Unit 3-S Happy Hour
Brenda Newitter
Thirty residents of Unit 3-S got together for a Happy Hour at the Agave Lounge on Thursday, April 12. Everyone wished the snowbirds farewell and safe travels and hoped that those who stay in SaddleBrooke will survive another Arizona summer! (We won’t tell the snowbirds that now we will have the golf courses to ourselves!)
Unit 5 Coffee
Unit 5 Putting Party
Roger Cady
On Wednesday, April 18, Unit 5 held its fourth annual Putting Party on the main putting green behind the Roadrunner. A challenging course was laid out for three-person teams to navigate. A score of two was considered ‘par’ on most holes, but one hole was designated a Par 3 which included “Out of Bounds” on several sides of the hole. Many groans were heard as teams attempted to make the 90-degree turn on that hole!
Scores on the 18 holes ranged from the winning score of 37 to a high of 69. There were several aces (holes-in-one) scored. The winning team, Mark Lewis, Judee Lund and Joe Vidmar, scored an amazing Even Par. Congratulations to the winners!
Prize money was given out to the first, second and third place winners at the Roadrunner, where we all gathered after putting for some well-deserved libations and a fine Lasagna dinner with all the trimmings, cooked and served by the club.
Unit 15 event
Rita Fletcher
Over 20 ladies enjoyed the experience of taste sampling from the varied menu at the unique Artful Space located in the Rancho Vistoso shopping center in Oro Valley where Walgreens is located at Oracle Road and Rancho Vistoso. The Artful Space is not just a restaurant but an art filled place with stunning statement pieces of jewelry and art for sale. It is an art museum.
Besides the food and delightful setting, just catching up and seeing neighbors added to the many lively conversations. There is always something new to learn. Future gatherings are planned as so many new people have entered Unit 15: Perhaps a magic show, a scavenger hunt with golf carts, a happy hour, a game night or a putting party, all with some food, of course!
Unit 17: Oh, what a party!
Mary Gelinas
Over 85 Unit 17ers gathered on Sunday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. to celebrate America at our annual Spring Fling, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” The SaddleBrooke One Activity Center was a perfect place for conversations, games, dinner and musical entertainment.
Games tested luck, skill and mental abilities. Winners were Carolyn Bewalda for the Poker Run; Corky Bosch and Kathy Sherwood, Tom Christian and Al Burnside for the Bean Bag Toss; Patrick Polencheck and Rick Phelps for Trivia; and the 50/50 winner was Jim Donat.
The pulled pork and chicken dinner that included baked beans, pasta salad and cookies was outstanding. After dinner we enjoyed singing many patriotic songs, led and accompanied by Anne Movalson at the piano.
Many thanks go to Social Committee Chairman Arlene DesJardins and her committee of many skills: wonderful cooking, lively decorating and super cleaning up.
Looking forward, we will be celebrating a salad and dessert buffet at Fromson’s in June and our annual Ice Cream Social at DesJardins’ in July.
Unit 21 Gelato Fest
Jim Hagedon
With apologies to Jimmy Buffett, there’s another frozen concoction that brings out Unit 21 residents en masse. And turn out they did for the Unit’s second annual Gelato Fest. The event was co-hosted by Diane Korn and Karen Pachis and was held at Pachis’ home on the corner of Ocotillo Canyon and Arroyo.
According to Karen, 117 Unit 21 folks signed up for the event on a very windy evening in mid-April. Frost Gelato served up five different flavors: espresso, dark chocolate, hazelnut, raspberry sorbet and their perennial favorite, salted caramel. The flavors were chosen based on the results of an email survey of the unit’s residents.
And if the gelato wasn’t enough, the Unit’s “Baker Elves” produced ample cookies and other goodies to ensure that no one left without having their sweet tooth satisfied! While this is not officially an annual event, judging by the comments overheard, a repeat performance next year (or sooner?) is highly likely.
