There are a few funny things I can recall from growing up. These are stories about me and my brothers and sisters.
The Funnies
Picnic in the Parking
Rita, Ruth, Maureen and Adele at Glenmore Park, Calgary
It’s Rita’s birthday! Here in Calgary, the skies are blue and the day was looking great so Ruth, Adele and I were going to help Rita celebrate by having a picnic in the park, followed by a game of bridge.
Ruth and I left our condos at 11:45 am to head up to the Old Banff Coach Road area to rendezvous with Rita and Adele and, from there, we were headed for a picnic in Bowness Park.
Once we got to Bowness Park, we quickly discovered it wasn’t a place that we could really use for our picnic. We hadn’t realized that the flood of 2013 had resulted in so much damage to this side of the Bow River, so we started to think about an alternative location. In fact, if we’d taken a look at the City of Calgary’s website before venturing out, we would have learned that the East side of the park won’t be completely re-opened until the fall.
We could see what looked like a very nice park across the river from the Bowness Park and were considering going there – until we saw the traffic. The cars and trucks were backed up for two kilometres at the place where we needed to go to get across to the other side of the river. It looked like making the crossing would take forever, but for our next picnic we’ll consider going to Baker Park – which is a popular photo shoot location for weddings.
So we thought and discussed alternative plan number three and we agreed to another destination: North Glenmore Park. Back in the cars we got and, believe it or not, with the road construction detours throughout the city, we ended up being back to where we had rendezvoused earlier! After another 6 kms we were at the park.
The picnic table will soon have good food to eat.
The parking lots were quite full, but we did find spaces. I’d guess that we weren’t the only ones thinking about having a picnic in the park! But we were lucky to spot a vacant picnic table, so out with the tablecloths and napkins! We were all hungry and ready for our picnic!
Rita had done a great job in bringing all the plates, glasses, cutlery and liquid refreshments. The picnic lunch was a joint effort and on the menu was prosciutto-wrapped asparagus with a yummy sauce, fresh baked bread, roasted peppers, fresh garden tomatoes, devilled eggs, potato salad and fruit. OH what a delicious spread it was!
Rita and Adele setting up our picnic feast.
There was a even a beautiful bench on the edge of the Glanmore Reservoir that we could use for picture taking before we got back into the cars back to Ruth’s condo for an afternoon game of bridge.
We played bridge for a couple of hours. Adele and Rita promptly scored the first rubber and Ruth and I finally (and I mean finally) managed to
Maureen and Ruth at the picnic.
tie them with a rubber of our own. It took a lot of dealing and throwing in of cards as in most cases nothing seemed to fit.
But what a great way to Celebrate Rita’s birthday.
Happy Birthday, Rita! Hip Hip Hooray!
Snowbirds, Campgrounds and Active Seniors
Renee and Gaetan in Florida
My daughter, Colleen, lives in the Canadian province of Quebec. And so does her mother-in-law. Renee says she is going to live to be 100, and Colleen is convinced that she will because she takes great care of herself. This is a story about an #ActiveSenior and it’s part of my series to help convince seniors to get off the couch and get active!
Renee is 72. You know how I say that 78 is the new 65, well, with Renee’s 72 it’s definitely the new 60 – maybe 58. She’s someone who, like me, likes to get up in the morning and have breakfast, watches what she eats and drinks, takes care of herself, likes to do things,, and isn’t scared to try new things. For example: she was 60 when she first got her driver’s licence.
Snowbirds
For any of you who don’t know about the Snowbird lifestyle of many Canadians and Quebecers in particular, let me fill you in. Renee is Gaetan’s “Blonde” and he is her “Chum”, – that’s the Quebec way of saying girlfriend and boyfriend. This retired couple spends around four of the winter months in Florida. They head south around the first week of November, and head back at the beginning of April.
They used to have a fifth-wheel trailer which they towed down the I-75 behind a Ford F-150 to camp in Homestead, Florida, just south of Miami. They did that until the land got sold and the campground became a condo project, around six years ago.
Then they tried another campground on Florida’s west coast, near Tampa, but found it wasn’t really their thing. Tampa weather wasn’t quite as nice as it had been around Miami, although the campground was chocker-block full of Quebecois and had a lot of great activities.
