January

New Years Day, I indulged myself in the tradition I grew up with, which involved watching the Tournament of Roses parade from California.  I enjoyed this years theme: Making a difference. It always amazes me how they use different natural products to decorate the floats and how they incorporate movement.  My viewing party usually involves some mimosa's. 

Early in the month I learned about a group of ladies who play Mah Jongg in the Randolph clubhouse on Fridays.  They meet for lunch at 12:00 and begin play at 1:00.  I had just enough time to go to John's place to tidy up and change after horseshoes. We usually have two or three tables.  I enjoyed playing with them.  My mother's set was often used and the ladies always commented on how nice the tiles are. 

In January, over a three week period, Tucson hosts a Senior Olympics, for those 50+.  I decided to enter 4 events: horseshoes, golf, euchre and cribbage.  I also attended the seniors trade fair and opening ceremonies.  

Unfortunately all the events I attended were poorly attended, in my opinion. I guess they need to do more publicity, although if this outsider found out about it others should have also. 

Signing up for Horseshoes prompted me to join the Tucson Horseshoe Pitchers Club and pitch with them twice a week, on Wednesday and Friday mornings.  The Olympic event was held at their home park. 

They are quite serious, so I felt compelled to purchase my own tournament quality shoes. In the Olympic competition, there was only one other woman signed up, and as we were not in the same age division, so long as we played at least one game, we each would get a gold medal.  For the record, I won the game, she collected her medal and left, and I stuck around a played a few more games against some of the men and helped keep score for a few games as well. 

In Women's golf, there were only 8 competitors.  We played as two foursomes.  I was in the first group.  On the first hole two of the ladies said "they weren't serious golfers and weren't really in it for the competition, but rather just to play the course."  It was on one of the city courses I play fairly regularly, Randolph Dell Urich, so it wasn't like it was some swanky private club you can't regularly get on. I had to be sure to stay focused on my game while they did their thing. Once again, I was the only player in my age group, so all I had to do was finish the round to get the gold medal. I was pretty satisfied with my round and tied the winner from an older age bracket, who played in the other group.  Had we been going head to head I think I could have been a couple of shots better. One of the ladies in the other group, who I met over a drink after the round works in the pro shop at Quarry Pines, which was where the January event of the Women's Monthly golf league was playing.  She was able to give me some local knowledge, which helped me to win a couple of skins the following week. 

In cribbage they had around 20 people.  They started with 4 groups of 5 playing a round robin.  The top two players from each group then played down for the medals.  I wasn't getting very good cards so failed to qualify for the playdowns.  I didn't stick around to see who won. 

In Euchre they had three tournament going on at once, each one with about 20 players, so the best turn out of all the events I participated in. Once again, the cards weren't coming to me and I failed to garner enough points to get a medal.  I did run into someone I had met in PEI the summer before last.  It is a small world. 

I would sign up for the Olympics again next year and will try to encourage other people I know to do so as well. 

At the end of the month I headed up to Scottsdale for a few days to volunteer again at the Waste Management tournament. If it is possible, I think it was even more wild than last year.  The weather was perfect for it, so the crowds were extra big.  I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and headed back to Tucson.  I stayed at West World alongside the polo grounds.  It worked out very conveniently as it is only a couple of minutes from where the volunteers get picked up to be transported to the golf course. Twice in a lifetime might have been enough for this gig as attending meant I was missing my weekly horseshoe and golf events.

Middle to end of December

Thursday December 14th I played my first official round with the Randolph ladies league.  That evening I attended the classroom portion of a women's cycling class I had seen offered for free through the parks and recreation department.  I figured it would be a good idea to update my cycling awareness for safety sake.  It was a small group and the information was well presented.  On Saturday we went out for a ride and did some drills on turning and stopping.  I am now a more confident cyclist. 

John's birthday is December 20th.  We planned a family dinner at Applebee's across from McGuire's after work.  Everyone met at the shop just before closing so the other staff could meet John's kids and grandkids.  It is a very family oriented business, with John the only sales staff member that isn't related to the owners. We had a nice dinner.  

It turned out kids are free on Wednesday, so it was an extra good choice to have gone there. After dinner John's youngest, Angelica, her boyfriend Tiggy, John and I went to Top Golf for an hour.  It was the old folks first time there.  It is an interesting place.  Kind of like Launch in Toronto but more sophisticated and electronic. 

