Heading North

Well we are shutting up the parkmodel and trying to eat the last of the food. It is time to return to the rain of Oregon.
I would have to say this season at RCB was not the best. My Number One reason for wanting to be here never happened. Pauline and I had a show ready called "Love in the Afternoon" and lost the accompanist too late to get another. We have talked with two other people now so we should be able to do a show next year. The other problem is that it is difficult to find others as committed to doing a musical show as we are.
Well back to Oregon and prepare for our next trip.

The Da Vinci Experience

Since we arrived at Indio and have said the I want to visit The Da Vinci Experience at the Palm Springs Air Museum but we have not made the trip. We today we finally made it. It has been a busy year and we don’t always take the time to get out of the park and visit the local sites.
The Da Vinci Experience has more than 60 precise and interactive replicas of devices developed by Leonardo da Vinci. It was a great exhibit with the replicas of da Vinci creations and two short videos about da Vinci and his work.
We had seen a similar exhibit in Milan but I would have to say this was better. The only thing I missed was the excellent anatomical drawings that were on display in the science museum in Milan. The models in this exhibit were larger and you were allowed to interact with many of the exhibits.

Hot Tennis

Well tomorrow, Sunday, is the last day of PAC Life Tennis. We will be working for the final three matches the men’s singles and both the men’s and women’s doubles.
I will go out on a limb and predict the winners of the singles and the women’s doubles complete with pictures. I got some pictures of Lisa Raymond and Samantha Strosur playing doubles on court 2 on Friday and I think they will win the women’s doubles.
As for the men’s singles, I think today’s match where Nadal beat Roddick determined the men’s champion. I was able to get some pictures of Rafael Nadal as he was warming up early in the morning. Roddick may have not been at his best but I did see a 147 MPH serve from him. Nadal just outplayed him and deserved to win.
The biggest news other than all the upsets has been the 90 degree temperature. I have not been in on any of the medical problems but there have been a few each day as people sit in the sun for a long time and don’t drink any water. So there has been many cases of heat stroke treated.
I also wanted to share the two wildlife samples that I have pictured from the tennis garden. The first is the moths. You will see many of them flying around the courts. I don’t know much about them but you can take a look for yourself. The other is the bat I saw resting during the day by the elevator. After a big night of catching all the insects around the ground I guess it was just resting. I did think I saw one when we were working one night be it is always hard to tell but al least we know they are around.

Hot Temperature and Matches

Well we have been working the hot days and it seems to be eliminating many of the favorites. I have not worked any of the big upsets but did get to see Federer lose in the doubles match that eliminated him completely form the tournament. It was a good match and the way they score doubles now with the no ad and super third set tie break it is really anyone’s game with the level of players at these matches. It think that is evident by some of the “upsets”: you find in the doubles. The Federer match came down to the super tie break 13-11.
I did get to see Na Li play again. She is seeded 12th but in good position to go all the way she plays Zvonareva who was seeded 15 next only Peer that was seeded 11th is above her in the draw.
Well today we work the night shift so it may be very late before we get home.
We don’t know where we will be working until we get there but chances are it will be stadium1 and the last match there does not start until at least 8:30 PM. It is the Haas Gonzalez match. It should be interesting. Gonzalez has a very vocal following from Chile so you can expect some noise.
There are many booths around the tennis park selling tennis related items, vacations, food, or hair care. I have limited myself to the food and canon camera area but Marilyn has found a car she think she needs.

Tennis at its Best

Well two more days at the tennis tournament. We did not see the big upset of Roger Federer by Guillermo Canas but did see some of Canas getting beaten by Carlos Moya today. It was the second day at about 90 dreeses so it was HOT.
Sunday we were out on court six that is a small court but at this point in the tournament there can be good matches out there. The problem is that it is so few seats that people can’t get in to see the match. We didn’t have a BIG match but they did next door. So we got to hear the noise and have some of the traffic come by our court.
Today we were in court three so had more space but bigger matches. I was working as a floater for most of the time relieving people to go to lunch. That means not much for pictures but did get a few. Two quick shots of Nicole Vaidisova before Ahsha Rolle quit for medical reasons. Ok so she is just another one of those tall, blonde, girls from Easter Europe. But it is nice to get a picture. I can put that with the picture I got of myself with Maria Sharapova that I got at the Canon booth. Ok it was only a cardboard cutout of Maria but the picture is nice and she wasn’t upset when I put my arm around her for the picture.
Then we had the match of the day. Canas and Moya. I got a couple of quick pictures and then tried to run the gate the best I could. What do you do when all the seats are full and more people want in? By that time it was 2:30 PM and I got to go to lunch myself. I got back to see or at least be around and see a few shots as Moya beat Canas. But Canas had his 15 minutes of fame by beating the number one in the world. He was a lucky loser by loser in his first match, the qualifying matches, but got to continue because one of the other qualifiers had to drop out.
I am sitting on one bad news. That Pauline and I may not be able to do our SHOW Love in the Afternoon. The accompanist we were counting on has just been doing too much and is burned out so she can’t play for us. More on that latter but needless to say after looking forward to singing with Pauline all year I am CRUSHED to not have it work.

