Author: Rudy

Thursday: Sue and I read our books this morning. When I called the golf course to book a tee time I learned that the first available after 3 o’clock was at 4:10pm — and considering that yesterday the sun was only setting at around 6:30 I took the late tee time. I called Koop and we talked a bit about his trip to the Super Bowl. After lunch Sue decided to clean the windows in our house. I continued to read while she cleaned. When she finished we had a beer and then headed off to the golf course, just in case we could get on a bit early. Nope. So we ordered a small bucket of balls and spent a bit of the time on the driving range. We teed off at 4:10 and right away I had a par on the first hole! Sue did not — and by the third hole she’d announced that she absolutely hated the game of golf.

Well, things improved from there on and by the time we finished hole number 9 not only was the sun still peaking over the horizon, but Sue’s disposition had improved considerably.

Another perfect afternoon in Arizona. We went home and Sue whipped up a most delicious supper: curried chicken over rice-a-roni and a salad on the side. Yum. After supper we skyped quite a while with Werner (and then Karen) Pries and with Tim and Alex after that. Then we watched one of the Oscar-nominated documentaries, “If a Tree Falls”, which I had downloaded on the computer. We had fresh pineapple slices for ‘night snack’ and watched David Letterman before calling it a night. Can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow.

Wednesday: Doddled around all morning again. The forecast for today was for rain, so we did NOT book any golf. We haven’t golfed since last Saturday. But the day turned out to be just like every other day here in Arizona — beautiful!

Finally, at around 11, we went for a brisk walk to Walgreen’s to return our DVD. Hurried back for lunch, we both showered, and then we hopped into our van and headed out to the Harkins Theatre on Power Road for our first (1:00pm) movie: The Artist, a black and white silent film which is nominated for 10 Academy Awards. The theatre was surprisingly full. The movie was pretty good. At one point I was nodding off and Sue pulled out the pack of red licorice that we’d bought at Walgreen’s in the morning — and that help to keep me awake. At the end of the movie we just about ran down the hall to Theatre #2 to catch the next film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Again, the theatre was packed and we had to sit in the seats in the front section, craning our necks to see the big screen. The movie was good — we’d seen the 3 Swedish versions on DVD last spring and this version was probably better than that. We got out of the cinema at around 5:30 and headed back towards Gold Canyon. Sue had a little grocery list — mostly paper towel and kleenex and stuff like that — so we stopped at Walmart on Signal Butte and picked those things up.

It was 6:30 by the time we were heading east on Highway 60 looking at Superstition Mountain — and it was still not totally dark! Quite a change from just 4 weeks ago. At home we called Paul and Kathy, and then barbecued cheeseburgers (actually bacon burgers) for supper. Watched a bit of TV. Then we watched a couple of Oscar-nominated documentaries (downloaded on my computer) before watching late-night TV and going to bed.

Tuesday: Said goodbye to our friends Dave and MaryLou today. They were busy packing and planning their next adventure this morning. They didn’t even stay for lunch (missed another great sandwich!) because they were going to visit some other friends. I watched the “Jane Eyre” movie that the girls watched last night while we were at the hockey game. Sue sat outside and read. After the Driedgers left we sat around and twiddled our thumbs for a bit. Felt a bit lost. What next? What should we do? We frittered away enough time so that we couldn’t even go see a movie. Finally Tim Skyped me and asked for a bit of help with a logo — and once again I had purpose in life! At four o’clock Sue commanded that we go for a bike ride, so we returned the DVD to Walgreen’s and picked up a new release for tonight. The best thing about the bike ride was that I finally broke my speed record. The weather was a bit cool, but really not cool enough to NOT go golfing — but we didn’t. When we got home Sue started supper (leftovers AGAIN!) and I showered. After supper we watched our shows before putting our movie on at 8pm. “Anonymous” is nominated for Best Costume at the Oscars. Story about who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Sue said she didn’t get any of it. I found it interesting if not great. A bit of David Letterman and then off to bed. Goodnight, Dave and MaryLou, wherever you are.

