Monday, January 14, 2013

Monday:

Another COLD day in Paradise.  We are not used to all this cold weather, but we know it won't be cold for long.  In fact it is suppose to be close to 70 by the end of the week.  We are ready for that.

This morning we were up early and ready to go on our Monday bike ride.  The temps when we left, was in the upper 30's.  We debated about going, but we didn't want to miss the ride.  So we bundled up and got ready to head out.  When we got to the Pickle ball courts where we meet, there were only a couple of people there.   Soon more and more riders came.  By the time we left, we there were 28 of us.  What dedication considering the temps.  I know of 6 people who didn't come because of other things going on.  Because it was cold, we only rode 10 miles.  We at brunch this morning at Coco's.  Once again we had a wonderful breakfast.  Then back to the park.  We arrived back around noon.

After checking the mailbox, we rode to Janice and David's park model to see the new carpet they were having installed today.  I really like the carpet.

When we got home, we rested a bit.  Then I went over to talk to Karma, Gary and Kathy.

This afternoon, we went to Costco, Sams and Frys to get a few things.

At 5:30 both Harris and I went up to do line dancing.  I am so proud of Harris for wanting to go with me to try line dancing.  I am 3 sessions ahead of him.  It was a good workout.  I am really enjoying line dancing more and more each week.  If I continue to enjoy it as much as I am right now, I want to go buy a pair of dancing shoes.

After dance we headed home to have dinner.  Thank goodness for left overs.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

bundled up for the ride

Ready to go

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Once again, we woke up to really COLD weather  Again, we had unhooked the water hose from the camper.  We also had the water meter and pipe covered to keep them a little bit warmer.  We heard it was colder her than in Anchorage, Alaska.

We went to church at 8:00 a.m. for choir practice and church.  Dave's sermon this morning was a really good one.

After church we went back home for lunch.  Then I went for a long walk with Janice and Sadie (their dog).  We walked about 3 miles again.

Home again to get some work on Consortium done.

Tomorrow is another day

Have a great day!
Thursday: January 10, 2013

We were up early for Harris to go with the hiking group for their weekly hike to Saguaro Lake.  It was a 6 mile hike.  The leader had told them to bring a snack.  I packed him a peanut butter sandwich, and apple.  They left at 7:45 a.m. and got back at 1:30 p.m.  He was tired, but said it was a worthwhile hike.  

Jan Powell pick me up and then we went to get Ann to go to PEO.   I must remember not to eat much before the meeting.  I forgot at each meeting we have a mini brunch.  Luckily I had a light breakfast.  Jan brought us home around lunch time.

Thursday afternoon was my second line dance lesson.  I am really enjoying line dancing again.  It all is coming back to me.  I saw new faces that I had not seen on Monday.  I am looking forward  to Monday again.

Friday: January 11, 2013

This morning when we woke up it was chilly, so we decided to wait to walk until the sun was up and warmer.   So after breakfast, we headed out to take our morning walk.  We headed toward Janice and David's house to pick up Janice for our walk.  The three of us walked about 2 miles.  Harris headed back home, and Janice and I walked another mile.

Back home, we cleaned the house as we were expecting company.  We were really excited that Max and Dave were coming to see us.  We met Maxine (Max) and Dave in Tennessee 2 yrs ago.  We have not seen them since.  However we have kept up with them through email and their blog.  They arrived around 12:00.  We had lunch here at the camper, panini sandwiches, chips, and veggies.  After lunch we walked around the park so they could see all the amenities here at Paradise.

During our walk, I had a conference call, so while we walked I talked.  Dave and Max left around 4:00 p.m.

 Saturday, January 12, 2013

Brrrr, we got up to a really cold day.  The cold front from the jet stream has reached all the way down to Sun City, AZ.  Boy are we not used to this kind of weather.  Funny when it is warmer in Nashville than here in Sun City. Luckily we had unhooked our hose from the camper and used the pump.  

So once again, we waited until the sun was up and warmer to walk.  Since David is out of town, we met Janice again to walk around the park.  We stopped at the ballroom for our monthly "Shoppers Paradise"  After shopping at Shoppers paradise, Janice and I headed out to lunch at Sweet Tomato.  This has become our favorite restaurant.  After lunch we headed for Home Goods to do a little shopping.  Well neither of us bought much.  I bought napkins to go with my placemats.  

