TT PLAYERS COMPETE IN MISSION HILLS PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT

Jan. 06 - A number of Thousand Trails Pickleball players had registered to play in the Second Annual Pickleball Tournament at Mission Hills Country Club community about five miles away. They were all excited about playing!

We missed the women's doubles tournament on the first day but went the second day for the men's doubles. Here is some of the action we saw:

Jack and Roger were playing when we arrived. These two ended up winning Gold in their level. Congratulations guys!!


Rick and Jim P. were in their first match.

Paul makes a great volley. Don't know his partner.

Spectators enjoying the tournament. Ken, Bill, Hayden, Pat, Gloria.

Dean and Rich in their first round.

Frank was not competing today but he made a great referee!

Following the men's doubles, there were the women's singles matches.

An acquaintance Rosie. She is amazing!

Rosie's opponent Sue. She's great too.

Here we are enjoying the matches. Note the preppy shirts with collars appropriate for the Country Club venue! HA HA

Chuck and Jessie rode with us. Jessie participated in the tournament but today she is enjoying the men's doubles!


On Saturday, the third day of the tournament, they featured the mixed doubles matches.

Jack and Diane participated but we missed pictures of them in action.

Rick and Linda in a close match. They ended up winning Silver! Congratulations guys!!


Rich and Dee won this match.


My special, special Pickleball student; my claim to fame!! Ken and I taught Judy to play and enjoy Pickleball. Now, she is a great player and competes in lots of tournaments!! You go Judy!!


We had a great time at the Mission Hills Pickleball Tournament!! Congratulations to all the participants and winners!! Loved it!!

TOM AND MARION TOM COME FOR MARGARITAS AND TACOS

Jan 05 - We have been special friends with Tom and Marion for years; ever since the fall of 2002 at TT Verde Valley on the Pickleball courts! We have had so many good times with them in the past. We don't see Tom and Marion at Thousand Trails very often any more since they have a place at Quail Valley in Desert Hot Springs. And we miss them!!

Today we invited them to our place for margaritas and tacos! Brought back good old times!!

It was such fun having dinner with you guys again!! Thanks for coming.

NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY AT TT PALM SPRINGS!!

New Year's Eve - TT Palm Springs actually had two New Year's Eve parties. One was in the Family Lodge for everyone who was not able to purchase tickets to the real New Year's Eve party! Tickets were only $5 with everyone bringing appetisers for the food table to share with everyone.

A group of Pickleball players decided to go and bought our tickets early. It's a good thing because tickets were gone in a couple of days! That evening we had two tables together, 13 people. Diane sort of spearheaded the gathering. She suggested in addition to bringing food to share with everyone, we could have a few snacks to have at our table. You know, nuts, pretzels, little nibbles like that.

Well, here is a look at our table!!

The party got started early. Ken and Jack already acting silly. Ken has a "sweet" tiara; Jack has one tiara on his hat and made a beard with a second one!

Rich was not to be outdone. The table center piece makes a good hat!! Diane is beautiful with her tiara.

Here is a picture of one table. Diane's mother Mickey, Margie, Dean, Bill, Delores, Dee, Rich. That's Matt with his Biker shirt to the far right!

Close up of the Biker shirt!! Matt really knows how to dress for New Year's Eve!! The shirt made us immediately think of our friend, Bee Jay back home!! He'd love that shirt!!

Later in the evening, the crazy guys had a Wasabi challenge with the Wasabi from the Sushi platter!! Matt started by eating a dab of Wasabi off his finger. "Do that!" he challenged Dean and Rich. They kept the table in an uproar trying to determine who could handle the largest dab of Wasabi!! I don't know who won the challenge! They were all crazy as far as I'm concerned!!

We missed out on the big table picture, so here are Faye and Diane with Jack.

Friends of ours, Bob and Muriel, to the right, and another friend of theirs at the far left. They said later that they did not make it until midnight!! Party Poopers!!

This is the band. Not real good dancing music, but at least they were lively.

Well, most of our group did make it until midnight and danced the last song!! The party was a lot of fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!