Monday: Went for a hike up Silly Mountain today — with Sue and Dave — MaryLou opted for a v-e-r-y  l-o-n-g bike ride instead. We got home after nearly 2 hours of hiking and had lunch. Showered and got ready for the trip to Glendale. At around 4pm Dave and I left for the hockey game, which started at 6pm. Along the way we stopped at a golf store and Dave got a couple of his clubs re-gripped. I thought we had lots of time but we actually only got to the Jobing.com arena just before 6pm. And we didn’t have tickets to the game. Luckily there were lots of ticket sellers near the parking lot. We strolled along and negotiated a couple of ‘cheap’ seats for $25 apiece. But we still hadn’t had supper! So we after we got our tickets we sat down in one of the many restaurants in the ‘Westgate’ complex outside the arena and had a big platter of cheeseburgers and onion rings and a couple of beers. The first period was nearly over by the time we got to our seats. The arena wasn’t sold out, but we were surprised that about half the fans were cheering for Detroit — wearing Detroit gear and cheering loudly when the Red Wings scored their (only) goal! It was a pretty good game — the Coyotes outplayed the Red Wings and deserved their victory. We were out by quarter to nine and home by 9:30. The girls had watched “Jane Eyre” and were sitting at the table visiting. We watched a bit of shlocky TV and then one-by-one headed off to bed.

Sunday:

Before turning our full attention to the Super Bowl we watched the final day of the Phoenix Open where Kyle Stanley, who last week blew a seemingly sure victory at Torrey Pines, came from eight shots back to overtake a stumbling Spencer Levin and win.

Saturday: Woke up and Sue made bacon and eggs for us and the Driedgers. We watched a bit more of the Phoenix Open this morning. It was exciting to see the thousands of fans cheering on the golfers at the sixteenth hole. Sue and MaryLou went shopping for supplies for tonight’s barbecue with Dave’s brother and sister-in-law.

After lunch the other Driedgers arrived from their place in Scottsdale. Paul and Shirley Driedger live in Leamington. They’re here in Phoenix for a few weeks and Dave and MaryLou plan to spend some time with them later this month. We sat around for a while and then the Driedger foursome was off to Mountain Brook for an afternoon of golf. Sue talked to Alex on the phone for a bit until it was time for us to also head off to the golf course. Hit a small bucket of balls before going for nine holes. We finished at around 5:15 and went home to prepare supper for the visitors. The Phoenix Open third day was done so no more golf on TV tonight.

The Driedgers stopped to do a bit of shopping before coming here after their 18 holes of golf. The sun was setting. It was Saturday Night!

We had crackers and cheese and drinks and visited for a while. I barbecued and Sue and MaryLou got potatoes and salad ready. Then we sat around the dinner table and sang the Doxology. Supper was good. Visit was good too. We drank about half the half case of wine that Dave bought at Bashas. At around 10:30 Paul and Shirley said goodbye and left for their place in Scottsdale. We cleaned up the table and watched a bit of Saturday Night Live before crashing for the night.

Friday: Started out as a not-so-good day but it sure picked up as it went along. I woke up at around 7, had breakfast, and tried to track Dave and MaryLou’s flight from Honolulu to the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Looked like they might be here early, but that didn’t stop us from farting around all morning and leaving later than we probably should have. The guy  across the street from our house was standing at the end of his driveway, shivering in the morning cold, golf bag at his side, waiting to be picked up by someone. Asks me where I’m off to. The airport. Traffic will be terrible because of the Phoenix Open up in Scottsdale. I’ll be late for sure. We drive Dave’s car to the airport, no GPS, and when I get there I’m there just in time — Dave and MaryLou are there with their luggage, waiting. We discuss whether or not to go to north Scottsdale to watch the Phoenix Open — MaryLou is not really interested but will go if I say so. I know Sue doesn’t really care to. I defer and we decide to go back to our house, have a second breakfast, lie around, do laundry, wait for our 3:00pm tee time at Mountain Brook.

