Unit 6 happy hour
Rose Adams
Unit 6, one of the older and quite possibly largest units in PebbleCreek boasting 190 homes, recently held a happy hour on the Eagle’s Nest Clubhouse patio. The unit had not met in quite a while and we were pleasantly surprised to have approximately 50 guests. The new Unit contacts, Rose Adams and Mike Bullard, welcomed everyone and we enjoyed a few cocktails while everyone introduced themselves and discussed activities we would like to see our unit host in the future. Sign-up sheets were passed around for a Unit Bunco Group and a Unit Storytelling Group. We anticipate forming other groups in early 2019. If you have not received a phone call or email regarding Unit 6 activities please send a note to [email protected] so we can get you on our mailing list. If you wish to coordinate an activity, this email address can also be used for assistance in getting started.
Unit 17 welcome back party
On November 18 Unit 17 held a welcome back party for returning snowbirds, new residents and year-round residents at Sunrise Park. It was another beautiful day under sunny skies in PebbleCreek. Great conversation and delicious food were enjoyed among the fifty residents who attended.
Unit 19 ice cream social
On Sunday, November 25, Doug Patrick and Joanne Scherer opened their beautiful home for Unit 19’s first ice cream social. Besides eating ice cream with all the toppings and delicious cookies, forty-five residents enjoyed the nice evening by the outdoor fire. We enjoyed meeting some new people in our unit and also catching up with others whom we haven’t seen in a while. Everyone had a good time and looks forward to another gathering in the future.
Unit 20 holiday celebration
Carolyn Rota
On Sunday, December 9 the neighbors of Unit 20 all met at the home of Joe and Carolyn Rota to wish each other the best of holidays. Everyone brought something, whether it was to eat or better yet to drink. Plus, they each came with an ornament to place on the Christmas Cactus. Besides all the delicious goodies there also was a free (love that word) raffle that delighted the winners. Everyone mingled meeting new neighbors and catching up with the, let’s call them, seasoned neighbors. A merry time was had by all. Now we’re planning for our February Unit dinner.
Unit 20 Christmas Luncheon
Carolyn Rota
On Wednesday, December 12, 2018, eighteen lovely ladies of Unit 20 attended their annual Christmas Luncheon at the Eagle’s Nest restaurant. At this luncheon every year toys, clothing items and gift cards are collected and given to the New Life Center, a refuge for families that need a safe haven from an abusive situation. And each year we all leave with a heart filled with joy and the true sense of what the Christmas season is all about. I want to thank my co-host Eileen Mosse for doing all the shopping while I was away and for all the beautiful decorations and gifts given to each guest. And to all that attended, Mary Kay, Elaine, Anna, Lynn, Eileen, me, Jackie, Pat, Gail, Shirley, Maureen, Peggy, Julie, Claudine, Helen, Denise, Sandy, Chris and Patty, thank you for your generosity and your support of the parties and luncheons over the year. Now let’s plan some good stuff for 2019. Everyone, wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2019.
Unit 27A ladies luncheon
Camille Grabb
Good neighbors become good friends, too!
Some of the ladies in Unit 27A went beyond the usual friendly smiles and quick waves while walking through the neighborhood and took the time to gather for lunch to get to know each other better.
The “board room” at Toscana’s was the perfect place to mingle, enjoy a tasty lunch and learn more about each other. Not surprising, our journeys to PebbleCreek travelled down many different paths. Aren’t we blessed ending up in our little corner of Tuscany Falls?
Unit 34 Toy Battery display
Bob Young
The Unit 34 Animated Toy Battery display was a big success this Christmas season. Thirty out of fifty-six homes decorated their mail boxes with animated toy battery toys (Santa, Snowmen, Reindeer, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, etc.). Many families decorated the front lid on their mailbox with a Snowman face, Santa sleigh or a Christmas tree. Other families also added their own creative ideas and lit up their front yards with special lights and displays.
