Less Light and More

My friend Jack suggested that I should get some pictures of the Mesa Market Swap Meet since it was hard to imagine how large it is.  It was difficult to get a picture that gave the real scale of the place but I did take a couple outside and a couple inside so you can see it.  First here is the outside or at least one side of it.

This is what it looks like inside:

 

All the vendors are here now so the market is busier and will get even more so after Christmas when all the Snowbirds are here.  Many do not arrive until Januray although most of the Americans come after their Thanksgiving.

We observed their Thanksgiving with a semi-potluck at our park centre.  The park provides the turkey and a large can of gravy (which wasn't bad with the drippings in it) and then everyone at the table (12 to a table) provide everything else.  Six of us who are friends joined with six others so we had a good mix.  There was tons of food and all of it was very good.

Thanksgiving here seems to be more of the start of the shopping season than the family/religious time it is at home. Of course, Black Friday is after Thansgiving Day so I guess shopping is on people's minds.  Black Friday seemed to last all weekend and many people not in the retail sector seemed to have the Friday off work as well as Thursday.  My only foray into the sales was to the local fabric/craft store and it was nuts.  Lines to get fabric cut and then a separate long line to pay.  At least I didn't camp out all night as some did at Best Buy and places like that.

The weather is a bit cooler than it was (70s F now) and the days are shorter though not so much as for those of you further north.  Our friends are beginning to nake their ways home for the holidays.  We went to Organ Pizza last Thursday before we all go our separate ways.  You may remember the pictures of it from last year where we ate pizza and listened to amazing pipe organ music.  The organiist was female this time and took more time to explain how things worked but was not as flamboyant with the special effects.

 

At intermission, Norm brought up that the Mormon Church does a wonderful light display.  Since we were all interested, he went off and found out that it had started already.  So...when we finished our pizza, off we went to the Mormon church grounds. 

The display was amazing and the pictures cannot do justice to all the sights and colours.  Nevertheless, I will give you a few so you can get some idea of what they do.  They begin in September putting up the display and it is all done by volunteers.  There are also concerts every night (on the grounds) from Dec 1-25 by various churches and other groups and individuals.  We hope to go one night this week before everyone else goes home. 

 

You can't see it very clearly but the lights in the sky are actually in palm trees.

This is the Temple.  We went into the Visitors'  Center which is a separate building where they have displays.  One display was of many creches from around the world.  Another bulding houses their library.  I hope to go there and check out their genealogy centre.

 

We will be on our way home on the 12th and hope to be there about the 15th.  I hope the weather is not too bad so that we can make it in that timeframe.  Looking forward to seeing many of you!

 



Still Walking in Sunshine

We have just settled right in here.  The temperature was about 90F when we arrived but is now in the 70sF.  It is quite comfortable although a little chilly in the morning sometimes when I walk.  It actually did rain one day.  Not very much though.

We have been doing pretty urban things like shopping.  We went to a 2 mile long shopping area in Gilbert just south of Mesa.  The liquor store there has 8000 labels.  There were more types of beer and wine than I have ever seen in one place.  You could easily spend the day in the area because there are lots of restaurants as well as boutique type stores and big box stores.

We noticed some houses being built in Gilbert so that was a positive sight.  We had remarked last year that there seemed to be no residential development at least as far as we could see.  Maybe the economy is finally picking up.

We have been to the big flea market a couple of times.  The booths are pretty well full now.  It takes most of a morning or afternoon to look at all the displays.  You can buy home decor things like wall art, rugs or pots, clothes, as well as games, food products, exercise equipment....I could go on and on.  You have to see it!

I have been attending a quilting class with Dee (Donna B's sister).  There are about 10 in the class.  It is free with our $25 guild membership that gives us access to the guild's equipment as well as any classes that members decide to put on.  Donna, Dee and I have hit the quilting store and the craft store (JoAnn's)  that sells quilting material and notions.  JoAnn's has great sales. For the quilters in the crowd, the package of Steam-a Seam (for appliques) was $13.99 at home.  It is regularly $3.99 at JoAnn's and I bought it for 60% off this week.  Not everything is that much cheaper but good quilting fabric is about half the price of similar fabric in Saskatoon.

In addition to my quilting activities, I have begun a Spanish class. Free for resort residents.  The teacher keeps it fun and light so it is a good learning atmosphere.  Besides, learning a new language is good for your brain.

Dalton has played pool with the guys at a nearby resort where Norm and Ramses live.  They have quite a group playing now.  Six.  Pretty soon they will have to form a league! They miss Ron and Gary who are in Texas but who play with them in Saskatoon.  We hear that Ron and Gary are keeping their skills up in Brownsville.

The Sunseekers (our Good Sam RV club) will find it amusing that as we SKYPEd with Ron and Arlie, Gary and Carol  arrived at their place and then Don B. arrived at our place.  We laughed that pretty soon we would have quorum.