Melt Down

Two more days of working at Pacific Life and nothing has been too exciting yet. I would have to say the Tuesday was the most excitement. Even though the matches were short and the day ended before the day shift was over, we did get in on some excitement.
Anastasi Rodionova really had a melt down and not because of the high temperatures. She started by being upset at some line calls and not being ready when her opponent, Tatiana Poutchek was ready to serve. One time Tatiana even served. The crowd was not happy with her actions and let her know about it. I am not sure why she called for a referee after the first set and what ever it was she must have lost because she got a delay of game warning. Then after two points in the next game she called for a trainer. She had taken advantage of calling in her coach between sets but since it was not court one she could not challenge the line calls. The second set just got worse and she couldn’t let go of the line calls and crowd and lost that in short order. Maybe as she gets more experience she will understand that you have to play on even if you don’t like a call, don’t dwell on it.
Anyway we only had to work about two hours and we were gone. Thursday I got the upper bowl in stadium one. It is early in the week so there were no matches on interest during the day. The sets were only taking about an hour and the biggest job I had was staying awake. It was a warm day in the sun and in the upper bowl you have no crowd control and seat problems to solve. So you just set in the sun and watch dull matches. On of the women had a very fast serve, over 120 MPH but still lost. She was older and trying to make a come-back and the younger player just had better shots. So we should start seeing some of the better players when we start to work on Sunday.

Pacific Life Open

Well we had our first day working as an usher at the Pacific Life Open Tennis Tournament. The first two days are for qualifiers so no big names are playing but some are starting to so up on the women’s draw. They start first while the men start arriving on Wednesday. Admission is free so you get many people and there are always a few local competitors that bring out a crowd.
It was a warm day, sunning and about 80 degrees. We were assigned to court 2 and that meant we had one of the matches that drew a lot of local interest. Coco Vandeweghe, a 15 year old local girl was playing. She fits the image of what seems to be the latest woman tennis player, About 6 foot tall and blonde. She played a good match but lost in 3 sets. We started working at the end of the first set. I was given one of the gates to the chairs on the shady side so it was busy. Most of the chairs were full so you couldn’t let people in unless someone left. Of course there were plenty of seat in the bleachers on the sunny side of the court. That match lasted three hours and seventeen minutes so we were behind most of the other courts in getting our five matches for the day.
There was talk of moving the last match scheduled for the day to another court but as always the best laid plans to not always work. Our next match lasted 57 minutes and the two courts that looked like they would be open ran longer. Anyway, it meant that we were the last court to finish for the night at about 7:30. Today we will be working the late shift again. Even though we are not see top ranked players they are very good and most of the crowds are small so the job of usher is easy. For the last match. Marilyn and the three other people working the shady side of the bleachers had from zero to 10 people most of the time.

Still trying to win at Tennis

Well your tennis tournament is over and we are not the big winners this year. In the men’s singles I lost 6-3 6-3 to the man that won the men’s I did win the consolation. 6-2 6-1. The mixed doubles Pauline and I lost the championship in three sets. We won the first and should have had the second but lost in a tie-breaker then went on to lose the last set 6-3. One of those matches we should have won but didn’t. Men’s doubles was nothing to talk about. Marilyn did win the consolation in the mixed doubles.
Now we are preparing for the Pacific Life Tennis that starts next week. We will be ushering and should get to see some of the world’s best play. Sometimes in the early matches when they are not playing on Court 1 you are right court-side.
Pauline and I have also selected our songs for the Love in the Afternoon show we will be doing. Now starts the work of memorizing and getting ready for the show.

