Great Week for Golf

Maybe last winter was a fluke. We just finished two weeks in the 70's and 80's with next week's forecast lookin'good. My golf was also in the 80's as I finally broke 90 on Tuesday, shooting 46-42 on Nancy Lopez Legacy course. We got a little confused at the turn as we thought we should go from Ashley to Erinn, only to find out we should be on Torri. You see, most championship courses in The Villages, which have 27 holes, play alphabetically. On Palmer Legends, we go from Cherry Hill to Laurel to Riley Grove. But not on Lopez! Seems there you go according to the birth order of Nancy's three daughters. :-) On Wednesday, playing on a different course with the neighborhood mixed group, I shot 44. The key to the game that day was not only shooting a low score but trying to 1-putt. This resulted in subtracting a stroke from the team score. I had 4 pars and 4 1-putts. Guess I should put the clubs away but, hey, I'm thinking I might have a chance to shoot my age some day, when I reach my 80's. I read today about a guy who's 84 and shot 72. Don't count me out! Yeah, I know, the picture is Ricky who sent Phil packing yesterday, but he's dressed in pink and I thought you might think it was me since I've let my hair go to it's natural color. :-)

One problem yesterday was the clouds which prohibited us from seeing the launch of the space shuttle. My neighbor's husband went over near the space center and sat in a kayak to watch the launch. Haven't talked to him to find out how it was from that location.

Time to watch our taped version of Survivor. :-)

Beautiful Week

This past week is more like the weather I expected to have in Central Florida. It was sunny and warm all week. Earlier in the week, I actually considered going to New Mexico as my granddaughters have tomorrow off for President's Day but I didn't want to leave such nice weather. As it turns out, Los Alamos weather hasn't been as cold as the forecast earlier in the week. Such is life!

I played Mahjong and Bocce Monday afternoon, golf Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday morning with my Spanish ladies who served us Pasoli for lunch celebrating Valentine's Day. Friday afternoon I joined four neighbor ladies for a fashion show benefiting the Moffitt Cancer Center.


Saturday I spent seven hours working at a garage and bake sale to raise money for our basketball and volleyball teams' trip to National Senior Games in Houston, Texas in June. We are going to have some other fund raisers, such as Bingo and a pancake breakfast.

What can I say??

I realize it's been a couple weeks since I last posted. Since many of my activities these days are repeats, I didn't want to bore you. Let's see if I can think of something "new."

Hmmm...not much new. Arne spends hours improving his art skills and taking classes. I must say, he is getting his old skills back and soon I'll be posting pictures of his work.

I attended a Genealogy class at the Life Long Learning College last Friday. It was an Introduction so we were given Ancestral Charts and many websites on which to do research. I have been checking out the 1900-1930 US Census and discovered that on my father's side, my great-great paternal grandfather and grandmother came to the US from Germany, settling in Illinois. My great-great grandfather (Danner) on the maternal side was born in Switzerland, his wife was born in Germany and they also settled in Illinois. I'll have to do some deeper research to delve further into my mother's lineage, since she was born in Denmark.(Picture-Grandparents, John & Lula Kalkwarf)

Arne and I have seen three of the Oscar-nominated movies the past two weeks. We saw True Grit, Winter Bones and The King's Speech. They were all good, all different. I think Colin Firth will probably win Best Actor for King's Speech.

We invited a Chicago couple over for the Super Bowl. We had all hoped the Bears would be there so instead three of us were pulling for the Packers, especially Rogers. Glad he won MVP and hope he doesn't change with his new super stardom.

I continue to enjoy teaching the ESL class. The Spanish ladies are fun and keep me grounded and appreciative of what I have. They have so little but always have a big smile. I learned a week ago that one husband lost his job three months ago and another lost his just last week. I know I have at least one US citizen in the class as she told me about the test she had to take. As for the others, I don't ask, don't tell.

I played just 9 holes of golf this morning. It was very cold and 2 of our 3 groups quit after the 4th hole so they could get a rain check. I was playing with a Canadian and one from South Dakota so they wanted to finish the front 9. I'm so glad we got a Curtis cab on our golf cart so I could close the doors. This helped tremendously. The other gal had a heater in her golf cart. I've looked at the heaters at Ace Hardward three times. I always walk away because of the $94.99 price tag. Today, Arne said he's concerned about the safety so glad I didn't buy one.

No Super Bowl for Da Bears :-(

Disappointing to see the Bears lose to the Packers. Guess we'll now cheer on Rogers and Co. I skipped basketball practice this afternoon because I wanted to see the game. I stubbed my little toe on Friday and couldn't wear tennis shoes so at least I had an excuse for not playing. The good news is that while the toe was very discolored Friday night, today the coloring is practically back to normal with very little pain.

Lots of Spanish this week, teaching Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Spanish class Thursday evening.

Wednesday afternoon was the BMS Golf Challenge on Palmer Legends course. There were 12 men's teams and 12 women's teams. Average scores were used to determine the winner and the men defeated the women 9-3.We had a good time with lots of spirited "trash talking" before the meet. We ladies began the afternoon with a swallow of a butterscotch and Bailey's drink. Tasted good but didn't seem to help our golf. I was considered the A player on my team so I knew we were in trouble. Actually, my teammate and I didn't lose too badly, 41-44. The men's team got a nice trophy to pass around the neighborhood while we women got a small ceramic toilet with gilded edges as our "loser" trophy. Wait 'til next year!! Arne joined us for dinner at Palmer Legends. Rather than prize money, we donated money and $1300 was collected for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It was a fun day!