Yesterday Dalton, Norm and Ramses went to an air show of RC (radio controlled) planes. Some had little jet engines (burned something like household kersosene) and others were electric.  The ones Dalton and David used to fly were a liquid fuel.  They had a good morning looking at the planes since all three of them used to fly RC planes so it was interesting to see the changes and advances in the hobby/sport.

It is amazing to think that some of our Canadian friends are going back home for Christmas in less than 2 weeks.  How time flies!  We aren't leaving until about Dec. 12th.  We hope the weather will cooperate as we drive home.  We hope to see a lot of you while we are home.

Walking in the Sunshine

Yesterday (October 29) we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum which is east of Mesa near a town called Superior.  It had a 1.5 mile walk through cacti and succulents and other plants native to the area.  (For more information see http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/plantsandanimals.html.)  It was about 30 C so quite warm for a walk.  At the suggestion of one of the staff, we did the uphill side first so that we were not climbing so much when we were more tired.  Actually, although the trail is a bit rough in spots, we didn't find it difficult.  (I walk a mile every morning so the only added thing was the rougher terrain.)

(You can see some of the walking path here.)

 

 

It went up quite high where it was dry and rocky and then dropped into an almost lush little valley where there were even fruit trees like the Dwarf Pomegranate.

I saw one small lizard about the size that Beth used to keep in a terrarium.   We saw some nice butterflies and a few birds.  There are bird watching locations so I imagine that if you sit there at quiet times you might get some nice sightings.

I just love the desert plants so this was a real treat for me.  I could look at cacti and succulents all day!

And check out this eucalyptus:

 

 

This tree is 8 ft. across at the base and 100 ft. tall.  It was planted  about 1928 (give or take a year or two, I can't quite remember).  I couldn't stay on the path and get the entire height of it.

 

And here is another interesting plant we saw:

 

The sign says Mexican Jumping Beans is you are having trouble reading it.

And just to prove that I spare no danger to bring you this blog:

 

 

 

Since Casey was back at the motorhome, we didn't stay all day but did stop at a place in Superior for lunch.  I choose it because there were lots of Harleys in the parking lot so I figured that the bikers from Mesa and area ride up there just to get out and cruise and stop at this place.  We had homemade Mexican food (not very spicy) and big glasses of iced tea.( Despite having water with us on our walk, we were still quite thirsty afterwards.)

It was a well spent time.  I would go again.  Check it out if you are in Southern Arizona.

Settling In

We are settled in Mesa (Towerpoint Resort).  The weather was about 90 when we got here but it has cooled to about 83 today.  I know that doesn't sound very cool to those of you in Saskatoon.  We saw the weather forecast and know that you got snow.

The park is fairly empty.  I think the Americans do not come in great numbers until after their Thanksgiving.  It appears that urban renewal is underway in the park.  There are a lot of empty spaces where older units have been moved out. 

We arranged for the post office to forward our mail and that seems to be working.  At least we get mail from time to time.

We had a little more trouble with our Internet service.  It worked for all of one day and then nothing.  It seems that someone unplugged us at the company's end!  We are back on-line as of this morning.

Dalton is still trying to get the satellite TV to work.  (Where is Norm S. when you need him??)  He has been talking to Shaw today so maybe we will get success yet.  In the meanwhile we "only" have about 20 stations to watch with the antenna.  So sad.

I have been to the quilting store twice since we got here.  I didn't stay long the first time since it was a Saturday and the place (and the parking lot) were very crowded.  the second time I looked around a little more.  I needed some backing for the table runner I was working on.  Now I just need to bind it.

It is pretty relaxing here but we are looking forward to some company soon.  We had Happy Hour yesterday with Sandy from Regina who is here without his wife to open up their unit before renteres arrive.  They aren't retired yet so will only be here a bit this winter.  Only the unit right behind us is occupied.  Neither side nor right accross from us are here yet.

Keep warm all you people in Saskatoon!  We are thinking about you.

Joshua Tree National Park

Today we went to Joshua Tree National Park which is east down I10, to the east and north of Palm Springs.  We had a lovely afternoon, doing a tour of the park.  I just love Joshua trees and have MANY photos of them but I will just give you one so you can see how lovely they are.

The pices on the ends look like borttle cleaners.  They come in many sizes and weird shapes from a foot to 40 feet tall (100 years old).  The legend says that the Mormon settlers named the tree Joshua because they thought the trees looked as if its branches were raised upward in supplication.  It is believed that below freezing temperatures cause damage to the growing end of a stalk which stimulates flowering and branching.

