Play On

Keep on playing.  “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” -Charles Schaefer
“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable.  Without it, life just doesn’t taste good” -Lucia Capocchione.

I agree we should let the music play on and dance the night away.  Lionel Richie's song - All Night Long.

Jim and Debbie were here over the weekend for three days of playing.  My family starts rolling in anytime now, this afternoon.  And Joe's sister and friend will also be here soon, staying in a house on Lake St. George.  There will be lots more playing happening.

Jim and Debbie arrived Thursday while I was at work.  Joe was sitting in the SUV at the time, trying to get it started, but the battery was dead.

Once they got settled in to our guest room, they came to the pool, bringing Joe who was unable to drive.  They bought burgers and hot dogs at the Dorchester Club house and we dined together at pool side.  Then the three swam and played basketball in the water and visited with other guests while I did my evening cleaning and closing chores.

Once I got home and showered, we played bridge out on the back porch until midnight, way past my bedtime.  We just wanted to play on, late into the night.


Friday morning, while the guys went to get a new battery and replace the dead one, Debbie and I took Maggie on a little hike, going up library trail and down the paved path to Cromwell and then home.



Once the SUV was up and running we loaded up the dog and went to the stables to see Amiga and Zorro.


















Zorro was too far out in the pasture, so Amiga got all of our attention.
Just before leaving, we watched the livery horses come into the barn (video).



Next we went to Overlook trail and hiked that.  Maggie loved leading the way.







The day was heating up, and so were we.

We got home, packed our lunch, and then went to St. George Marina and pontooned for two hours.   It was a relaxing time as we looked at houses around the lake.  We also saw a martin house full of purple martins and were lucky enough to see the resident bald eagle later on.

We anchored and swam off the boat and enjoyed our lunch and a few beers.  We probably floated around on our noodles, in the water for 30 minutes.

















Jim was our designated 'selfie stick' because he has such long arms and takes good group selfies.

On the way home we went to the adult pool where we all swam and played a fun game of water volleyball.  I was able to play and enjoy an adult beverage at the pool, something I don't get to do while working there.  It was fun.

We had some down time at home, including showers, a picture slide show on the TV of Joe's travel adventures, and even played a few hands of bridge.

Dinner was at Reds and then it was Karaoke time.








We played bean bag toss, enjoyed listening to singers, sang along to some songs and there was even a little dancing as well.  We wanted to play all night long.








More bridge was played once we got home and we stayed up until almost midnight again.


I did not get up Saturday morning until 6:45.  Sitting out on the back porch together, the four of us enjoyed coffee (well, tea for me).  After I did some chores and Joe took Maggie to the kennel, we headed down the road for Nashville, and more playing.

At Gaylord Opryland Hotel

Our first stop was the Tree House in Crosville, but it has now become nearly impossible to get onto the property to see the structure.  But a nice man who was mowing out front let us drive back to look from where the gate was.










We arrived at Gaylord Opryland Hotel about 11 am and started our indoor 'hike' of the garden conservatories.





After 90 minutes, we stopped in at the Build Your Own Burger place and each of us had a fantastic sandwich.  Then we finished walking nearly every path of the three indoor gardens.





















We could check into our AIR B&B at 3 pm, so arrived there mid-afternoon.  It was a tiny camper trailer with barely enough space to maneuver inside so we fondly called it The Love Shack.  But it was clean and comfy, and we made it work.






We relaxed with a few beers and played bridge in the hot living room.  The air conditioner was in the hallway where the double bed was located and the cool air didn't really make it past the little kitchen into the living room.




Also the tin box trailer was in the sun and like a little oven.

We finally left the Love Shack hot box and made our way down town to do a little honkie ton-kin.  Legends Corner had a great band we really enjoyed, but they finished a little after 5 pm so we moved on.  Our second choice, The Tequila Cowboy is where we ended up eating, but the band wasn't very good.