We have lunch at 1 because we had that late breakfast. I’m tired, think I need a nap, maybe I should read that book that’s barely half read, but in the end I watch some Phoenix Open on the Golf Channel (hey, I didn’t know we got that channel!) and then when 3:00pm rolls around we have to hurry to get to the golf course. Ed Peters still has our van (went to Camelback to golf) so we all pile into Dave’s car (okay, here it is, it has a stone chip on the windshield from our trip to the airport this morning) and unload our clubs at the course and it’s time to go tee off and we do that and my shot is okay, second shot even better, and I friggin birdie the first hole! Well, it’s one step forward, two steps back; but overall, I’m playing pretty good and sure am having fun. At the ninth hole up walks Ed Peters, delivering our van to us (it’s on the parking lot).

After golf the girls go home and Dave and I go to pick up pizzas at the Firehouse Bar & Grill. We watch the finish of Day 2 at the Phoenix Open on the TV there while we wait. Bring home two slightly burnt pizzas. Have supper. Then, just as we are finishing watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report reruns, the doorbell rings and it’s Ed and Val and Shirl and Mark come for a visit. We all stand around and drink wine and talk loudly. Some of us laugh from time to time. Not too much. Good times. Just like old times. Review the highlights of the day — some of us were golfing here, some were golfing fancier courses, some were shopping, some were reading. Some were doing a good job of holding off the effects of jet lag.

By 10 the company has left. We sit at our respective computing devices and ‘do some Facebook’. Okay, probably not Facebook. MaryLou’s computer dies. But it recovers, so that’s good news. A little talk about the benefits of backing up. Okay, now it’s time to go to bed. It’s after 10:30pm, a respectable hour to go to bed. Finally. I was getting tired of ‘hanging in there’.

Yep, another perfect day in paradise. Welcome home, Dave and MaryLou.

Wednesday: Read my “Art of Fielding” book in the morning. Sue went to Basha’s after breakfast to take advantage of the monthly (first Wednesday of the month) seniors’ sale day. She came home just in time for an early lunch. At 12 she had a haircut appointment. Meanwhile, I sat down in the garage and cleaned all our clubs and sorted out our hodgepodge of golf balls. When Sue came back from her haircut it was time for my own haircut (by my favourite hairdresser — Sue).

By 3:00pm we were off to Mountain Brook for our 3:20 tee time. We had thought we’d hit a bucket of balls first, but when we got there they said we were up next. First hole: bogies for both of us. Not bad. Second hole: same. Third hole: the foursome ahead of us let us play through (so we immediately shanked our shots and piddled our way down the fairway). But after that? Clear sailing. I think I parred hole #4, and birdied hole #5! And there was no one ahead of us for the rest of our game. In fact, after finishing #9 we decided to run across the road and see how far we could get on the second nine. And we both shot well on hole number 10. At some point the guy comes around and starts collecting the flags, but we pretty much played 8 of the back 9 holes. The weather was great. The sky was pink. We holed out number 18 just after 6pm and still had enough daylight to see what we were doing.

We drove by Walgreen’s on our way home and returned last night’s movie and picked up tonight’s: Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. Once home we started up the barbecue and had cheeseburgers and corn-on-the-cob and fruit salad for supper. Watched our Daily and Colbert reruns at 7 and then settled in for our movie at 8pm. Another perfect day in paradise!

Tuesday: Read a bit after breakfast, and then went for a bike ride at 11. Went to Walgreens to return our DVD (50/50) and pick up my next one (Contagion). Home for lunch. After a quick shower we hopped into our van and headed into Mesa. First stop: a golf shop where I got my old hybrid utility club regripped. Then we went to a shoe store and Sue bought some new running shoes. Then Target for some cosmetics (while Rudy enjoyed popcorn and Coke). Then at 3:20 we were in the big Harkins 25 Theatre, sitting there with our 3D glasses, watching Martin Scorcese’s “Hugo”. Not bad, not great, but it’s got 11 nominations for the Academy Awards at the end of February and we have to work our way through about 10 must-see movies before then. We were back home just as the sun was painting Superstition Mountain pink. Supper was a great salad and leftover enchiladas. Then Daily Show and Colbert reruns. Skyped with Alex re haircut (bangs). Watched our “Contagion” video — so-so. A bit of schlocky news channel bla-bla-bla about the Florida Republican Primary. Late night TV and to bed. Whew!