HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Happy Valentines day to my children, my grandchildren and my grand animals. We send our love to all of you and miss each one of you today as we think of those we love.

It has been quite a time since I posted on this blog.... the days go so fast and often I am not even getting supper or lunch....Ok why have I gained so much weight??????
I imagine it is because I can't find time to eat at the proper time, I am eating buns, bread or cookies when I finally get home.

It is still quite cool here and I have even wore my winter coat a couple of times but I guarantee this is the last time I am writing about the cold....It is going to warm up this weekend and it is going to stay or I am coming home....I am tired of cold weather in Arizona.....

 

We had a good time in Mexico and then the next day our bus trip to Tubac was great too. What extremes of merchandise.....From cheap cheap junk in Mexico to super quality jewellery, paintings, clothes and much more in Tubac. Three days of continual walking and standing help instill in my brain that my age is showing.... I did buy one nice necklace , and a small flute but not much more....Harvey enjoyed his afternoon of NOT shopping as he and Don took the tour to the Titan Missile Museum which was very interesting.

 

The San Xaviar Mission  was also very interesting but after being in so many countries and seeing so many churches that looked much the same it was no big deal....... The most outstanding is that it is not in Europe but right here in the middle of the desert....

The one thing that did seem somehow not quite right was the life size statue of Jesus in the corner of a small chapel with a red light bulb coming out of the top of his head.

I will post that picture later today

 

I have also taken two classes in the last few days, the one for the Alpaca wool felted scarf. Very interesting to see how they are made but as I am not a scarf wearer I will probably cut it up and use on Mixed media canvases as I think it would look great in that medium as well..................................

 

The bottom picture is my scarf and the middle picture is me at the table....The store owner posted this on Facebook.

Today I took a basic wire jewellery making class and learned how to do the jump rings and wire twisting.on a bracelet and earrings.....now I hope to use that knowledge to do bigger ones....Today's was very small and not really what I wear......

 

For Valentines day Harvey got me some sterling silver diamond earrings......Well not exactly......but we did today get the windshield in the Dodge Journey replaced as it had two big cracks....To get a new one at home it would have been over $600.... Here we had it bought and installed for $300 taxes paid....They then gave Harvey a pair of earrings and said they are sterling silver....They have a very realistic  diamond on each post which has to be Zirconia but they look very real....

 

Well off to the wine and cheese party and then maybe a movie or a sleep in our chairs lol lol

 



 

MEXICO AGAIN

Yes we are off again to Mexico today. It is to be plus 26 today in Yuma so we will enjoy the heat. We have only used our air conditioner once so far, so it will be great to soak up the rays.  Don and Betty will go with us as Betty and I both are getting denture work and new glasses to pick up.
Tonight we are having supper at the Q (Quechan Casino and Resort) with Gloria and Wilf Marcula
as they live in Yuma and we try to get together with them once while we are down here.
Then we will play a little slots and spend the night there.. Our appointments are at 8:30 in Mexico and we have a stretch of 5 hours for fittings and refittings etc. We will be able to come and go and do a little shopping between time.  We are not sure what Don and Harvey will do as they really are not into bartering.

Friday morning sees us off on a bus trip to Tubac. Tubac is a destination for the arts! Tubac features over 100 eclectic shops and world class galleries along streets with hidden courtyards and  fountains. They say "A full day can easily disappear wandering amongst this wealth of painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography, as well as unique regional fashion, leather, crafts, antiques and jewelry."  ....    and this is the week of the Tubac Festival of the Arts so it will be a busy time there.
We first stop at an old Mission and while we are in Tubac the fellows are going off to the Titan Missle Museum 

Yesterday I went back up to Chandler for lunch with more Shackleton school mates.....The best part was listening to Ronnie Lewis and Sonny Pollock who had not seen each other in 60 years tell stories of all the things they did as youngsters....Lots of good laughs and memories again.

After this week this blog may go into hiatus as we are deep into the last week before the play production and we will be practicing every day and as co producer I will be busy on other things. 

ALL IS WELL

My goodness how time flies by!  I just realized I have not posted on my blog for over a week. For those not on Facebook, you might have thought we disappeared in a sand storm.
This year is so much different from last year for me. We seem to be signing up for more things than we did last year and with the play performance coming soon we will be up to our necks in extra practices.  It is coming slow and some people are coming along really great but some of the newer ones are having trouble getting into character and delivering their lines quickly.  I guess here it is not quite as serious if mistakes happen as everyone knows these are older people, acting roles much younger than their actual years and that adds humour. Well at least we are hoping for humour.....???

