Grocery Shopping, Etc., Ho Hum

Sarasota, FL      High:  77     Low:  61

Boy, it was an exciting day today! HA! Read blogs all morning, wrote a couple so Sparky can have something to post while she visits her sister tomorrow in Matlache, FL. Went grocery shopping ALONE, which is not always a good idea for Sparky, because she's an impulsive shopper. "Hm-m-m-m...this looks good, that looks good. Maybe we ought to try this for supper..." (One can always hope, prays E.) He says that because Sparky HATES to cook. So, she came home with some new stuff to try-roasted chicken and mozzarella ravioli which reminds her of Carrabba's mezzaluna pasta, but she forgot the sauce. (And she forgot my popcorn...reminds E.) Back to the store she went to pick up a couple more things....Back home again....

Eldy's at Happy Hour at the bar at poolside...and Sparky joined him after a bit....

Sparky is back to crafting today. After playing at least TWELVE games of pickle ball yesterday, half in the afternoon, and half in the evening. Sparky's butt is SORE, and the legs are SORE, so it's time to relax today....Eldy played at least six games himself last night, so it's a take- it -easy day today for everybody! Sun 'n' Fun is really promoting pickleball with many opportunities to play socially during the week, both mornings and evenings. During the socially scheduled times, the park provides lots of extra paddles and balls, so if you don't have equipment, no worries. You can still come out and learn the game. Everybody is really nice here about helping newbies learn. The sport is really growing here. It is so much fun!

You serve underhand, which takes away the problem of trying to do an overhand serve like you do in tennis. The court is shorter, so you don't run so much. You usually play doubles but you don't have to have a partner. You just show up, wait your turn, and they cycle four players off and on the courts just as soon as one court becomes available. The partnerships get mixed up as people come on and off the courts, some rest awhile longer, so your partner in the game usually changes from game to game. Sparky has been the only female to play in a doubles match sometimes, and other times, it's Eldy and me against the rest, or we get split up and go play all night long. You can rest as much as you want, but most of us who play LOVE to get right back out on the court. Our games are really sharpening up with all the playing we've been doing this week.

Because it's a shorter court than a tennis court, and the net is a little lower, you don't run as much but you get plenty of exercise stretching to get those shots. If you've never tried it, you owe to yourself to give it a shot. (yuck, yuck) All kinds of people play pickleball, VERY heavy people to ultra thin, people with bad knees, bad backs, and all kinds of physical problems can play pickleball and have fun while doing it. You don't ever have to have played tennis or any racquet sport to pick this game up and start playing. We just love it! Sparky's water aerobics have kind of gone to the wayside, she's having so much fun playing pickleball and Eldy is getting a lot more exercise now playing pickleball, too.

A nice pickleball racket runs about 50-60 dollars, but you can buy one for less if you are just trying out the game. They sell bundled sets of rackets and balls on Amazon for one possibility...Balls are about 2.50 each....

A night at the bar and grill listening to some GREAT karaoake singers and it's back home to watch some of the basketball tourney. Even Sparky is watching the last couple of minutes of Georgetown vs. the Florida Gulf Coast team, hoping the underdog wins. They did! Woo-hoo! What an upset! Number 15 seed beat the Number 2--amazing! And that's all you'll hear from Sparky, the non-sports fan. But she's ALWAYS for the underdog! :-)

Tomorrow, Sparky heads for Matlache, to see her sister, Lyle and her husband John for the day. Eldy is going to stay home and mind the fort.  Bye for now!

Eldo's in a Pickle!

Sarasota, FL     High:   83   Low:  63

We went to the beginner pickleball lessons at Sun 'n' Fun this morning. What the heck is pickleball, you ask?  It's a great sport that is taking off everywhere around the country, particularly Arizona and Florida, but it's spreading to all parts. People say it's a cross between playing badminton, table tennis or ping pong and tennis. Sun 'n' Fun has a LOT of pickleball courts, the exact count, Sparky is not sure. Not only do they have outside courts, but they have really nice indoor courts, too. There must have been close to fifty people who showed up for the beginner lessons. We had forgotten just about everything we had learned back in Arizona a couple of years ago. We've "dinked" the ball around now and then, where you bat the ball back and forth close to the net, but really hadn't played a game until today. Here's our equipment.....The rackets are like oversized ping pong rackets, and the ball is a smaller version of a wiffleball. You play to eleven points.

Pickleball is a great game for seniors played on a shortened up tennis court about the size of a doubles badminton game with a lower net than tennis so you don't have to reach as much, run as much and you usually play doubles. That makes it even less possible that you will injure yourself doing something reckless. Remember that last statement.....

Sparky knew Eldo was competitive and really old school, but realized he was even more so, when in starting the first serve of a practice game, he wanted me to switch so the "a guy would be serving a guy". What that really meant was, "I don't want Sparky to lose the first serve of the game, so let me serve." Sparky said, "Heck, no! I've got the ball, I'm gonna serve." And she promptly lost the serve point. Oh, well!

It was really fun....But Sparky has a heckuva time with the scoring. It's very unusual to her...Not only do you have to keep track of both sides' points, nothing new there, but whether you are server one or server two and when to switch servers and when to switch court position while serving. You change to the other serving court on your side when you score a point on your serve. When you don't get a point on your service, you stay put. In pickleball, you get a second chance if your side is serving and the first server on your team messes up so that adds to the confusion as well. Got that? Sparky doesn't--- yet. With Sparky's short term memory troubles, she kept forgetting the score constantly, but everybody was good natured about it. Sparky said there was a reason she was a special ed teacher for 34 years!

Did we say Eldo is competitive? Yep, we did. Did we say this is a game where you are less likely to injure yourself? We did, UNLESS you are Eldy..He's a weekend warrior....He lunged for a ball a little too far in front of him and took a nosedive to the floor. He literally skidded/slid to a stop in front of the instructor.  There was a collective GASP! from the crowd. It was a pretty spectacular slide! The only evidence was the skid marks left behind and a little bit of a pulled muscle behind the knee. Duly noted skid marks:

And duly noted is Nurse Sparky's orders to ice the knee.....Poor Eldo! Can't be a weekend warrior without some practice and warm up first!

But he's ok...just a little swelling...He says it doesn't hurt. Wait till he gets up tomorrow, there are going to be a LOT of places where he's hurting! Nurse Sparky is gonna be pulling AM duty and barking orders. "Ice that knee." "Get yourself down to the hot tub."  And the biggest one..."Quit complaining! You're gonna be ok."  :-)  Just kidding, Eldo is not a complainer. Right, buddy?  Hopefully, there will be more games to come. Eldo really enjoyed himself today despite the fall...Sparky did, too!

Lots of stuff going on in the next few days...There is so much going on, that we will be having trouble deciding which event to check out! Tomorrow, it's a flea market and possibly a museum of art and whimsey. Sparky needs to get back in the pool and try out her new barbells.  So many activities, so little time!