Date Festival

Well it is Time for The Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival and we made it for the first time since we have been coming to Indio. So just what is the Date Festival? I guess I can just tell you what we did and what we didn’t do.
We did not take any of the rides. We didn’t even venture into that area. However on of the “rides” was not in the all you can take for $23 it was $25 for one ride. That was the Ejection Seat or sling shot to me. You get in this seat with your friend if you have any and they hook the chair down while they pull up the cables to tighten the Cord and then shoo you into the air to fall back down and bounce back up again. I timed it you get about 5 up and downs and 50 seconds for your $25. We for many they also got some screams. I just walked by that little machine.
Ok we did go to the races. There were Camel and Ostrich races and then they had kids from the audience chance chicken and emus for two other races. For the ostrich they rode bare back and had them pull wagons. In all the races there seemed to be problems that the animals did not always cooperate.
We went to see Rosaire’s Bears, a man and his two sons’ with 5 bears, two grizzly bears and 3 European Black bears. They did all the tricks of pushing another in carts, riding motorcycle, balancing on barrel. It is a fun act and I was amazed at how well trained the bears were.
Of course you have to have the BBQ dinner and we chose the turkey leg with beans and cabbage to share, a little messy but good. We ate this while we were waiting to see the Arabian Night Pageant. The pageant was a big production and a little hokey at times but fun. I guess it was not what I had expected.
More pictures can be seen on the Flicker account.

I won!

Well I finally won a tennis match. Maybe I have to give credit to my mixed partner, Pauline, who is also my singing partner. We won our first round match so will be in the semifinals next Monday. The next match could be a tough one. The pair we are playing won the mixed about 4 years ago.
We also had the Lobster Feed. It was great food and we did some singing including so sing-a-long. So once again activity based on food and dink. Marilyn does not like the mess of eating whole lobster but for me it is part of the fun and enjoyment of the meal. Yes things can be messy but nothing you should worry about.
Maybe it is just Valentine’s Day but it seems we have a lot of anniversaries that are being celebrated around here. And these are the 50 to 60 year celebrations. We are off to one tonight and I will be taking pictures.

On Stage Again

Well Pauline and I had our first chance to sing for a group last night. It was nice to get back to performing for and audience after all the practicing. It was a very nice group. The golf mixer is always held close to Valentines Day and they spend the day playing golf and end the day with a nice dinner. So we had a very nice crowd and they seemed to enjoy it. We even got a box of chocolates for each of us after we sang. I hope that doesn’t get back to the people that want everything done by volunteers at RCB.
I had invited Pauline and her husband as well as Ruth, our accompanist, and her husband to come by for fondue after the performance but unfortunately both husbands were sick so it was just me and three wonderful ladies. Maybe another time the husbands will be feeling better. We had a good time but had more food than we needed for just the four of us.
It was a busy day for me. The night before was the Valentines Dance and I had taken pictures of the couples at the dance. So I had 101 pictures to process and get printed. Thanks to Costco, it was all done by 2 PM. I think they all turned out nice. Some of the pictures were a little dark and I think the battery was getting low and the flash was not getting a full charge. I had to crop each picture and paste in the message on the hearts. That is the nice think about having blank hearts, you can just put in what you want.

Tennis At RCB

Well it is tennis tournament time at RCB. The draw is out and I am playing in the “A” division again this year. I have played my first two matches and Marilyn has played her first and it looks like there will not be a champion in this household this year unless it is a consolation championship.
My singles was a match I didn’t feel I could win but actually did better than I thought and admit there were times I even thought I could win. My opponent is called the roadrunner so I had to play all out hitting to both lines and hitting hard. The bad thing is at my ability you miss some of those shot as you go from one side of the court to the other.
In the mixed competition my partner is also my singing partner Pauline and Marilyn’s partner is the guy that beat me in the singles. Pauline and Marilyn are opponents in the consolation round of the women’s doubles. Sine it is hard to get a picture of myself playing I will put in one of Marilyn and Pauline.
For the most part it is fun and everone has a good time. However my doubles partner in the men’s doubles does have a tendency to just quit at times and not really try. That happened in the second match today when he just doesn’t even try to hit a good shot and his body language makes it clear that he as quit.

