Gyro Gleanings from Palm Springs – by The Bradleys

For those of you who have been snowbirds in the past, you know that in a blink of an eye, a week has passed and you are looking a new one in the face knowing you are going to be equally as active as the one before.

For those of you who have not been snowbirds, there is no way we can convince you that we are not laying about, in fact we actually dream about laying about, doing nothing!  Having said that, we love everything we do so there are no complaints here.  We always have good intentions of going for daily walks, maybe to the gym or an aquasize class but sometimes those are tossed aside as well.

Jan and I arrived in a weakened state three weeks ago and Bill and Norma Austin’s sunny smiles were a very welcome sight when we got off the airplane.  Having driven down here in the fall, we didn’t need to make the trip by car as so many of our snowbird friends do the first part of January.  It sounds like other than Alberta, which was such a frozen mess; the roads were pretty kind to everyone making their way south.

Our patio in the sunshine beckoned to us and we succumbed.  Imagine us thawing out, bit by little bit.  But soon enough, it was time to rally and go forth to bring fresh groceries in, unpack our yet again filled to the gills suitcases, go to the Library to stock up on winter reading material.  That week almost became a contest of people we picked up at the airport, Ray and Lynn Davis included, as to the weight marked on our suitcases – some saying 48+ pounds, others telling of kind Westjet personnel fibbing a bit on the weigh scales.

We had our first golf game two days after arrival and since then have completed our 9th game. A small group of 5 couples golf together every Monday, followed by Happy Hour and a light dinner, either in or we go out.  This group includes the Davis and Delveaux duo.

Also, the Jokers & Pegs group we play with back home, Austin-Bradley-Delveaux-Morris, has continued to play regularly here with Linda’s sister and hubby joining us.  The girls actually had a brief glimmer of hope the other night when they won a game.  The boys have been particularly difficult to beat recently.

We have spent a day at the Humana PGA Tournament watching how the game really should be played.  Alas, fellows we had chosen in our Draft did not finish at the top!

We have spent a few days visiting with friends from Edmonton and also our friends from Seattle.  Always enjoyable to catch up with good friends!

A bunch of us went to the McCallum Theatre to see Burton Cummings from The Guess Who and were pleasantly surprised that his 66-year-old voice was incredibly strong and we thought the concert was fabulous.  We don’t often say we would go back to see someone but after going to see Neil Sedaka in the fall and now this one, we would definitely return to see both of them.

We have our favourite restaurants down here and sometimes we only get to visit once a season or so.  It was nice to re-visit Café Italia the other night with friends.  Always a good meal plus having your servers entertain you with some show tunes!

This past Friday night, we were pleased to help organize a Court Whist Night for the Canadian Club here in Sun City.  56 people signed up and all seemed to enjoy themselves.  Roger and Carol Delveaux were also on the Committee as well as our Sherwood Park friends many of you might know, John & Dianne Pidhirniak.

Last night we went for Burgers, then off to see American Hustle at the movies.  We know that as time goes on, we are maybe getting more prudish but honestly people, do we really need 500+ f-bombs in a movie nominated as Best…

This afternoon we are off to Melvyn’s where they play live music all afternoon, and then we’ll stay for dinner.  It’s a high-end place and this will definitely be a once a year event so we know we will enjoy ourselves today!

As for Gyro sightings, we have visited with the Austins a few times.  Bill is sporting new glasses and he is claiming he is even more perfect in every way!  They are looking forward to Bill’s brother and wife coming to spend time.  Bill and Norma also hope to go over to San Francisco later in February.

The Bleikens are on their way down to stay here for February and March.  We are looking forward to seeing them and also helping them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

We were able to visit briefly with the Craddocks who have just returned to the Desert after 10 days in Barbados, which they enjoyed very much.

Ray and Lynn Davis might as well officially hang a Bed & Breakfast Sign over their front door – lots of family and other company coming and going at their place!

Roger and Carol Delveaux are looking forward to a visit from their son and his family at the start of February.

We were glad to see the Kropps return to their winter home but very sorry to hear of the hospitalization of Bernie’s Mom around the New Year.  They are spending lots of time on the telephone back home getting updates.

We haven’t seen the Wilsons in person yet but hear Mr. Lloyd made another trip across the border for some dental work.  We did hear something about him spilling coffee all over himself as he waited for the appointment but you would need to ask him for details.

The Zmurchuks are leaving here on Valentine’s Day so we are hopeful we will see them before they get away.

As you can imagine, with all this sunshine, none of us are complaining about this winter!  We hear from people back home that temperature-wise, the weatherman has been a little kinder to everybody but the ice on the walks and roads sounds very treacherous and worrisome!