What We’ve Been Up To

Note: This post summarizes what we’ve been doing since we got back from Puerta Vallarta in November. If you already know or don’t care, feel free to stop reading. The next post will start our 4-month EPIC ADVENTURE beginning in London.

Thanksgiving weekend I went to Tucson with some friends to see Hamilton. It was my first time seeing the show and it was amazing! It was so great to finally see it live after watching it on Disney Plus about 50 times. It was weird, though, to hear the parts sung in different voices than the original cast. I’d see it again in a heartbeat.

Peter and I went to several concerts at Symphony Hall including a wonderful Holiday Pops show.

There was also a very nice Christmas concert here at the Ranch.

We had a holiday block party in our garage to meet as many neighbors as possible. We had about 20 people attend so it was a great time. We were hoping it would start a monthly roving happy hour but nothing so far. Oh well, we tried.

The day after the happy hour I had surgery on my shoulder to take care of a bone spur that was keeping me from participating in my activities. It had gotten to the point that I couldn’t play pickleball or golf and even stained glass was difficult. So, I decided to have the arthroscopic surgery and take care of the problem. Surgery went well and I started PT just a few days later. Within a month I was allowed to play pickleball with my left hand and, while not easy, at least I was able to get on the court. Everything is back to normal now and my shoulder is doing great.

A few days after my surgery we took a drive up to the Phoenix Zoo. Compared to San Diego Zoo, Brookfield and the Omaha Zoo it wasn’t much. But it was a nice day, and it was fun to be out.

In January I saw the Temptations and Four Tops in concert. Peter was a bit under the weather, so our friend Stephanie joined me, Jim and Kathie for a wonderful evening. In each group, the only surviving founding member still sings.

Duke Fakir of the Four Tops is 86 years old and while his voice wasn’t what it used to be; it was incredible watching him perform. For the most part he sat on a stool but every once he’d get up and join the other guys.

When the Temptations came out there were only 4 of them and we were worried that founding member Otis Williams (80 years old) wasn’t singing. It turns out that they had a brand-new member who had only been with them a couple of months. He joined them for the last song. The keyboard player joined the guys on vocals which gave them the sound for which they were famous.

In February Peter’s sister, Mary Beth, visited for a week. She was here for Peter’s birthday on the 1st, so we celebrated by driving to Tucson to see Wicked (their first time, my fourth). It was a wonderful production and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We also went to Tubac for an afternoon of good Mexican food and shopping for outside wall art.

Mary Beth had a great time learning to play pickleball and then on her last day, we went to opening day of the Renaissance Faire in Gold Canyon AZ. It’s just over an hour away up the back roads through the desert. Mary Beth goes to the Faire in Kansas City with her family every year and was very impressed with the layout. It was a beautiful day and, other than an hour-long wait to get in, we had a great time.

One of the many skits.

We were in Las Vegas for Super Bowl Weekend. Peter spent most of the weekend hanging with his vending buddies who meet in Vegas for the weekend every year. They hadn’t gone for the last couple of years, so it was fun for them to get together. I was there to help with the driving as it’s only 5 1/2 hours so, if you consider how early he’d have to get to the airport, it’s just as fast to drive as it is to fly. Peter and I did spend time together Friday night when we went to see Mat Franco’s show. Mat won America’s Got Talent in 2014 and is an amazing magician. Here is one of his performances from AGT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JdlabjN3p8&t=342s

Peter and I were sitting on the aisle about 3/4 of the way up the relatively small theater. At one point Mat disappeared from the stage and a split second later was standing next to Peter in the aisle. How did he do that? It was an incredible show, and we were so glad we went. If you ever get to Vegas, check it out. He announced that the Linq Hotel and Casino just signed him for another 5 years. Congrats Mat!!

On February 19th we went back to the Valley to see Andrea Bocelli in concert. To say it was amazing is an understatement. The seats on the main floor were $700 per ticket so we opted for seats in the upper level which were still $169 each but worth every penny. The concert started 30 minutes late (Italians have a very loose definition of time) but once it started it was mesmerizing. The first half was all operatic numbers and, while I would rather have my eyes scratched out than listen to opera, it was truly incredible.

After a 20-minute intermission, the second half was all pop numbers. There were several guest performers including 2 of his children. First, his 9-year-old daughter, Virginia, sang Hallelujah.

