PICKLEBALL AT TT PEACE RIVER (CORRECTED)

There have been lots and lots of Pickleball players at Peace River this season.

Some of the action!!

Waiting to play!!
Those who are waiting to play line their paddles in the basket hanging beside the courts. Today there were 15 players waiting to play!

Renate is ready!! Let’s play!!

Dave and Keith go for the same ball!

Faye and Christie were really happy to win a POINT!

At least I LOOK like a winner!!

Rich watches Ken take the ball.

Eddie shows Travis a new move!!

More action on the courts! (Click on the collage to enlarge. Click the Back Arrow to return to the Blog.)

BOWLING AT BOWL-OF-FUN LANES

Last year our friend, Stan, coordinated a lot of the recreational activities at TT Peace River, Wauchula, FL. This year, Stan and Sally purchased a site at Torrey Oaks, about 7 miles north of Peace River. Stan is coordinating some of the recreational activities at Torrey Oaks now. A huge loss to Peace River!! One of the activities Stan is involved with is Monday Bowling at Bowl-Of-Fun Lanes. On Monday, December 28, a group of us joined Stan for a fun afternoon of bowling!!

It turned out there were five bowlers from Torrey Oaks: Stan, Sally, Ray, Jane and Larry.

And five challengers from Peace River: Austin, Nate, Krystal, Faye and Achor Ken.

So we divided the group for a competition between Torrey Oaks and Peace River. The end result was that Torrey Oaks won all three games, but we gave them a good run for their money. It would have been a bit more even if Stan and Sally had disqualified themselves as “Professional Bowlers”!!! Nevertheless, a fun time was had by all!!!

Some of the action:

Austin was low scorer in the first game and with some instructions from Stan, he ended up high scorer in the last game!! Good Job, Austin!!

[I "Stole" these pictures from Krystal's Blog.]

CHRISTMAS DINNER WITH GOOD FRIENDS

Sally and Stan were at it again!! They invited us to join them for Christmas Dinner at Torrey Oaks along with Donna and Rich and another Rich who frequently plays Pickleball with us.

Before dinner we gathered at Sally and Stan’s for drinks and good times.

Sally and Stan enjoying our company!!

Faye and Ken enjoying our drinks!!
Dinner was $3 each and the club provided turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. UMMMM Diners brought numerous luscious side dishes for a very enjoyable Christmas dinner.

Sally and Donna spreading Christmas cheer to Rich and to Ken and the other Rich!!

How did I miss out on that!!!

After eating, there was some entertainment provided by the new entertainment lady at Torrey Oaks. She passed out tambourines and maracas and had us get in front of the group and play while she sang "La Bamba". That was OK and fun at first but she went on FOREVER!!! Then there was Karaoke by a couple of guys. That was about as good as our rhythm section!! HA HA

Sally really got into the act!!

We provided the rhythm for LaBamba (don't know the two in the middle).

Thanks Sally and Stan for a great time!!

PS. Some of you will recognize these as Donna's pictures. I forgot my camera!! Thanks Donna.

VISIT WITH KEN'S DAUGHTER, STACEY

On Tuesday morning, December 22, we drove over to Englewood to visit Ken’s daughter, Stacey for the day. I had mentioned to Ken on the way over that I would love a good Grouper sandwich. Stacey knew the right place to go. She took us to The Gulf View Grill where she knew they had Grouper sandwiches for $5!! What a deal!

View from our table at the Gulf View Grill.

View in front of me!! UUMMMMM!!

After lunch, the bartender took our picture as we posed in front of their Christmas tree!

Then we stopped by Stacey’s bar where she is a bartender herself, but Tuesday was her day off!

It was a nice “local bar” where everyone seemed to know everyone. In fact, one of the ladies at the bar owned a retail seafood place across the street. Stacey had mentioned she and her friends had Stone Crab claws from there a few days before.

