The Fiesta Bowl

Friday, December 6, 2008

It is so nice to be "settled" - or at least a little settled - for a little while.

When you live/travel/work full time in your motorhome, you have 3 modes of living/operating. 1) When you're going to be hooked up in the same place for a while. Then you can unpack everything and really settle in. 2) When you're going to be somewhere for a relatively short time. Knowing you're going to have to pack up and stow everything away again soon, you only very minimally settle in. 3) When you're travelling. Then everything has to be stowed away so it's not flying around when you're driving and you unstow the minimum amount for your overnight stops.

I've been in semi-travelling mode since October. And when I stayed with Connie & Frank, Jim & Debbie, and Dad & Char, I only brought necessary work stuff and clothes and bath items in the house. I treated my motorhome as a giant outside suitcase.

Since I plan to be here in Mesa for a couple of weeks, I've really sort of settled in and am back to my normal living routine. It's nice and I'm grateful to be able to do it.

The Fiesta Bowl Tennis Tournament is held at the Scottsdale Athletic Club.

It is a beautiful facility. It takes me about 35 or 40 minutes to get there from my spot here in Mesa.

First round singles was Wednesday morning. A lovely morning and a good match against a local guy, Shital.

Here's Shital

Shital played a great match and has a style I've never faced before....all slice. Forehands, backhands, everything was hit with extreme slice plus plenty of pace when he wanted it and I never saw a ball higher than my knees. Plus, he's more or less a backboard and could hit drop shots from anywhere on the court - even from way behind the baseline.

I had my hands full and Shital got the best of me in a pretty close and vey fun match, so my singles run is over almost before it began. There is no back draw.

Since Shital is a local and a heck of a nice guy, we exchanged numbers and may get together to hit before the next tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing more of that style and, hopefully, learning to cope with it a bit better.

If you've been following my blog, you know I was looking forward to doubles with the Russian, Yury.

As I was leaving after singles, the Tournament Director called me over.

"I have good news and bad news for you," she said. "Which do you want first?"

"Bad, of course. Let's save the best for last."

"Well," she said, "your doubles partner, Yury, didn't get his visa in time, so he had to withdraw."

"Oh, no," I said. "I was really looking forward to playing doubles and getting the whole Russian Experience."

"The good news," she went on, "is that I got you another partner. He lost his singles match, but he's tall and probably really good at the net."

So doubles, without Yury but with my new non-Russian partner, Scott, was yesterday afternoon/evenening.

Here's Scott And Our Opponents

Don - Scott (The Tall One) - Mike

Scott's from Illinois, Mike and Don both from around here.

It was a long 3-setter. Everyone played well and it was a tough, fun doubles match. Unfortunately, Don and Mike came out on top, so that's it for doubles, too.

The good news is that these first round losses free up your time for exploring the area you're in. So I'm looking forward to discovering whatever may be fun and interesting to do around these parts. I'm open to suggestions if any of you reading this are familiar with the area (use the Comments link, below).

By the way, here is an example of the "horrible" conditions we have to play under here in Southern Arizona in the middle of winter...

Life is tough...

The Drive

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I'm still behind posting, so this will be a quicky.

I left Camdenton on Saturday headed for Mesa, Arizona.

Maybe I'm getting dumber as I get older. I must have looked at the Fiesta Bowl Tennis Tournament link online at least a half dozen times. I put it on my calendar starting on December 4th (that would be today). Before the draws came out, I assumed I would have a first round match today at the earliest or tomorrow at the latest.

So I planned to have a nice leisurely drive from my dad's and get here late Tuesday giving me a chance to get out and exercise/hit on Wednesday and/or Thursday before playing.

However, when the draws were posted, I discovered I had a match first thing YESTERDAY morning.

So my leisurely drive from Missouri became a quick drive with little to report. It is straight and essentially flat and deserty. And cold.

