Monday - Rain, Storms, and Pickleball

When we awoke on Monday morning it was already raining and the forecast was for more rain and storms most of the day. With coffee in hand we took our puzzels to the balcony and watched the storms roll in. Two pots of coffee later, the rain had stopped temporarily, so we decided to run some errands and stock up on a few food items. We headed over to Merritt Island first. That was where the closest Regions Bank was located, and we had a few checks that needed to be deposited. It was already early afternoon and we still had had nothing to eat, so we decided to stop and the Sunsrise Diner. We'd been here several times before; they serve a great breakfast. And since you can get breakfast all day long we both went for a couple of eggs with homefries and toast.

A quick stop at the grocery store and one more at the hair salon ( we needed shampoo!) and we headed back .

Before we got here, we had checked places to play pickleball on the USAPA website. There are actually three places that play on a regular basis. We had also called Dave and Debbie Christian. Many of you reading this know Dave and Debbie from the pickleball courts at TT Orlando. They own a lot in the Melbourne area, and come this way around this time every year. They were arriving on Monday - so we made plans to meet for pickleball Monday evening. When we were in Orlando this past winter, it was there time out of the park, so we missed them. We were looking forward to seeing them again.

Here we are playing at the Ted Whitlock Community Center at the Palm Bay Regional Park in Palm Bay. Actually it was much further away than we thought. We were meeting at 7:00 and by the time we left the thunder and lightening storms were well under way. So that made the drive seem even longer. It took us almost an hour to get there........

Here is Debbie playing with Pete Kohler. Pete lives locally and plays here regularly.

This is not a great picture - I have such a hard time with the glare inside!!. But this is Dave, playing with another local player Bill Vitalliano. Bill and Pete are practicing to play together in the Florida State Games.

Debbie and I were playing against Lisa( she works at the Community Center) and Dave. Debbie and I won!

And here is Dave and Debbie.

I know - where is Rich you are asking? Yes he was there - but he is still not ready to play. It was VERY difficult for him to watch us play for two hours. He did get his paddle out and said he was going to just play without moving around the court. Yeah, Right! Have you ever played a game of pickleball standing still? No - we did not let him on the court. So now you know why you are seeing pictures of me. Above are Rich and I, Debbie and Dave and Bill and Pete. The little girl from the office - went back to work.

It was after 9:00 by the time we left - and the rain had stopped. Neither of us had eaten since breakfast this morning at the Sunrise - so we were both hungry. For some reason Rich was craving Italian - more specifically a Calzone. We did not see anyplace to stop along the way, and by the time we got back to Cocoa Beach it was after 10:00. Not much choice at that time of night, so we did Subway. Well, it's a combination Subway and Dairy Queen, so while I ordered the subs, Rich went to get his Medium Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard!

We made it back in time to see the 11th inning of the Indians/Tampa Bay Rays game. And Tampa Bay won 4-3. Still the best record in baseball - and two games in front of those Damn Yankees!!