Working at the Tennis Tournament

    Recuperating today after a very busy week. We had some really hot days which were extremely exhausting. Most of my shifts were early afternoon to evening so I was really dragging by the time I walked back to the distant parking lot at the end of the day! But I was glad to have the mornings to gather myself and prepare for the day ahead. We had a great party last night which made for a lovely send off and will encourage us to return to volunteer again next year. There were 1200 volunteers at this year's tournament.

This is me at the main gate in my uniform.

The men were playing in Montreal and we could watch it on the big screen TV.

I got assigned the VIP entrance a couple of times - it was much quieter.

My preferred spot!

We didn't get much chance to watch the matches but you can see how full the stadium was for the Final.

It's hard to catch the players in action but this is the Brazilian player serving in the final set.

Most of the big names were here for both the Men's and Women's Singles. Simona Halep won here in Toronto and Pablo Carreno Busta won in Montreal. There were many, many Romanians (and others) cheering on Simona with flags, signs and chants (SI-MO-NA) and the atmosphere was quite electric! I got to watch the last half of the singles match and a doubles match that followed. Two Americans won that. Well, that's it for another year. The men will be playing here in 2023.

Another Catchup

    Two posts in a row - that's a first for me! But I am still having trouble signing in unless I start a new post. I have a few photos to share so that will be it.

Youngest grandson with his new bike that he paid for himself with his earnings as an extra in a movie!

The last of the raspberries - they have been great this year.

Oldest grandson on the front porch barbecuing pork souvlaki for our lunch on Sunday.

Enjoying the pool on a hot afternoon  - grandson swam 2 kms. by his calculation! It was 200 lengths.

A pretty flower from the plant that over winters indoors.

Another one - I didn't think I was going to get any flowers from it this year as it was looking rather bedraggled after being in low light conditions indoors.

   So that's me up-to-date. I will probably be AFK for a few days during the tennis tournament. (away from keyboard)

Catchup

    I have been very busy for the last few days but with nothing much to blog about, so thought I'd better post something. 

  Tennis is continuing but I am finding 2 hours a bit much on the hot days although we start at 8:00 a.m. I think I may have to cut back to one hour. The pool has been a blessing for cooling off afterwards. The family have been over a couple of times for a swim and Judy usually brings something to barbecue so I have had some delicious meals courtesy of them. Unfortunately today's visit was rained out  but, as the garden was in dire need of a soaking, the rain was quite welcome. The grass is quite brown in spots and the weeds are taking over!

   Next week is the tennis tournament here in Toronto and I will be working as a volunteer at the front gate, another reason to post something before that starts. Most of the top women tennis players will be here so it is quite something to see. It has been two years since the last full tournament as Covid restrictions were in place last year and 2020. It will be great to see all the familiar faces both on and off the court when we open up on Saturday.

    The raspberries are almost over for this year but I have had tons and ate bowls of them for dessert every day for the last two weeks. Now I am inundated with tomatoes! Every meal contains tomatoes in some shape or form but I prefer them straight off the vine, especially the cherry tomatoes. The guy with the truck who sells corn fresh from his farm showed up last week so I have had fresh corn with almost every meal too. Well, the rain has stopped so I'd better get out there and start weeding! Have a great day, everyone.

Chaos!

    I was going to title this post "Problem NOT Solved" but, miraculously, today I was able to sign in on the first try. Fingers crossed this continues to be the case.

    The chaos in the title didn't occur to me personally but did affect me. It happened at the Senior's Centre where I volunteer in the kitchen on Wednesdays, dispensing tea, coffee and the occasional meat pie. It's usually an easy job and, in fact, I always bring a book to read during quiet spells.

   Today a barbecue was planned and fifty people had bought tickets. When it came time to start cooking the burgers, the outdoor gas BBQ wouldn't at first turn on and then refused to heat up. I think it had been tested beforehand but hadn't actually been used since before the pandemic. So a battalion of cooks descended on the kitchen and proceeded to fry, bake or microwave the burgers while an impatient group of seniors muttered and griped in the background!

    Finally everyone was fed although there were lots of complaints and blame going around but the worst part for me was the state of the kitchen when all was said and done. The clean up crew beat a hasty retreat and I was left with a messy stove and umpteen greasy platters. On the plus side, there was leftover salad which I purloined and will have for dinner tonight! My reward for not complaining about the extra work, I guess.