They then decided to get rid of the fifth wheel and the truck and try out renting for a season and they found that they love it. Now, they return each year to a one-bedroom apartment just north of Miami and enjoy their modified snowbird lifestyle. Close to the beach and shops, they’re able to keep active by walking nearly everywhere they go. On their daily “To-Do” list are daily walks on the beach, meeting up with friends along the way and enjoying the sunshine.
They have a home outside of Montreal, but from the middle of May to the middle of September, you’ll mostly find them in a campground just outside of Granby, Quebec, where they and a couple hundred others have a trailer parked permanently on the site. Some of the campground’s residents take advantage of their summer retreats by building decks, gazeboes, fire pits and water displays on their properties, and everyone keeps their area clean and tidy.
Campground Life
Campground life has its own rhythm. There’s Bingo every Friday night which Renee volunteers to work at (while Gaetan sometimes plays), a 50/50 draw on Saturdays that can net you a nice paycheque if you’re lucky – but it’s the fitness activities she really loves.
The campground’s swimming pool was just renovated, and there is aqua fitness lead by a volunteer when it’s sunny and warm outside. But what Renee is really excited about is the low-impact aerobic class held in the campground’s main hall.
It’s the first time this class has been offered and, like the aqua fitness, it’s run by a volunteer, twice a week. Since May 15th, she’s lost 10 pounds, lost an inch around her middle, toned her arms to lose some of her chicken wings, and has even more energy than ever before. Someone in the class has a pedometer and the men and women who participate move the equivalent of 5 kilometres each class.
Colleen asked Renee if she would video a portion of the class for the blog, and Renee did. The class is attended by both women and men, and when Colleen asked her where there are so few seniors participating, Renee shakes her head.
“I don’t know. I don’t understand why people don’t give it a try. They can go at their own pace, and it’s really fun.”
Hooray for Renee. She’s a great example of an #ActiveSenior who is a great role model, who realizes that you really need to take care of yourself as you get older, and she does.
Are you an #ActiveSenior? Let me know, tell me your story.
The Shotgun Shank at Terra Lago
Terra Lago North and South
One of the oddest couples I’ve met on a golf course was at on the North Course of Terra Lago, in Indio, California in December of 2012. It can get cold there in the Coachella Valley at night in wintertime, and when we got to the course, Terra Lago was feeling the chill.
The Pro Shop had issued a frost delay and no one was allowed on the course until it had been lifted. While waiting, and waiting and waiting for the sun to come out and burn that nasty frost away, the boys in the Pro Shop had to figure out what to do with all the golfers that had signed in and were waiting to play, with all their now-delayed tee times.
To fit everyone in, they decided to make it a shotgun start, which would take place one hour after the frost was gone.
When the sun came out, it was toasty warm – warm enough to be wearing shorts and a tee shirt. My friend and I were sent to the 6th hole for the shotgun start, where we were paired up with two women. The thing was, neither of these women were dressed like golfers. Both were dressed like they were heading through a full-blown snowstorm in northern Saskatchewan! They wore heavy scarves on their heads and around their necks, they wore bowler-style hats on top of the scarves, full-length winter coats, and woollen pants with running shoes.
My friend and I hit good, long tee shots and we returned to our cart while the first woman got up on the tee. It took quite a few swings and misses later, until she finally hit the ball – about 15 feet. Then she went to where the ball was, picked it up, went back to the tee box, re-teed her ball, then tried to hit it again.
When she finally hit it again, it didn’t go that much further – maybe 30 feet. Now it’s time for the other woman to tee off, but she’s busy, fumbling in her bag for a couple of minutes more, before she finally gets on the tee.
The second woman is just like the first. She swings and swings, has more tries and misses and then finally she hits the ball – about 40 feet.
I drive our cart down the fairway, and parked it across from the 30 foot ball. Would you believe, the woman swings and misses again and finally shanks the ball and it lands under our cart! I knew this was more than hilarious and I knew that if I didn’t do something, and quick, I was going to laugh out loud!
We knew that the course was being held up with this slow play so I told them we had to go on ahead, and they could play as a twosome. We hurried to the green and putted and were quickly off to the 7th tee box.
It was their first time on a golf course. Both of these women had just retired from school teaching and decided the day before that they should take up golfing, and what better place to start than Terra Lago!
I hope they went for lessons.
Inactive Seniors
The Canadian dollar may be low, but we found a stay and play golf offer in Whitefish, Montana that we just can’t refuse! Our next road trip starts Sunday!