We finished the evening with the Moody Blues concert. They are not my style of music so I only recognized a few songs.  I enjoyed the second set better because they played more orchestra style music, like from their Days of Future Passed album, including Nights In White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon. 

We were quick to hit the hay once back at the Love Shack.  The air conditioning was blowing right on the double bed, so I slept on the futon in the living room.  It was nearly perfect.

We all were up by 6:30 Sunday morning, and moved our 8 am meeting with Courtney to 7:30, since she too was up and could be ready.  We met at the IHOP in Brentwood.  Service was slow, but the food good.  And it gave us a chance to chat with Courtney more.

Burgess Falls was our next stop after saying goodbye to Courtney.  It was a hot, humid, hike, but we enjoyed the scenery and wore off some of our bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes.



























There was a little over an hour of down time when we got home.  We packed a cooler and snacks,  got on our swim suits, and even had time to play a few hands of bridge before it was time to go to Dartmoor Marina.  We rented the pontoon boat for two hours and didn't take long to get out on the lake, and start our cocktail party.  It was 5:00 somewhere.  We had the radio playing, anchored and went for a swim, and discovered life jackets make better flotation devices than noodles. 

A lot of wildlife was spotted while we motored around.  Two snakes, an osprey with a fish in it's beak, two blue herons, an egret, a deer, and several purple martin.  We even saw one scoop a butterfly out of the air.

After dropping us off at home, Joe went to get Maggie at the 5 pm kennel pick up time and the rest of us started getting cleaned up for dinner.  There was time for a rubber of Bridge and then we went to Stonehenge Bar and Grill.



We shared wonderful brownie sundaes after eating our yummy meals.
Once home, Maggie got to go with us on a walk.  We did five holes of Druid, but had to cut through a yard and skip two holes because a little thunder storm was rolling in.  We only played one rubber of bridge before bed because it was going to be an early morning, and we were tired from the busy three day weekend visit.

We were all up around 5:30 Monday morning and Jim and Debbie were on the road for Texas by 6:30.  This lady golfer was a little off course, but lucky for her I keep the 'rough' mowed at the bottom of the hill and she had an easy shot up to the green.  Play on Mam.








It was a day of rest and recuperation for Joe and I, and preparation for the next wave of guests we were expecting to start arriving in a few days.  I did get four loads of laundry done -> Stevie testing towel dryness.  I also got a good start on this blog post, but there were so many pictures to sort through.

I got tables set up to accommodate up to 18 for lunches and dinners.  Joe helped me add a leaf to the table.  I did take nearly an hour nap... just too tired after all our playing.  Then, deciding to skip Mirror Lake, (not enough time, and it wasn't a very good band), I had an early dinner and went into town to shop.   I had a long list and bought lots of groceries, but made pretty good time.  Getting it all put away was the time consuming task.




By 6:30 am Tuesday, Joe was off to Knoxville for his flight to Florida to get Mama.  I had an invite to ride with my saddle buddies, but just had too much on my to do list.  There was no time for playing at the moment.

The deer have been coming more regularly.  This one came while I was watering.   I hadn't noticed it and got within 20 feet before seeing it.


Mom's rental bed arrived at 11:00.  I was out back watering lots of the plantings at the time, but Maggie let be know there was a truck in the driveway.  After the bed was set up I continued watering.  It has gotten quite dry.

I ate a quick lunch, packed a dinner, and got the rental bed made, and then locked Maggie in the Mancave from 1:30 - 7:30 while I was at work.  I was glad to see when I got home that she had not gotten up on Mom's bed.  After feeding the cat and dog, I took Maggie on a long walk, since she had been cooped up for so long.  A shower immediately followed and soon I was in bed.


Wednesday I worked hard to get this blog posted.  I took time to make another run to the store, pick up guest cards at the Conference Center, do a little more cleaning, walk the dog several times, and start dinner.