What a great idea!! So, I bought a dozen Stone Crab claws for lunch the next day $$$. We said that was going to be our Santa Claus!!

Cracking Stone Crab claws is quite a job!!

Oh, I forgot to mention. As we were leaving Englewood, we stopped in the Walgreens on the corner and got our H1N1 influenza shots!! It was a breeze.

RETURNING TO TT PEACE RIVER, WAUCHULA, FL

Weather at TT Orlando was really cold, windy and rainy the last few days of our stay there, so we did not get out much. So when we moved from TT Orlando to Peace River on Monday December 21, it was a thrill to be met at the gate when we arrived!! Sally, Renate and Donna left the Pickleball courts and ran over to give me a welcome hug!! That meant a lot to me, especially since Orlando was so dreary!!



We set up quickly because Stan had arranged for group bowling at the Bowl-Of-Fun Lanes in Wauchula at 1 o’clock! There were six of us bowling. Ken and I did better than we expected – actually we were afraid we might not even be able to hold the bowling balls!! It was a lot of fun bowling again after almost a year. Stan has arranged for bowling every Monday afternoon. It’s about time to go again!!

After bowling, Sally and Stan invited us to there place at Torrey Oaks for dinner and a few games of Euchre. They were renting a site at Torrey Oaks but since moving there, they have purchased a site on the golf course. They are really excited about it. And we are excited for them, too!!

PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT AT TT ORLANDO

This is unprecedented!! Terry of America Choice RV (they sell RVs at the campground) approached some of the players and asked if we would like to have a Pickleball tournament and offered to give prizes from their store to the winners!!


In spite of not knowing what the prizes might be, we decided we could not pass up such an opportunity!! So, on Tuesday we had a Pickleball Tournament here at TT Orlando. There were 13 players – a good turnout for this time of year.

Ken and I ran the tournament using the Partner Switch format.

Some of the play.

Here are the players!!


At the end of the tournament, the winners were revealed!!


Travis 1st Place, Renate 3rd Place and Ken 2nd Place.


And Terry came through for America’s Choice and presented store credits to each of the winners –

$30 for 1st Place to Travis

$20 for 2nd Place to Ken

And $10 for 3rd Place to Renate

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and to ALL the players.

POST TOURNAMENT HOT DOGS!!

Diane and Jack invited all of us to their site for Hot Dogs following the tournament!! Everyone had a great time!!

During the party Ken presented jars of pickles to “the Biggest Losers” with lowest scores at the tournament!! Vickie and Faye tied for that honor with Zero wins and 11 points each!! Thanks a lot, Ken!!

VISIT WITH KEN’S DAUGHTER, TRACY

Ken’s daughter, Tracy, lives in Lake Mary, about 45 miles from our TT Orlando campground. We drove over to visit with her for Ken’s birthday on Monday. Tracy prepared a delicious Spinach Feta Cheese Omelet for Brunch. She’s a really good cook!! Uummm!!

After eating and playing with Tracy’s cats

We drove to the Big Tree Park and saw The Senator, one of the oldest and largest Cypress trees in America.

Then Tracy took us to one of the golf courses where she works part-time. We took our pictures in front of their Christmas tree. We were larger than the tree!!

A couple of years ago when we were at TT Orlando, we got Tracy to meet us at Winter Garden to take the bike trail. We carried our bikes and rented one for her. It was only a five-mile trail, but it was quite enough for us!! Shortly after that, Tracy bought herself a bike and has been biking ever since.

She told us that she had biked 20 miles the other day. Way to go, Girl!!

PICKLEBALL HAPPY HOUR AT TT ORLANDO

Diane is a relatively new Pickleball player [Summer 2009] but she is already known as the Queen of Happy Hours!! She is always ready to host a Happy Hour or meal of some kind.

So - Diane and Jack invited all the Pickleball players to their site for a happy hour and conversation. About fifteen of us were there, enjoying good nibbles and good company. A great time was has by all.

Thanks Diane and Jack!!