The park also features a wonderful array of strange rock formations which came about when molten liquid oozed upward and cooled.  As ground water worked down through fractures, some hard mineral grains were transformed into soft clay.  Rectangular stones gradually were weathered to spheres of hard rock surrounded by this soft clay. Think of pouring water over an ice cube.

Flash floods of the more recent era washed away the protective ground, leaving huge boulders exposed which settled on one another. (Information from the Joshua Tree Guide of the National park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior)

 

 

 

 

The landscape was very rugged in most of the park.  You would not want to get caught out there without  water on a hot summer day - or a warm October day for that matter.

Somehow, plants and animals live in this environemnt.  We saw a roadrunner (no cliffs or anvils evident - for the cartoon fans), and some small gopher-like little fellows.  The bushes are quite nice.  One type we recognized as a form of cholla that we were familiar with from Arizona.

 

This one grew near the Intepretive Centre.  Others we saw were just out as part of the range.

Is this the beginning of a tumble weed?

I'll have to get a book about desert plants.  The one I have from Arizona is mostly about cacti.

The work on our motorhome is progressing. Yesterday there was a gaping hole full of wire spaghetti where the TV used to be.  Today, there is a cabinet. We hope they will be done at the end of the week at the latest.

We are enjoying the company of the other Alfa owners though.  There are new people every day to add new stories.  And stories are what I like.

 

California Here We Come

I planned to make the first entry from Mesa but here we are in Fontana, California. We will be here longer than we thought we would be so I decided to tell you all about the trip down here and what we have been doing.

We went as far as Swift Current on Oct 9.  Our travel insurance didn’t begin until the 10^th so it was just a way to get a jump on the next day.  There were quite a few rigs in the park but the water was already off.  There was even someone still living in a tent!

On the 10^th we crossed the border.  Any fruit, meat or vegetables?  Ever been arrested or finger printed?  Dalton had to explain to the man how  I had been finger printed when I worked for the federal government years ago to get security clearance for my work.  This must have been impressive since after that he told us to be on our way.  So we waited for 2 other cars for about 3 minutes and then were through in under 1 minute.  We think this might be some kind of record.

The trip from there on was cold and rainy until nearly Las Vegas.  It was so cold over night in Great Falls (Montana) that Dalton used the engine warmer to ensure that the diesel would start easily in the morning.  (It did.) We ran through an awful rain storm in Utah.  That was combined with the heavy traffic around Salt Lake City that seemed to go on forever.  That is one large and spread out urban area!  When we got to Las Vegas it was about 78 F.  It was the first time that we had seen warm summer-like weather.

As we drove from Las Vegas to Fontana (NE of Los Angeles), Dalton noticed how the motorhome seemed to be running hot.  When we arrived it was 92 F.  I guess the motorhome had a reason to be hot.

We went through some lovely scenery from Las Vegas to Fontana.  I got some nice pictures of the red cliff near St George which is on the southern border with Arizona.  There was other nice scenery from there into California but my camera battery died so I had to wait to recharge it that night.

Now we are camped in the Alfateers parking lot.  For those of you who don’t know, we have an Alfa motorhome and this service place is the Mecca for parts and service since the company stopped making Alfas.  The employees bought the place along with all the parts.  It is a wonderful facility.  They know the meaning of customer service.  We have 30W power in the parking lot and access to water and wifi. There are spaces for 5 units to be plugged in and a 6^th unit usually sits along the curb in front of the 5.  That is where we were Sunday night.  Today they began work on our Alfa and when we got back from our day out, our Alfa was in one of the 5 spots, plugged in to the electricity, levelled, with slides out.  I only wished they had turned on the AC. It was 97 F inside!! (about 92 F outside.) Luckily the frig was on so the food was OK. We sat outside and chatted with the other Alfa owners while the AC cooled the place down. 

Rather than sit in the parking lot all day, we drove about an hour south to Temecula which is a wine area.  You all know what winos we are.  The first winery we stopped at was Europa Village. We sat outside on a patio that was misted around the edges with a fine water spray.  It was very comfortable.  Casey was welcome on the patio and was served a nice bowl of fresh water.  Dalton and I were served by a nice young man named Patrick (Hi Patrick!) who was attentive and knowledgeable.  Patrick found us a box to begin our wine collection for the day. It was a very pleasant place to taste wines.  If you are in the area, stop by to see Patrick.  We decided that life was pretty good as sat there sipping.

We went on to a couple of other wineries to pick up  a little more wine. We bypassed some because there was no outside area to sit with Casey. At Bel Vino  Winery, they had  picnic tables so Dalton ran in and out with our wine to taste. At Van Roekel Winery, Casey was welcomed right into the building.  We had our tasting while he sat at our feet.  As well as the wine, we got some cheese and crackers there as well as a little magnet that says “Age gets better with wine”.  I have to agree!

 

We are here until about Friday so we will do some more touring around the area.  Stay tuned!