We have no idea how many visitors we had during the holidays but it was a lot. It was fun to see how many people walking their dog, on their way to the fitness center, riding on their bike or golf cart, would stop to squeeze one of the toys and just smile. We also put a smile on many grandkids, big and small. Even our mailman said every day he would squeeze a different toy and watch them sing and dance. I hope you took time to come over to Unit 34 to squeeze the “Try Me” sticker on the toys. Thanks to all for participating. We looked good in the neighborhood. Thanks to our many volunteers who helped monitor the displays and protect the performers from the elements. Thanks to Kathy Aalto for coming up with the idea of spreading out the toys to all residents in the Unit.
Unit 37 “WWW” gathering
Thirty women attended the Unit 37 “WWW” get together, which was hosted by Linda Grabau, Averill Swenson and Di Week on Wednesday, December 12. You ask, “Just what is the WWW?” It is Women Who Wine! Each woman brings her own beverage (wine, soft drink, tea, etc.) and the hosts provide a tasty array of appetizers. The friends, food and beverages all made for a fun party. We were glad to meet the new gals that have moved into Unit 37 this past year. Those attending were Jackie Abel, Loretta Brenneman, Patty Brown, Lynne Carlyle, Louise Cascarano, Shelly Coate, Debbie Drinovsky, Verna Eason, Denise Embry, Mary Jo Graff, Pam Grimwood, Connie Hatfield, JoAnn Hawkins, Barb Hagan, Vel Helton, Pat Howard, Andi Lewis, Marsha Lisle, Carolyn Maslyn, Donna Maykulsky, Doris Savage, Suzan Simons, Nancy Stifter, Linda Sweet, Kathy Tobin, Maxine Wickersham and Susan Wilkinson. To those who were traveling, had other commitments or caught the sick bug and couldn’t join us, we look forward to seeing you at the next WWW.
Unit 40’s annual holiday brunch
Unit 40 had a great time at their annual Xmas brunch at Eagle’s Nest. In addition to the wonderful food and camaraderie, we raised close to $500 and over 60 pounds of food for the Aqua Fria Food Bank. And once again, the Eagle’s Nest staff did a super job setting up and serving. Special thanks to Unit 40’s Debe Zeh for organizing the event and thanks to Cindy Young for her help.
Unit 54 cookies for Luke AFB
The bakers in Unit 54 truly are amazingly creative when it comes to baking cookies for service members at Luke AFB. The time and money and Christmas spirit put into these delicious treats is so admirable. There was pecan toffee, two flavors of biscotti, chocolate chip, walnut snow balls, candy cane cringles, chocolate covered pretzels, Spritz butter and peanut butter blossoms and hand decorated sugar cookies to name a few. Over 80 dozen yummy morsels. Many thanks to Jenise Clark, Julie Kemper, Joette Corriere, Patti Klepinger, Patricia Wagner, Rhonda King, Kayrene Braden, Marcy Maronek, Pat Gray, Cindy Strong, Donna May, Linda Rowe, Michael Oleson, Karen Rubsam and Barb Dunson.
Unit 41 holiday party
Nevin Nelson
Unit 41’s holiday party was held at Myra and Chuck Saunders lovely and beautifully decorated home. The ugly sweater contest was won by Chuck Saunders. Lots of laughs, great food and wonderful friends completed our annual gathering.
Unit 52 holiday party
Liz Gibson
Unit 52 had a WOW annual holiday party Sunday, December 2. The wonderful evening was held at Sandy Koll’s beautifully decorated home and the party was both inside and outside with several firepits and heaters.
The wine flowed and there was an abundance of super appetizers and main course choices followed by scrumptious desserts. The background music added to the ambiance and it was a perfect setting for everyone to mingle and meet some of the many new residents to the unit.
We all gave a big thank you to Sandy Kolls for opening her home and to our wonderful Social Committee headed by Nancy Rosenfeld for their gracious welcoming and serving throughout the evening. Committee members who helped make the party memorable included Jean Magnuson, Carol Liltz, Meg Chrisman, Karen Berner and Sydney Nations.
