Last Week

This will be our last week of normal living here in La LA land.....We will take in some billiards, cards, bingo, and the yearly theatre production put on by residents. I wonder what they do if the play calls for a 20 year old? lol 
We also are going to spend sometime looking at other places to rent that we had contacted in the fall when we were looking for a place to rent. We do not know if we will be able to come back next year but if we did, we want to have a few ideas on places to stay. Where we are now is for sale and certainly no guarantee that it will be available. We will take some pictures and talk to a few people to get ideas on rental places. We like this park as we have made friends but there are other nice parks in the area as well.

Yesterday was a fun day at the casino in Fort McDowell as we got on to slots that paid and took away all day long. We stayed on the same set of Wizard of Oz slots and walked out with about $450 to the good....  Now that does not happen very often so a great way to end our time here.
As well in the evening we played Card Bingo and each of us one a game.... Now in card bingo, it cost ten cents a game and with about 30 people playing , we made enough for a hamburger.....

We are going to stop buying any groceries and try to get rid of some of the things we have in the frig and cupboards as we do not want to take any food home so we will be throwing out spices, sugars, flours , baking supplies  ( lol which I never used ) and we will be eating things like soup, pasta, rice, and mixes that I thought I would use.... We are running out of peanut butter and the jam is gone so breakfasts might be strange. Actually the only thing we still have lots of .... is Wine!!! Now how does one use that up for breakfast.....??  I have bought so much wine for the goofy labels as I want to make a collage hanging with labels..... Most of the red wine has got drank, but still left with chocolate red wine, sweet wine and wines that the label is wonderful but not even sure what it is....lol  Also some of the white wine that sells for $2.95....not the greatest but perfectly drinkable.....
Did I tell you, I really don't even like the taste of wine......

I am very concerned on how we get everything into the car to go home.
As we have summer clothes , winter clothes and boots, old clothes and new clothes (mainly because we have both gained back over half of the weight we lost before we came ) then there are great deals we got on bedding and towels, 2 new comforters and 2 blankets (we bought for the blow up beds for company) bag chairs (for people to sit on when they visit us) vases and flowers and ornaments bought to make the place homey, all the craft things I made, and all the craft supplies I bought here plus the huge container I brought with me. Oh and also another computer and printer we bought here as ours were kapput.....
Well that just tired me out talking about packing all that stuff....there is a park sale that is taking donations for March so we may have to see what all they will take......
Time to get going.................

Monday Monday

I am up early and ready for our bus trip today to the Fort McDowell Casino for the day. I think Ft McDowell is north of Mesa so it will be about a 90 min drive.  It only costs us $5 each for the bus trip so that is the cheap part of the day. All we ask is that we get to play the slots for a few hours with out losing our allotment....if we win any money that is just a bonus.
Friday saw us drive up to the Mesa Market or as they used to call it "Mesa Swap Meet"  It was huge and just about anything you would want to buy. A massive amount of womens clothes (tops) and lots of jewllery but too big to cover it all in the 2 hours we were there. We then hopped over to Hobby Lobby so I could look for a few things I needed to add to my crafting needs. We were back home by supper time and wiped out. I have no idea how some snowbirds live in those huge cities with the ridiculas traffic.

Saturday morning I went into Casa Grande early to get 3 of my fingernails repaired and then to our craft class at In a Pear Tree.  This time we sat out side in the sun at a table on the sidewalk. There were 12 in the  class as we made our collaged Name plaque. Interesting techniques and fun people made it a great day. In the picture above that is my crafting friend Peg to my left. She is from Wisconsin and lives just down the street here at Sunscape.

And here is my finished basket that I made in the Basket Weaving class last week

Yesterday we had our friends Art and Carol Berg in for supper with lots of laughs, cards, wine and food. We went over to the Sky Diving and Wind Tunnel with them as they had never been there before. It was a very busy day there with lots of jumpers , lots of tandem jumps and may spectators,

Only 12 Sleeps Left

Our time is quickly running out and soon we will start packing to head north. We wish we had planned to stay for one more month but finances say no and last night, for the first time, I said, "I think I want my own bed." I certainly do understand why people keep coming back every year. Good friends are made and there is never time to get bored. I tend to make friends quickly and Harvey, as the more quiet one in this relationship lol, does not usually get too involved, but here, where ever we go, some one is always saying Hi Harv, and he is busy chatting and I am left standing...lol  This is because of all the nice men he has made friends with at pool 3 times a week. He is already talking about how we can save money from now till next December so we can come back. Hello ... Kraft Dinner!