I offered to help wrap gifts at McGuire's on December 23rd and 24th.  The 23rd was busy, so it was helpful that I was there. The store regularly gets busy enough that they have a take a number system like you often see at a butcher shop.

The 24th wasn't very busy, partly I feel because the store isn't usually open on Sundays and they didn't advertise that they were going to be open, other than on the sign outside the day of.  They ended up closing around 3:00.  The mood was festive and there were snacks and beverages on offer. 

We attended a Christmas eve late afternoon pot luck in the campground, the same Mexican themed one we went to last year.  We didn't have any special plans for Christmas day, so played golf and had tamales at home for dinner. 

I had asked John to make arrangements for us to go to a New Years Eve party, seeing as we had pretty much missed out on celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas. He didn't really come up with a plan, so rather than stay home and do nothing special, I arranged tickets to the party at the trailer park. They had a live band, you bring your own drinks and they asked everyone to bring snacks to share. The band played requests, there was lots of dancing.

Early December

While doing some research on the internet, I found out about the Spirit of the West Ladies Golf Invitational at Kino Springs Golf Course in Nogales, AZ. I contacted the organizer and they said I could play. I contacted the course to ask if I could camp on their property the night before and of the tournament. They said yes, so I was off. I played a practice round December 5th, the day before the tournament to familiarize myself with the course. It has quite a few elevation changes and wonderful wildlife:

I waited quietly at this tee for quite a while watching these deer graze. 

In the tournament I played with a really good group.  One of the gals had driven down from Phoenix that morning!  I felt silly for having stayed on site as opposed to driving from Tucson, which is two hours closer than Phoenix. To each their own. 

My boon-docking spot next to the chipping green.

I didn't play my best golf, but it was fun.  Hopefully I will do better next year.  They had a really good raffle table, penny sale style (drop your ticket(s) into the bags in front of the gift you would like to win.  I don't know how many tickets she bought, but one lady won about 6 prizes!  I won one prize, a foursome at Crooked Tree, a course in Tucson I hadn't yet played, but John had mentioned. I was happy with that.  Its value covered my tournament entry and money spent on the tickets.  Next year I will buy more tickets because the chances of winning are so good and the money goes to good causes. In order to speed things up, the committee picked the winning tickets while we were out on the golf course and placed copies of the winning numbers on all of the lunch tables.  The ladies at my table for lunch, my group and another one suggested I look into the Women's golf league at Randolph and the CWGA.  The first plays weekly and the later only once a month.  I subsequently joined both. 

On the way back to Tucson, I stopped at a the San Jose de Tumacacori Mission:

. 

McQuire's held their employee Christmas Party on Saturday night December 9th.  John invited me to be his date.  I was to meet him at the restaurant at the designated time after they were done work for the week.  I was to bring the two gifts for the White Elephant gift exchange with me.  The trouble is that to start with John gave me the wrong name for the restaurant.  He said it was at El Charro Cafe.  I kind of wondered about it because on the internet it looked like a more casual place than I though they would pick for their special event. I found the Cafe and managed to park at on on grade parking lot right across the street.  I purchased my parking ticket from the machine, placed it on the dash board and grabbed the two large gift bags from the back seat.  I walked across the parking lot to the restaurant and the hostess had no idea what party I was speaking of. She mentioned they had a couple of other locations and perhaps I was at the wrong one.  On the way back to the truck I called John.  He apologized because at this point he realized his mistake, as they left work early and he was already at the correct restaurant.  I figured out how to get to the location of the proper restaurant, Charro Steak.  Traffic in the downtown core was busy because there was a street festival/parade happening that evening as well, there are also a lot of one way streets.  As I approached the restaurant and saw John standing outside across the intersection, I missed the opportunity to pull into the nearest underground parking garage, he didn't get in the truck to ride with me to a parking spot, or to grab the gifts. There were no on street parking spaces anywhere nearby.  While I went around a few blocks looking and then circled back around to go to the lot I had seen earlier, it filled up and the entrance was closed.  I then had to go several blocks further away until I finally found a parking garage with space.  I then had to walk quite a distance back to the restaurant, in my less than comfortable shoes, carrying the twoweighty gift bags.  Needless to say, when I arrived neither of us was in the best of moods.  Everyone was already into drinks and appetizers.  I kind of had my heart set on one of my favorite drinks, a frozen margarita, based on my research on El Charro Cafe.  Unfortunately Charro Steak does not serve frozen margarita's when I could have really used one to calm my mood.  Instead, I had to settle for a margarita on the rocks.  John had forgotten his reading glasses at work, so prior to ordering, I had to read the menu to him, while I was also trying to decide what I was going to eat.  Pretty much everyone else was ready to order, because all my activities burned up nearly 60 minutes.  We both ordered steaks and some sides.  The food and service was good, not great, especially for the price (which wasn't my concern as the company was picking up the tab).  I had some nice conversations with the other employees and their guests who were sitting close to me. After the entree they passed out numbers for the gift exchange. I got a low number, so got to open several gifts as other people "stole" the ones I had. I got final pick at the end, and ended up with one that we had brought.  John had a fairly high number and got a press for stuffed burger patties, seasoning and a big spatula. Afterwards, I was able to navigate my way back to the parking lot, with John. What I had hoped would be a great night turned out to be a bit of a disaster. 