Food! Food! Food!

Much of what happens at RCB seems to revolve around food. Of course that is not the best if you are wanting to lose weight. Just last Friday there was the Tri Tip dinner in clubhouse 1, in clubhouse 2 was a birthday potluck for the local drummer Diannia with several of the bands playing, and I don’t know how many other private parties in which food was eaten.
We attend a deck party at Anne and Hal’s place. It was 18 tennis players and we had drinks and food. I had to include a couple of pictures from that gathering. I had to put in two because the men sat at one end of the deck and the women at the other end so I would not get both men and women if I did not put in two pictures. The main dish was lasagna and the rest of us supplied salad and dessert. Tonight I had to cook but then Monday is the Potato Bake a private party where two couples provide potato and toppings while we bring salad and dessert. That should be about 40 people. Tuesday is the Tennis potluck and that be followed Friday with the lobster dinner or Nova Scotia night? I will also be singing at that. Thursday there is the golf mixer which is a dinner but I will only be singing a couple of love songs with Pauline my singing partner. We will not stay for dinner but gather on our deck after words for fondue with Ruth our pianist. Of course we will allow our spouses to attend also.

Big Star

Well we are in the middle of Big Star. We had one show last night and will have another one tonight. This is the lip-sync show that is produced at RCB. It is not my kind of show and I would never appear on stage for this show but that does not mean it doesn’t have a big following here. Marilyn is part of the show with a presentation of an ABBA song with three of our friends. I of course am running lights. When you are working lights you don’t always choose what you work.
The show is big on costumes and dance. The people really get into it but don’t always get all the words memorized. To me it is too much show and little talent. Some people do very well but it is a chance for anyone to get on stage and get that rush of lights and applause. It is very well accepted by the people at RCB and raises thousands of dollars for the activities at RCB. It does have a large costume expense but the work is all done by volunteers so there is a lot of money to be made.
One of the interesting things when you work lights on a show where most of the people have very little experience on stage is that they don’t always hit the same spot. That just means that I have to watch and be ready to adjust the slides on my controls. We are not using a follow spot so it is all done with basically 6 lights that cover the stage and two set for the two announcers that are working the show. One of the men doing the announcing has a lot of experience and the other is learning but both are doing a good job. We are facing some problems with the sound system but have covered most of that. We did meet with a sound company this last week about getting a complete system of the quality that we need. At this point we have many parts that have been purchased and try to piece them together. It would be nice to get a designed system. For me it is also interesting because I have never worked this side of the stage but knowing what you want and some basic understanding of how it is done and I seem to be ahead of many people.

Tea Dance

Along about time for Happy Hour, or Tea Time if you wish, you will find the residents of RCB gathering on their decks for the social hour. One couple says even their dog knows when the four o’clock hour approaches. Well we had a special day last week when our own RCB band turned their practice time into a free dance. Ok, I will admit that one of the band members is from Happy Wonderer RV Park that is about 2 blocks away but we call it our band.
Now that puts together two things the people enjoy Happy Hour and FREE. We had between 150 and 180 people gathered in the clubhouse with bottle and snacks in hand for two hours of music and dancing. The day was a success and many people danced while some just listened. Marilyn and I danced a number of times and I would have to say it was one of the better dances we have had this year. Many of the dances are recorded music with DJ or single performer while here we had and eight piece band and a singer. They did a great job and we hope they will get a chance to perform again for a dance.

Getting Out

Well now that Academy Award nominations have been announced we know all the movies we haven’t seen that are up for awards. Some of them we will not see but have tried to see some of them the last couple of weeks. The last two we saw were The Last King of Scotland and Notes on a Scandal. Once we make it out of the park we try do several things while we are out.
Dinner is always a nice ending to the outing. By catching the afternoon matinee we are out in time to get an early dinner. Just as good and cheaper. Well maybe they give a smaller portion but we need smaller portions. The last place we went for dinner was Babe’s. It is a barbeque place with excellent pork, beef and chicken. One of the choices for sides is sweet potato fries. They even have a sheet at the front desk on how much better they are for you. They are different but good. So that was a good choice. The only problem is so many choices and so little time.
Yesterday we also needed some food so visited two stores we had not visited before. The first one was Bristol Farms. It is a gourmet high end food store all the wine, cheese, meat, ect. for the person looking for the best quality and willing to pay the price. They had numerous samples and we bought a strawberry cholate smoothie that was great. A very interesting place and nice to know if you are looking for something a little different and special.
The second place was Henry’s Farmers Market. It had a great variety of organic foods and bulk food. Here we did buy most of the groceries we needed. But I think we will still do much of the special shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Steak fry