At noon, Joe sent this photo of Mom on the airplane (with him), heading this way.  Now, as lamb stew simmers in the crock pot, I anticipate the arrival of everybody and playing (eating, drinking, & joking around) on, and on, and on over the next week.

Connections

We have so many ways to connect with each other in this world today, but nothing beats face to face contact, a hug or kiss, and a warm touch.  When we forgo actually getting out of the house to get together with family and friends, choosing instead to connect through the airways, I think we are missing out.  Sometimes we have no choice because the people we love are so far away.  But it is always worth the effort to go visit.

Not only should we make a point to spend time with loved ones, we should be thankful for all the moments we can spend together.  When we spend hour upon hour entertaining ourselves watching TV, reading, surfing the internet, or engaging in sports and other activities, it can cause us to neglect our family and friends, and then our relationships suffer.  This also happens to workaholics who are too busy working.

As much as I hate traveling, especially riding in the car for hours, Friday morning we hit the road at 8:00, headed for Chicago to connect with family and friends.  First we dropped Maggie off at the kennel.

It was a long ten hour drive, including two 15 minute pit stops, and lasted longer than expected.  Other than getting run off the highway once, the drive went well.  Our brush with disaster was another wake up call no doubt.  A car made a quick swerve into our lane, without signalling.  Joe thinks the driver either fell asleep or was texting.  Anyway, to avoid colliding, Joe had to swerve into the median shoulder.  Luckily there wasn't too much traffic, the road was dry, and Joe was wide awake and quick to respond.  He kept the SUV under control as we fish tailed back and forth.  To me it felt like we hit the median concrete wall (sample photo I took later) and were flung back out into traffic, but I guess it wasn't that severe.  It had both our hearts pumping as adrenaline surged through our systems.  I kept thanking God for protecting us from disaster.

We arrived at Dan and Val's at 6:15.  She had just gotten home from work.  Luna also greeted us.

Joe and I needed to stretch our legs and wanted to give Val a chance to unwind from work so we went for a little walk around their apartment complex.







Geese were enjoying the retention pond just around the corner from their building.





Once Daniel got home from work (7:30) we went out to dinner, enjoying a feast at Olive Garden.  It was good to catch up with these two also.

Being way past my bedtime when we got back to the apartment, rather than socializing, I went right to bed.

Up at 6 am Saturday, I went for an hour walk while my tea steeped.  This time, ducks were enjoying the pond's edge for a safe sleeping spot.

I messed around on the internet, sipping tea, while the other three slept.

Doctoral students finished their two-week course @UPEACE
after presenting their research proposals to the Faculty.

I was glad to see that Britney had successfully completed her two week intensive doctoral class at Peace University, ending with her fifteen minute oral mock-proposal/candidacy exam.  She said she had about 3,000 pages of research still to read.  She is in the middle, back row of this photo.








It was a leisurely morning but included Joe and Dan using our SUV to transport a futon from their apartment to Valencia's parent's basement.  Val has their place very nicely decorated.  I like this display she made of all Daniel's army medals and awards.

We were able to meet With Val's Mom (Yaneth) at Denny's over her one hour lunch break.    








It was so nice re-connecting with Yaneth.  Unfortunately Ricardo could not join us because he couldn't get away from his job.

Again, I ate way more than I needed to, or am accustomed to consuming.  We returned to Dan and Val's apartment with time to take an hour nap.

Then we were off to downtown Chicago.  Joe saw that Linda and Mike (from B/N) were also going to the concert.  Linda babysat our three kids and has a son and daughter their ages.  Anyway, we met them at Fernando's, where a pre-concert party was going on.

I think Linda was delighted to see Daniel, reminiscing about their former connection for a bit.










Dan and Valencia seemed amused by many of the crazy's who had been at the pub celebrating for awhile and were quite rowdy.  We old farts know how to party.




I enjoyed boogying to the music and jumped right in with the conga line that occurred during one song.

These photos were taken while we circled the bar and restaurant.