Monday December 11th was my first CWGA (City Women's Golf Association) golf tournament. It was held at Oro Valley Country Club, one of the courses I played on my Labor Day weekend trip.  They get a good group of women out for these events, played with stable-ford scoring.  I didn't play my best as I was getting adjusted to their procedures. 

Tuesday December 12th was the Tucson City Card Holders December tournament. It is the only one of four that is held while I am in town.  I buy the City Card because it saves you several dollars on each round you and your group play.  It pays for itself with the amount I play, getting into this tournament is gravy.  I called just as registration opened in order to get into the field.  The golf is free and is followed by a free meal, proximity prizes and door prizes.  Last year I played with 3 nice ladies.  This year I was paired with 3 guys, one of whom didn't show up.  Another was a fellow from my trailer park who I played with once last year.  I was riding with the other fellow.  I played well, but overall score didn't matter.  I did win a raffle prize, a twosome for golf including breakfast or lunch at Randolph!

Second Half of November

I was able to check into Tucson Meadows a day earlier than originally planned (Nov. 14.) get mostly set up and get to my friend John's workplace before the end of his shift at 6:00 p.m. to surprise him. It was nice to be together again. 

In order to be ready for the scramble on Friday I played Randolph on Wednesday.

Friday Nov. 17th John's employer, McGuire's Jewelry, sponsored a team in a charity scramble tournament at the Arizona

National Golf Club.  John got to draft the team.  He selected me and his two friends named George.  One I knew from before and one I hadn't met yet.  The company provided us each with a very nice shirt and hat:  

The weather was great and the course was in good shape.  It was one I hadn't played before, so that was an added treat. 

I won women's longest drive, even though I didn't hit driver on the hole.  We played quite well but didn't win the overall prize. 

Monday evening November 20th I was able to attend Euchre in the clubhouse. I was pleased to see that the gang from last year were all still present and accounted for. With these 55+ parks you can never be sure there won't be casualties from year to year.  We played 5 handed, which was a new twist on Euchre for me. 

Thursday was US Thanksgiving.  John had the day off, so we went to play golf.  We didn't have a traditional thanksgiving meal.  I'm glad I was able to have one in Canada before I left.  I really like turkey and all the trimmings. 

Sunday we had our first opportunity to spend some time with John's grandkids.  Many years ago I saw a bumper sticker that said, "If I had known grandchildren would be this much fun, I would have had them first!"  I've wanted to live that bumper sticker, so here's my chance.  We went to see a movie, had an early dinner an McDonald's and entertained them around John's apartment. 

Tata (spanish for grandfather), Anthony (2) and Miguel (13).

Miguel is too big to throw into the air.  Blaze loves it.

Who knew standing on the bed of the truck would be so much fun?
Ariella (8) and Anthony/Blaze

Blaze is full of energy! Oh to be 2 again.

John is great with the kids.  Even willing to change dirty diapers.  The smell does me in. 

First Half of November

It dawned on my during my preparation to head south that I'm not exactly sure when I will be back in Ontario in the spring and my truck is licensed commercial, which requires an annual inspections and "yellow" sticker.  Rather than having to be back by the end of May or driving with an expired sticker, I decided to have the truck inspected again, this time at Mt. Brydges Ford on November 2nd, before I left in order to get that sticker renewed.  The inspection is only $100 and the truck passed with flying colors as usual.  Now I don't have to be back until July, the month of my birth, when the license plate needs to be renewed. 

