the warmest winters. But, it was a lot better than being in the crazy and continuous falling snow and falling temperatures in most of the rest of our beautiful country.
It was a quiet beginning of the season. But things really picked up on 12-12-12 when our neighbor, Angie, put on a great surprise birthday party for her husband Frank. One of the biggest surprises was Frank's golfing partner. He was named "Claude Lankey" on the schedule but who walked into the pro shop was a surprise visit from their son Mike.
There are always season highlights at Palm Creek relating to the Cancer Awareness Events. The streets are lined...
...with thousands of luminaries. It is just a "wow" evening with many of the bags decorated by individuals. We purchased two bags, one in memory of my mom and one for Mark's dad who both lost their battles with cancer.
The tennis club always does a Cancer Awareness Tennis Tournament and this year the ladies dedicated our play to our good friend Carol Heinze, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer days after this photo was taken. Yup, that's me on the bottom right.
The evening celebration was just amazing with large hot air balloons decorating the area surrounding Palm Park. The park offered lots of free cookies and hot chocolate and load of mini-marshmallows.
There were actually seven balloons. But, you can get a feel for just how beautiful a sight it was from the three balloons shown here.
As part of Cancer Awareness, our block, Hopbush, thanks to good friend Arlene Rommel, put together 14 teams of foursomes. We played in a foursome with our neighbors, Terry and Janet and "lo and behold," our team won the 2013 Palm Creek Cancer Awareness Golf Tournament!!
he playoffs, but...you can't fault the fine technique!
Other highlights of the season were:
St. Patrick's day brought the annual " Homemade Donuts and Coffee" courtesy of Joan and Roger Salter. Here I am ready to head to tennis flanked by good friends (left to right) Arlene and Angie.
We all got a good laugh when our crazy neighbor, Simon, arrived in true Irish "color"! Yup, he is the guy in the green top, and shoes but he and his wife Kathleen went way over the top by adding green hair and eyebrows!!
Movie Night at Joanne and Odean's proved to be great fun with the movies shown on their outside TV. And, as this was our last year heading up the Palm Creek Tennis Club we ended on a high note putting on the ever popular...
...the grand entrance of the Royals!!! Prince Phillip's medals were a creative usage of pickleball medals. And, the Queen provided a great explanation as to why the dogs were not with them. Evidently, Roger the Ranger took the corgies because the Royals were located in the 'non-pet" section! What a great addition and lots of fun for all in attendance.
To make the season even more memorable, my best friend from North Carolina, Glenna and her husband Dennis stopped in our park for two weeks. A little over a year ago I convinced them to try full time RVing. I am so thankful that they are really enjoying the experience. Glenna and I enjoyed chatting during Aqua-Fit, some fun line dancing, and we all enjoyed some great dinners. But, most of all, it was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect - Its great to have true friends who, no matter how far apart, or how long since you last spoke, is still a special friend!!
Its been a long season, with some stress - some "ouchies" for both me and Mark, a dent in the car (paid for by the other person's insurance), and a few MRIs later we are back to normal. We also enjoyed a great New Year's eve party, movie nights with the girls, fun shopping trips, healthy cooking classes, a new grandson, Drake, some canyoneering and hikes up Picacho and lots of golf and tennis!!
But its time to leave Beautiful Palm Creek in Casa Grande, AZ and begin the 2013 Seeing America Tour. This year is going to be a bit different with stops in Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas. We've got six new tires on the coach so we're ready to roll!!
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