A bit late

Terry and Helen enjoying a peaceful beach sunset

The sun is setting

Sunset the last day Helen was here

First place trophy!

Just some pictures.  I thought the sunsets were very nice and I think Helen really enjoyed it.
It seems it has taken me some time to get out from under the "let down of league tennis" thing.  Yesterday and today are the first time in several days that I played half way OK.
Terry and I are enjoying a quiet week with sunny skies, warm temps and not very much activity.  Finished a book yesterday and perhaps will start another one today.  Is there work to do, for sure but it can wait a bit!
Enough, no FP in the PM so time to say it is enough.

It is sea food and sea food and sea food and.............

We visited the famous Naples Pier Sunday morning

lunch at the Docks

Terry said her sea bass was out of this world

Perhaps our next car, a 1923 Rolls!

It has been great fun having sister Helen here.  She said she wanted sea food when she came to Naples so sea food it has been.  Let me see it was at Coconut Jacks, The Fish House, The Big Fish, Docks, Brios and that is just in the last 72 hours!!!  We will head up to Sanibel after my tennis this morning.  On the way we will drove along the coast and see Fort Meyers beach.  I think spring break is over, at least I hope.
Tomorrow Helen needs to be at the airport by 6:30, I play tennis at 7:30, Lowe's is coming to measure for some windows at 8:00, I have a Dr. appt at 11:00 and then I will attend the tennis awards luncheon at 12:00.  For us retired (tired) guys that is quite a morning.
Here we are in the last week of March, looking at April this Saturday.  It is almost time for Terry and I to start looking towards the north country.  We have not made any plans yet but that time is quickly approaching.
No, that darn FP is near the bottom of the cup so need to get a move on.

The Col-Lee tennis winter league 2.5 Champions!

We finished the season by taking our last match which meant we won all 7 of our matches.  With a winning percentage of 83% we ran away from the second place team that had a winning percentage of 74%.  Everyone played at least one match and I think all had a great time.  We celebrated with a picnic at our home after the match with Terry's homemade baked beans and potato salad the star attraction. I manned the grill with brats and burgers.  Of course there was more food and drink for all.   In all we served 28 people and the leftovers were scarce!  In case one wonders about all the gray hair.  The division we were in was 60+.  I think the age range for our team was 65-82.  Half are in their upper 60's and one is in his 80's.  What did I like most about the season?

• I could say I can call each and everyone a friend 
• Everyone had fun 
• Everyone improved their game
• For people who have been in charge of a team you know what I am talking about when I mention cancer (not the medical kind) on a team.  We had NONE which made the season fun.
• They enjoyed being together
• early in the season I would ride over to the courts for a 7:30 match and there would perhaps be 2 or 3 team members playing.  Near the end of the season it would not be unusual to see 7 or 8 team members playing in the morning, that was wonderful.
• All thirteen came together and felt like they were a real team.  

I think the smiles tell it all.  If there is a mountain top experience after 70, this was it!!!

Terry and I are excited to have sister Helen come tomorrow.  She will be with us until early Tuesday morning so it should be fun.  I am sure there will be NO talk about the past!

Terry had an injection in her lower left back for pain yesterday.  The Dr. said it will take a few days to be effective.  She is doing so so much better and we hope and pray this will make things even better.  

It is mid afternoon so there is NO FP coffee for now.  As I sign off we are looking forward to having dinner with our neighbor John tonight.  His wife, Diane, died in January and she was a dear friend.  John has one of his daughters and her family down so we will get to spend some time with them.

We did it!

We came away with 2 court wins on Monday which assured us of 1st place after the season ends next week.  I will get 4 guys in the match next Monday who have not played this winter so that will be good.  Our match is at 1:30, our end of the year team party will be at our place at 5:30.  I will grill brats and burgers while Terry will make her delicious potato salad and baked beans.
It has been a season that actually turned out the way I had hoped and I guess expected too.  I now have several new players who are good so that is a good thing for 2018.  It looks like I will split the team and field a 3.0 and a 2.5 team but of course I will need a LOT of help.  I have enjoyed the winter season but I think I may be near tennis burn out as far as team goes.  The e-mails, the decisions for pairings and the list goes on and I perhaps put too much time into it.  I worst part was when I would put out an e-mail and the next day someone would send a note and ask a question about what I had just informed them about!
It has been an interesting week and it is only Wednesday.
Tennis tomorrow, tennis on Friday and then a couple of days off before the final on Monday.
Of course my FP was this morning so can not enjoy that at this time of day.  Enough.

I am ready!

Question of the day---Which racquet should I use today?

I am thinking tennis today.  We have our match at 1:30 and I have high hopes and expectations.  I am playing court #1 with Karl.  So far this year we have played very well together.  I play the ad court and he plays the duce court.  He is great at getting to the ball and keeping it in play while I play the net.  I perhaps have said it more than once but the team this year has been fun.  Guys have improved, they like to play together, they identify as a team and everyone has fun.  Quite a contrast from last year when we had high hopes only to have them fall apart with injuries and guys gone on days when we had key matches.  We will have our end of the year tennis party next Monday after our last match and everyone will be coming.  I think that tells it all.  So I had my breakfast and I washed it down with Kona coffee so I should play well.  Kona coffee only can be drank on a game day!!!
On the down side our scale is not working.  It must be calibrated wrong as I stepped on it this morning and the numbers were awful.  I am guessing it is the HIGH altitude here by the gulf.  Actually I forgot we are almost at sea level but then my excuse is I am getting older.  Is it that I am now 70?  Can it be that I am lazy and eat too much?  Perhaps what little discipline I had went south.  I refuse to believe any of that so I will just say the darn thing is not working right!  BUT Terry tells me it is so what can I say?
I guess I will say no more, just sip the last of the FP (that Kona is heavenly) and try to keep focused until 1:30 today.