NEW YEAR'S EVE PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT AT TT PALM SPRINGS, CA

Dec. 31, New Year's Eve - At TT Palm Springs we had our usual Saturday Pickleball tournament even though it was New Year's Eve. It was a lot of fun for all!! Here is just some of the action.

The fearsome foursome!! Rich, Will, Bob and Dean.

Faye with Dick.

Dean and Jack.

Matt and Rick.

David and Bob.

Linda and Dee. Dee ended up with Second Place.

Rich, First Place Winner, and Dick.

Congratulations to the winners and to all participants!

Thanks again, Rich, for another great tournament!!

MY HEART ACHES FOR TT PIO PICO!

Dec. 26 - We arrived at TT Pio Pico about the middle of the day on Wednesday, 22nd. We were lucky again!! Went straight to the south side and found an open 50 AMP site!! Pulled right in! The weather was very nice during the day, but down into the twenties during the night! Burrr

We spent most of our time away from the campground. It was not until Tuesday, 26th that we took a drive around the campground. We could not believe how things have changed!!

Almost all of the sites in "E" and "L" sections (down near the Adult Pool and a favorite area for a lot of transit RVers) have been turned to Leased Sites, virtually eliminating those sections from use by travelling RVers. "!

But we were astounded when we drove over to the North side. Many of the sites on that side have also been turned to long-term sites. Many of the sites looked like the occupants have been there for years!! In other words, they look like "Squatters"! At the end of December when you think Pio Pico would be filled to capacity, the North side was nearly empty, except for the long-term campers! It was really sad!!

The pictures don't show the full impact. There's a lot of "stuff" behind the shrubbery.

A nice gazebo but lots of stuff accumulated along the fence.


This site wins the prize!!!

One thing that has not changed since we were last there in February 2011 is the Pickleball courts!! They are exactly as we left them!! The surface has not been cleaned; the nets are down; cracks are forming in the middle of the court. It is a real shame to let nice courts go unattended to deteriorate.

PS. No Pickleball court has been painted under the shelter at the family lodge!!

CHRISTMAS AT RICHARD'S, CHULA VISTA, CA

Dec. 24 - We moved to TT Pio Pico this week, down near Chula Vista, so that we could spend some time with Ken's son Richard during Christmas. The schedule in Richard's household was a bit hectic this year. We arrived at Pio Pico on Wednesday, 22nd, and discovered that plans had changed and Christmas dinner would be late that afternoon! We quickly put a Costco ham in the over, backed a pumpkin pie, and made sweet potatoes to carry over for dinner. Richard prepared the turkey, mashed potatoes and all the trimmings. Everything was delicious!!

Ken carving the ham; Richard in the background.

Richard has to boys, Russell and Jacob. His fiance Marlo has two children as well, Andrew and Emily. We were all together for dinner that evening, as well as Marlo's family who were visiting. I should have taken pictures during dinner because we were never all together again for Christmas pictures!

We visited again on Friday. I had promised Emily that I would show her how to make the wonderful Almond Rocha.

Emily stirring and stirring and stirring! (Sun shinning in my eye through the window.)

Spreading toffee in the cookie tin.

Sprinkling chopped nuts on top.

The project was finished the next day. We were not around for the eating!!

Merry Christmas Richard and family. It was good seeing you again, although all too briefly!

MAKING ALMOND ROCHA WITH PAM AND GLORIA!! YUMMMMM!!

Dec. 21 - This afternoon, Gloria and I went over to Pam's Kitchen to learn to make Almond Rocha! Pam had us stirring a pound of butter and sugar until it became just the right consistency and color. Then we added slivered almonds to the mix. After a few more stirs, we poured the mixture into cookie tins and spread it evenly to all edges. While it was still very hot, we put chocolate chips on top. As the chips melted, we spread the chocolate all over. Next, sprinkles of minced walnuts.

Next, we had to wait overnight until the chocolate hardened. Then we would flip the entire candy over, spread more melted chocolate chips and minced nuts. Wait overnight for that to harden.

Next, I broke it into bite-size pieces and enjoyed!!! Tastes like Heath Bars!!

Thank you so much, Pam!! That was a fun experience!