Unit 53 R.O.M.E.O. lunch
Sandy Stephens
The men of Unit 53 attended their first R.O.M.E.O (Really Old Men Eating Out) lunch on November 2. The lunch was at Red’s at the Wigwam with everyone having a great time visiting and getting to know one another better. This will be a monthly event held at different locations in the area.
Unit 56 Luncheon and gift exchange
Unit 56 is back from one very long sabbatical. We had our Christmas Luncheon with a gift exchange at Eagle’s Nest dining room. There were 25 ladies who enjoyed a great lunch and a crazy gift exchange. We are looking forward to more fun get togethers in 2019. Happy holidays to all.
Unit 62A happenings
Barb Downey
Happy New Year, PebbleCreek, from your friends in Unit 62A! We had a wonderful November, filled with unit social and volunteer activities. We started the month with our first wine tasting party hosted at the home of Janelle and Gary Watts. The event was organized and coordinated by Julie Greenbank and Barb Downey and included double blind tastings of nine red and eight white wines brought by our 31 neighbors attending. The winning wines were supplied by Debbie and Tyrone Forte and Mary and John Geraghty who each won gift cards to Total Wine.
Twenty-nine of us attended a morning of golf and breakfast at Top Golf, where both golfers and non-golfers enjoyed competing against each other for accurate shots into the targets. The full breakfast buffet was also a hit for this fun outing! Another golf outing included a tour of Karsten Manufacturing, in Phoenix, where 23 neighbors watched how their brand name Ping drivers, irons and putters were made. We watched the employees analyzing shafts, painting logos, adjusting weights and filling orders from around the world in this local family owned business.
Our volunteer efforts this month centered on St. Mary’s food bank, where we created 290 boxes of assorted food for those in need. This is now a monthly event for our unit and although we do work hard, we have a lot of fun doing it together!
A fun morning for the ladies was our first craft event held at Barb Downey’s home, where we made cute little Cork Angel ornaments. The ladies also played Hand & Foot several times during the month and had a fabulous lunch at The Farm at South Mountain.
We continued our monthly Game Night, where we played Pictionary at Marilyn and Vic Coates’ home then switched to Debbie and Tyrone Forte’s home to play Corked. We vary the games each month and have so much fun that we’re sure the laughter carries over to the next street!
Another new event was a unit pickleball round robin, with skill levels ranging from 2.5 up to 4.0 and attended by 22 of us. Some of us hadn’t played together before, so it was extra fun (or frustrating) to challenge each other in this fast-paced game. We followed the games with a happy hour at the ramada to continue enjoying each other’s company!
Speaking of happy hour, Marilyn and Charlie Newcomer hosted our record-breaking happy hour with 52 attendees! So much fun, so much delicious food and so many toys were collected for the little ones at New Life Center. All the toys were delivered and placed under their tree by Renee Fisher, Marilyn Newcomer and Julie Shelton. Our happy hour also included the celebration of Bruce Banks birthday and Jackie and Tom Bachman’s anniversary.
Unit 64 Mailbox Project brings joy and fun to the unit
Unit 64, the most fun unit, has done it again. Each December we decorate our mailboxes to bring joy and fun to the unit in a way where all can participate. This year the Fiorettis topped off our last day to vote for our favorites with a get together on their patio with butter cookies and hot beverages.
The Mailbox Project grand prize winner was Tom and Bobbie Wagner for their giant gnome. We also had three honorable mentions. Bob and Connie Armstrong won for their Santa decorating a Christmas tree. Gene and JoAnn Fioretti’s theme this year was Snoopy with his stocking cap. While Gary and Barb Mackman treated us to a Toast to the New Year. We had many other interesting, fun and creative designs. And ideas are already starting to form for next year. We are hoping more of PebbleCreek will join us in putting something festive on their mailboxes during this time of year when holiday decorating is allowed.