Beautiful weather, Golf and Basketball

Our weather continues to be lovely. Played golf Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday afternoon, I played basketball in The Villages Senior Games. We played another Villages team so won another medal because of no competition in our age group. :-(

Thursday evening, Arne and I went to Lake Sumter Landing for the St. Patrick's Day parade. We had never seen so many people at the town square. We lucked out on a parking space and then lucked out as we spotted other transplants from Terravita in the front row on the parade route and...they had two extra chairs! So we had front row seats for the parade which lasted almost 45 minutes. Lots of golf carts decorated in green and Irish symbols.

Friday morning, Arne and I drove down to Palm Harbor, near Tampa, for the Transitions PGA Golf Tournament. It took an hour to get parked and on the course. You'd think that they'd have it figured out by now as this is not a new tournament. The rest of the day was good. While it was quite warm, the golf course had lots of shade trees. We left the course about 3:45 and went to our motel. Considering this would be the most money we've EVER PAID for a motel, we were expecting a little more than we got. While we were just across from the water, the motel was in a neighborhood with nothing within walking distance other than a bench along the waterfront. I made a list of our complaints and will be sending them to Choice Hotels. We drove to a Chinese restaurant where we had a delicious meal so all was not lost.

Saturday afternoon I played basketball again. This time we played in the Good Life Senior Games in Clearwater. Our first game was against the Tigerettes from Lousiana. They were national champions in 2009 senior games for 60-64 age group. They have a sponsor who pays for their travel and lodging plus their uniforms. They've been playing together for 15 years. One of the players I talked to said she was 75. Amazing! She didn't look a day over 65. Their youngest turns 65 this year so they will be playing in the 65-69 age bracket. Another told me she played for Canada's Olympic team for seven years. They were very organized with their plays, very physical and at halftime led 18-8. We came back the second half and while we outscored them, we couldn't erase the 10 point lead and lost 30-28. I enjoyed playing against them and as tough as they were, I realized the teams at Nationals in the 55-59 age category would be even tougher and I'd be crazy to play against them. Since we only have a 55 team going to Nationals, I've decided not to go to Houston in June.



This evening Arne and I went to Lake Sumter Landing to meet Al and Donna Smith and friend Judy, who still lives in Terravita. After sitting on the square while drinking our wine, we had dinner at Urban Flats. We then walked down to the lakefront but didn't stay long as it was quite windy and cool.

New Mexico Visit

Last Thursday, I used five modes of transportation...van, plane, bus, train, car...to arrive in Los Alamos for a week-end visit with Erik and my grandchildren. As soon as the doors to the train were opened in Santa Fe, Kadin and Gracie came running onto the train to greet me. It was 7 PM so we headed to Il Vicino restaurant for dinner and then to the yogurt shop for dessert.

Friday morning I drove the girls to school. Because of parent conferences, I picked them up at 11:30. After lunch, I took them to the Aquatic Center where they swam for almost two hours. They had a great time with a group of middle schoolers who were playing volleyball with a beach ball. When we got home, Erik was there with Jeffrey for a special 2.5 hour visit to see his Grandma. Right now, Erik only gets Jeffrey 3-5:30 on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. :-( Friday night, the girls taught me how to play Dance Revolution. It’s a Wii game they got from Santa. It consists of a mat with arrows, left, right, forward and back. You pick a song, difficulty level and then follow the “steps”. If you miss too many, it cuts you off and tells you to try again. I was about 50/50 with the redos and complete finishes. It’s lots of fun and, besides exercise, it works on eye-foot coordination.

Saturday morning, Gracie and I were up early making, pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon as the girls had a basketball tourney. Erik’s their assistant-coach. They played a great first game and it was 10-10 at end of regulation. In sudden death, the ref called a foul, which really wasn’t, on our team and they made one of the free throws to win the game 11-10. Since it was double elimination, the girls played a second game but seemed like they’d given everything in that first game and lost by a large margin. They use a regulation ball with 10-ft baskets so there’s not much scoring. After the game, the girls gathered for end-of-season awards. They all got medals engraved with their name. Then the coach announced four special awards. He said he wanted to show that if you work hard, there are often rewards. Kadin got a trophy for Most Improved. Erik said when the season started last November, she didn’t seem interested but about the third game, something seemed to click and she loves basketball.

Kadin and Gracie prepared our Saturday night dinner. They made bow pasta, two boxes of it! They also fixed a bowl of fruit and a plate of veggies plus bread. Not bad for girls ages 10 and 8. I did most of the clean-up. :-) That night, the three of them performed for me with their Rock Band guitar, drums and microphone for singer.

Sunday morning, Gracie and I again made pancakes and scrambled eggs. After church and lunch, the girls worked on their chores. Erik gives them a list and I was impressed on how well they did, even cleaning their toilet! Gracie also took apart her hamster’s cage and wiped all of the sections down with Clorox wipes. We had Jeffrey from 3-5:30 and Skyped Arne so he could see his newest grandson. Sunday night, Gracie gave Erik and I a tatoo with the kit she got for Christmas. She did a butterfly on my thigh. After my shower this morning, it was gone. :-(


Kadin thinks my hair is too gray and I should go back to blonde while Gracie thinks it's good. For now, I'll stay with what God has given me.

Monday, I traveled back to Florida and some warmer weather. I was disappointed the weather wasn’t warmer Sunday afternoon so we could go to the park. Los Alamos actually had snow Friday afternoon and evening. There were also snow flurries Monday when Erik took me to meet the train. I arrived home around Midnight, very tired of spending so much time on my butt! This morning the scale said I’d lost weight but I know it was lost muscle, not fat.