Last week saw us going to suppers, a trip to Harrah's casino in Maricopa, card Bingo, Texas Holdum, billiards, Day trip to Mexico for dental and vision appts, video taping of the play (to see how bad we are) two couples in for supper and cards one night and of course pegs and jokers night.

This coming Wednesday and Thursday sees us going back to Algodones Mexico (3 hours each way) to get our glasses and teeth.....Our appointments are for 8:30 in the morning so we will go in the day before and play a little. (wink)   My glasses cost a lot more this year as it seems the price for the good frames as really gone up....But still about 1/3 of the price at home.  The dentures are the same as quoted last year  $500 for an upper plate and a partial lower plate with the silver holders. At home that would be pushing $3000. 

The only funny thing that happened re Mexico this year was, as I was getting measured etc for my glasses, Harvey had to use the bathroom in the vision office. He went in and was in there for about 10 mins when this woman came rushing in saying I need to use your bathroom, proceeded to go to the door and pulled on it....the door opened and all I saw was Harvey's jacket swinging out and her yelling, Oh sorry I did not know anyone was in there.  She then walked by me laughing and saying " Sure glad I had 3 beer before I saw that"   Then the toilet would not flush down for Harvey and a worker had to go in and try to fix it.....Later in the day when I came back, I used toilet and it said on the wall "Do not put toilet paper in the toilet bowl"???????? Ok where do I put it?   I tastefully wrapped up the offender and stuck down in the garbage.......All I could think was how much other stuff was in that garbage...... I also think maybe Harvey did not read the sign and that was the cause of the plugging. 

JUST SINGING IN THE RAIN??

Well Victoria has come to the desert.....It has been raining all night and this morning it is pouring here.....Water is laying around as it does not sink into the sand like it does in the dirt at home...... I expect to here "FLASH FLOOD" soon.   There are dug out ditches everywhere that I assume are to take the water and so many little dips in roads we travel that warn of water in them. Today there really may be water in those dips where cars can disappear we are told....
It is to rain for a few days but it is still fairly warm.
Maybe today I can do some baking or even maybe do some crafting. I have not touched any of my craft stuff since I left home and it did take up about a quarter of the car space. Last year I did a lot but this year "zippo".
Yesterday, I sold play tickets from 8 am to 9:30, then spent 2 hours trying to figure out how I could not balance the sales....... then off to help move theatre props etc from under the sound booth over to our new storage shed that had been donated to the Sunscape Players. Off to wash clothes again for 1.5 hours, back home to put it away and our own little happy hour on the front deck, make and eat supper and off to the community centre to watch "The Nearly New Wed Game"   After the show and Betty came over for wine and cards.....Lac Pelletier Rummy and Steal.
.....and so our days go.......
It is 48 days since we left home and I kind of miss it this morning. I miss my bed, I miss the smell and glow from the fire burning, I miss looking out the window and seeing the lake covered with snow.......(did I actually say that last one lol) but most of all I miss driving into Swift and seeing our family of adults, twins and animals...
But I am sure when the sun returns to Casa Grande again I will soon put that aside again for awhile.

MY KIND OF STORE

After being here last year for 2 months and over a month so far this year, we finally found out that there is more grocery shopping off the main city street. We usually shop at Fry's or Walmart for our groceries, both which are good shopping and good selections, but yesterday we headed up north Pinal to near the airport to the large Fry's. It is huge and has everything including furniture and household things like sheets, towels and so much more. The grocery selection is way, way better but the BEST part is that they have a SUSHI booth with a Japanese chef that makes the rolls in front of you....now talk about fresh California rolls!!!! They were fabulous..... and then on top of that there is a complete Starbucks where one can sit and have a great coffee.  Yes life is good in grocery land.

We also live in the land of weekly craft shows, antique car shows. antique aircraft shows, Blues festivals, Peach Blossom festivals, festivals of the new Olive Oil, Annual Gourd festival and many more where the landscape is covered with white tents and trailers all belonging to food vendors. Some great Italian sausage sandwiches, great carmel corn, fry bread (beaver tails in Canada) and lots of BBQ chicken, turkey legs and curly fries  (enough to feed a family of 4), plus lots more. But the ones I stay right away from are the ones who sell alligator, rattle snake and frog legs....I do not want to even smell the fries from those places....