I stopped for the night in Elk City, Oklahoma Saturday and in Gallup, New Mexico on Sunday and got here Monday morning.

I don't much like traveling that way, preferring to stop early and enjoy a relaxing afternoon and evening - maybe explore a little - and have time to catch up on work every traveling day.

But, oh, well.

I settled in here in at the Mesa Spirit RV Park, had a water pipe explode and had to spend Monday afternoon fixing that. Tuesday morning I tried to find a tennis game without any luck and had a lot of work to do in the afternoon.

Mesa Spirit is the biggest RV Park I've ever been to. I'm only guessing, but I'm guessing there are 500 spaces here. It is sparse in vegetation, but well maintained. There are at least 2 pools and 4 Jacuzzi's, a pool room with about 10 pool tables, various card rooms, a "social center" the size of a good sized high school gym or auditorium, a putting green, minature golf course, tennis court, exercise room and "muscle beach" outside exercise facility....and I'm not even sure what else. I haven't explored enough yet.

That's enough for now.

Tennis update next time.

Thanksgiving

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wow.

It seems like it's been a long time since I've updated my blog. Here's why. It has been.

And I'm writing today about Thanksgiving in retrospect.

The day before Thanksgiving, Char's (Char is my dad's wonderful wife, in case you've lost track along the way here) sister, Nancy, and her cousin, Karen came down for the Holiday.

Nancy is known in the familiy as "the one who cooks." I now know why.

Thanksgiving Eve

Just as a warm up, on Thanksgiving Eve, we had, pounds of fresh shrimp, bread and and array of yummy cheeses, a vegetable variety tray, and oyster soup. Wonderful! Topped off with pumpkin cheesecake.

That seemed like plenty to me leading up to the Thanksgiving Feast....but oh, boy, was I wrong. These midwesterners can eat.

Thanksgiving Breakfast

First thing next morning, it was stacks and stacks of bacon and french toast.

And no sooner was that done and they started in on the Real Meal.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I can't even describe how great the Thanksgiving meal was. All the traditional stuff. And mounds of it. Excellent.

And, of course, the real joy in it all was being able to share it with Dad & Char, Nancy, & Karen.

The Kitchen Crew

Char, Karen, Nancy

The Rest Of The Family

Stormy (Dad & Char's Cat)

Dad & Char actually have another cat, Rainy, but she is hard to spot and impossible to photograph. I don't know where she hangs out, but I only saw her maybe twice the whole time I was there. Stormy won't sit on your lap, but she's always around and will come over for a pat or scratch now and agian.

Nancy's Dog, B.B.

Dad & Char's Dog, Toby

Toby is never far from my Dad's side. Since Dad's stroke, Toby became even closer. He follows Dad into the bathroom, obviously sensing something is wrong.

The next day, Friday, the girls were doing some yard maintenance, blowing and then buring piles of leaves, when one of the piles got out of control and we had a potential disaster on our hands. The wind came up unexpectedly and a big portion of the side of the hill behind the house was in flames.

Luckily, we managed to get it under control without having to call the fire department. A few more minutes and this could have run away in a flash. I'm very grateful that we were able to manage it quickly and efficiently or it could have been a huge disaster.

But, I will say it was exciting.

The Fire

I was a little too busy when the flames were soaring and the fire was raging to get any pictures at the height of the drama, so this is after most of the flames had been put down, but it gives you a little bit of an idea.

Farewell, Dad

Dad has always said his favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. The others are too commercial - too much hype. But Thanksgiving, he says, isn't about presents and pretense. It's just about family and taking a little time to count your blessings.

I believe I'm going to take his advice on this and declare Thanksgiving my favorite holiday, too.

I have so much to be thankful for. I won't bore you with my list.

But this year, for sure, I am thankful to have been able to spend time with my Dad.

I probably learned more about him and his life in this visit than I have in the 60+ preceeding years. For that I am grateful. And hopeful, too, for many more Thanksgivings to come.