Enjoying a taste of the Chicago suburbs

The Phoenix area has a number of restaurants that had their starts in other parts of the country...

... while we were out and about last week, we made a stop at Lou Malnatti's, a favorite from the Chicagoland area.

We appreciate the opportunity to enjoy some of our favorites that aren't far away from where we stay in Mesa!

Music on the Terrace

Each Tuesday night....

... a group of musicians gathers on the Desert Terrace (on the second floor of the community center, outside the ballroom) to share their musical talents with other residents here.

The composition of the group changes from week to week depending on who is available and wants to come to perform. Each performer has the "lead" for a song (picking what he or she wants to play and sing), and they share the music (lyrics and score) with each other on their iPads or tablets. Once their turn is done, it passes to the next person down the line. Some are there just to play their instruments, and they don't pick a song. I think they go through the group a couple of times (maybe 3 times) -- and they generally play for a couple of hours. We don't go every week, but we appreciate the ability to enjoy the talents of our fellow residents.

Block party at our patio!

Our block had its first block party of this season on our patio last Sunday...

Not everyone is back to the resort yet...

... but we had a good turnout!

We had a time of sharing our names and where we live (there are a number of renters who change from year to year).

We set up the food table on our neighbor Barb's driveway (she isn't back to the resort yet).

Looking out across the street

Patio in front of our rig

Another view of the patio with visitor and our rig

It is nice to get together with our neighbors.

A retro pickup truck

When we went over to the sport courts area (to do some Bocce Ball practice), we saw a retro looking Chevrolet pickup truck...

It looked so new and shiny I thought it was brand new...

... but, based on the info on the back (SSR), I think it was manufactured 2003-2006, so it must be about 20 years old!

The plates are from Arizona, and it has "BL5SSD" as the license plate number. I guess that, other than sun damage, vehicles in Arizona can remain in good shape for a long time.

Learning a new sport

We took a Bocce Ball lesson last week...

I guess there are multiple ways in which Bocce Ball might be played -- we saw it played on the beach in Dominican Republic back in November 2022. At Venture Out, it is played on a flat smoothly-carpeted surface with side boards and part of the strategy of the game is playing off the side boards (like a pool table).

A frame is begun by rolling a small red ball called the palina. That then becomes the target for the other balls that are thrown. The palina and the other balls all have to hit the surface behind the white line -- no lofting of the balls down the court.

At the end of a frame, the color ball that is closest to the palina gains a point (looks like blue in this case, though we measured with a special device, because sometimes looks are deceiving). If there are additional blue balls closer to the palina than any of the white balls, then blue will get a point for each ball that they have closer than any white ball.

Each side throws 4 balls, so it is possible that one side might get as many as 4 points in a frame. The game is to 12 points.

We have since gone back and practiced, trying to get a feel for how hard to throw the palina and the balls and the impact of playing off of the side (what angle to use to get closest to the palina under different conditions). While it is possible to roll the ball directly toward the palina (not angling off a side), at least on our courts, the surface is not quite as level as it should be, so often the ball takes an odd curve due to curvature that is not obvious, at least to our eyes. That can happen when playing off the side, but doesn't seem to be as pronounced.

At any rate, we enjoyed learning the game, and may end up joining the Bocce Ball group and trying to play some games in the future.

Carl's in-rig "ham shack"

The area of the home where an amateur radio operator has his/her radio equipment is often referred to as their "ham shack".

This is Carl's current ham shack inside Gracie.

He is enjoying getting his equipment working with his antennas and participating in various "nets" during the week. Nets are planned communication times to make sure equipment is working correctly and for the operator to practice using the equipment. For example, something may have changed in your setup that causes a "buzz" in your radio transmission, and you wouldn't know about it unless others on the net let you know that there is a buzz that wasn't there the last time you were on the radio. Then a process ensues to determine what has changed since the last time you were on the radio; it may have nothing to do with the radio specifically, but rather that a new LED light is in use or another type of interference has entered the environment.

When friends visit...

One of the things we particularly enjoy about Venture Out is that we get together with friends frequently... and our neighbor friends have a "friend" that they bring with them that we enjoy...

Cooper is the sweetest dog! What liquid brown eyes!!!

And, when he gets tired, he just places his head on someone's knee or on a table and takes a nap! Or he may lie down on the floor for his nap. In this case, he probably was been keeping his nose close to snacks on the table. He would never take them, but he is willing to take any hand outs that you may want to share!

His human companions (Linda and Don) have been told that his breed may be Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/nova-scotia-duck-tolling-retriever/).

We enjoy it when Linda and Don come to visit, and we particularly enjoy having Cooper come to visit with them!!!