Saturday, November 4th, I attended my last Sabbath service of the season at Or Shalom.  I was enticed to attend because one of my childhood friends was participating in the service.  We had some fun catching up over the summer.  After the service I had another little visit with Shirley Kay-Cookson. 

Tuesday, November 7th I departed Silver Dove Estates, heading for Tucson, Arizona.  

My first night on the road I stayed at my first ever Walmart Parking lot.  It was in Michigan City, Indiana. I don't have a very good stay. The parking lot had bright lights and was at the corner of two busy streets, so traffic noise was constant.  I wore ear plugs but they didn't block out all the noise.  I don't really care for Walmart's very much, whereas other RVer's swear by them. The second night I stayed at the Love's Travel Stop in Hamel, Illinois. The manager was very accommodating.  He had me park near the curb at the front, instead of in the back with the big rigs, which made it considerably quieter.  He also put Survivor on the TV in the restaurant for me. In the morning I tried one of their shower rooms.  It was quite very clean and quite luxurious.

At this time of the year, there isn't much choice but to do this because the regular campgrounds are closed. 

On the way to my next stop I stopped that the Meramec Cavern for a tour, because I was a bit ahead of schedule for my next stop.  The Cavern has billboards every 10 miles or so for about 100 miles before you get there.  It was hard to ignore.  I don't regret making the stop.  I received a private tour (seeing as on one else showed up around the time I did).  The guide did stick pretty much to the script.  Quite a bit of walking and some stairs are involved in the tour.  Some of the formations were quite spectacular:

The next stop was a two night reunion with my former Loyola Coach Lisa Tinkler. She has space and hook ups for a couple of 5th wheels on her property, so it works out perfectly.  When I arrived 3 of the families horses were on the loose.  My rig helped to block the road while we all worked on directing the horses back to their corral. I was made to feel like one of the family as at the first dinner, her husband, all her kids and their spouses were there and the second night it was a girls night out. 

The next night I stopped at Sugar Creek Casino west of Oklahoma City, OK.  I was able to cross something off my bucket list.  They were hosting live MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fights, something I wanted to see at some point. 

View of fighters in the cage from my seat.

New Heavy Weight Champion

These weren't big name fighters, but I got enough of a taste of being their live and the tickets weren't very expensive.  They had hookups for RV's in a special part of their parking lot.

On the way to my next stop, I couldn't resist stopping for lunch at a well advertised Big Texan Steak Ranch.  I had seen the billboards for it last year and didn't stop, but this year I did.  The place was all decked out for the holidays.

They had a guitar player wandering around playing for tips.  If he'd have come to my table I would have asked him to play Amarillo by Morning, but he was working a different part of the room, though still within ear-shod.  I didn't take on the challenge of eating the ginormous steak.

That afternoon I drove on to Amarillo, Texas and stayed at the Cracker Barrel I stayed at last year.

The next night I spent at Santa Rosa State Park in New Mexico, the first state park I stayed at last year.  All that was left when I arrived was a back-in site, and I was supper stoked when I managed to back in on my own, without taking too many tries. The lessons I took in London have paid off! I had a great stay at this campground last year because of meeting a nice couple.  I didn't get friendly with anyone on this trip, so the visit wasn't as complete, but offered a good nights sleep.

My last stop before reaching Tucson was in Deming, New Mexico.  Registration at the campground I had selected was a little disorganized, but the stay was fine.  If there were more golf courses in this area, I would consider spending more time here as the rates are quite a bit lower than those in Arizona. 

I made the trip to Tucson in 9 nights this year.  In the future I could do it in 8, without really stressing myself by driving to far in any given day. 

October in Ontario

In early October I went into London to visit a couple of my older lady friends.  I met up with Shirley Kay-Cookson, a distant relative of Ron's and member of the High School Reunion Group for tea, and then I had dinner with Marilyn Lefcoe.  She was one of Ron's first wife's sisters who I got to know and stayed friendly with.  She had been married to a Jewish doctor and golfer from London.  We had another lovely dinner at Sunningdale Golf Club, as she has maintained a social membership there. Our table had a view of the course, which was displaying fall color. We did some reminiscing and commiserating.  Her mind is starting to fail and she will likely be in a seniors residence when I get back in the spring/summer. 

