Pickleball Crazy

A few days ago, I opened the back door to see what I could see, something I do most every day because, well, you never can predict what will be out there. Knowing me through this blog as you do, that is surely something I need not even write. At any rate, aside from the beautiful sunrise creating shadows across the lawn, I spotted an owl. Naturally, I got my camera.

That little blob in the middle is from condensation on my camera lens, something I fight every morning when I take the camera from the air conditioned space out into the morning humidity. Once it was clear, I walked right over to the owl, talked to it a bit and watched as it watched the water, waiting for something, I know not what. Eventually she/he took off and I watched the path, finding her in the ligustrum tree. (males and females look so much alike it is hard to tell unless they are side by side in which case, the female is larger)

Such a beauty, although I would not want to get too close to those claws! Needless to say, it was a good start to a routine morning. We are up early so as to eat and be ready to be on the court by no later than 8:30 if possible for our practice session.  There are numerous articles on the web about how pickleball is addicting and that is for a reason. It's hard to get enough pickleball in spite of the pandemic, or in our case, the heat. We are mindful, before you get worried, that we are in the midst of a global health crisis, so we keep our distance and wash our hands. That serve that was eluding me? I'm making some improvement after watching an instructional video. I was so fired up that we went to the court on Sunday evening, having played for hours in the morning where I was dismal, and on this occasion I had Bruce take my picture, something not seen often in this space and for good reason--I am much better behind the camera than in front of it!

As you can see we play on tennis courts with the yellow lines representing the size of the pickleball court, a good thing for older folks especially because there is a lot less ground to cover. You would think that with the size of Orlando, and given the exploding popularity of the game, there would be dedicated courts in the City Beautiful. You would think wrong. So, on Monday morning we took a drive using the still, seemingly forever under construction, I-4!! As you can imagine, I was not the one behind the wheel because I have refused to use it for years now. In an aside, I got a text from Jackie who asked if yesterday was the day we left Vancouver in 2018 and I had to refer to the search engine on this blog for confirmation. Firstly though, I had to look at the calendar as I rarely know the date anymore! I found the last blog post from Vancouver here, should you be interested to learn she was about right.

Anyway, back to the dreaded Interstate 4...

Normally we would have avoided it at all cost, but Mr. Peck was in a hurry to arrive at our destination. In lieu of camping due to the heat/pandemic, he is obsessed with pickleball so we went to see where people play the game on real courts in Daytona Beach Shores. Yeah, Orlando has none and DBS has ten. And before you think it is only an old folks game, that is a myth. Sure, loads of retired people play it, but increasingly young people are taking it up because it is so FUN. And how was it that we had first hand knowledge of this place? Here's the scoop---a couple who live here have a place there too, and in fact, Leslie of said couple, taught Greg to play on what I think was their first date. Long story short, they introduced it to our community going so far as to pay for the first court lines in order to get folks to play on the underused tennis courts. Is this too much information when you could care less? I hope not because we are so very grateful. Us and about twenty other new players here at Lake Pineloch Village! So we found the place and were so impressed. Forgive the shadow as I took this photo from over the fence.

All kinds of folks were out having fun. Looks super nice doesn't it? In a first sighting of something like this, I imagine it is because it is a beach town? Rather than hand sanitizer, it is sunscreen!

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the play and chatting with a few women who were so nice, one having been to Greg and Leslie's wedding last year! Small world, huh?

When it became too hot we found a spot to get on the beach just to cool off. In a first, we only took one towel and the bag containing my camera. First Bruce went out into the water,

returning to tell me the waves were pretty big. Well, while Nancy was visiting she went to Ormond Beach to see a friend for the day. All was well until such time as she was caught in a RIPTIDE that nearly drowned her in very shallow water and she is a good swimmer. Normally I'm a big fan of playing in waves but this time I was a little gun shy so two trips into the water was enough for me.

Plus, while at the courts, Linda told us about a place about five miles down the road in Holly Hill with a new and exciting pickleball facility. Talk about fantastic!

Wearing our masks, Ryan toured us around as if we would become members. Below we are in what they are calling the loft for watching the action from which I took the photos.

They've only been open a week, however, it was over a year in the making through a partnership between a private couple and the city of Holly Hill, which I imagine is quite small. And yes, eight of the 24 courts are covered!

 Yup, a city of 12,000 people! The couple at the bottom of the photo proved that looks are deceiving.

As it is, our courts work fine but it sure was neat to see an actual court devoted to pickleball. Lots less chasing after balls! As I mentioned, there are more and more people joining in, once they give it a try. As such we needed a paddle rack which I will tell you more about in another post.

And here is Leslie with Bruce as her partner. His concession to the heat is a headband to keep the sweat from his eyes.

There are pickleball courts in Orange County but they are way out in Winter Garden which does not surprise me in the least. Winter Garden responds well to their citizens wants and needs as I discovered while doing the market out there. This morning we went to see what their courts were like and soon after walking up we were greeted by the nicest guy you could ever meet, Doug who told us all about how they got the courts, who plays and when you can play for free unlike Pictona where there are daily fees or memberships available.

Our skill set is still not up to the players that were there but we did get on one of the unused courts for about 30 minutes to see what it was like. We learned that some folks out here use their own ball when they serve, thus only their hand touches it. That seems workable when the space is so small. It was crazy hot, but before we left Winter Garden we went to a park along the Lake Apopka shore.

 I spotted one baby alligator and while pointing it out to Bruce, he spotted another!

As you undoubtedly know, Covid 19 cases in Florida are surging, although from what I've read, it is to be expected as the virus looks for new hosts. I am reading a novel right now about the end of the Civil War and the raging cases of yellow fever. I should mention that is but one aspect. Anyway, as I was reading I was thinking they were referencing cholera but I was thinking wrong. Yellow fever is entirely different, producing a horrible hemorrhagic death. A virus, that took them a long time to figure out, caused by mosquito bites, countless people died and still do for that matter, mostly in Africa. It took nearly six years to develop a vaccine for it back in the 1930's. I know there are some science minded folks that read this blog that perhaps might be interested in this fantastic website that shows the timeline for vaccines of all the major diseases. It was there that I learned how yellow fever affected the building of the Panama Canal, among other things. I guess the point of all this is that life is pretty awful right now and of course, very close to home with Cris still in ICU, having received one transfusion of convalescent plasma yesterday, but it won't always be. Let us hope that some super smart scientists will develop a vaccine for Covid-19, which, by the way, does not carry the same ring as Yellow Fever, sooner, rather than later. Six years? God help us!

Our new way of living on display at the park.

Stay safe my dear readers! And learn to play pickleball the first chance you get!

your friend,

Gail