Most everyone I play pickleball with knows that I am in it for the fun. Although my Vancouver friend Dale sent me an article from The Globe and Mail with an opinion piece written by a woman named Gail who stated that a friend taught her the mantra, "in it to win it" which I admit sounds clever, but still I can't really bring out much competitive fire. I have no killer instinct!
So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that both Bruce and I signed up for the tournament at the courts today.
Saturday was for the lower level players with Sunday being reserved for the more skilled. It was suggested that we arrive early to warm up which we did, and boy was it the foggiest we have yet seen as we were leaving our darling little rental house at 7:30 this morning.
It is but a little more than a two mile drive to the courts where others were already warming up when we arrived.
The purpose of the tournament was to raise funds to complete the bathroom at the pictured pavillion on the left. It is really impressive that the players took on the project with a storage room, as well as the nearly completed bathroom. Plus there are overhead fans! Since this is such a small town, funds are limited, so they took matters into their own hands and the result is the nice spot to rest as pictured above. There are eight pickleball courts and two tennis courts. And of course there is the mountain view.
I am standing on one of the empty tennis courts that see some use during the week. The format was a "round robin" which was all new to me. A couple of years ago, not too long after we learned how to play this fantastic game, Bruce played in a tournament with our neighbor Denny, however, being very new it was not really much fun. This tournament was low stakes with a good many people we have already played with, especially in our bracket. In the lower bracket there were loads of people I did not know.
We played six games with assigned partners and in a stroke of good luck, both Bruce and I won four of our games. That said, he and another gentleman "pickled" me and my partner Denise in the sixth game which absolutely did not help my point total!! For the uninitiated, pickled means we lost 11-0!
Following the games played, the points were totaled.
While the rest of us waited to hear who our winners were.
In the end, he and Angela tied for the silver medal.
She is a darling young woman, about the age of our twins, who began playing since we have been here. Obviously she is a very quick learner! So, it was way more fun than we thought it would be, and so much so that when Harry asked Bruce if he would partner with someone tomorrow, he agreed. We shall see!!
I have so many, many photos and field trips to document, but that will have to happen over time. For now let us remain at the cottage and specifically the kitchen where I have finally begun baking, albeit in makeshift fashion. I believe this rack is from the toaster oven but it works okay for small cookies. The oven rain a little hot but after a batch or two I think I've figure it out.
Yeah for banana bread!
Note those gorgeous red tomatoes, bought from this gentleman in the parking area for the Chatuge Dam.
Bruce is sharing some salted peanuts with him after I purchased four of those beauties for $3.00. The flavor is outstanding! Like unbelievable. I must tell you briefly about our new friends who gave me green tomatoes. The condensed story is a really great small town one; basically we were walking down the street, a man offered us cucumbers, as well as pickles. Yup, homemade cold pickles, sort of like the Claussen pickles I have had such a hard time procuring since the pandemic. Bruce was wild for them and we stopped by after church, finding he and his wife in their garden. She loaded me down with four new jars of pickles as well as basil, rosemary and green tomatoes of various sizes. Holy cow, the best fried green tomatoes ever!
I am dying for more just looking at the photo I took a few weeks ago.
Let us walk out the door now to this gorgeous sight!
The plant, unfamiliar to this Floridian, is a Glossy Abelia according to the handy feature on my phone, a member of the honeysuckle family. Not only does the fragrance perfume the air, but it attracts butterflies like nobodies business.
As to those pictured fruits? Passion fruits are popping out like mad from the wandering vine.
At home I am no stranger to passion vines, however, seeing the fruit is a first. We shall see what happens next.
The plants are adjacent to the steps which lead to the screened porch where we thought it might be fun to put some pots out with mums as they are abundant in the garden centers here. I had a few ideas for the small pots until I realized, uh oh...do deers eat them? Although we are not seeing the same number of deer, they are still coming around. Look how big the fawns are getting! This fawn anyway!
What I find fascinating is how close their head size is now. How about you? I do know I was thrilled when they showed up on the front lawn. Nonetheless, we started with one pot and began adding them as the days passed without interference.
There are three on the other side and so far, so good! I will keep you posted. Bruce was doing a little work in the side garden and oh my goodness, look what he found!
Apparently they are more common here than in our neck of the woods because I cannot remember the last time I saw one. That little tidbit comes from Patti, a new pickleball friend who shared that with me when we were out to lunch with her and her husband John. Florida transplants they are, which will not surprise you in the least!
The praying mantis was in the tree, just below the hummingbird feeder which is providing us with endless entertainment as they flit back and forth, hover and dance in the air with one another.
Having a hummingbird feeder is something I have coveted, but never actually did anything about it before now. What was I waiting for???
When we tell folks where we are living in Murphy, we always say that you turn at the fire station on the corner. We have no idea why the trucks were out on this day, but it was a nice sight to behold. There is a lot of volunteer fireman around these parts.
Here is a neat story for you. This little boutique opened recently and I am now a fan.
Visiting her this past week I thought, hmmm....what is different? The building is now charcoal grey is what is different! She told me her landlord saw a photo of the building and decided it needed sprucing up. That was pretty cool. Not only is she friendly as can be, but her merchandise is crazy reasonable should you be in the area, it is a highly recommended downtown sight.
This may not be classified as a neat story, but it is a sweet one. As you know, the church we are attending is super small with only one family having young children. School started recently and our sweet Pastor Maggie did a backpack blessing for the two boys.
She is an exceptional woman that Maggie!
Charlotte's Cottage has provided us with some wonderful memories and is so comfortable. How could we not love it?
And we even had some nice color the other night at sunset!
Someone asked me about being in a dark sky area and while that seems to be true, during the summer it stays light so late, and it seems to me it never really gets super dark. Plus there is a lot of fog. That said, because it is getting dark earlier each day, we have been outside to see what we can see overhead. You know what? I'm thinking the stars are going to be plentiful, very, very soon.
Should that be true, I cannot wait. Oh yeah, leaf changing season is nearly here! Oh my, oh my!
your friend,
Gail
