The mellow
For this sit, we are able to do very relaxing things – like sit and read in the screen room, surrounded by palm trees and the sound of running water (we have a small pond with waterfall fountain) or waste time online, go swim in the heated pool, play pickleball or shuffleboard or ping pong. It isn’t a very far drive to an outdoor mall, a big movie theatre, and a variety of restaurants. Our pet parents were happy to provide us with really helpful information on specials (movies are half price on Tuesdays! Beef O’Bradys has excellent hamburgers as their Monday night $7.99 special. (Note to readers - wear a sweater and long pants when going to the movies in Florida - it was freezing!)
And try to go to Manny’s Chophouse for the 2-for-1 fajitas special on Wednesday! Pretty cool. Also groceries are cheapest at Aldi and then Walmart. They drove us around to show us where the grocery stores were, along with the vet, and then treated us to dinner at their newest restaurant, Miller’s Ale House, where the food was fantastic and our leftovers were enough for a whole second meal.
So all in all, we feel very much like we were on vacation. It has been hard to get started on the blog because it is a little too mellow!
Playing Pickleball
We were excited about having access to so many pickleball courts. There were 6 courts set up permanently at the one complex, and there were 2 tennis courts convertible to 4 pickleball courts at the swimming pool complex. Our pet parents had told us that we needed quiet equipment, so I had ordered a set of quiet balls (which are actually a solid foam, compared to the hollow balls with the holes we usually play with), and I had ordered a “quiet” paddle through ebay, and Randy ordered one through a local supplier in Cambridge. Mine arrived on time, but his didn’t. Oh well.
We headed out on the 2nd evening we were there to play. The courts were empty! We were playing with the foam balls, and being outside added layers of complexity to the game – with how hard you had to strike the ball to get it over the net, adding in an irregular wind factor, and the position of the sun shining either in your face or on the back of your head! Also it was just the 2 of us, so each of us had to cover the whole side of the court, which was a whole lot more potential motion. Midway through I had to put on my giant sunhat (my souvenir from the England trip) to protect the top of my head! I also had to try not to get distracted by the egrets climbing out of the pond at the side of the courts (but the birds in this photo are the larger cranes that wander about the whole place like they pay HOA fees here).
Needless to say, I played sucky. But they had organized pickleball on Monday Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8am to 11am, so we got up early and headed out!
The people were very welcoming! People would just come in whenever, and stay until they had enough, with enough people coming in to fill up to 5 courts. Unfortunately I got a lot of advice on how to play correctly (which really didn’t improve my game – because I’m really not a sporty type person, and I’m just playing for fun and exercise, not to get into a league.)
We managed to return for the Wednesday games as well. The nice thing about playing with seniors? They don’t assume you will remember their names, and they introduce themselves again. (or perhaps they forgot they introduced themselves on Monday…) Either way, it really helped me!
We also made friends with another couple who were housesitting for the friends of our home owners. They had been sitting for 4-5 years (compared to our few months), so it was fun to compare some stories with them. Also they were Canadian, hailing from Nfld. They reported that their pet owners hadn’t provided them with all the cool information on the area like we had, such as the tips about 2 for 1 fajitas on Wednesdays. So we invited them to join us, and had a lovely dinner out together! (and since they were fellow Canadians, they thanked us several times for the invite.)
