September Routine

September in The Villages brings cooling temps, humidity dropping from 96% to 75%, and people returning from their summer homes. For me it also means resuming Sunday basketball practice and playing more golf. Oh my gosh...I mustn't forget those pesky lovebugs who just seem to screw and then die. I opened our front door yesterday to see the front porch littered with hundreds of lovebugs, some screwin' and many more dead from the exertion. This must be the reason everyone here has a screened in lanai. Thank goodness, they only appear in May and September.

Arne and I joined the Chicagoland Club last March but have yet to get to a meeting. That will change this week as today we went to one of the country clubs to watch the Bears with other Bear fans. Tuesday night, we're going to our first meeting. The Bears game was a bust after QB Cutler got sacked AGAIN and the Saints recovered the fumble. That was the turning point in the game and it wasn't good for the Bears who lost 30-13. Next week they play the Packers. Unless the Bears offensive line gives more protection to Cutler, the Packers are going to walk right over them.

Never having been a college football fan before we moved here, I enjoyed watching Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. So we are watching more of it...college football, that is. Florida has several good teams who could be very good next year.

Movies we've seen recently on our Saturday night "date"...The Help, The Debt and yesterday Contagion. They were all good, but I wouldn't rate any of them as outstanding. Good movies to see on DVD.

I've been playing pickleball 4-5 mornings a week, depending on my golf schedule. So, life is good here, where we have 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday. :-)

Travel To & From Oakland

Wednesday evening, August 24, Tim and Marilyn from Scottsdale arrived for a short visit. Arne and I were scheduled to fly to Oakland on Friday, the 26th. After watching the weather channel for days, we decided Hurricane Irene might cause us a problem so changed our flight to Saturday morning. This required changing reservations for rental car and hotel in CA but also gave us a little more time with Tim and Marilyn. They loved pickleball as we played Thursday and Friday mornings. Marilyn promised to come back again for a longer visit. They were quite impressed with The Villages.

Arne and I stayed near the airport in Orlando Friday night (26th) and left our car there. As we began our return home on Thursday, Sept. 1, Arne mentioned that he wasn't sure where he'd put the keys. Once we got to the airport, we found a table in a corner near Security so he could go through his suitcase. No key! I called the places we'd stayed in CA and no key! I actually made 13 calls that day and 11 calls on Friday. Such a mess! We couldn't decide whether to take a shuttle home, get our extra key, drive the Corvette back to pick up the Avalon OR to have the car towed to a Toyota dealer and have another key made. We stayed in Orlando Thursday night and the next morning the towing company sent a flatbed truck. This wouldn't work as there was not enough room for the truck. The next truck was smaller with front wheel lift but no way to get at the front of our car as another car was parked in that spot. After finding out that it was going to cost almost $500 to have a new FOB made, we decided getting our other key was the best thing to do. We were also hoping the lost key would be found. As we're standing in front of the hotel thirty minutes later, waiting for their shuttle to take us to the airport where we could get a van to take us home, Arne noticed our car was gone from its parking spot. We walked over there to find the towing company had come back! There were 4 guys with the two different trucks. They had put concrete under the front wheels and dragged the car out of its spot. We told them we didn't want it taken to Toyota. Since they couldn't put it back, they said they would store it overnight. So...this afternoon we'll drive back to Orlando to pick it up.

The good news is that Arne finally remembered that he had put the key in the nightstand drawer. Sure enough, after calling the hotel they were able to find the key. This morning, I'm lying in bed and remember I left a bathing suit, coverup and a tank top in a dresser drawer in that same hotel! I was blaming Arne's forgetfulness on his turning 70. Guess I'm already there. :-(

Visiting California Cousins

Our trip to California was to surprise cousin Eileen at her 70th birthday party and surprise her we did. The party was Mexican Fiesta and Eileen's daughter-in-law had done a superb job with the decorations. Along with the Mexican cuisine, there was a performance by a Mariachi band.

Eileen and son, Stephen

Stephen's vineyard behind Eileen's house

Marge, Sharon, Arne, Lynn
We stayed at John Muir Inn in Martinez, birthplace of the martini and Joe DiMaggio. This Inn was just two miles from Eileen's home. We spent Sunday with her and she drove us to the waterfront which is actually the east end of San Francisco Bay.

Monday, we went with Eileen, her son Eric and grandson Evan, to San Francisco. We rode BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Powell Street and then took a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. We had lunch at Bodin's, home of delicious sourdough bread. Thanks to Evan's insistence on going into a gift shop, we discovered Hyde Street Pier which is a historical site under the National Park Service. I was able to use my Golden Eagle Passport to get us onto the ships for no charge. We spent over an hour walking through an old ferry which was used before the Golden Gate bridge was built and a ship used to haul cargo to and from San Francisco.

Tuesday, we checked out of the Inn and drove to cousin Marge's home where we spent the next two nights. We joined another cousin, Lynn and her family, for lunch at their country club
.

Lunch at Castlewood. Aunt Eleanor is center front.

Wednesday, Eileen came to Marge's so the cousins could do more reminiscing while looking at pictures from times past.

We had a delightful five days in northern California. The weather was perfect...comfortable during the day and cool in the evenings.