READY TO MOVE ON TO NEVADA

It has been a busy few days, but enjoyable because we know that we are moving on.  

We keep hearing from our Ohio friends who have already left.  One will be in eastern Texas when they stop today and another will be along the coast in California soon visiting relatives. We also connected again with another Ohio couple at Vito's Italian Restaurant here in Mesa for lunch yesterday.  They are on their way back to Yuma for a short time before going north here in the west. We expect to connect up again.

Bob, Donna,Audrey and Gary

Yesterday was a full day.  In addition to lunch with Bob and Donna, I did laundry in the morning and Gary went to the bank one last time.  Not all states have our bank.  Then in the evening here in the park we got to see Paul McDermand and his band for our first time.  He plays the steel drums and a xylophone, as well as singing.  He was very personable as well as musically talented and humorous. 

Paul McDermand playing his steel drums.

 

Paul McDermand showing the drums as he plays.

Believe me he does not stand still while playing.  He sure has music running in his veins.  He told of his mother when most memory was gone from Alzheimer's.  He would start a beginning phrase from a song and she would finish it and sometimes the whole song.  So she did not remember her children, but she sure had music in her soul, as Paul said.

The whole band was awesome actually. 

Paul telling the history of the steel drum,
created during World War II in Trinadad,
during a time of extreme depression.

During that time music was a balm for the soul and created what happiness that was to be experienced.

On our last Sunday at church, we said our goodbyes.  There will be some that we will especially miss as we made some lasting friendships.  

Ray and Betty from Ohio
Arizona residents for the past five years.

Ray and Betty from Lordstown OH will be one of those couples.  They live year round here in Mesa! The heat does not bother them and they have some family close by.  I was amazed how cool their house was without any air conditioning running.  The ceiling fans did a wonderful job!  And she said that she opens doors and windows early in the morning and late in the evening and closes up the rest of the day.

They had invited us for dinner and we were well fed and had a wonderful visit, as usual.  While there they had friends stop by to return tables used for a patio sale.  We were again surprised to find that they are from the Beloit OH area!  Betty Ann knew two gals that I worked with me at Home Savings for years.  Norma and Janet, Betty Ann said to tell you that she said "Hello"! It is such a small world!  We are amazed each time this happens.  This couple also live in Mesa year around.

Tomorrow is our day to move on to Camping World to have tire pressure monitors installed.  Then Thursday we will head toward Nevada.  Stay tuned.

CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH PICNIC in MESA ARIZONA

It is always fun to share food and visit.  We did that on Saturday after our Mesa Regal Resort Artisan Show.
Enjoy the pictures.

Pastor Bowder's wife, Delores, on the left.

The Associate Pastor's two children

The older of these two children made an announcement on Sunday in front of the church that their family is going to have another baby.  Remember, his father, Pastor Swope, is the one who got the elk right after we got here.

Sue, on the right, and her husband, Jonathon,
are from Texas and full timers now.

Good job!!

Pastor Tom Bowder, our present interim pastor
and former SS teacher and Jonathon a full time RVer.

 Actually, Tom is a jack of all trades here, but is a retired pastor from Minnesota.

Always great to see the youth of a church!

Means there is growth!

Game of horse shoes going here.

Basketball here!

The gentleman on the left at one time worked
at Sheet and Tube in Youngstown.
What a small world!

Back on February we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with Pastor Tom and his wife, Delores Bowder.  We had a wonderful visit, one on one, and would love to do it again.  Wonder if there will be enough time before we leave Arizona?
I should have done these three blogs today in reverse order!  Be sure to go back through two more Blogs if you have not been on here for a while.
Oh well, you will get the idea.  Or you can go to the third one and read it first, etc.

MESA REGAL ACTIVITIES and ARTISAN SHOW in ARIZONA

Before going to Las Cruses, we kept busy with the usual activities and visits.

Scrapbooking at Sunlife Resort with Peggy, Esther, and  Keri.
Esther and I went to this park in our area to help  Keri get
a scrapbooking group started.

Jan from Salem Ohio came to Arizona
to visit Esther and Bill.
Gary had worked with Jan in the past
at Lincoln Machine in Salem.

On Friday the 13th, we got a phone call from other Salem Ohio friends (now full timers here in
Arizona), Bob and Donna.  We always enjoy connecting up with them. This time it was at the Apache Junction Elks for dinner and Bill and Esther showed up as well.  Bob and Bill had both retired from GM, so much to talk about.

Bob and Gary

Esther and Donna

Bob and Donna had to dance to "Their song".

Thursday, after coming home from our trip to Las Cruses, we went for Bingo to meet up with other friends.

Jane, second from left and Bill second from right.
Gary on down the table.

Bill and Jane's neighbor, Heather,
and their friend, Dave.

We have missed spending time with Bill and Jane so we also made plans to get together on Sunday for snacks and our usual 5-Crowns card game.

