Pool Culture

Finally, this week the sun is shining and temperature is getting near 80 degrees. So, on Monday while Don was golfing, I put on my suit, packed a towel, stopped at the library for a book to read and headed to the pool. Speaking of that, I think I will do that again and come back to writing when it starts to rain.

I’m back.. a little browner and further into the book. I’m getting to know my next door neighbor, Max who is also a pool-side mystery reader. The ritual is to set up in a chaise with a bottle of water, sun screen, a novel and a big towel. After about 30 minutes of sun exposure, slather yourself with sunscreen. Surprisingly, sunscreen with SPF ratings of 10 and 15 are not unusual. We still fancy ourselves looking lovely and tan. When you get too warm, get in the pool and hang out and listen to gossip. I learned the first day that this is the place to air any grievances you have with the way Palmdale is managed. There are problems getting them to keep the pool warm enough or the hot tub cool enough. There is a serious problem around the dumpsters that has been going on for a very long time and it never gets fixed. The improvements on one of the roads that was started a few weeks ago is a problem and there is no reason that they can’t be out there fixing it. There are people who don’t want the association to front the cost of the pork butts for the barbecue in February and there isn’t any reason not to do that because the association gets paid back when tickets are sold. There are also people who are crazy enough to believe that the association has a secret $30,000 CD which is crazy because the only income the association has comes from 50/50 drawings at various events around here. I also heard a snide remark one person made about another who had just left. Junior High is never really over. So even at Palmdale, things are rough.

Line Dancing

I never thought that I would take up line dancing being as it doesn’t fit with my yogi, educated and liberal self image but then I came here to Palmdale and I saw how much fun it is. Many of the French speaking Canadians are into line dancing. Besides looking like fun, my boring, educated, yogi self reminded me that learning a new skill especially to music is very good for brain health. At our age, brain health is now as important as heart health and bone health. Since I need all three of those, that was a good excuse to go. So on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9:00 AM you can find me at line dance class. The teacher still keeps me in the front row so I’m definitely not one of the advanced dancers or even intermediate. Some of the steps are similar to the old step-aerobics class that I used to take like the grapevine, step-touch, step kick, but then there are other dance steps like the shuffle, jazz box, waltz, twinkle, etc. I think now that I’m in step with the class somewhere over 80% of the time on most dances. So now I’m a line dancer and today we were told that we will have an opportunity to dance during the intermission at an event being planned for February 26. I think I need to do better than 80% for that. I really don’t care about all the health benefits now. I just like to dance.

Edie's Birthday Week

I have been absent from Palmdale for the last 10 days so I have no news from here except that during my absence, Don has taken up salt-water fishing in the gulf and also playing golf on senior discount day at the golf course. This morning it is sunny outside, Don is off fishing and I've turned off the heated floor because the sun is beginning to warm up the place. Presumably, it is also warming up outside but I'm still in my pajamas enjoying the solitude.

My trip to Minnesota was not without it's challenges as I couch-surfed between Son Greg's and Sister Elaine's houses. They have surprisingly similar couches and it only took me a day or two to figure out how to make up the bed to keep me warm. That little crack between the cushions on the couch lets in enough cold air so you never get warm unless it is covered with a thick comforter. That is the secret to winter couch surfing in Minnesota. Despite the sub-zero temperatures and the canceled birthday party due to the flu-infected Barbis/Ruff household, it turned out to be a very enjoyable trip for me.

Wednesday, January 7 commenced Edie's Birthday Week so I was free to give her gifts every day that I was there. It was easy since she is in her Princess phase now and dress up clothes are on her Christmas list which is still relevant. She loved her long skirt that I made from a scarf purchased at the flea market. She wore it all of the time and quickly learned how to pick up the long skirt so as not to trip going up stairs.

I had hours of good play time with Edie and Greg and was able to spend time with Elaine and her family. Elaine and I took a trip to Brainerd to have lunch with Bob, Jean, Dick, and Mark and deliver a shirt to Bob. Don found a shirt at the flea market sporting the message, "I'm retired and now I work part time as a pain in the butt." and I was instructed to deliver it to Bob.

Greg and I took Edie to the Mall of America a couple of times, rode the carousel and had lunch.I began to appreciate what a great indoor space this mall provides to Minnesota on cold winter days. My trip was completed with an excursion to the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul. What a wonderful indoor tropical space for walking and enjoying a humid warm atmosphere. Greg and Peggy's Christmas present was dinner out with free babysitting. I enjoyed a dinner out with Sister Kay and Cousin Nancy at the French Meadow Restaurant in St. Paul one night. By the time I boarded my plane for the return trip, the "January Thaw" had commenced. Snow was getting soft and wet.

