Well Friday was another chilly start with temps into the low 50's and overcast skies; however by mid morning the skies cleared and bright sunshine finally invaded the area and with that a slight rise in the outside temperature. By late afternoon we were in the middle 60's which made for rather comfortable conditions.
I started the day much the usual with a 6'ish roll out, a few quiet moments then a lite breakfast before heading to the rec for what I thought would be a warm up in pickle ball for the tournament that was to start at noon, but the gym was closed as maintenance was replacing some burned out lights. I headed into the weight room and did a few minutes on the treadmill before heading back home on my bike. I decided to get a load of laundry on the line as the skies were quickly clearing and it looked like a good day for hanging clothes. Nancy was getting ready for her weekly Bible study at SFBC so I had a couple hours to kill before heading back to the rec for the pickle ball tournament.
I harvested collards then cleaned and chopped them for Nancy to put on to slowly cook when she got back home around noon as I would be gone until after 3. I filled in for another player who had the flu as I initially wasn't sure if I was going to play. Keith who I had previously partnered up with in earlier tournaments several years ago was left without a partner. Well since I didn't sign in time to get in the draw I was left on the sideline until his partner had to withdraw due to illness. So I thought what the heck lets give it a try and we played the first 2 matches and never lost a point. Then we played the next two teams who we thought would win the tournament and beat them as well in some really good points. We had to wait for an hour or so to play the winner of the losers bracket which turned out to be the third team we beat in the first round. It was a double elimination tournament so we played this team again and beat them in a good match.
This tournament was initiated to raise funds for hospice in the name of one of our fellow pickle ball players who passed away rather unexpectedly last year. His widow came for the tournament and she was delightful and so appreciative that we would hold this special occasion in his honor and for the $550 dollars we raised in his name. A good time was had by all and there were 20-25 teams involved in the play as well which was mainly for in house participants. The Rec was very involved in helping to sponsor this tournament as well and the feedback was very encouraging for pickle ball at this facility.
I headed out around 5'ish to pick up GG and along with the Amy, Tyler and the kiddos we had a down home feast of collards, Swiss style steak and gravy, smashed taters, corn and biscuits. I passed on the taters but did have a biscuit which was fabulous with orange/fig jelly. The collards were just awesome as well as we now have the old fashion method down to properly preparing them with smoked bacon, onion and red pepper flakes. After the clean up we got into the new game called Things which Amy and Tyler gave us for Christmas. It is a fun game with lots of humor and GG beat us all with me dead last. You have to guess who said what that is written on a slip of paper which is read to the group all at once.
Well after a hot shower I was fading fast by 10 PM, LATER