Living in the RV makes shopping not as much fun as it used to be.  Every time I buy something, I have to figure out what I am going to get rid of.

I made a new recipe for dinner, which we really liked.  I think I will keep that one.

I hope you all stay warm and have a wonderful day








Monday, January 7, 2013

OK we are ready to go
Bike riding this morning.  We headed up to the tennis courts to meet the group.  I figured it would be a BIG group, but boy was I surprised to see how many.  The count for brunch was 28.We ate at Carrows restaurant.  That is 10 more than our largest group so far.  With so many new people riding today, we only rode 10 miles.   Previous weeks we have gone a bit more. 

We checked our list of things to do for the afternoon, and began them by calling Verizon to see what is going on with my phone.  It will charge sometimes and sometime it doesn't.  The Verizon service people walked me through some steps to re figure my phone.  I am not sure this will help.  We think it is a connection problem.  So it looks like I will be getting a new phone.

Once we were back at the camper, I headed over to our neighbors to talk to them, since we have not seen them since they left.

Tonight was my first line dance lesson up at the ballroom.  It felt really good line dancing again.   I have not done line dancing for over 30 yrs.  I think it is all coming back.  My next lesson is 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.   I am trying to talk Harris into going with me.  It is really good exercise. 

All in all it was a wonderful day!!

conversation before we leave

Getting ready to leave the park

Heading back after brunch

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Tuesday:

This morning there was a presentation in the Multi purpose room regarding the Peoria Library.  It seems the library allows winter visitors to have a library card.  Wow what a plus.  After getting the information about the library, we went over to pick up Ann and Gary to go to the Tivoli Gardens for breakfast with the Park PEO group.  This group is a social group.  I believe there were 16 of us at breakfast. 

After breakfast, we headed back to the park to run some errands, which included going to the library to get our library card.   We both now have library cards. 

When we got back home, I went to work for Consortium.  With the upcoming Consortium event in February, I have lots to do.


Wednesday

Our walk felt really good this morning, since we missed it yesterday.  We walked a little over 3 miles today.  We keep trying to add more and more to our morning walk. Breakfast was fresh grapefruit from here at the park and toast.  It is really nice to get fresh grapefruit and oranges that come right off the tree, right here in the park.  Lots of people After breakfast it was back to work at my computer, until lunch. 

After lunch, I headed to church to pick up Ellen (our pastor's wife and my friend) for lunch.  We ate a really neat place called WOW (Women of Worth).  It is owned and run by women.  The food was really great. 

After lunch we headed to out to take care of some things that needed to be done.  One of the things we did was stop by McDonald's where Chelle works to visit with her.  It was great to see her.  We don't get to see her very often since she works so much.

The weather was really nice today.  It was up near 70.  But that is going to change really quickly.  Starting tomorrow night we are going to have a cold front come through.  So I thoroughly enjoyed today. 

Back home and more computer work. 

Have a great day

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sunday

Happy 12th night

Church this morning.  The choir was back in session after a week of last week.  So we were up and at church by 8:00 a.m. for rehearsal.  Since today is Epiphany, we were singing a song about the kings. 
It is nice to see the congregation growing again, since so many winter visitors are returning to Faith Church.  Pastor Dave welcomed them all back. 

After church we came home for lunch. Harris went out to check out what was going on with our propane bottles.  This morning before we went to church the furnace was not coming on even though it was colder than the setting.  It seems the regulator was not working right.  Luckily Harris had a spare.  So tomorrow he will take the empty bottle to get it filled.  Propane here in Sun City is very cheap, thank goodness, since we are using the furnace each night. 

As I was talking to Kathy, our neighbor, our friends Karma and Gary pulled up to park in their campsite.  We have been waiting for them to come since the 1st.  Gary and Karma were our next door neighbors last year, and are behind us and one over.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to spend much time with them, as David and Janice arrived our their bikes for our bike ride.  Our plan was to go for a ride outside of the park.  Today we rode about 10 miles, in the neighborhoods near us. 

After our ride we went to David and Janice's house for a visit.  David made us omelets.  It was a wonderful omelet.  We walked home.  (Janice and David live on 25th and we live on 16th). 

Have a wonderful day!

Thursday, January 3rd.

