This Weekend at The Villages

On Saturday, I took a break form morning picklball and took about a 45 minute morning walk after Rich left for Saddlebrook for the first time to play. Only three guys were there so they all headed down to Lake Miona. I think Lake Miona has eight courts. They were all full with players, and I think Rich said there were about 12 or 14 waiting to play. He ran into Al Rosati, and some of the Saddlebrook gang ( Tom, Paul and Jeff), played a couple of games, but decided it was way to croweded so hopped on the golf cart and headed for Pimlico. George Brewer and Mo were there. Got in some great games and came back to the Villa about 10 lbs. lighter!! Not really.

While he was gone, I finished my walk, did a little cleaning in the Villa, and watched Serena beat Venus at Wimbleton. That afternoon, Mo called and invited Rich over to watch his new DVD. Should be out on his website for sale this week!!! http://www.pickleballcoach.com/.

On Sunday Rich headed out for more pickleball but made it back in time to catch the men's Wimbleton finals. What an awesome match!!!! Great to see Federer win , great to see Pete Samprass there........but really felt bad for USA's Andy Roddick. We relaxed the rest of the day........I made a Chicken Casserole and we had dinener in. Watched the Tampa Rays get beat and called it a day.

Today(Monday - we headed back to El Santiago for pickleball. Denise and Terry (first picture) are playing on Wednesday in the Intermediate tournament over at Chula Vista so played together today to get some practice time.

Rich worked with them a little showing them how to serve from the sameside of the court, like he and Linda did, since Terry played left handed. They picked it up real quickley. Heres Rich, playing with Paulette with Terry and Denise on the other side.

We got a nice rain shower this afternoon.......took a little nap listening to the rain hit the skylight, then headed out for dinner. Nothing special tonight, dinner was at the New China Buffett over on US 441. Lots of seafood on the buffett tonight which was great.

The best part of the day was catching up with what some of our friends were doing. Travis called us earlier in the day. He's in Toledo, Ohio now and was looking for a place to play pickleball..........we hooked him up with a couple of Ambassadors there in Toledo. As it turnes out the guy is the brother to one of his friends back in Tennessee. What a small world. We called Marcel and Louise to see how they were recouperating from their recent surgeries. Marcel still tires out quickly, but is improving. Louise will know on the 16th if another breast surgery is necessary. We called Bob and Kathy Hughes to catch up on their summer in N. Carolina. Happy 65th Birthday tomorrow Bob Hughes!!! Then we talked with Stan and Sally - who are at a Thousand Trails Park out in Oregon. Can't wait to see them back in Florida in November. The last call of the day was to our friend Linda Kramer down in Sebring, where we learned that Bill had a very close call with new medication that slowed in heart beat way too much. Glad to hear he's doing better. Sorry Linda to hear that pickleball is so slow there this summer!!! You'll need to come here for a day or two to get in some good play!!

It's always great touching base with friends. Can't wait to see them all again.