorado Monkeys!!  Del (See No Evil), Marilyn (Hear No Evil), and Tony (Speak No Evil)!!  Cute, Guys!!

Back on the courts.  Alan and Rita.

The foursome of Jack, Jim, against Ed and his partner!

AhHa!  Ed's partner is Donald!

Sue and Becky play together!

These guys look like they had a great time!!  Donald, Glynn, Marilyn, and Tony.

Today was a great day of Pickleball!  Let's do it again!!

STAR GAZING AT TT VERDE VALLEY

May 18 - We had a new adventure tonight!! Tom and Becky, new Pickleball players who started playing in January at TT Peace River in Wauchula, FL, have joined up with our group of Pickleball players out west at TT Verde Valley. Today Tom invited the Pickleball group to their site at 8:00 PM to view the stars through their telescope. Sounded like a great opportunity for us.

Tom and Becky provided drinks, wine, and some nibbles for the group! It was a very nice affair. Tom already had the telescope set up for us to view the stars. It was a perfect evening, and after about 8:30 it was dark enough to see every star in the sky!!

We first observed Venus which was one of the first stars to appear. I was amazed that through the telescope the star looked like a partial solar eclipse. And I had expected to see a star with five points!! HA HA

Tom (blue shirt) is showing this group where certain stars can be found in the skies. Tony in the red shirt, Sandy and Ed give their sttention (almost).

Tom is helping Trudy to find Saturn with its rings!

Now he is adjusting the telescope for the shorter Marilyn!

Marilyn looks very happy. She must have observed not only the star but all its rings. Ken in the background.
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Tom is focusing the telescope for me and Ken.

Ah! I could see Saturn but not the rings! Saturn is much, much further away than Venus.

Ken takes his turn. I know he could see more than I did!

Here are some of the ladies at tonight's affair! Left to right: Trudy, Marilyn, and Rita.

Our hostess Becky and Marilyn's husband Tony.

It was a most enjoyable evening! Something other than Pickleball and eating!! Thanks Becky and Tom!! Welcome to our group!!

PICKLEBALL HAPPY HOUR AT TT VERDE VALLEY, AZ

May 13 - We are actually down at ROD Camp Verde until the 15th when we move over to TT Verde Valley ourselves.   There is a great group of pickleball players at TT Verde Valley, many of them we met last Spring and Summer when they were just learning how to play pickleball.  We've joined them a couple of mornings this week.

This afternoon we joined them for a pickleball happy hour in the Rec Center.  We had a great group!

We met Sue and Jack last year.  They were with a group from the Phoenix area they called the 8 Pack, or 10 Pack, or 12 Pack, depending on how many of their friends were along at that particular time.  All of them got into pickleball last year and have been playing every chance they get!

Jean and Donald, more members of the "Pack".

We met Ed and Sandy last Spring also.  Parked next to them several times.

And here is the newest player.  We met Glynn and his wife Janet a couple of days ago and showed him how the play the game.  Next thing we knew, Glynn had his own paddle, ready to play!!

Coleen and her husband - the only non-pickleball players!

Ella and Will with their "son" Alan!  We met Ella and Will a couple of years ago at TT Wilderness Lakes.  Met Alan and his wife Trudy at Verde Valley last Spring.

Diane, a member of the "Pack" was sitting across the table from us at the Happy Hours.  She brought her wine in one of those neat red neck wine glasses with the screw-on top.  I love them!!  Just had to get a picture!

Here we are, enjoying another happy hour!!

Rita is not only a Pickleball player, she's a world traveler!!  Rita entertained us with pictures of her travels.  The idea was to show the pictures on the TV, but we could not get the computer and TV to work together.

Great pictures, Rita!!

Here's the group enjoying Rita's fascinating pictures.

Everybody had a great time!!

MEXICAN SHRIMP COCKTAIL - UMMM, UMMM, UMMM

Back in February when we were staying at Cathedral Palms in Cathedral City, we went with the group to an authentic Mexican Restaurant.  One of the items on the buffet was a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail.  It was a lot different from the Shrimp Cocktails I have had, but it surely was good!  The Mexican version  contained cooked shrimp in some type of tomatoe juice with chopped onions, avacoda, cucumber, cilantro, etc. 

I decided to make Mexican Shrimp Cocktail for our appertiser one evening.  It was more work than most Shrimp Cocktails I have made in the past, but it was WONDERFUL!!

My Shrimp Cocktails are not as beautiful as the one on this menu, but I'll bet it tasted just as good!!

I'll have to try this again!!

ALERT!! WE HAVE CHANGED OUR ITINERARY!!

Alert!!  We have changed our itinerary so we can spend the summer in the Delta Area of California.  Please check our Itinerary in the Right Hand column!

PICKLEBALL ON CBS MORNING SHOW

May 11 - We stopped by the Post Office in Camp Verde this morning to mail a couple of cards. As I was walking out of the Post Office a gentleman said, "You look like you are on your way to play tennis." "Pickleball", I said. "Have you heard of it?"

To my surprise he replied, "Yes. There was a segment about Pickleball on the CBS Morning Show this morning. It was named for a dog named Pickles."

I came home and looked for Pickleball on the CBS Morning Show. Taryn Winter Brill on the CBS Morning Show delved into Pickleball at The Villages in Florida, Good show. (About 5 minutes). Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_k1NOfb51o&feature=related

Enjoy!