We were glad to usher in a new month, hoping for cooler weather. Kay and Pam met a new Village resident at the Diamante pool, Brenda, and offered to show her the ropes on Thursday. They “visited” all the gates, drove around Hot Springs, and had a girly lunch in town. I continued the slow recovery from the pulled hamstring. On Friday, Kay and I drove National Forest roads near Hollister and then drove to Forked Mountain to enjoy the picturesque mountain vista. We chilled Saturday.

July 4, Sunday, was celebrated at Jim and Jackie’s with a hot dog cookout and luscious desserts. Along with Jim and Jackie were Pam, Don, Martha, Bobby, and Kay and me. After the cookout, Kay and Pam enjoyed the annual Hot Springs Village fireworks. Monday continued the Independence Day holiday, but for us it was a quiet day, mostly spent at home. The hamstring pull has very much limited my activities.

Kay resumed her social activities on Tuesday, attending a PEO meeting, etc. I used the day—another “free” day— to edit old photos and delete duplicates and photos not meeting the quality standard. Kay played golf Wednesday morning. While butterflies have been largely absent from out place, dragonflies zoom all over the place. Some even posed long enough for photos.

Anxious to get back in the swing of things, I opted to play pickleball on Thursday morning—a huge mistake! Despite stretching and warming up, I pulled the same hamstring before the first point was ever recorded. This is going to mean a long, drawn-out recovery. While I remained home with ice packs on the hamstring, Kay played golf on Friday, followed by pool time in the afternoon. Saturday and Sunday were “quiet” days as I continued the slow recovery. This injury seems worse than the previous one—more time to work on photos.