2/28/08 The Games, Quail Run Concert

The Quail Run Winter Olympics continued today and the main attraction was the ping pong competition. I had already played one round and lost to Nancy "Killer" Reid.

As the picture below shows we had quite a spectator gallery. In fact, this picture was taken early on and the spectator numbers had grown considerably.

It seems that ping pong is taken very seriously around here. Especially by Don, our neighbor. Don is known around the park as "The Mouth from the South" or the "Peacock of the Park". He is such a well liked fella here and just so much fun to be around.

Below Don is happy that he won his round so that he plays the fellow, Bill Turner, another neighbor, in the finals.

The men took a break for awhile and it was the women's turn to play. Soon my name was called. Now remember, I have only learned to play. I don't know how to spike the ball or play it so that my opponent has to run from one side the table to the other. I play nice and easy thrilled that I can keep a volley going back and forth a dozen times or so. Luckily for me, my opponent wasn't a killer player like Nancy. We played a nice easy game, back and forth, back and forth, why we even apologized to each other when one of us made a bad play and the ball went off the table. We heard comments like, "They play so dainty". Our scores stayed pretty even to the end but I made a few mistakes and lost. My second loss, I was out of the competition.

Next it was my friend and neighbor LaVon's turn to play. LaVon is also a newbie at this ping pong thing.

Doesn't her opponent, Donna, seem to be saying, "C'mon LaVon, for heaven's sake, hit the ball back for once!"

Actually, LaVon did pretty good. I can't say she gave Donna a run for her money, but being a ping pong newbie, she gave a good show. We'll practice LaVon. You never know our next park may have Olympics too and we'll have to be ready.

It finally came down to the last two. Nancy "Killer" Reid and Pat Turner. It was a good game and Nancy won taking the gold and Pat taking the silver. For the men it was Don against Bill Turner and much to Don's dismay, Bill took the gold. All the kidding back and forth was all in good fun and very entertaining for the spectators. Here's a picture of our top ping pong players.

Left to Right: Bill Turner, Nancy "Killer" Reid, Don Walrath, Pat Turner

Our games were done for the day. Afternoon brought picture taking for the Quail Run "How Observant Are You" Photo Scavenger Hunt. Marlene and I walked the park taking pictures of objects from one end of the park to the other. I took over 100 pictures and Marlene kept track of what the object was and where it was located. This contest will run all next week.

On the way home I passed this group of musicians that was just two doors up from our house.

It doesn't take long for a group to gather.

With our weather turning get togethers like this are not an uncommon sight in the park now. We all want to be outdoors.