 

 

Also lots of sign up sheets in the club house for bus trips, tag alongs, and other things to do, but only in the US would one see this written on the bottom of the sign up sheet.....Scary hey!!!!

 

UNBELIEVABLE ELECTRIC BILL

How in the world can it cost more in a warm climate for power than back in cold grey Sask?  Well we do have a wood stove at home that helped on the amount our furnace ran. 
BUT: in Arizona the furnace should not run all night long. But the buildings are so energy inefficient it is ridiculous. Walls are thin and we can see light through the front door....So it is no wonder we had to pay $198 for one month electric bill.
What happens when we have to turn the air conditioning on as the weather gets hotter?
Tomorrow it is to be 80. 
Today it was close to that and is wonderful to be able to go out with shorts, Capri's , sandals and no need for sweater...
Tomorrow we will travel north south east and west to about 16 different RV parks to see if they will let us put up a poster for the play on their bulletin boards.....
Tonight's practice was pretty pitiful and hard to believe that we will be able to pull it off .
With only 2 practice's a week it is hard for some to get their lines down good enough and also try to stay in character... Walking talking and remembering is not easy for a bunch of 60 -70 year olds.

We had a great Sunday at the Mesa Swap Meet and then tried to get up to Tortilla Flats which has a good restaurant with an interesting old western ambiance. We started on the Apache Trail which headed up into the mountains. Many many switch back roads that had me white knuckling and hanging on to the handle above the door. I just had to close my eyes many times to not look down.
About half way up, the GPS kept saying make a u-turn and turn around...... We finally listened as we figured we were just on the wrong road..... We finally just went to the Mammoth Saloon in the Goldfield Ghost town for lunch. Sitting outside in the hot sun eating our lunch while a cowboy serenaded us....
Upon checking I think we just needed to go farther to find Tortilla Flats Restaurant. Will we try again? Over my dead body with white knuckles.....

Monday I had my first drive by myself up to Chandler and Sun Lakes to get new Birkenstocks and then to have a wonderful luncheon and visit with a few Shackletonite friends. Harvey stayed home to play pool. He did so bad he did not make it into Tues tournament but someone else could not go so they asked him to go as they knew he was capable of much better than he played that day.  They went to another park and they won 20 games to 4 or in other words they left them battered.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

Yes the cold is over and sun and warmth has come to Casa Grande again. To day it will hit plus 23 or more. The planes are flying overhead as they head back to the Eloy Air Field to drop off the morning sky jumpers. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind  so a great day for the jumpers. About 15 jump every 20 mins or less.... It is a great way to spend a sunny afternoon in your lawn chair watching.

But today we are off to town to go to the Annual car show and craft sale. There are about 200 vendors that set up to sell their wares, plus food booths and much more, all in the old downtown Casa Grande where they block off the streets and the vendors tents are on the streets. They also line up all the old restored cars, trucks, motorcycles etc where you can walk around them, take pictures and remember back to when you used to neck in the back seat of one .."just like that one" lol

Yesterday after selling tickets for the play in the morning, I headed to town to do a bit of shopping, but mainly just looking and then drove farther than I thought and wore my self out. I was home by 2:30 to see Harvey sitting out in the sun on the deck...We settled into our chairs, and fell asleep until it was near supper.  A quick supper and off to play Pegs and Jokers.... A game that last year was too hard for us but we are getting on to it now.  After Pegs and Jokers over to Don and Betty's for a glass of wine and a visit with them and another couple until 11:30......NOW that is a very late night for me..... but with all the talking we came home and played on the computers until 1:30 am, as neither of us could sleep. I of course was up at my usual 6 am and it is now 9:45 and  someone is still snoring.....

Tomorrow we are planning on going up the Apache Trail to Globe. A very scenic trip and hopefully not to scary with the sharp curves and crazy drivers. 

Then Monday a few of us old Shackletonites who met last summer after 50+ years and who all spend sometime in Arizona in the winter, are meeting for lunch and more old time chatting... This is up in Chandler so another day on the road....

It will be good to get home, to the lake, in mid March to have a nice rest lol lol