I forgot to mention in the last post that we went back to Cowboys Up on Thursday, Dec 8th, meeting up with friends from Prince George who stay in Gold Canyon, southeast of Mesa. Had a great evening, and another wonderful meal. Watched some line dancing lessons and listened to some pretty decent karaoke. Got the same waitress we had the last time - a real sweetheart. She gave me a big hug when we left.
Monday night (12th) Mike cooked pizzas again, and the rest of us provided side dishes. Pulled in a few people from the street as they were walking by, and had a great evening, once more with lots of laughs.
Wednesday (14th) was a pot luck Christmas block party for 4th Avenue South. There were about 30 of us, and it was a pleasant evening with good food, a couple of Christmas carols, and I won a poinsettia playing card bingo. We walked home around 7:30pm in our shorts and short sleeve shirts. Speaking of poinsettia, I thought this was so cute, I borrowed it from Facebook.
Monday night (12th) Mike cooked pizzas again, and the rest of us provided side dishes. Pulled in a few people from the street as they were walking by, and had a great evening, once more with lots of laughs.
Wednesday (14th) was a pot luck Christmas block party for 4th Avenue South. There were about 30 of us, and it was a pleasant evening with good food, a couple of Christmas carols, and I won a poinsettia playing card bingo. We walked home around 7:30pm in our shorts and short sleeve shirts. Speaking of poinsettia, I thought this was so cute, I borrowed it from Facebook.
Thursday (15th) I dropped of a small crock pot at the donation door of the nearby thrift store. As I was getting it out of the car, two fellows come around the back of my car with a big trolley. I said, "Sorry this is all I've got". The younger guy smiles and says "Do you want a hug?". I said sure, and he pointed at the older fellow and said "He'll give you one". We laughed and then I gave them both hugs and wished them a Merry Christmas. The older fellow said it was his first day on the job and he thought that particular perk was pretty good. The younger guy said he tries to greet all the lady donors that way. Put a smile on all our faces, and they each gave me a wave as I "drove out of sight".
Thursday was another Manager's Happy Two Hours at the pool. 25¢ BEER!! Woo hoo! And they extended it by an hour, since everyone was dancing and having a good time. Even got Robin up for a bit of dancing. Good thing we had ribs cooking in the crock pot. Dinner was pretty much ready when we got home. Forgot to mention before that Robin made a "beer paddle" that holds 4 glasses of beer (so $1 worth). It's been very helpful in getting the beverages to the table with minimal spillage. Thursday also brought rain overnight.
Friday night there was a dance in the main hall. We haven't attended any so far, but some neighbours walked by and hollered that we should go, so we did. Not a bunch of dancing (although the band was good, Robin's dancing legs weren't), but met more new folks and had a fun time. When we got back from the dance, it had obviously been VERY windy while we were inside. The sand bags holding down the sun screen had all blown in onto the patio (shifted about 12"). That night we had more rain and wind gusts up to 60mph (100kph). There really wasn't anything we could do (other than sleep fitfully) and I really expected to find some of our stuff scattered down the road the next morning. But everything was still standing and in place - even some styrofoam Christmas decorations I had hung on the grapefruit tree. WHEW!
Sunday (18th) there was a Christmas concert put on by a 90-voice Christian choral group, accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. It was free, and had been advertised at other parks affiliated with this one, so we did the proper "senior" thing and went an hour early with our neighbours to be sure to get seats (it was already about 25% full). I found it quite enjoyable, although Robin left part way through. I think, in part, he got frustrated with problems they were having with the sound system, which were resolved shortly after he left. Not much in the way of well known caroles, and even those had very different arrangements (or even had the melody changed), but I enjoyed it just for the sound. The place was packed.
Tuesday we had a relaxing evening and got in the holiday spirit watching Scrooged with Bill Murray. Another Christmas classic. Today we woke up to rain. It stopped about 9am, with a couple of short sprinkles later in the morning, and was cloudy the rest of the day. We spent the day gearing up for our flight to Lethbridge tomorrow. Laundry and packing; cleaning out the fridge; partially dismantling the gazebo, removing the sunscreen and bringing in the awning (in case of another wind storm); storing things away that were sitting outside. The shuttle is picking us up at 4:30AM, so I'm thinking I will be in bed by 8:30 tonight (9 at the latest). Fingers crossed that we don't run into any great delays. We have 2+ hours between flights (2 plane changes) and, although the forecast for both Denver and Calgary is good, who knows where the flight out of Denver will originate from and whether it might be delayed. The puddle jump from Calgary to Lethbridge shouldn't be a concern. Hope Amanda has a bottle of cold white waiting for me in the car when she picks us up.