I learned that during my absence it was chilly and rainy most of the time. It is a toss up as to whether that weather is any more comfortable than what I found in Minnesota. Now the sun is out and I can get back to my life as a Winter Texan.

New Year's Eve ala Palmdale RV Resort

“The Office” is the building at the center of Palmdale. It consists of a small lobby with the business office to the right. On the other side is a small library with a jigsaw puzzle on a table, shelves of books and the mail boxes. A short hallway leads to the “poker room” on one side and the rec room to the left. The poker room is somewhat of a mystery. It appears to be the inner sanctum for men playing serious card games. One woman reported being yelled at when she attempted to return her seat cushion to the cushion cabinet that is in the back of the room. I have never seen anything taking place there any of the times in which I have picked up or returned a seat cushion. The rec room is the heart of the park. It resembles fellowship halls that exist in most churches. About 20 rectangular tables with chairs are set up down both sides of the room with a wide center aisle that provides enough room for 30 couples to comfortably dance. A large kitchen to the side has the equipment needed to prepare and serve large groups. Having never actually been in the kitchen, I can’t say much about it. On one end of the room is a stage with a big screen television on the wall and a screen that can be pulled down to project movies. The other end of the room has a lighted Christmas tree that continuously revolves next to the bingo board. Presumably, the tree will be taken down soon. This room provides the setting for line dancing, aerobics, bingo games, card games, potlucks, regular movie showings, the holiday celebrations and whatever else takes place. On one wall is a large white board on with the regular weekly schedule. The windows at the back of the building overlook a large swimming pool, a hot tub, shuffle board and a large barbeque grill. So far we haven’t had many activities centered there. I hope that changes when we get some warm sunny days.

How do you keep a bunch of old people awake and ready to welcome in the new year complete with party hats, noise makers and champagne at midnight. When the evening started I could not imagine that we would still be there let alone our 80+ year old friends, but we were all there along with about 80 out of the 120 or so that started the evening. The secret was our entertainment for the night, a man named Ralph Kuster. He appeared to be in his late 50’s. He is a pretty good singer and had a stereo system in which he played recorded music to accompany his voice with periods of time when he functioned as a dee-jay. He started singing ballads at about 6:30 PM shortly and continued until 1:00 AM. Dinner was served at 6:30 with a salad we served ourselves. After the salad, plates were assembled in the kitchen and we each went to the window to pick up our meal, chicken cordon bleu, twice baked potato and mixed vegetables. After the tables were mostly cleared we were served a piece of angel food cake with raspberry sauce, fresh strawberries, blueberries with whipped cream. When dinner was finished, Mr. Kuster took a short break and put on some recorded music to dance to. He had a mixture of old rock and roll along with country. He changed to a red dinner jacket and continued himself singing some of the time. We have some pretty good dancers who stay here and I love watching old couples who have danced together for years and are good at it. I am a little jealous because I wish we could do that. We did join them for several dances. At about 10:30, Don suggested that we might go home. Thank goodness I told him I wanted to stay a little longer. Eventually, he decided to make the treacherous walk through huge puddles in cold rain to get some beer for himself and our friend Ray. I managed to make one bottle of wine last most of the night even sharing a couple of glasses. At about that time our entertainment made some changes – I think to keep us all awake. He had a variety of dance contests in which he selected a winning couple for a prize. He gave our old friends their choice of a CD for being married the longest – 63 years. They are still “full-timing” spending half the year here and the other half up in northern Minnesota. Later our host had a twist contest – which I joined but didn’t win. I didn’t see the winner but Don said she was the most intoxicated. It could be that she was least inhibited though I didn’t see very much intoxication or inhibition in anyone. I thought the winner should have been the woman next to me who twisted like she was still 16 years old. She could “go round and around and up and down and go again…like she did last summer.” Later our host switched to an Elvis jacket and came out into the audience and sang to different women who played their part wonderfully making everyone laugh and before you knew it a table full of hats and noisemakers appeared and we all picked out whatever we wanted. Champagne came out and was in the process of being distributed when the countdown to 2015 commenced. Everyone made blew their horns, rattled their noise-makers, hugged, kissed and celebrated another year in which to play.

I think here we can play with the innocence of children but with the wisdom from having lived a long time. That is what makes these kinds of communities special. It feels like a safe place where a person can just be themselves. I hadn’t expected this.