Pickleball, Rain, Line Dancing, Rain, Pickleball Clinic and More Rain

No, I didn't take any picture of the rain this week, or the lightning, and we haven't seen a Rainbow since we left home. For Rich, every morning is Pickleball. On Tueseday he played at Lake Miona and I did my walk for about 45 minutes. It rained most of the afternoon on Tuesday.

Wednesday Rich enjoyed his pickleball play at Pimlico. I went walking again. The laptop has been giving us a little trouble and I've got some work to get done, and a newsletter to finish.......and it rained most of the afternoon on Wednesday.

Thursday morning we both headed out for El Santiago to play pickleball. The skies were cloudy. We got there just a few minutes before seven. None of the women had arrived yet - just seven other guys and me!! The skies got darker and darker and you could hear thunder in the distance. I finished one game, Rich just two games, and it started to rain!! So we headed back home............... At noon I headed for the Mulberry Rec Center for line dancing. I can't belive how many people attend these classes. There had to be somewhere between 60 and 70 people there. The dances here are more difficult than those we learned in Tanglewood, more challenging, but still a lot of fun. People were talkng about the DJ that would be at Spanish Springs Town Center on Friday night - and planning on dancing in the Square. The rain cleared in the early afternoon. Good News, because Rich was scheduled to help Mo with his Pickleball Clinic at the Churchill Street Rec Center that evening. Mo is doing his clinics at many of the rec centers here and says that the registration lists are filling up within minutes of being posted.
Mo sent the participants to the four courts and sent a trainer to each court. Here's Rich working with his group.
All of the people who work with Mo, are tournament gold medal winners The man and lady closest to the net are Judy and Paul Kelley. Judy is one of The Villages top female players.
Now about half way through the clinic, I saw this couple standing on the other side of the fence, observing what was going on. A second look and I recognized them. Last year when we stayed here at The Villages, we rented a villa withing walking distance of the Churchill Street Rec Center, so we got to know a lot of the regular players here. This was one of my favorite couples, Casey and Lourdes. Both of them are pickleball players, were too late to register for this clinic, so just came over to watch. Lourdes is a hairdresser and with here "Traveling Scissors" comes to your home to do hair cuts. She cut both Rich and my hair last year while we were here It was so nice to see them again. I promised them we'd make a trip down to Churchill Street one morning to play.

Meanwhile - Here is Rich with his next group of participants, wearing his favorite pickleball t-shirt..............and working with the group on the overhead shot.

That's Mo - with his back to us........demonstrating several pickleball strategies with Paul Kelley and Peter McNamara.

Rich watches - He had a lot of people comment on his Pickleball Bug T-shirt tonight. Louann - maybe we should set you up a store in The Villages???

When we got back to the house that evening, George (the owner of the Villa) had left us a brand new barbeque grill. Nice surprise.............now we can cook out!! Rich does great Calzones on the grill.

Today - Friday, We both played for a little while over at El Santiago. I came back home, while Rich headed for Saddlebrook. A few of the old players from last year were there including Bill Freeman. So he got in some real good matches today and will probably head back there again on Saturday morning. Hey Linda (Kramer).......looks like Rich is tracking down the old group.....now we just need to find Deb Harrison and you guys will have a game!!!!!!

I needed to get out ans drive the golf cart, so I would feel comfortable driving it alone, while Rich took off for Saddlebrook with the car. Throughout The Villages there are roads set up specifically for the golf cart, complete with tunnells that go under the roads. Rich is absolutely terrible at directions, so we thought we would do a trial golf cart run to Saddlebrook, so he could find his way in the morning. I got to drive!! About half way there, I missed a turn and took the wrong tunnel, and had to give Rich the wheel to get us turned around. A very nice gentleman gave us directions to get back on our intended route. Sure wish they put adjustable seats in golf carts. I'm so darned short, I have to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the pedal!!!!

Later in the day - I made it back from grocery shopping just before the afternoon storms......... Last night we watched Mo's new DVD which is absolutely great!! Today. Rich put on the Alan Christianson Pickleball DVD's and then we watched our Tampa Bay Rays win their ninth straight home game shutting out the Oakland A's 6 zip. !!

.........................and then the smoke alarms started chirping. We think the batteries probably need to be changed...........That will be the first phone call tomorrow morning.