Steve Bellacque, David Newitter, Bob Muise, Ken Lund, Frank Strubel, Ken Ratcliff, Floyd Roman and Jim Gold
Unit 3-S Robin Hood and his Merry Men
Brenda Newitter
The Merry Men from Unit 3-S joined Robin Hood (Steve Bellacqua) for a June breakfast at the Roadrunner Grill. Everyone enjoyed the company, food and conversation. Each month, the men in Unit 3-S get together for breakfast at 8:15 a.m. on the third Friday of the month. It has become a popular event and they welcome more men from Unit 3-S to join them at the Roadrunner Grill in August. If you are interested, let Robin Hood know.
Steve Bellacqua, Bill Walker, Kathie and Jim Barrett dishing ice cream.
Unit 3-S celebrates July 4th
Brenda Newitter
The summer residents of Unit 3-S celebrated the 4th of July in several ways. Some went to the Oro Valley Gas Light Music Hall where they listened to great American music and songs. Other residents attended an Ice Cream Social in the beautiful garden at the home of Kathie and Jim Barrett. The end of the evening was once again highlighted by the amazing SaddleBrooke One fireworks display.
Cheers to Unit 15ers!
Rita Fletcher
Over 40 residents came up and out to the Preserve Patio on July 19 for the 4:00–6:00 p.m. Happy Hour. Conversations, cool drinks and tasty snacks made for an enjoyable, uplifting two-hours of fun. The misters and views were extra bonuses. Catching up and seeing everyone is always a good thing to do. Service was attentive, quick and most professional. You never really know just how many of us are still here during the summer with snowbirds away, so this unit social was indeed worth doing and will be repeated, along with some new socials slated for 2019!
Bonnie and Fred Barazani, organizers of the popular July 12 event; photo by Jessica Ramsey
Preserve Cabaret Night
Bonnie Barazani
It was a steamy evening, with a threatening sky and thunder all around, but that didn’t discourage Preserve residents from dining on the Preserve restaurant patio. Along with a sumptuous meal, all 60 in attendance were treated to some great entertainment provided by Chuck Moses, a one-man band. Chuck sang the night away and it seemed that most everyone knew the words to his ‘50s-’70s selections. The patio was filled to capacity with a waiting list to boot. A wonderful evening was had by all! The big question was, “When can we have Chuck back again?”
Villas Social Committee members, Arlene Housmyer and Susan Fusco, show off their red, white and blue at the July 4th event.
Villas II celebrates July 4th
Susan Fusco
July 4th dawned sunny and hot, but by 5:45 p.m., when Villas II residents gathered in the middle of Serenity Place for an Independence Day party, shadows were long and a breeze had cooled the street. Chairs were placed to take advantage of the shade and coolers were opened and cold drinks poured. Snowbirds were long gone, but many people from the Villas remained in the neighborhood and 51 hardy souls braved early July temperatures for the annual event. They were not disappointed. Neighbors socialized and exchanged news, while the Social Committee arranged the fried and baked chicken purchased for the feast on long tables decorated with miniature American flags. Residents set dishes of food they had brought to share on the tables, while the Social Committee bustled around readying everything.
People lined up at the appointed time to sample the delicious summertime food, which included baked beans, green salads of different kinds, potato and macaroni salads, cornbread and muffins, fruit salads, coleslaw, chicken and other delights. When participants had eaten their fill, luscious homemade desserts were brought out: cakes, pies, cookies, a red, white and blue fruit covered chocolate tart, brownies and a cool watermelon ice cream treat. Summertime never tasted so good!
Last of all, a long-time Villas tradition, the raffle, occurred. Winners were Fran Meckler, Ted Johnson, Allan Cunninghan, Jim Middaugh and Arlene Housmyer, who exclaimed, “I never won before!” The lucky winners pocketed their loot, residents collected their casseroles and platters, the Social Committee cleaned up and everyone headed for home until the next community event.
Unit 27
Madelaine Salas
Tuesday, July 24 was one of the warmest evenings of the year in SaddleBrooke. So, you might expect that the Unit 48 citizens would have been cooling off at one of the clubhouse pools or relaxing in an air-conditioned living room in the recliner watching Neflix. Instead though, our group of 28 residents headed over to Sullivan’s to enjoy their legendary happy hour libations and bites. From the crowded bar and lounge area there, it looked like many Tucsonans had the same idea as us. Many of us enjoyed luscious refreshing cocktails as we shared stories of our summer adventures. We welcomed new neighbors Janis and Bob Sobolik. Some of our snowbird residents, back for a quick visit, were also able to join us. So glad they were able to experience a real summer here! Silly kids; they sat outside in their courtyard one morning with coffee hoping to say hi to neighbors as they took their morning strolls only to notice that no one was around. The July rule is that you have to be out there by 5:00 a.m. to see your neighbors. Now you know!
Next up, ice cream social in August. Stay cool!
“Life is great in 48!”
The food was so fabulous that Gary Stevens had six helpings. And, without even a word from wife Peggy, he cleared his own plates.