The Wiens clan returned from Disneyland with Aiden feeling better and saw us heading the next day to the Skydiving Wind Tunnel where they all flew for their 4 mins while I videotaped. We then drove up to Apache Junction and wandered through the Goldfield Ghost Town, ate icecream, looked at live reptiles, (well not me...I refuse to pay to look at snakes) and tried to explain to the kids about the old west. The next morning we tried to take in a craft sale but due to rain it had to be moved inside and almost unable move as too many people, too little room. We had a Valentine lunch at Mimi's and afterwards drove up to Tempe to Arizona Mills Mall to go to SeaLife Aquarium. The kids enjoyed seeing all the fish but it certainly was not worth the price they charge. The Arizona Mills mall is HUGE. Karen, Mya and I  stopped for 10 mins and the guys walked on.... we then tried to find them and walked the whole oval of the mall which took about a half hour of walking and somehow no one thought to phone. We finally got back to the rides area and phoned them. They had never left section 1, while we had motored through all 6 sections. Mya rode the Merry Go Round while we waited, and then Aiden and Mya went on the Bungee jump. They were strapped in just like real bungee jumps and then they jump on a trampoline and the rubber ropes pull them up about 40 feet into the air. They laughed and screamed in joy.....so much fun for them.
We headed home on the I 10 and K and K headed to their hotel near the airport for a very early flight the next morning back to Great Falls and then the drive home. We experienced traffic, rain and a sudden dust storm that took visibility way down. They experienced bumper to bumper 6 lanes of traffic, rain and then hail....
The last two days saw more pool for Harvey, canasta for me, a wine and cheese park party, some shopping and Bingo. I bought a winter jacket that was $165 for $33 so that made a good day...even though the thought of returning to winter is not fun.
Today, the plan is to drive up to the Mesa Market Swap Meet. Just another thing one must do while in Arizona. It is comprised of 5.5 acres, 1600 booths of shopping and I assume too many people. I think Harvey would rather be going to pool today but this is our last free weekend to go.

Lazy I guess

I have not been posting lately as I will say I am just lazy. I can not figure out how one can be so busy doing nearly nothing.

The 5th saw us going to a couple of craft and patio sales that were pretty well nothing. I did buy a large blanket for 50 cents to put on top of the air mattress. I washed in boiling hot wash with bleach to kill anything that may have sat on it.  we were then off to the Franscisco Grande Hotel for a nice lunch and toured the hotel and grounds. This hotel is where major league ball teams had their spring training in the 60's and 70's   The likes of Willie Mays and  Juan Marichal honed their hall of Fame talents here and it was also a place that the likes of John Wayne and Pat Boone made their home away from home in the desert. The Golf course is beautiful and I am sure still sees celebrity usage as it is out in the desert away from publicity. We saw no one lol

On the morning of the 6th we made our way into Mesa and went to the Superstition Mall and walked around and then visited with Harvey's friend Dave Friggstad for awhile and then headed for the airport to wait for the arrival of Karen, Ken, Mya and Aiden. We were so excited as we had not seen the little ones (well all of them lol) for 2 months and as we usually see them 2 -3 times a week we were in withdrawal.  It looked like they were excited to see us as Aiden ran fast as soon as he spied us.  On the way to our place, we took them to Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch and to sit and enjoy the Arizona sun. (It would have been better if they had left Canada with 6 feet of snow and minus 30 temps.)
The next day we went to town and Mya got a pedicure and manicure while her Mom got a pedicure. Aiden and the men walked the toy aisle's until Aiden found a toy he wanted. For lunch we went to Peter Piper Pizza which also has an arcade where kids can buy tokens to use in the games and win prizes. It is kind of like a big peoples casino....put in money and get the fun but no winnings lol
The afternoon took us to Eloy Skydiving and the wind tunnel. There were lots of British RAF men skydiving and so we were able to watch them descend and land. The kids enjoyed watching divers practise in the wind tunnel and want us to book a time for them to do it on Monday.
The morning of the 8th, the Wiens clan left for Disneyland for 3 days of fun. Aiden got sick the night they got there and so far has seen Disneyland only from the hotel room window. He has been so sick he has not even wanted to go out of the room. We are sure hoping he is feeling better today (their last day there)

Yesterday I took in a Basket Weaving class and really enjoyed learning a different craft. I was a long day as we started at 9 and went until 4 with no breaks. Very hard on the fingers and hands as one has to push and pull the wet reeds to make them tight. Mine was not perfect but it was unique. lol  It is now being stained and a preservative applied to cure it. It will be ready on Wed.