At our concert, Virginia suddenly stopped singing one of the verses, starting back up again at the chorus. At the end of the song, Andrea admitted that he messed up the lyrics and, since she didn’t know what he was doing, she just stopped. She was quite poised for such a young girl singing in front of 20,000 people.

Here are a couple of short videos I took.

As a final encore (there were 3) Andrea and his son Matteo sang Ed Sheeran’s Perfect Symphony. It was amazing. There is certainly a lot of talent in that family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVz0xPyWZG0

In early March my niece, Christina, visited from southern Illinois. She’s a high school special ed teacher and was only able to come for a long weekend but it was fun to see her.

I wanted to get a nice camera for our upcoming trips, and since, in addition to being a teacher, Christina is also a professional photographer, she helped me pick one. She learned photography on a Canon Rebel, so I bought the Canon T7 which is the latest version of that camera. It’s better than a point and shoot but not so sophisticated that I can’t use it. She used it to take some nice pictures of me and Peter.

Just a few days after Christina left, my sister Sue came for a visit. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. She watched me play a few games of pickleball and also went out with us to play golf at our Lady Lynx St. Patrick’s Day Scramble. It was a lot of fun.

Sue wanted to learn how to do stained glass, so she made a cute Christmas tree ornament.

We also took a trip up to Scottsdale to have lunch with dear friends after which we went to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. Sue had been wanting to see it but didn’t make it when it was in Chicago. Luckily it was extended in Scottsdale so she was finally able to attend.

We drove down to Tucson to see Jersey Boys. Since we all grew up with the music of the Four Seasons, we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Our friends Kathie and Jim came over for pizza one night. Peter has been working hard perfecting his crust and it was delicious. Sue was here for 10 fun days, and it was wonderful to have her visit.

Since then, we’ve gotten back to our full schedule of activities…Peter swimming and working out at the gym 5-6 days/week. I started lap swimming for the first time since I retired from the Navy in 98. The first few times were pretty rough but I’m getting back into the “swim” of it. I also am back to pickleball twice a week and the shoulder is holding up pretty well. At least it was until I fell hitting a low shot. I was off balance and my momentum took me right into the net, which kept me from face planting on the court but hyperextended my back and my right shoulder. I was stiff and sore for a few weeks but then I was back on the court.

I’m still working hard in the stained-glass studio. Here are some of my latest projects.

In April we went to a spring training game at Sloan Park, the Cubs winter home. We played the White Sox, and it was a real pitchers’ duel….Cubs won 15-9. Our seats were great, 3 rows behind the Cubs dugout. At Wrigley these are $400 seats; we paid $69. We had tickets to see a game while Sue was visiting but the lockout canceled that game. 🙁

The following video is the dugout celebration after a 3-run homer by the good guys.

While we enjoyed the game, it was weird to see the team with so many new faces. After the trade deadline massacre in July of last year the team looks totally different so it will take a while to become familiar with all the new players.

Then in May we went to Chase Field to watch the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks. We went with a large group from Robson and had a great time. It was nice to be on the bus so we didn’t have to worry about driving and parking.

We went to a few more concerts including Chicago and Brian Wilson and Al Jardine from the Beach Boys. All of these guys are pushing 80 years old, and the voices aren’t what they used to be, but it was a fun concert.

We also attended a concert where a string quartet played the music of Queen. It was absolutely beautiful. Who knew Brian May’s guitar would translate to violin, viola and cello? Here’s the one video we were able to take.

We went to several pool parties in the community, played bunco every month with the Democratic Club (I actually did quite well at some of our bunco nights), went to several movies at our Dive in Movie nights at the pool and hung out by the pool several days a week. Peter is addicted to jigsaw puzzles, so he spends a lot of time in the community library putting those together.

When it’s cool enough in the evening we’ll sit on our patio in our beautiful backyard listening to the fountain. We continuously have to pinch ourselves to make sure it’s all real. We are living the dream and absolutely love being retired! We have many friends here and are so glad we made the movie.

Today is 4th of July and we only have 18 days and a wake up before the start of our next trip. On July 23rd we’re heading off to London for the beginning of our first European adventure in 3 years; and what an adventure it will be!!

Talk with you then. Love to all….Lynn and Peter