On the Saturday of Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend the campground had a meal.  The park provided the turkey, rolls and potatoes and the attendees brought side dishes and desserts.  It was a lovely community event, which was well attended even though some of the campers had already closed up their trailers. 

I went to Or Shalom for Simchat Torah and the memorial service, after which I use the free green fee pass I had won at the 9 hole Breast Cancer tournament at the same course back in the summer.  The day wasn't ideal, but not bad for October 12th in Ontario.  I was able to play the back 9, whereas in the tournament we played to front. 

Saturday October 14th was the final meat social of the season.  The weather had taken a bit of a downturn, but we managed to play the full 18 holes, as opposed to all the prior ones which were just 9 holes.  I filled in as a guy for the team I was on.  There was a lovely dinner served and prizes were awarded, once again various cuts of meat.

In preparation for heading south, the truck went in for service on October 17th.  That date coincided with a seniors euchre game at the Mt. Bridges Legion, within walking distance of the Ford dealership.  I walked to Euchre and then one of the nice ladies I met gave me a ride back.  It was a nice day of Euchre for a small cost, which included a cold luncheon buffet. If I am back in the area I would go again, I think they hold it monthly. 

Another final preparation for heading south was to take the trailer in for a little service. I dropped it off Monday, October 23rd, and headed into Toronto for my annual physical, and meals planned with friends.  Unfortunately both the lunch and dinner ended up getting cancelled.  I visited my locker once again, taking some of the things from Ron's place and picking up a few items I need for the winter down south. Visited my safety deposit box. I also made a surprise visit to the curling club I used to be a member of seeing as it was Monday night, one of my regular nights.  It was nice to see many of my old friends and acquaintances, some of whom I had not kept in very close touch with.  

For this trip I stayed with my cousins Judy and Stephen in Toronto, the same place we hosted the bridal shower in the spring.  This brought back memories of way back when, in the mid 80's, after graduating college and finding a job in Toronto with Stephen's help, I could not get an apartment to live in right away.  Vacancy rates were very low, you had to pay "key money" and wait for someone to move out!  I lived in their basement for a few month until I got my own place. This time I was able to occupy one of the upstairs bedrooms and their three children are grown and have moved away. The house was in a bit of disaray as they were having the kitchen renovated, but we managed quite nicely. 

The following day, I had a massage with Janice, lunch with my financial advisor Mark and visited an old friend of the family, Doris Laskin, who had moved from close to the Ladies Golf Club to around the corner from Judy and Stephen who I then went to dinner with.  

The next day I had a follow up appointment with the sleep clinic, to check that my CPAP machine was working properly.  I had lunch with my friend Paula Zarnett, who lives close to the clinic.  I then drove to Hamilton for a dental appointment and dinner with my friend Enid.  I spent the night at Peter's, though he was out of town.

The last leg of the trip was to visit my Aunt Anita.  She is approaching her 100th birthday.  She was not having a good day, so she cut our visit a bit short.  I need to leave before her special day, so I picked up a nice card and left it with her.  I then picked the trailer up and head back to Silver Dove Estates.

I do pack a lot into these trips, but can leave the country feeling that everything is in order and everyone has been visited.  

Late September Activities

Upon my return to Silver Dove Estates, the park was holding Halloween (in September).  It turned out to be an unseasonably warm day, which made it uncomfortable for those with heavy or furry costumes.  I dressed for the occasion:

and shelled out treats to these and other visitors.

The adults made a haunted forest for all to experience.  They did a great job on it.  I was frightened!  The following day I helped dismantle the set up.  Many staples and yards of black fabric had been involved.  

The Wardsville Ladies golf league held their closing banquet on September 27th.  The meal was good and the group boisterous. (A few of the early birds.)

I won the A flight championship, so got to dawn the tam (I had some fun with it)

and received $20.  The style of hat reminded me of those my mother wore often.  I think she had one in every color to match her outfits. 

To close out the month, another trip to Toronto coincided with my returned to Hamilton for Yom Kippur.  This time I left the trailer at the campground and stayed with my brother. I had to go to Ron's former apartment to pick up a few things what were mine, which had was holding there, as well as other items his daughter agreed to let me have.  Some of the items went directly to the storage locker and others I took back with me.