Busy Season Means Pickle Ball Season

Have you been paying attention to the gasoline prices recently? Especially now that Wawa has entered the market?! The Car Wash across from Treviso Bay has remained lower priced than any other gasoline station, followed by Walmart’s Murphy Oil gasoline station, and that is followed by RaceTrac. Then Wawa hits the market and the other stations lower their prices to meet the Wawa prices, at least in the general vicinity. Now Wawa by Price Street is $211 per gal, so the immediate others have lowered theirs to try to keep their market share, but as soon as you get a mile away, the prices start going up… just a little at first, such as $215, then a couple more blocks and it’s $219, and then just a few more blocks and it’s $229, and then it goes up to $239! Luckily, I travel that whole corridor a lot on my way to and from Marco, Capri, and Goodland, so I see the prices and can choose where I want to go for gasoline. For a few cents, most will just go to the closest station, but for .28¢ I’ll drive a couple miles. The odd thing is when I fill up at Wawa, my gas tank reads 386 miles when filled, but that seems to fluctuate depending on where I buy gasoline. Sometimes it says 356, sometimes it says 366, but at Wawa it says 386 miles of gasoline is now in the tank! Does anyone know why that happens? When you travel at least 350 miles and then some each week, you really want to watch your gas prices, which I do. 

• Speaking of traveling, although this year is predicted to be busier than ever before at this time of year, I’m amazed at how smoothly the traffic has been flowing! It seems all the traffic lights are synchronized so well that if you remain at the speed limit, you seldom have to make a stop! Yes, when someone pushes the button to change the lights for bikes or pedestrians walking, that louses it up for a couple of lights, but it gets right back on the schedule again. I’m amazed at how well our county transportation people keep the traffic flowing! It’s true I don’t get up to the other end of Collier County very often; I just stay in my own territory during Season if I can, but things seem to be extremely smooth!  
• So, I was invited to the “TPC Treviso Bay Breast Cancer Week of Giving.” I didn’t realize I would be the only one who didn’t live in Treviso Bay, but what a great event this was! There were at least 200 people at the event! It’s actually a whole week of events, each day a different sport! First was a 5K Run/Walk and a Paws-for-Pink Pet Parade all within Treviso Bay. Then the next day, a Cocktail Party and Opening Auction with hundreds of gift packages to bid on which were wrapped so beautifully, and plenty of wine. Guess who their announcer and DJ was? Yup, our own beloved Tony DeLucca! As usual, he was a great hit! The person who invited me, Natalia Armstrong and her husband Steven, were in their glory welcoming everyone, enjoying all the friendships, etc. They would never have been able to fit another community in there to join them! The huge restaurant room—we are talking about the enormous club and restaurant building as the high point of Treviso Bay, located by their TPC Championship Golf Course—was filled with happy people who were enjoying one another; the wine flowed constantly, and the food tables were laden with delectable delicacies! The next day was the Tennis Tournament and After Party (wine there), and the following day was Ladies Golf Tournament and Luncheon (more wine). The next day was scheduled for Men’s Golf Tournament and Luncheon (and more wine). The following day was the Pickleball Tournament (Hmm, I wonder if anyone was pickled on the wine) on their own exceptional 8 Pickleball Courts, and finally, this marvelous week of events was topped off with the Cycle of Hope Spin-A-Thon! Have you ever heard of a Spin-A-Thon before? I never did, but they were all well acquainted with the game! I didn’t see it this year, but if I’m invited again next year, I’ll tell you about it. I’d like to name a few people who were instrumental in making this event so spectacular: Kathleen Christiansen, Robin Spilman, Natalia Armstrong, Ginny Tocci, Carla Woodhouse, and Mary Kay Ferrell, who generously donated their time to ensure a successful week of giving. The jeweler, Amanda Jaron, was again a donor, she’s been one for the last 5 or 6 fundraisers that I’ve attended recently! It seems no matter which event I go, Amanda has donated to it! This lady lives on Bayshore, and also has her store on Bayshore! She gives that street a new, shiny appeal to all who meet her and see her work! There were over 150… yes 150 exceptional gifts to silently bid on! Plus, there was a raffle which followed. I’m telling you; this wasn’t small stuff! They were great gifts! PLUS, there were Tennis Sponsors AND Donors, Pickleball Sponsors AND Donors, plus a Mercedes Benz was offered for a hole in one! I’ve never been to anything like this before, and they didn’t even sell tickets to outsiders! This was only for the Treviso Bay people! Astonishing, isn’t it? I was the fortunate one who got invited because Natalia is my friend and she wanted me to see what they do in Treviso! I’m so happy to have seen it with my own eyes! Part of this worthy cause is to financially assist breast cancer patients in Collier County. One of the gift donors, Dave & Char Wojcik, sold 100 tickets to their home in the Turks & Caicos for a one-week vacation to the winner of their vacation drawing. This $10,000 will go directly to helping local patients with Cancer! This event has been recognized by the American Cancer Society as the #1 fundraiser in Collier County in the category of individual organizations! Last year they raised $78,000. This year, when all the donations from their 8 events of the week are counted, they expect to be well over $100,000! I’m going to patronize a few of their sponsors. They had some companies that sounded like I need them!  

Enjoy the rest of this season, because now is when things really happening; and what do we have coming up? Yup, the U. S. Open Pickleball Championships! I can hardly wait! Who would have ever thought 7 years ago, when none of us had ever even heard of Pickleball, that we would have the most pickleball courts in one place in the whole world?! Who would have ever thought we would be named the Pickleball Capital of the World?! And at the smallest park in Collier County, although those industrious people and open-minded staff members are now planning on giving it a much better appearance and capability… by next year. This year they are doing things that won’t be seen as much, but are truly needed, like up to date electric and cable and fiber-optic. And right now, they are busily installing another 10 courts, making it 64 Pickleball Courts at East Naples Community Park! They are going to change a lot of things around there to try to squeeze more space out of nothing, but with their ingenuity and open–mindedness, it will happen. My big concern right now is I’m so happy about upgrading the park, but I want to make sure all the little children in that area still have a place to play! If they didn’t have this park, there would be no place for them to go! They don’t have playgrounds in their backyard, they can’t walk up to the Eagle Lakes park—or even ride their bikes up there… it’s just too far for little kids to go—and you need to give the children something to do to play outside that is wholesome, safe, and have inside areas as well, to get out of the hot sun or the summer’s rains and lightening—with us being the lightning capital of Florida, so I’ve been told. We have over 52% of the workforce living here in East Naples, and many of those workers have children, who will someday be our leaders, businessmen or businesswomen, our inventors, or sports stars. We need to start them off right in a safe and friendly park with plenty to keep them busy rather than phones or TV. We’ll get there! I know we will!