Happy Birthday

Happy 5th Birthday, Lilly!

Desert Botanical Garden

Chihuly: The Nature of Glass is the current feature at the Desert Botanical Garden in Tempe/Scottsdale. Dale Chihuly has these magnificent blown glass creations displayed amongst the desert plants. The color and forms he used were brilliant in yesterday's sunshine. I don't remember the names of all or even most of his creations. I do remember this one was called Mexican Hat with horns.

This one was titled Boat Float. The colors on the amazing glass balls were awesome. It looked like a boat of large colorful marbles!

There were displays of blue reeds, red reeds, green and purple reeds.

This creation reminded me of forestburg watermelons because of the stripes.

Chihuly titled this display hornets.

There were chandelier creations and some like this one, posted in the ground.

It was a great day to be outside with friends from CA, looking at the variety of desert plants and the talent of Dale Chihuly. Thanks for inviting me.

Name Sign

This is our new name sign we picked up yesterday. We chose the design with the mountain for the Superstitions which are to the north and visible everyday, the saguaro and cactus because we are out in the desert and it surrounds us in two directions, and the coyote because they serenade us often.

The sign looks nice but now more than ever, we need some plants and something on the house. Additions will be coming throughout the winter. Stay tuned.

Christmas at Canyon Vistas

The meeting room was decorated for Christmas. The afternoon buffet meal consisted of mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, cheesy cauliflower, lettuce salad, macaroni salad, jello salad, buns, roast beef and ham. Dessert choices were chocolate cake, carrot cake and a cheesecake. It was all very good, especially the conversation.

Nancy & Don invited us to sit at their table for the Christmas Eve meal. Curt is visiting wit Don. Bill and Rod are talking.

Our entertainment was also delightful. She sang Christmas songs and some of her own creations. We found out she is originally from Aberdeen, SD and has relatives in Curt's home town. Small world.

It was a great afternoon. In the evening we went to the carol sing and enjoyed singing traditional Christmas songs. Wine and limoncello with friends, Marge & Rod, followed the singing. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve if we could not be home with family.

On Christmas Day we joined the crowd at the movie theater. Curt enjoyed Valkyrie with Tom Cruise and I enjoyed Marley & Me. Both movies were packed! We were surprised at the number of people, especially families, that go to the movies on Christmas Day.

Last Pictures of Our New Home

Okay, the long awaited last pictures of our new winter home. These are from the "living room" which we have chosen to furnish with two recliners and a TV which isn't in the pictures. The chairs face the "front door" which is a patio door and the TV which is in a corner by the front door.


The window shelf in the living room is a great place to display the horsehair ceramic vases I made last year here in AZ. They, along with the ironwood statues, give the room a southwest decor.

Gifts on Display

Kids: we wanted you to know the solar lights are working this year. We have them along the back of the park model where the street lights are not interfering. Once we do a bit of landscaping, the lights will really be cool.
The pots are prominently displayed on the cupboard between the kitchen area and the living room. The colors are perfect for the chairs we had chosen. Great job. Thanks.

And we got the cork board in place and began to use it immediately. We found the perfect place for it, along the wall by the fridge. Your gifts were useful, creative and enhance our new home. Thank You.

New Resort Home Pictures

All of our windows have ledges so it is great for displaying some of my southwest collected items. This is from the bedroom.

Our bedroom with queen size lift bed, which means the mattress is on a wood frame, the top of which can be lifted for storage the size of the bed. Pretty cool, huh! Most RVs have lift beds.

The bedroom does have quite a bit of storage for clothes, which is very good.


This is the full bathroom. It also has lots of cupboards and storage, for which I am most grateful.

The rest, living space, later.

Miracles Never Cease!

If you look closely at this first picture, you will see a dish towel in Kari's hands. As far as I know, this event rates right up there with the immaculate conception or near that blessed event as I know I have not seen Kari do dishes at my house in maybe 15 years???

We loved having you visit us, Kari and we look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks for the Insight Bowl. Go Gophers!

The Kitchen

Okay. The awaited pictures of our new winter home. Kitchen pictures first.




More tomorrow.

Friday Afternoon Adventures

Kari wanted to see Sedona. Unfortunately, road construction on the main roads through the town prevented us from actually stopping and exploring the "new age" community. We took pictures of the red rocks on the way to Sedona, stopped to eat, and then back on the road. We were on a mission, after all. You can see that gasoline was not "cheap" in this area. And roundabouts were everywhere on the new road in Cottonwood leading to Sedona.



Our mission that afternoon was to reach the pueblo ruins at Tuzigoot. These ruins were on the top of a hill overlooking a valley just to the north of the communities of Clarkville and Jerome.


Our final stop was in the mining town of Jerome, which is built on a hillside with narrow, steep, winding, one-way roads. After a little shopping and exploring, we were ready to head back to the city. You can see it was a cloudy, cool day. We used the windshield wipers on the way back because it sprinkled enough to get the windshield wet.