Boat Drunks was the very good Jimmy Buffett style band that we all really enjoyed.  They kept the party going.


After a pub dinner, we walked a mile to the stadium, seeing several sites of Chicago.  I saw a patch of thistle going to seed and thought about sister Carol who is trying to rid her fields of this stuff.  It is tenacious.

Arriving at the stadium, there was more pre-concert partying going on, so again, we kind of joined in (video).  This band was fun also.

Once the party outside Wrigley Field ended, we shuffled through gates and security until we were in the stadium.






This photo was taken from the ramp we went up to get to our seat section.  Look at the crowd still waiting to enter the stadium.






We found our seats up in the nose bleed section (our view seen right) and entertained ourselves as the seats around us, and all over the stadium, filled.

Huey Lewis was the warm-up band and started about 20 minutes after we got seated.  They were not my favorite style music, and I only recognized a few songs, but it was fun people watching as Parrot Heads came in looking for their seats.  The stadium was starting to fill up.











Huey's show lasted an hour and then there was time for a restroom break (except the line was too long so I decided to check back later).  We had time for photos, and I indulged in a $5 popcorn and a $10 16 oz beer.  Drew, who sat by Joe, paid my tip. :-)

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers band then took the stage and the stadium was now packed with a reported crowd of 41,000 people.  Jimmy started with a video and a tribute to the Chicago Cubs.  Ryan Sandburg and Rick Sutcliffe (Cub players) brought in the 2016 World Series trophy.  The crowd went nuts (video). 
Then Jimmy started the concert with Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes (video).  It had been a beautiful day in Chicago and was a perfect night at Wrigley. 



I enjoyed Jimmy Buffet's show, but he too played several less popular songs I did not recognize.  Also, the sound was not the best up in the 'nose bleed' section and it was hard to hear the words.  The crowd was rowdy, fun, and having a good time, which I enjoyed.  It was also great connecting with some of the folks around us. 





We left during the last song, a medley.  It was probably a 1/3 mile walk down ramps to get out of the stadium.  I had been texting with Shirley who was watching the concert live on TV.  Just as we hit the street, she said the concert ended.  It was cool to see these mounted police just outside the stadium.  The one mile walk back to the SUV seemed long.  An accident on the expressway slowed our drive home so it was nearly 1 am when we crashed into bed.

For my 6 am Sunday morning walk, I decided to hike around the Fox Valley Wildlife park.


Judging from the time it took me to walk this mowed path, it was a one mile loop.

This bridge, at the far end of the loop, lead to a rails to trails path along the power line.

Looking across the bridge, back towards the park, Daniel's apartment complex can be seen in the background.

Joe was up at 9:20 and 40 minutes later we started the long trip home.  While driving home I mentioned to Shirley in a text that we wouldn't be back until 8 pm.  She knew the dog had to be picked up by 5:00, or stay an extra night, so volunteered to go get Maggie for us, and I took her up on this fantastic offer.
 

Forgetting about the time change, we got home at 7 pm.  It had been just a nine hour drive (no construction on Sundays).  It was without problems but was still exhausting.  Maggie had been fed and walked and was waiting in the Mancave when we got home.  Shirley is wonderful.

After unpacking and getting settled in, I took Maggie on a long walk.  I needed to stretch my legs.  Seen left, evening encroaches on the view down the 18th fairway.

I could not get going Monday Morning.  My energy/motivation connection had failed.  I had blogging to catch up on and Stevie was being really affectionate.










So I skipped the gym (lifting weights and Ballroom Aerobics) and sat here enjoying an extra cup of tea and my kitty.  I missed my horse and quiet time on the trail, and because the day was already heating up, I went mid-morning to ride Amiga.

Her ears are back in this selfie when I went out to catch her, partly because she rarely cooperates for photos but also because there was a big horse fly buzzing her.

