Here’s hoping that March brings “better” weather—not the cold, windy days experienced most of winter here in Arizona.  

Kay played pickleball on Wednesday, and I processed photos taken yesterday at Picacho Peak State Park. And, we “played” bridge with the Seitz’s in the evening. Our Wednesday evening bridge lessons with Steve and Mary have proven to be one of the highlights of the winter season here at Casa Grande. We’ve learned that there is so much we don’t know, but every week it seems a little tidbit is added to the repertoire. And, the evening is kept simple—no drinks or snacks—and it makes for a very pleasant evening! Now, if I could only keep Kay from saying, “just one more game.”

Thursday was Kay’s “cut and color” day, and she was real happy with the results. If Kay is happy …

Another highlight of the week was a cycling trip on the Consolidated Canal Path in Chandler and Gilbert, Arizona, on Friday. Norm Bushee and I met at the Paseo Vista Recreation Area Trailhead in Chandler, and rode north about 10 miles to Guadalupe Road, then back south to to the trail terminus at the intersection of East Hunt Highway and South Arizona Avenue, and finally back to the trailhead. This ride was a long time in the making. On the trip from home to Casa Grande, we almost lost my bicycle twice because the bike rack slipped and the bicycle kept tipping backwards. Fortunately, Kay’s bicycle was firmly enough entrenched in the rack to keep mine from falling completely off. The problem was solved by adding a “stopper” bolt in the bike rack bar to prevent further slipping—and it worked! However, there might be a new bike rack in our future. Now, back to the ride. Make no mistake, it was a great ride. However, there were several intersections and some road noise from nearby traffic. Signage was good, and the intersections were well controlled to allow trail user crossings. Statistically, here are our results. 

26.67 mi—Distance, 2:22:09—Moving Time, 110 ft—Elevation

137 W—Estimated Avg Power, 1,169 kJ—Energy Output 

	Avg	Max
Speed	11.3 mi/h	18.9 mi/h
Heart Rate	90 bpm	106 bpm
Calories	1,304
Elapsed Time	3:30:20

Despite heavy traffic on I-10, I made it back in time to play (left-handed) pickleball with the “Arkansas” group. There were three full courts, and we had some fun games. Afterwards, we enjoyed beer and pizza at Dell’s.

Kay played pickleball again Saturday afternoon; for someone who never played sports, she does well and is steadily improving. Sunday afternoon was for the “Arkansas” group to play golf, and of course, Kay played and won a bit of money once again; that seems to be a habit. Sunday night was a dinner and concert. The food was good and the concert was great. It featured Crystal Stark doing a tribute to Whitney Houston. She put on a marvelous performance and was backed by a great band and back-up singer. Of course her resume is outstanding, including graduating magna cum laude in music education from University of Arizona, educator, America’s Got Talent semi-finalist, and international recording artist. Images courtesy of her website.