A word from the Preserve
Ann Lange
The Preserve held its first summer survival potluck June 27 at the SaddleBrooke One Activity Center. The survivors sipped their own choice of rehabilitating, rejuvenating and revitalizing liquid first aid, as Linda Cornish and Debbie Green loaded the tables in a food train a mile long. It was a snacktacular smorgasbord of yummies including Hawaiian chicken with ancient grains, roasted chili rellenos oozing bubbling cheese, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs galore, seafood dishes, deviled eggs, sensational salads and, of course, the usual small collection of UFO’s (unidentified food objects) which remained incognito but were found to be delightfully edible and worthy of seconds. The ladies were invited to board first but were careful to save the gents a good seat and their fair share of the goods. The dessert caboose was jam packed with an assortment of brownies, cookies and pies and the passengers ate until they all had yummy aches. By word of mouth, the buzz was to loosen up the belts but tighten up the minds a notch or two, in order to survive the next part of the evening.
Bonnie Barazani, Social Chairman for The Preserve, and known as “Teach” in her previous life, stood at the head of the class and gave instructions for a new word game. Or, at least she tried to pass it off as a game. It was suspected that she was really giving the upper-class seniors a remedial Language Arts pop quiz to assess memory retention and to see if the think tanks were as dried up as everything else around here. The Old Crusties were really put to the test exercising the old noggins to prevent further atrophy by means of a strenuous word workout as they jogged their memories, stretched the limits of their vocabularies, jumped to conclusions and flipped words around. One member of the team attempted to elicit a word either through verbal or demonstrative clues, or both at the same time, if they wanted to look like the class clown, in a sort of motley mixture of Outburst, Charades, and Body Pictionary. There was no loss for words during this marathon of mouth mayhem as the word wizards, in a bout of binge thinking, shouted out or slurred whatever came to mind. Debra Adinolfi, the much appreciated Treasurer of The Preserve and scorekeeper for the evening, declared Team WordSmiths winners by but a single point – a scholastic underachievement indeed. Despite double dares, pleas for a rematch and protests that the dog ate their Thesaurus, the no-excuses-allowed school marm wouldn’t put up with any runny nose sniveling, tattle-tailing or crosswords and passed out handfuls of candy to the winners, sentenced the losers to KP and dismissed class to return home to their extracurricular activities.
Without being too wordy about it, a great big thank you note was scribbled on the blackboard to Bonnie and the rest of the faculty, Debra, Debbie and Linda, for the lesson in fun, fair play and good eats. At the end of the evening, the word on the street was, despite a bit of doolally in the brain, nobody was reprimanded for lack of memory recall and given declining retention prevention homework or sent to senior retention detention and it was hard to say exactly how many senior moments there are in one hour. Ah, it’s all in a day’s word.
Unit 16 summer happy hour
Carolyn Barkley-McLean
What a great happy hour turnout for our brave Unit 16 neighbors that are staying through the summer. We were there helping June Arnold celebrate her birthday and to welcome Jill and David Latting as our new neighbors on S Rockcrest Dr. Our thanks to all who attended. Our next unit activity in August will be our bocce ball challenge that will be followed by a potluck BBQ. It’s never too hot for fun in Unit 16.
Pancake chefs John Hanna, Bill Bryant and Pat Donlan turned out mountains of delicious pancakes. They were quickly devoured by the seventy Unit 21 attendees.
Unit 21 news
Jim Hagedon
Flags, fireworks and food! We celebrate and honor our nation’s birthday in many ways. Flags were seen in abundance throughout Unit 21 on July Fourth and many of our residents attended the always beautiful SaddleBrooke One fireworks show. But we started the day with our annual Pancake Breakfast at the Activities Center, with over seventy Unit 21 residents attending. Flags, fireworks and food!
Once again, our pancake chefs turned out mountains of delicious pancakes, accompanied by bowls of fresh fruit, sausages, Mimosas and Bloody Marys. Event chair Dianne Korn added a special treat with Frost Gelato saved from our Gelato Party in April.
“Everyone agreed the breakfast event was a great way to begin our July 4 celebrations,” Diane said. “We had 24 volunteers who helped make our 2018 Pancake Breakfast a big success. We are already planning for a repeat event in 2019!”
Guests enjoying the outdoor patio at the Barsness Snack and Chat; Ron Talbot, photographer.
Unit 27 activities
Sue Case
Mary Beth and Bud Snyder hosted the unit Snack and Chat on Saturday, June 16. With only a few raindrops to add, Mother Nature was once again kind to this event and enabled attendees to be either outside or in. With a little help from Ron Talbot, those attending had the privilege of chatting with Pat McHugh, a Unit 27 resident who hasn’t attended these events very often. So, Pat, please venture out and come again! Residents emerita, Janie and Rick Grinstead, brought some bourbon and held a comparison tasting with some of Bud Snyder’s bourbon. No report from those tasting as to whether a clear winner was declared; but everyone who partook enjoyed the tasty fun.
Pam and Don Barsness hosted the Snack and Chat on Saturday, July 14. One highlight of that event was Jane Zielske’s guest, young granddaughter Ella, who is certainly the diminutive version of Jane, as they look so much alike. Ella is quite a talker and kept her own conversations going with several of the men, whom she definitely outtalked! Once again, the evening was enhanced by reasonable temperatures, allowing both in- and outdoor venues.
Vicki Strief has announced that the Unit 27 Ladies Holiday Luncheon will be held once again at Vivace, this year on Friday, December 7. Vicki will send out more information closer to the date.
Ron Talbot has announced that the Unit 27 and other units, Holiday Party will be held in the MountainView Ballroom on Tuesday, December 11, also with more information to follow.
Hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you are. Keep cool, stay dry and drink lots of water!