Was there enough gelato to go around? Even after serving a second helping to those with a serious gelato habit, Karen said there was enough left over to again serve gelato at the Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast. We can hardly wait!
Unit 21 news
Jim Hagedon
Nancy and John Hanna have a reputation for being fierce competitors on the Bocce Ball courts and Unit 21’s annual Bocce Ball Tournament kept that reputation intact. This year they were Division 2 champions. To earn the coveted title of Unit 21 Bocce Ball 2018 champions, they had to compete with the likes of Division 1 champs Lea and Bob Stocks in the playoffs held on March 31. Could they pull it off?
According to Tournament Coordinator Midge Mollenkopf, twenty teams competed in the 2017-2018 season. Each team played nine games and the top two teams and the bottom two teams from each division competed in the playoffs to determine who would win prizes.
After the tournament, a dinner of Brats and potluck goodies were enjoyed by the season competitors. Everyone agreed the matches are a great way to get to know your neighbors and plans are already under way for the 2018-2019 season.
But wait! Which team persevered to win the playoffs? All reports indicated that it was a tough battle to the end, but congratulations go to the Hannas for eking out the win. A big thank you to Midge Mollenkopf for pulling the annual tournament together and being the Chief Statistician during the season.
Unit 27 activities
Sue Case
Thanks to Anne and Phil Doyle, Eileen and Jeff Depka and Julie and Rob Smith, Unit 27 residents were able to enjoy another Block Party! The last Block Party was several years ago, because no one was willing to commit to the monumental task of planning and executing another. However, thanks to this group, the 2018 Block Party, which took place on Saturday, April 21, was a definite success.
The festivities began at 1:00 p.m. with a parade of neighborhood pets and their owners. Anne Doyle and her dog, Caesar, won Best of Show. The Basketball Toss (into a garbage bin) started at 2:00 p.m. and Barb Lancaster showed her true athleticism by winning that event.
At 3:00 p.m. the parade of golf carts, some decorated, some not, began. The theme for those decorating their carts was “Your State;” and participants could use their own definitions of state, including state of mind, current state, etc. The winner, Jeff Depka, decorated his cart with a definite nod to his home state of Wisconsin. Immediately after the golf cart parade, a “Know your Neighborhood” trivia contest began, where participants had to tour the unit and note items in various yards. It was easy to tell who was participating in that contest, as they all wandered around on foot or in their carts, looking dazed and lost! Ron and Jan Talbot won that contest, which makes sense, because they have probably spent more time walking around the unit than any other couple in Unit 27.
The Frisbee Target Toss began at 4:00 p.m.; and Dave Lancaster won that competition. What an athletic family! 5:00 p.m. marked the start of the Golf Hacky Sac Pitching contest and also the start-up of Joe and Lynda Dolejs’ famous margarita maker. Some Hacky Sac contestants had a margarita before/during the competition. From what we understand, it made little difference to their relative success! In the end, Dick Schommer was declared the winner.
Dinner, served from buffet tables in the Doyles’ garage, began at 6:00 p.m., and consisted of appetizers, sides and desserts brought by unit residents, plus very ample amounts of brats, burgers and BBQ pork made by the organizers. To put it mildly, no one went away hungry. After dinner, Bunnie Gill and Mary Clark led a large group of attendees in line dancing, which was as fun to watch as it was to participate. It was especially fun to watch Bunnie’s and Mary’s husbands, John and Dick, gamely participate.
At the end of the evening, while cleanup was starting, the winners of all the events were announced. Participants had received points for participation in each event. Anne Doyle and Bunnie Gill were declared the Overall Winners, based on the number of points they had amassed throughout the day. Congratulations to both!
In addition to returning home well fed, all participants received a small souvenir flashlight to aid them in the long journey home and to remind them of the good time they had enjoyed. Phil Doyle says that everyone that had a hand in cleaning up should feel proud, because Phil had virtually no cleanup to do the next day. What a great segue to the summer season!