Well of Friday we had just a little more excitement at RCB. I played my tennis and took my walk. Tennis has its good days and bad day but mostly it is fun. I have a couple of groups a men that I play with that are about even or at least not too much better than I am so I can enjoy the playing. We will soon have the tennis tournament and I will have to share pictures and find creative ways to explain my losses.
The walk I try to take any day I don’t play tennis is always good exercise and I enjoy seeing the people and the birds as I wonder the park. I have not set path but try to wonder around for about an hour at a good pace. I also try to walk around the park as I take part in some of the activities.
But for the excitement we had a Steak Fry on Friday night. For this you bring your own meat to barbeque and your drink of choice. A backed potato, garlic bread, and desert are provided. It can take a while for 200 people to cook their steaks but we go out in 6 different groups so it moves right along. It is a good social time with the people as you wait your turn to go out to the barbeque and while you are cooking the steaks.
After we had finished eating there was a three piece band that played music for dancing. I found it difficult to dance to most of their music but one Greek couple that had helped with the preparation for the dinner did their Greek folk dance and a few people joined them.

How Cold Is It??

How Cold is It? Well I do feel a little guilty complaining about the cold while others suffer in REAL cold. But then we did come south for the winter to avoid the cold rainy weather. This last week it was the coldest it has been in 40 years here in the valley. Of course the loss for the citrus fruit farmers is very bad for them and for those of us that want to buy the oranges.
Although it does get cold during the night when the sun comes up it warms up very quickly. Luck for us we do have a deck that faces south so even when the outside temperature may only be 6o degrees or less it will be in the 70’s on the deck and I can sit in comfort. My early morning walk is cold and some of the water standing in the street has a thin sheet of ice. Another sad event is the frost did kill some of the flowers and stunted others. It looks like our bougainvillea may have been frosted. Of course that is not all bad. It grows so much that I always have to cut it way back to meet park requirements and it never has blossoms that we get to enjoy.
I still get to play tennis several times a week and it is not raining so I must say, “Yes, it is cold here but we really don’t have much to complain about.”

The Making of a Star

We just completed our tryouts for the Cabaret Show this year and we did not have a great number of people attending. In fact we still could use another man. Several of the men that were in the show last year have decided to not take part this year. It is very demanding of time and many people have other things they want to do in life like visit grandchildren or play golf. So it is ok, I understand the need to make choices and only want people in the show that are willing to give the time and effort needed.
Last years show was a success and we hope to repeat again this year. We had three men and five women at tryouts. All but one of the women are sopranos. However some can sing alto. That means that we have more women than we can use and could use another man. That means that I had to personally contact a couple of men that had said they might be interested and decide which women I must tell we won’t be able to use her this year. We I talked with two men and one said I will tell you by the end of the week and the other said no. We will see, it is always better if they say yes right away.
As for the women I will have to consult with my singing partner and the musical director but I think I know which one will be the choice. It is always hard to not select a person when you know they really want to be part of the show.
Tonight I also get to work with the other big show at RCB. The Big Star Night, which is a lip-sync show that many people enjoy doing. There is always some feeling of competition with our live music show but they are really very different and provide expanded opportunities for the people here.

New Years at RCB

New Years at RCB had a number of large and small group activities happening. But maybe the most important thing in getting ready for the late night was the nap in the afternoon. We were attending two activities. I wanted to go to a street dance with a live band and Marilyn wanted to attend the dance at Clubhouse 1 with a DJ. So we did both.

I was helping with sound for the band so I had to go over early and do a sound check and then once in awhile I was running to the sound board to make some adjustments. There was actually the band with five guys and the singer and then another couple that she played drums and he played honky-tonk piano. It wasn’t too cold but they did have a number of heaters setup around the area so you could go and warm up if you got cold. So this ran from 7 to 9 PM and then off to the clubhouse for the last of the night.

We had a lot of country music and music not really suited for ballroom dancing but we survived. After our champagne toast at midnight we headed home because we were playing tennis at 8 AM today.