Wow!

I’m in Love with Simon

January 16, 2015 kathygetto 10 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

There’s a new man in my life, and his name is Simon.

I just met him for the first time yesterday, but it was love at first sight! At least on my side…

Here’s a picture of Simon.

Simon is “The Perfect, Portable, Practical Pickleball Partner”. (If you remove “Pickleball” from the tag line, Simon sounds like a vibrator. 🙂 )

Carol and I went to a training at our resort yesterday and were introduced to Simon for specific practice drills.

What a blast!

Simon is the best! He pitches lobs, dinks, and drops to us so we can perfect our shots.

I felt like a nearly professional athlete as I played against Simon.

Too much fun!

Memories

What Number Are You?

January 15, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

There is a lot of “round robin” pickleball play at this resort.

What that means is that we are all assigned a number and then paired off with different partners to play different teams for each game.

Round robins are a great way to get lots of varied play, but they can get a bit confusing because we have to match up with our different playing partners and opponents.

We are continually asking each other, “What number are you?”

That reminds me of a true story of when Melissa was babysitting our friends’ child Teddy…

Teddy grew up on a dairy ranch and loved everything to do with the cows and ranching, so much so that it was hard for him to go school. He’d rather have been at home with the cows than wasting time at school.

Teddy hated kindergarten so much that he ran to the chain link fence, clung to it, and screamed, “Don’t leave me here!” after his mother dropped him off each morning.

When Melissa was babysitting him, they were talking about school.

Teddy asked Melissa, “What number are you?”

“What?” Melissa asked, unsure what he meant.

“What number are you?” Teddy repeated. “You know, I’m a zero. Next year, I’ll be a one. What number are you?”

Finally Melissa realized that Teddy was asking what grade she was in.

“Oh,” she said, “I’m a ten,” indicating that she was a sophomore in tenth grade. “Next year, I’ll be an eleven, and then the year after I’ll finally be a twelve.”

Teddy looked at Melissa with a horrified look and wailed, “You mean it goes ALL the way to TWELVE?”

PS I’m happy to report that Teddy not only made it through twelve, he also complete college and is working with his beloved cows as a dairy farmer. 🙂

Cerebrations

What the Duck?

January 14, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

It rained yesterday.

No, not that much. 🙂

But enough to make people crabby; especially snow birds who come to the area to escape any semblance of winter weather.

I, of course, loved it. I had just finished playing two hours of pickleball when it started.

Thirty sprinkles turned into a downpour within minutes.

I helped pick up equipment and was drenched immediately.

I slowly started riding my bike back home so that I could enjoy it. One of the other players stopped to tell me how awful the rain was.

I told her that I actually liked it.

She said, “Then move to Oregon! That’s why we’re called The Ducks!

Not sure how much of her anger was at the rain and how much was disappointment over the college football national championship. 🙂

Places

A Tale of Two Resorts

January 13, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

We are at this resort in El Mirage for another 18 days before we return to the resort in Gold Canyon for the month of February.

Both resorts are owned by Roberts Resorts.

They own several resorts in several states, but we’ve only stayed at these two.

We’ve heard through the rumor mill that each one of these two resorts were ‘given’ to two different Roberts sons.

We have no clue if that’s true, but we’re do know that the resorts are very different in environment, culture, and operations.

Pueblo El Mirage (PEM) is nearly twice the size of Gold Canyon (GC). PEM is more centrally located near more subdivisions and communities.

But surprisingly GC is closer to our favorite shopping.

PEM heavily relies on volunteers to ‘monitor’ various activity centers. For example, the computer lab is opened limited hours and you can only use the lab if someone’s there to watch you.

At GC, the computer lab is open from six in the morning to ten at night. And they apparently trust their residents because there’s no watch dog.

There are lots of activities at both resorts, but GC has more events that are for the community at large. Every Tuesday there’s a hot dog lunch that’s only $3.50 for a Costco-like hot dog, chips, and a soft drink.

And Friday’s The Buzz is well attended because free coffee and donuts are provided. The manager is brilliant to offer it because resort news is reported during the event as we all munch away… Sure, sometimes we have to listen to a short pitch from an insurance salesman who sponsors the event, but that’s a small price to pay for an apple fritter. 🙂

We’ve enjoyed our stay at PEM because we’ve been close to our great friends Dean and Lil while they are enjoying their stay in the Valley of the Sun. We would have had to drive 70+ miles to visit them had we stayed at GC.

Our travels this year are helping us figure out what we like. And staying at two very different resorts is helping us figure that out even more.

While we’re very glad we stayed at the two different resorts, we’ve decided that if we come back to Arizona next winter (AFTER CHRISTMAS), we well be staying in Gold Canyon.

We like the community and activities, we love hiking in the Superstition Mountains, and I’m hoping to score a cabinet in the sewing room so I can quilt lots!