I took Amiga on the long trail ride by Daddy's creek, including two little excursions to the winter pasture and the swimming hole.  Amiga did great, but was pretty hot and sweaty after two hours out on the trail.  I hosed her off once we got back.
 



Then, a friend from the pool brought her co-worker friend out to the barn.  She is a former trainer and showed gaited horses and actually lives in Antioch (where Courtney and Mike live).  She has lots of experience working with horses (training them and their riders) and loved the idea of riding Amiga or Zorro sometime.  It is a small world, with so many types of connections.

Once home I did a little yard work, but I moved slowly because it was so hot and I was still feeling sluggish.
 
Each week I set our two chairs and blanket out at Mirror Lake to save spots for us and Shirley.  I send her a photo of our location.  We met there at 5:40.  The band that played at Mirror Lake Blast was another good one.  I walked Maggie once home and then went to bed.

I worked the morning shift at the pool Tuesday.  I actually got off early because co-worker Mike came in so early.  Once home, I immediately got to work in the yard because I am on a time frame before guests arrive this week and more come next week.  Having guests is a good chance to renew connections and it is a good excuse to clean up in the house and yard.  Maggie hung out while I worked, sleeping part of the time.





Look at her choice for a pillow... silly dog.
Joe bought groceries and salads which we had for dinner.  I took my usual long evening walk with the dog as it was cooling off for the day and then had some quiet time out on the back porch after my shower, as the cacophony of music (sounds from wildlife) erupted.  I love the woodland pond night sounds as critters in the dark are trying to make connections.

Wednesday, after my usual early morning routine, I started in on house and yard work, skipping the gym again.  I was multi-tasking between cleaning, water proofing chair pads and watering plants inside and out.

Joe and I finished removing the mulch from the driveway!  Now there is room for guests to park.  Seen left is a small brush pile, most of which was little branches from the mulch pile.





I didn't have time to get all of the beds weeded and mulched, so had Joe pile the extra wood chips down in the 'oasis'.  They will be used later, which means moving them twice.  Oh well.






I mowed the oasis and then worked at weeding and mulching.  Seen below,while cleaning out and re-mulching this bed, I straightened out this concrete lamp that had really started leaning, seen in left photo.  Also notice the piles of mulch where Joe had dumped it for me to spread.

Preparing to golf over the weekend, Joe took me to Dorchester driving range.  I was pretty rusty, having troubles connecting with the ball.










Then we went next door to the adult pool to cool off and relax for a bit.  Ed and friends were there hanging out.





'Back at the ranch' I continued yard work.

I put the newly washed cushions back on the porch swing, which Stevie was quick to inspect.






And I put all the water resistant cushions back on the new porch furniture.






At one point while working out back Maggie started growling and then barking.  I immediately noticed a doe and three offspring.  I got the dog quiet and then tried to get some photos.  But Mama deer decided it would be best to lead her offspring away; up the hill, across the 17th green, and into the woods.

It was Joe's poker night and I was going to clean house after dinner but first took Maggie on a long walk.  Jack (the golf course worker) has completely cleared this rock of all its poison ivy vines and other vegetation.  He plans to plant flowers around it eventually.

I couldn't get motivated to clean when I got home and actually went to bed earlier than my usual early.

I got up way to early Thursday (3:30 am) but was thinking of my to do list and felt I needed to get started on it.  I got this blog about ready to post and then took an hour nap.  Once up again, and with a third cup of tea, I went into super house cleaning mode. 

First though, I had to clean my humming bird feeder, make more sweet feed for them, and hang my new thistle seed feeder for the finches.

I did four hours of hustle and bustle house cleaning, and oh does it look and smell nice.  Now I am off to work at the pool.  I will be getting in for a quick dip right away.

I can't wait for Jim and Debbie to arrive!

While connecting with family and friends is important, God also wants us to reach out to others, and minister to all people.  We are called to make a difference in this world, not merely to be spectators.  But I like my corner of the forest and would rather stay here.  I need to do better at getting up and going to see others and make connections.