Friday evening I had invited three Arizona couples for dinner. Due to illness and outpatient surgery, we ended up with just one couple, the Smiths, our neighbors in Terravita. We had a great visit and I had enough food for our Saturday dinner, after which Arne and I watched "Social Network", the movie about the founding of Facebook. Very interesting. Of course, I got on the web today to see how much was true...at least 70%.

MahJongg, pickleball and so ends another week in The Villages...

Full Day

This was a totally full day after a so-so week. Arne and I began the day by driving over 20 miles to a Leesburg Presbyterian Church where Stop Hunger Now had set up a food packing station. We were given bags of rice and spices plus soy for protein which we had to weigh to make sure they were 377-382 grams. Depending on their weight, we either took out rice or added it. We only worked 2 hours out of 5 but during our time, 60,000 meals were packaged. I think Arne and I packed several hundred of those. We were keeping the runners busy. I should add that our church gave its Christmas Eve offering to this project. Over $26,000 was collected. Many generous people!

From there, Arne went to his Saturday art group. I went to pickleball for an hour+ and then practiced bocce as our new season starts Monday. I then went to practice chipping and putting as Wednesday is the BMS (Bridgeport at Miona Shores) Championship Challenge with the women against the men. I think we're going to lose but who knows what the rules will be. I invited Arne to come to the "banquet." Tonight, we're watching NFL football.

Last night, we had neighbors, Brad and Roseann, for dinner. We enjoy their company and we seem to stay together four hours, a good sign that each other's company is appreciated.

We had another cold week and covered out plants three nights although only two might have been necessary.

I taught my ESL class Tuesday and Thursday and Thursday night attended the first session of my Spanish class. When the instructor handed out the review of last semseter's learning, I told the teacher I thought I should retake the previous semester's class. He said he didn't think so but would abide by my decision. By the end of the class, I decided I'd stay with this class, which is supposed to have more conversational Spanish and if I felt the desire to repeat anything, I'd repeat this class.

Granddaughter Kadin turned 10 yesterday. I sent her a book of her first 10 years, from the Swensen perspective. For now, that means little as the most important birthday present...getting her ears pierced! This is something she's wanted for years and Erik decided she was finally old enough. In the Spanish culture, they pierce ears at a young age. Of course, Gracie doesn't think this is fair.









Our beautiful grandson...


Gracie, Nick, Kadin and Taylor shopping for Christmas presents in Santa Fe.

Keeping My Resolution

My resolution was to play more pickleball. I played 4 times last week and played this afternoon so the resolution is lookin' good. Of course, we're only into the second week of the new year. :-)

Tuesday night, Arne and I were treated to an "Up Close and Personal" show at Katie Belle's with The Crystals. Our friends, Roger and Nancy, invited us to join them. The Crystals were popular in the early 60's for songs such as "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me" and "He's a Rebel." Only the gal in the middle is one of the originals. She started singing at age 15. The Crystals were preceded by 45 minutes of Rocky and the Rollers, a VERY popular group in The Villages. About 400 Villagers, including 24 from our Village, are joining Rocky on a Caribbean cruise the first week in February. It sounded like fun but it's on Oasis of the Seas, over 6000 passengers, which sounded bigger than we'd like. We'll see how it goes and maybe join them next year.

Thursday night, I led our book club discussion of "The Help." It's an excellent book. As someone who grew up in the Midwest, the novel gave me insights into southern life where many white women had black help who raised their children.

Yesterday, Arne and I attended a breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. Our neighbors, Dr. Lew and Barbara Jones, were the hosts as Dr. Jones is president of the MLK Commemorative Committee. Three young people were awarded scholarships, including a 16-year-old girl who just completed her first semester at University of Florida with straight A's. She graduated from The Villages Charter High School with a 4.7. The guest speaker was Val Demings, the first woman, also black, to be Chief of Police of Orlando. Her husband is Sheriff of Orange county. Quite a couple!

Basketball started up again after a month off for holidays. Talk is on the National Senior Games to be played in June in Houston. We're looking at fielding a team. Will see.

Happy New Year!!

Our weather finally warmed up and we were able to put the frost cloth away for awhile. Arne and I had a very nice New Year's Eve. We went to the 5 PM showing of "The Tourist" which was entertaining. After dinner, with too much food, we came home for an hour before going out again at 9:30. Neighbors gathered at a home down by the lake where we watched the "ball drop" at 10 PM and again at 11. We gathered on the street, drinking champagne, visiting and dancing to music provided by our friend, Roger. Here I am talking to Roger in his New Year's tuxedo.

This afternoon I played pickleball for a couple hours. My resolution is to play several times a week in 2011. Won't be easy to do with all my other activities.

The kids went snowboarding in New Mexico over Christmas. Here's a picture of Erik, Nick, Taylor, Kadin and Gracie. The girls like it better than skiing. Kadin called Erik today to tell him their mother took them snowboarding and Kadin got off the lift by herself. :-)