On Saturday we had the Mesa Regal Artisan Show to work.  It is a compiling of all of the many, many arts and crafts activities here in the park. Gary worked the entire show at the display for the Colored Pencil Group.  He started this group when we were here to winter in 2011 and 2012 and it is still going strong.  He was glad to see that!!
I worked the Scrapbooking Group's tables for an hour also.
The woodworking tables were awesome as well as the Quilt Show which filled an entire Hall.  These are just two of the 20 to 30 groups in the park. You never need to be bored when staying here.  In fact, we feel that we were keeping too busy at times.

A picture can not show the minute detail.

Carvings from bark.

Murray, my scrapbooking friend's husband.

More Group's Displays:

Zipper Art Display

Photography Display

Scrapbooking  Display

Scrapbooking,
Audrey and Gary's grandson's album

Scrapbooking,
Audrey's Travel Friends and Relatives album

I just realized that I did not download any photos of the Colored Pencil Art tables.  I will have to go look for them.
Oops! My phone did not download! Not sure what I did wrong the first time.

 I thought this lady's work was unbelievable!  But then I think the same about Gary's  - - to follow.

Cape Blanco in Oregon
where we were hosts for the month
October 2011

I would have taken more pictures, but ran out of time.

And last, our Sunday afternoon snacks and 5-Crowns card games with friends - -

Esther, Jane, Bill, Gary and Bill

Stay tuned for the Church Picnic that we went to following the Artisan Show.  See what I mean about keeping busy.  They are the end of the season here, mostly March. Everyone crowds in their last grand get-together.  And the Street parties!  We only got to one of ours, on Christmas Eve.  The others always conflicted with other things.

TRIP TO LAS CRUSES, NEW MEXICO

The mountain views are always awesome!

March 14th we left for a four day stay in Las Cruses, New Mexico to visit with Gary's cousin on his mother's side of family.  We have visited Mildred a couple other times when headed to Arizona, but this was good to visit without any pressures.

We stopped on the trip down at Jerry Bob's in Catalina, AZ for breakfast and break from driving. It was a windy trip, and we were glad that we were not in the motorhome. Actually, if in the motorhome, we would have stopped for the day!!
The scenery from Mildred's patio is awesome!

She especially loves it in the morning for sunrise. They have very nice rooms that you can rent in the Retirement Center where she lives, which we really appreciated, especially the short walk down the hall to turn in for the day.
Mildred is doing very well and as active as always.  She is so glad to be in her smaller home requiring less housekeeping, but misses her husband, Zollie, who she lost recently.

She and Gary spent much of the day at their computers working on genealogy research, and pulling out photo albums to back up the many, many stories. I spent my time reading, washing up dishes whenever we ate at home, and taking pictures of the photos and writings in her many albums.  I thought that this was the easiest way to get copies for Gary's records.
She also had a few old photos from when Gary's father worked in the coal mines in West Virginia. So I took pictures of those as well.

Mildred kept having trouble connecting on-line and staying on, so was very frustrating until they found out that the entire Center had the same problem.
On Sunday afternoon we went to her daughter and son-in-law's for corn beef and cabbage dinner for St. Patrick's.  So delicious!!  And I came home with another new recipe.  Soda Bread this time.

Gary, Jim, Barbara and Mildred

Thank you Barbara and Jim for a wonderful dinner and visit!!
Monday we left early enough to go to La Masilla (some old town area in Las Cruses) for lunch. On the way we saw the tent city that has been provided for the homeless.

Homeless Tent City in Las Cruses NM.

It has worked well and was written up in a New York newspaper.  They have Social Service and employment help available to them as well as a good food kitchen, showers, and rest rooms.  Guess we could all take a lesson from Las Cruses.

Gary wants one!  We actually passed this in Las Cruses.

De La Posta restaurant was great and we indulged in some very good Mexican food.  Topped off with a little honey pastry for our sweet tooth.  We also enjoyed the decor' very much.

This fireplace was right beside our table.

We then left there and stopped at Caos Bookstore where we found tons of used books.

Most were beyond our desired prices, but did find a few racks for $1 outside and a table for 50cents inside. So need them or not, we spent some money  They also had a case, under lock and key, for some rare finds.  One was $1000.

Tuesday was more of the same work until time for some company of Mildred's to arrive for dinner there at the Center.  We had met Gene and Mae on a previous stop in Alamogordo when Mildred lived there. So it was a good visit and re-acquainting.

Mae, Gene and Mildred

Audrey, Gary and Mildred

We left early for our seven hour drive home, stopping at Denny's for breakfast and for a break in the drive.  When arriving back in the Mesa area, we stopped at Walmart for some scrapbooking supplies that I had been wanting to get.  Mission accomplished.  We arrived back home with enough time to put our feet up to rest. We had a play to attend here in the park that evening, called "Assisted Living"

We certainly were not impressed.  It would have been better saving the money.But sometimes that happens when you make reservations, sight unseen.
Thursday and Friday put us right back into our routine of activities here in the park. And we also found time to go to the Flea Market one last time.  We did not buy much, but were glad to get a dash cover to fit the Honda to keep down the glare and heat.  It was much needed and we were glad to have the proper fit.
Stay tuned for more activity.  Our time here in Arizona is soon coming to an end.