Christmas Light Show

Friday night we took the time to stop at the Mormon Temple in Mesa to see their Christmas light display. The display was very similar to the one we saw a couple of years ago, but the thousands and thousands of lights are still an awesome sight. Kari was impressed.

Many of the trees have lights like the topmost of the palm trees and this tree that looks like it has hanging clusters of peppers hanging.


Even the flower beds have lights that look like flowers like the phlox that are purple and the white ones that look like nasturtiums.

There were also three displays of the Christmas story. One was the stable showing the holy family. Another depicted the shepherds and their sheep in a stable and barnyard display. But the most awesome was the lighted wise men following the star.

Kari's AZ Visit

Kari is here and we had a very busy day. She arrived at 6:00 last evening and requested pizza at The Garage, a local pub. Since we had not been there yet this season, we gladly complied. This morning we were on the road by 7:30 AM, heading north to Payson then Camp Verde to see Native American ruins and historic sites.

Our first stop was Montezuma Castle, the pueblo ruins near Camp Verde. These ruins are the best preserved and most dramatic cliff dwelling in the U.S. It was an awesome site.

Then is was off to a natural limestone sinkhole, Montezuma Well. Water temperature was 74º. Because of the constant water temp, the pool has lots of algae. There are cliff dwellings along one side and pueblo ruins at the top of the cliff. The Sinagua people had dug an irrigation ditch near the sink hole and along the Beaver Creek that provided water for their crops. We were told the ditch was around 1000 years old and still in use today.

Our final morning stop was at V-V Heritage Site to see a rock wall with over 1000 ancient drawings. This is the largest known petroglyph rock art in the Verde Valley and one of the best preserved.

Our day started by driving through the Tonto National Forest, then into the Coconino National Forest and finally into the Prescott National Forest before heading back to Phoenix. We saw lots of history and a variety of AZ fauna, from desert to pine forests.

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Here are the outside Christmas decorations at our new home. This is supposed to be our "front" door, but the screen door almost always falls off its track when we use it, so until the screen is replaced, we aren't using the patio door as our primary entrance.

Notice the garland, Sondra. Thanks.

And it is looking like Christmas on the inside, too. That little tree has represented the holiday season in SD and in AZ. Little did I know when I bought it 4 years ago.

Tonight our new place feels like home. The clutter is gone. The boxes are recycled. The southwest decor is in place. Pictures tomorrow.

SD to AZ by way of KS

We spent one night in Topeka visiting friends on our way to our new winter home. The U Haul was packed front to back, top to bottom. Thanks for sharing your home with us, Herman & Sondra.

It's Beginning to Feel Like Home

Boxes and clutter everywhere! It is getting better after 3 days of unpacking and organizing, our new winter home is feeling like HOME. Slowly everything is finding a place. Tomorrow the Christmas decorations will be placed inside and out. Pictures of our home next week. I promise.

Tuesday in New Mexico

We are well on our way to our winter home. We left Topeka this morning and are in Moriarty, NM this evening. Thanks Herman & Sondra for the wonderful accommodations at your B&B. We loved the time we could spend with you.

We have enjoyed the green fields of winter wheat in Kansas and the 65º temperatures this afternoon. We had awesome blue skies and sunshine for most of the day and have seen two beautiful sunsets. We were very pleased to buy diesel for $2.36 at Santa Rosa.

We also encountered road construction immediately upon entering the windy state of New Mexico. Some things never change!

We should arrive in Gold Canyon late tomorrow afternoon.

Heading South

We are packed. The U Haul is full. We are tired. The ground is white so it is definitely time to leave town. We are off tomorrow morning and should arrive in AZ on Thursday.

Thankmas 08

It has become a tradition for our family to celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend because we leave for our winter home shortly thereafter, thus the name Thankmas. We give each day its own true celebration but squeeze as much as possible into the 3 or 4 days we are together.

This year our daughter-in-law and son cooked Thanksgiving dinner and we traveled to their house. Grandma, Kari and we were gathered with Crystal's parents, brother and aunt Barb. It was delicious traditional food in an nontraditional way. Thanks you two! Job well done!

Then it was back home for the traditional early shopping on Black Friday morning. Kari & I found some good bargains and were home by 9:00 to say goodbye to Grandma as she returned to her home.


On Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the kids. Looking how "they" are all under blankets, it is hard to believe there was a real fire going in the fireplace, but there was. The kids left this morning and we continue to pack for our trip south. Thanks kids for the wonderful weekend!

Hoover Dam Visit

On Sunday, before leaving Las Vegas, Kari and I took a tour of Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. This is a picture of Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake. Our guide explained that the Las Vegas area is in a serious drought and evidence of it could be seen on the water lines of the exposed rock islands and along the shoreline.

The Hoover Dam is a very impressive sight and a mammoth structure. Lots of security in and around the area.

This is a shot of the Colorado River once it has left the dam. Again, we could see the water line marks along the canyon walls showing how low the water level is at this time.