A Day of "Catch Up"!

Ken and I were up around 7 and did our reading.  We both got ready to playvpickleball  at 8:30 with John and a fellow camping friend, Paul.  We had a flax pancake with fruit for breakfast and some extra fresh fruit.

We rode bike to the pickleball court meeting the guys at 8:30.  Paul had never played and was excited to learn and John had played with us only 1X before today.  While doing some easy hitting, Paul ran to get a shot and fell, getting   bad brush burns on his knee and elbow.  What a way to get introduced to the game!!!  We did play 3 games and had a good time.  Paul found it a very fun and interesting game.

The Happy Pickleball Players!....

.....and one bruised one!

Ken and I were back to Waldo by 10:15 and had a cup of tea while discussing plans for our next 9 days here at Pine Island.  We made numerous phone calls with friends to plan activities.  Wednesday we are driving to Nokomis Beach to meet Fred and Doloris and then have a late lunch at Casey Key Fish House!  Thursday we are going to Sanibel Island with Ernie and Noela to ride bike and have lunch at RC Otters.  Friday we will have breakfast with Ed and Sandy who have a park model here in the CG and we have known for many years.  Sunday we are driving to Goodville near Naples to spend the day with Dave and Sharon Horst, friends we know from PA.  Then on Monday we will go to Venice to have dinner with our small group our Church back home.  5 couples are here in Florida (there is only 1 member of our group who is not here) and we are looking forward to all getting together.  Wow, I think our activity calendar is pretty full, but it will be so much fun.  We are hoping that Ernie and Noela will come to Pine Island on Saturday or Tuesday for a bike ride and/or to rent kayaks.  We shall see!

After a light lunch, we spent time skyping with Bria and Cali, but because of a bad connection we ended up just talking to them via our cell phones.  We really enjoyed learning about what has been happening in their lives recently.  They are so glad their kitchen is finished being redone and are loving swim team. They are becoming phenomenal swimmers and winning lots of medals and ribbons.  Quite an accomplishment considering they are 6 and 8. We also had a nice chat with Jamie - ended up talking for over an hour.  Then we had a chance to talk to Lanie, too!  It was snowing in PA and they were also expecting some ice!  When they saw some pictures of the sunshine and palm trees they wished they were with us!!!  I don't blame them!

Ken and I drove to the center of Pine Island for groceries and to do our laundry. Unfortunately, the laundry was not well maintained, so I only washed our clothes and then brought them back to the CG for drying. By the time that task was completed, it was 4:45.  We put everything away and Ken decided to take a short nap.  I did some clean-up around Waldo both inside and out.  Ken grilled salmon for himself for dinner and I ate my leftover chicken.

Cindy and John came at 7 to play games.  The men won both games of Pinochle and were winning 5 Crowns "big time" when Ken offered to "spot" us 150 points on the last hand which we were more than willing to accept.  They had a bad last round and we ended up winning.  What a comeback!!!!  Then we played 1 game of Toss Up and the women won handily.

They left at 10:15 and I worked on the blog.  It was a very productive day. Tomorrow should be rather relaxing.  I think Cindy, Ken and I will drive into Matlacha and enjoy just going in and out of the shops.  Ken will probably spend some of the time taking a walk around the area.