I have done the math

I am guessing this was in 1949 with Grandpa and Grandma Lee

I can't believe how cute I was, not sure what happened!
I have done the math with my tennis team and I THINK we have 1st place locked up.  We play the second place team tomorrow and we each have 16 points but they have played 21 matches and we have only played 18.  In the end winning % determines the champion.  I am confident of winning all three courts against them tomorrow but you play the game because you never know.  It will be fun.  We have our last match on the 20th at home and I am planning to not play and have 3 players play who have not gotten in a match.  Perhaps I have the cart before the horse.  I am not forgetting this season but I am looking ahead to 2017/2018 when I think I will split the team and have a 2.5 and a 3.0 team.  That will give the better players tougher competition and the less skilled players a chance to play more and improve.  Of course I have to remember that there are MANY things in life more important than tennis.
Last week was interesting to put it mildly.  We had our annual villa meeting on Wednesday PM and the verbal back and forth got hot and heavy.  I think all we really want is transparency and a say in how our money is spent but the old guard likes to do things their way so..........  Long term, we will see how things fall.  When Terry called for the meeting to be conducted according to "Robert's Rules of Order", which is in the documents, the chair said he did not have to follow them!!!  What the heck.
Our next door neighbor is a new member of the board and really all she wants to do is have things happen in the right way BUT at this point she is frustrated and she has only been on the board for 3 days!  Terry and I put on our monthly villa get together at the pool Wednesday night and had a nice turn out BUT there were at least 6 people who did not show up because of the earlier meeting.  Kind of like if I can't have MY way I will go home and pout!
We are looking forward to sister Helen coming on the 23rd.  Three of my four children have been down but my siblings have not and I am excited.
Our neighbor John, who is from Canada, came down last week.  His wife, Diane, died in January and we flew up for the memorial.  He said the U.S. government wants to tax his home here at 40% if he keeps it!!!   Not sure how things like that work but he is saying he is trying to avoid that but really can not see keeping it if he has to pay that.  I am guessing that any of the villas here would be valued somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000+ so he is talking about a chunk of cash.  We hope he does not sell as he is such a great neighbor and a classy guy on top of it.
Terry is feeling better as time goes on and I have not missed any tennis because of my back so things are good in the health area.
My FP is gone and I have to say I flavored it with a bit of Baily's today which made it extra good.
I hope everyone is having a blessed Lent.
Judy Hepp, a member of People of Praise, died last week.  Judy was a great gal and suffered from cancer for the last year or so.  I have said this before but when someone who I know dies it is like a hard kick in the stomach.  I am guessing Judy was maybe early 70's.  

First Sunday of Lent

Ron (near the ball) and Paul in their Monday match which they won in a match tie breaker 10-4 (Terry did a great job with the pictures)

Not a lot of news on this end.  Terry and I had nothing planned for the weekend so it will be mostly reading books or newspapers, doesn't sound too exciting, does it!
We have a bye week in tennis and I think I need it.  Trying to stay on top of things with the team can sometimes get a bit much.  Perhaps I have taken on the team with too serious an attitude but I thought going into the season we would have a good, and deep, team which has turned out to be true.  Last Monday I was down 3 of  my top 8 players and we still were able to come away with wins on 2 of the 3 courts.  I may have a bit of a dilemma next Monday.  I think we could salt the championship away if I put the right pairings out, we will see.  I still have some guys who have not been able to play as our run to the top has meant playing the top players most of the time.  We will see what happens in the next couple of weeks.  When all is finished I may be the wonderful captain or I may be the terrible captain!
This week could be very interesting.  We have our annual Villa meeting Tuesday and that could get wild.  There is a round robin Wednesday PM with men and I signed up for that.  It ends at 5:00 and our monthly Villa party, that Terry and I organize, starts at 5:30.  Perhaps after our Tuesday meeting people will not come to the party!  We will see.  A plumper will come Monday to get our new toilets up and working and then Terry has an appointment during the week as well.
March is kind of a birthday month as there are two on Terry's side and 2 on my side.  Got to get those cards made as I often leave them until the last minute.
I hit the jackpot last week.  Received pictures of the Adkins with their letters and toolboxes and then got FOUR thank you cards in one day from South Bend.  It doesn't get any better than that!
Enough it is the end of the FP and almost time to get ready for church.

Not perfect but it will do

One of my favorite wood project, bunk beds that can be used as singles as well

Well the Kona FP yesterday did not make things perfect but it did fine!  We met the second place tennis team on our home courts and came away with 2 court wins.  We now play them again in 10 days on their home court so it should be fun.  As things stand now we have a good shot at 1st place but it never is over until it is over--right?  All of our matches are doubles and I lost my first match of the season 3-6 and 3-6.  I felt we were the better team but no, the score told otherwise.  Courts 2 and 3 saved the day.  On court 3 we won the first set 6-4 and then were cruising 4-0 but suddenly things changed and we ended up with a tie breaking loss.  In the 10 point match tie breaker we prevailed 10-4 as they served a double fault on the last point.  If you are in that situation it is never fun to lose like that BUT that is tennis.
We purchased two new toilets and the idea was that I could easily install them UNTIL I saw what we had.  There is an unconventional water hook-up back of the toilets and it is beyond my plumbing skill level.  The plumber will come on Monday.  We will have to live with one bathroom for the next couple of days but that should be a breeze compared to the old days--an out house!
I am on my last swallow of FP so time to sign off.