I've been pretty diligent about going to yoga 3 times a week and aquafit 3 times a week (aquafit is at 8am at the opposite side of the park), and trying to hit my step goals every day. So how is it I'm not starting to look like Christie Brinkley, rather than Chris Christie (with much better hair). Must persevere, but it leaves some part of my body hurting every day. I just keep telling myself it will get better, and me along with it. Ah, the lies we tell ourself.
So this will be it until we get back from Lethbridge. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, hopefully spent with loved ones. And whatever way works for you, be it prayer, wishing, hoping, chanting, positive thinking, whatever, let's all work for the same thing in the New Year.
Thursday was another Manager's Happy Two Hours at the pool. 25¢ BEER!! Woo hoo! And they extended it by an hour, since everyone was dancing and having a good time. Even got Robin up for a bit of dancing. Good thing we had ribs cooking in the crock pot. Dinner was pretty much ready when we got home. Forgot to mention before that Robin made a "beer paddle" that holds 4 glasses of beer (so $1 worth). It's been very helpful in getting the beverages to the table with minimal spillage. Thursday also brought rain overnight.
Friday night there was a dance in the main hall. We haven't attended any so far, but some neighbours walked by and hollered that we should go, so we did. Not a bunch of dancing (although the band was good, Robin's dancing legs weren't), but met more new folks and had a fun time. When we got back from the dance, it had obviously been VERY windy while we were inside. The sand bags holding down the sun screen had all blown in onto the patio (shifted about 12"). That night we had more rain and wind gusts up to 60mph (100kph). There really wasn't anything we could do (other than sleep fitfully) and I really expected to find some of our stuff scattered down the road the next morning. But everything was still standing and in place - even some styrofoam Christmas decorations I had hung on the grapefruit tree. WHEW!
Sunday (18th) there was a Christmas concert put on by a 90-voice Christian choral group, accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra. It was free, and had been advertised at other parks affiliated with this one, so we did the proper "senior" thing and went an hour early with our neighbours to be sure to get seats (it was already about 25% full). I found it quite enjoyable, although Robin left part way through. I think, in part, he got frustrated with problems they were having with the sound system, which were resolved shortly after he left. Not much in the way of well known caroles, and even those had very different arrangements (or even had the melody changed), but I enjoyed it just for the sound. The place was packed.
Tuesday we had a relaxing evening and got in the holiday spirit watching Scrooged with Bill Murray. Another Christmas classic. Today we woke up to rain. It stopped about 9am, with a couple of short sprinkles later in the morning, and was cloudy the rest of the day. We spent the day gearing up for our flight to Lethbridge tomorrow. Laundry and packing; cleaning out the fridge; partially dismantling the gazebo, removing the sunscreen and bringing in the awning (in case of another wind storm); storing things away that were sitting outside. The shuttle is picking us up at 4:30AM, so I'm thinking I will be in bed by 8:30 tonight (9 at the latest). Fingers crossed that we don't run into any great delays. We have 2+ hours between flights (2 plane changes) and, although the forecast for both Denver and Calgary is good, who knows where the flight out of Denver will originate from and whether it might be delayed. The puddle jump from Calgary to Lethbridge shouldn't be a concern. Hope Amanda has a bottle of cold white waiting for me in the car when she picks us up.
I've been pretty diligent about going to yoga 3 times a week and aquafit 3 times a week (aquafit is at 8am at the opposite side of the park), and trying to hit my step goals every day. So how is it I'm not starting to look like Christie Brinkley, rather than Chris Christie (with much better hair). Must persevere, but it leaves some part of my body hurting every day. I just keep telling myself it will get better, and me along with it. Ah, the lies we tell ourself.
So this will be it until we get back from Lethbridge. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, hopefully spent with loved ones. And whatever way works for you, be it prayer, wishing, hoping, chanting, positive thinking, whatever, let's all work for the same thing in the New Year.
Until next time, dear readers.