Today we will take in the craft and patio sales here at our park and then off to town to get my nails repaired from basket damage. I loved my long gel nails but I am not very careful with them and tend to damage them easily. So I will get new ones today and then that is the last time as I let my nails convert back to Lac Pelletier dirt diggers for spring. You are going to have spring weather for us in March, are you not????

Tuesday is the 100th birthday for Arizona so lots of festivals and celebrations going on this coming week. Well it actually seems that there has been some sort of festival every week end we have been here.... I am not sure if it is just Arizonians that like to go to festivals or if it is a way to milk the Canadians that add so much to their economy. Well at least I know one couple that has helped their recession excessively.

There I am back up to date......Procastionation has been defeated once again......

More crafts

The Crushed Glass Collage class was great as it was so interesting to learn the techniques to make designs and pictures out of broken glass. They mostly had broken wine bottles, beer bottles and a few other colored glass. We learned how to break the glass correctly and how to glue and build. My friend Peg and I made the handbag design and really figure we would do it differently next time. The others used rounded pieces of glass to build it higher to start with, and then add more glass on top of that. We just picked pieces and filled in the design. I chose to mostly used broken pottery in black and white checker design and pink and green broken dishes.... I now know I put on too much glitter at the end as I think it is a bit too sparkly... Others made a cross, a cowboy boot, a jug and a fleur d'Lis .......
The size is 10 x 12 on the canvas and I may paint the canvas a different color yet....

Yesterday we went to the Gourd Festival....mind blowing to see the thousands of people that pack the place over the three days it is open. We learned a bit on the usage of gourds and saw them made into many artistic items that were for sale or were juried. We started in the Kindergourd building where it told about gourds in the very basic forms. Then on to the marketers and asked questions on certain things. One fellow only sold the carving saws, drills, sanders and burning tools to use on the very hard shells. He was from Berkly Calif and said the best bits in the world for the burning tools that he buys, come from Martinsville Sk.

Unbelievable the beauty of some and the intricate carving , painting, and embellishing with wire, feathers, jewels etc etc.  The Wuertz Gourd farm (which is just down the road from us), sells about 45000 gourds of every shape and size and I do mean every shape. It was fun watching people hold up the weird shaped ones, imagining what they could be come in an art form, and piling into their wagons or baskets.

And of course, lots of food booths, offering things like Kettle Corn, Fry bread, sugared nuts, curly chips, all kinds of BBQ, hamburgers, sausage dogs, and the two things I have avoided at each festival we have been at....frog legs and alligator.  I would not even buy fries from a booth that sold those two.  I would not want alligator juice on my food.

The gourd I bought is pictured above. I will need to soak it in water for a few days to soften it enough to take the outer skin off , try to use my own tools to cut it open to remove the inside seeds and the dry material (which is highly moldy and one needs to wear a mask while doing it) and then make it into a wonderful piece of art, a bird house, or a bird feeder or if that doees not work, just use the pieces for compost....( which may be what happens when one does not have the proper tools.)

Prisons

There are 7 prisons in the city of Florence which is 20 minutes away from us. There are different levels of prison yards from minimum to maximum security. There are also 125 on death row waiting execution.  On Feb 14th is the annual Hells Angel's Prison Run where 100's of bikers descend on the city and set up camping on the outskirts of the city and then do a bike run around each of the prisons in support of their friends who are inside the walls, to let them know they have not been forgotten....Scary ? Yes

If you are a group supporting criminals, why is it allowed to happen. Many are probably carrying weapons like some Americans here....Scary?? Yes
It is open to the public...Yes ...so do we attend ?  Nope!

But we may go to the Arizona Hogfest on Feb 25th..... I thought it was Harley's event, but find out it is  where they have Beer sampling and 20 BBQ teams smoking whole hogs for an all you can eat BBQ, old school rock bands ? fireworks and sky divers jumping at night.

Tomorrow is the start of the Wuertz Gourd Festival or as it is called "The Running of the Gourds".

Gourd growing and crafting seems to be a huge thing down here and there are mega classes at the Festival to take to learn how to make things out of Gourds and I am sure one can buy lots there as well, plus food booths etc.