We woke up this morning to a really cool day, that was dreary.  The sun was kind of out, but not totally.  The sun finally did come out, but it still was rather cool.  My friend Jan Powell, from church came by the park to pick Ann and myself up to go to lunch and an afternoon of visiting thrift shops.  We had a really good time.  I only bought a round table cloth for the 3 legged table we have outside. 
After I got back, Janice and David walked up to visit with us.  They stayed until dinner time.  Then they walked back to their park model. 


Friday, January 4th

Another cool day in Sun City, AZ.    Since we had not done the laundry for 2 weeks, I thought it was time to go to the laundry room to get them washed.  While the clothes are in the washer, we head out in the park to begin our walk.  It takes 25 minutes to wash.  When the time is up, we head back to put the clothes in the dryer, or hang them outside.  I am really glad they have a solar dryer outside the laundry room.  It is so great to hang the sheets outside, plus any other things that need to be hung.  While the clothes are in the dryer, we head out again to finish our walk.   Except for Friday, after putting the clothes in the dryer we went over to the Pickle ball court for the Robbon cutting and clinic.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for the whole clinic, but it was nice to see some people who really know how to play "pickle ball".  We have tried it once and would like to try it a little more, but have not really gotten up there to do that.  We have 2 new courts, that just opened this year.  There are lots of people who like to play "pickle ball" 

Pickle Ball is played on a court like tennis, but smaller.  It is played with paddles (like ping pong, but larger).  The balls look sort of like wiffle balls.  It is slower than tennis, but you still get a great workout. 

After the laundry was done, we had lunch plans with Art and Lilly Bell, friends we have known from interim gatherings.  They live in Sun City West, which is not very far from here.  We met them at their house and then headed to Red Lobster for lunch.  Art and Lilly have a really nice house.  We enjoyed being with them. 

Friday night was the New Year's dinner and dance at the ballroom here at the park.  We had tickets for both the dinner and dance. I was excited about the night.  David and Janice came by the house.  After taking pictures, we walked over to Ann and Gary's place to get them to walk with us up to the ballroom.  When we arrived, we found our table (we signed up for a particular table), and sat down.   We didn't know who our last table mate would be, but it was another younger couple.  The night was really great.  We all had a wonderful time.  After the dance we walked back home. 


Saturday, December 5th

This morning Janice and I went to DSW to look for shoes.  After our shoe shopping, we went to lunch at Sweet Tomato.  We both vowed to go back there.  What a wonderful place to eat.  We had a BIG salad that we prepared ourselves.  We will beck!!

Saturday it was sunny, but cool, we decided to go for a bike ride around the park.  If we ride all the streets and perimeter  and all the streets, it is 4 1/2 miles.  As we were riding we saw a couple we knew from last year, who arrived on Friday.  They were just getting ready to go on a bike ride too.  So the 4 of us set out to ride the park.  All in all Harris and I rode about 7 miles.  By the time we got back home it was time for dinner. 


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Monday:

New Years Eve: 

We went to dinner with Janice and David to Line Thai for an early dinner.  We picked them up around 6:00 and headed to the restaurant.  We had eaten at Line Thai once and really liked it.  Janice and David trusted our judgment on the place to eat.  We had a wonderful dinner.  After dinner we headed back to the camper where we played Phase 10 until close to midnight.  We have not been up until midnight for years.  We watched the ball drop in New York and then several other cities as we waited for midnight here in Sun City.    We toasted the new year champagne!   This was a wonderful New Years Eve. 


Tuesday: 

Happy New Year!! 

Having been up late on New Years Eve, we slept in on New Years day.  After breakfast, we watched the Rose parade.  After the parade we started watching some football, before we went out for a walk.  While on our walk, we met Janice, who asked us if we wanted to go for a hike.  So back home we went to get ready to go with them.  They picked us up a few minutes later.  We headed for Thunder bird Preserve, where we hiked for about 2 hrs.  It was a beautiful day to take a hike.  I was so excited to see so many families out hiking too.  There were lot and lots of people on the trails.  It was nice to see so many families there and not watching football on TV. 

After our hike, we drove over to check out another trail to hike another day.  Then took a drive up around pinnacle peak.  We ended up at a brew pub for dinner.  We got back home close to dark. 
My hips were sore, so I spent the rest of the night resting in the chair. 

All in all it was a wonderful day. 

View of one of the other mountains

David and Janice
Parking lot below
Wow look down there

On top of the trail