Cerebrations

Best Weekend of the Year

January 12, 2015 kathygetto 2 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

The second weekend of January is the best weekend of the year…

At least it is for professional football fanatics like me.

There are only four games, but those four games are usually very high quality games because they are theoretically the best eight teams of the year.

This weekend’s games were all good, very good. No big blowouts. Very few controversial calls.

I don’t really care who wins or loses. I just like for everyone to play well. (Yep, I’m a sports Pollyanna.)

And they did, so that’s what made this weekend’s football so great!

Cerebrations

Weekends

January 11, 2015 kathygetto 6 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

One of the things that has surprised both Rich and me is the fact that most RVers still honor the weekend.

Weekends are treated differently than the rest of the week.

It makes no sense because 99% of us aren’t working but those old habits of Monday through Friday being different than Saturday and Sunday must die hard.

Many wait until the weekend to do their grocery shopping.

Others was their vehicles (including their RVs) only on the weekends.

Bob, a pickleball friend told me that he only plays Monday through Friday. “Do you rest on Saturday and Sunday?” I asked him. “No, weekends are spent with my wife,” he said with a smile.

Apparently playing pickleball is his job… Or maybe he works weekends and has five days off. 🙂

Cerebrations

Delerium Trenums

January 10, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

The RV resort we are staying at now provides no Internet connectivity other than a slow WiFi hot spot in the club house.

We decided to purchase connectivity from a company recommended by the resort for $30 for the month, but unfortunately it’s worse than dial-up when it actually works. 🙁

So this month I’m going through the delirium trenums of Internet withdrawal.

It’s not pretty.

So I’m counting the days until we’re move back to Gold Canyon because they have fabulous Internet included in our rental fee.

Cerebrations

1 = Dumb But All = Dumber

January 9, 2015 kathygetto 4 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

I went to a pickleball club meeting yesterday. While we’re not going to be here very long, I wanted to pay my membership dues. And I wanted to volunteer some time to help with training entry level players.

Most meetings are at least a bit counterproductive and at least a bit of a time suck.

This meeting was no exception.

I’ve been to and run a lot of meetings over the years as I’m sure you have, too, Gentle Blog Reader.

The theme for volunteer organizational meetings generally follows the same agenda:

Some people are doing all the work.
They are getting tired of it.
The rest of the people need to step it up.
No one in the audience volunteers to help.
So the same people keep doing the work…

I was talking with Melissa about it, and she quoted a demotivational poster, “None of us is as dumb as all of us.”

I had never heard that expression before, but it makes perfect sense for office and volunteer organizational meetings…

But according to science, the most important thing to a successful meeting is to have donuts! So I’ll be bringing donuts to the next meeting… 🙂

Cerebrations

One Word

January 8, 2015 kathygetto 14 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

I was driving down the street the other day and noticed a car with a bumper sticker on it.

That was the only bumper sticker on the car, and it was just like that.

One word stating (what I’m guessing is) the most important characteristic of the car owner.

One and only one.

So that got me to wondering…

What word would I use to describe myself.

Limiting to just one is very difficult.

I think that the three things that define me the most are the year I was born, the fact that I’m a female, and the affects of having an identical twin.

If I was born in the 1600’s, I would be a totally different person because life itself would be so different (duh) and so short. 🙂

Had I been born a male, I would have a totally different take on life regardless of the era I was born. Just think how different the counter around my bathroom sink would be. 🙂

Being born and raised as an identical twin greatly altered my life because I didn’t individuate from my parents and siblings as early or as completely as a singleton. Well at least that’s what my therapist told me. 🙂

Knowing those three things and how much each of them affects who I am, I’d have to say that were I to put a bumper sticker with just one word to describe myself to others on my car, I’d choose twin.

So, what would your one word be?

Places

Unnatural Beauty

January 7, 2015 kathygetto 7 Comments

El Mirage, Arizona

It warmed up to closer to normal temperatures yesterday, and Sophie and I took a couple a strolls around the RV Park.

One of the things I like about this park is that dogs are allowed almost everywhere.

It’s quite big here. For example the pickleball courts are a mile’s bike ride from Homer. So there is lots to see while walking around.

On our walks yesterday, I saw lots of beautiful flowers.

For those of you struggling with winter’s brutal cold, here are some pictures of what’s coming your way later in the year…

Snapdragons, one of my favorites!

Not only are the flowers beautiful, they smell divinely! It’s so weird to smell the alyssum knowing that it’s January…

And one of the perks of living in Arizona is that we can walk outside our door and pick a tree ripened orange!

For someone like me who’s never lived in a temperate climate, this feels almost unnatural.

But I’m guessing Phoenix feels even more unnatural in the middle of August.

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Cosmic Kicks

I’m in Love with Simon

What Number Are You?

What the Duck?

A Tale of Two Resorts

Best Weekend of the Year

Weekends

Delerium Trenums

1 = Dumb But All = Dumber

One Word

Unnatural Beauty

Cerebrations of Life