Saturday, November 19, 2011

Friday the 18 Nov - A Howl and The Mask Concert

Woke up early again so went up the hill to see the big house. I don't think it is a house. I think that they are building an hotel. It is massive and seems to be made up of lots of suites. there is a giant pool with hot tubs, notice the plural. While I was up there I heard some coyote calling to each other. I made it to a spot where I could see one of them and got some terrific video, I think, of him/her howling.On the way down, found some more of those white, quartzy rocks that I am thinking of making jewelry with. The sunrise was lovely, all warm and golden.
Came home and made a lovely mushroom, spinach and cheese omelet. Cleaned up and then started my spanish lessons. Well I had the spanish lessons going on my computer but I was so busy typing in info so that they would show up where I wanted them to in my ITunes, that I don't think that I really absorbed too much. Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron were up around 845 and sitting for breakfast around 9.
we had a lovely morning. Back into our routine. Aunt Mary and I cleaned out the spaghetti squash and put it into the oven for lunch. Aunt Mary and I went onto the patio to listen to music and enjoy the sun in the shade.
Uncle Ron opened up a jigsaw puzzle. We had picked up a box of five 500 peice puzzles at Walgreens. After that every chance I got I would be over there fitting the pieces together.
Lunch was veggie meatless balls with broccoli and carrots, salad and baked potatoes. yummy. Aunt Mary and I then took a walk around the circle, blazingly fast and we didn't even stop once. Uncle Ron stayed home and did the dishes. After lunch they called Aunt Nancy. She is fine although cold, 30 below in Edmonton. brrrrr.
Uncle Ron went to the golf course and hit a few balls while Aunt Mary and I listened to Jane Austen's pride and prejudice (Audio Book) at home. while we listened and talked about the story, I fit jigsaw puzzles together. When Uncle Ron got home he realized that we had a concert to go to tonight and that we missed Aunt Mary's hair appointment at 11. I will have to start checking the calendar to make sure we don't forget appointments.
We had scrambled eggs, wild rice with mushroom soup sauce, veggies and the spaghetti squash for supper, so nummy. Then we got ready to go to the show at the church . the Gold Canyon arts council does 4 or 5 shows a year. this night it was something very different from thier regular menu of differnt styles of music. It was a one man show of
called Faust's Mask Messenger. He was very good but poor Aunt Mary, most of his show was all body language and no speaking. When he did speak it was interesting but for most of the show we tried to explain to Aunt Mary what was going on and a lot of it did not translate well. We got home by 9 and I was in bed by 930 with the jigsaw puzzle finished. A nice lake with reeds and reflections of a farm, trees and sky in the water.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Thursday - Lunch at the Red Sage and a Hawk before supper

Woke up stupidly early and read some "Under the Tuscan Sun' on my Kobo.
Uploaded photos to facebook.
Jo came down and made a statement and went back upstairs.
Charlotte came down and we chatted and laughed about my photos that I had uploaded.
Jo came down later and joined in the fun.
Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron got up at 810 and Jim pulled in at 815.
Said good bye to Charlotte - Hugs and Jo - Handshake.
Chatted with Margie on facebook and made plans to go to the new twilight movie when I get back.
Walked around the circle with Aunt Mary and saw my first wild praying mantis! it was on the road and I am not even sure how I saw it as it almost blended in with the pavement.
I got a photo and then took a stick and moved it to a bush. Poor thing did not look to good.
Speaking of which I found a bird skewered onto a cactus. I have a picture but am not putting it on the blog as it is too sad. It must have been blown there during the last bad wind storm we had. Euwwww. there was what looked like the beginnings of a nest in the cactus so maybe it was trying to build a nest when it got blown into the spines?
A little further around the circle we met Laurie and
Sophie. We had met them last time we were here. Sophie was a much smaller puppy then and she has grown into a lovely vishla(?)
Went for lunch at the Red Sage where, again or still, there was lots of food. Stopped of at Walgreens for batteries and chapstick and then Bashaws for bananas.
Forgot to mail the parcel for Aunt Doris.
Tomorrow morning.
Did the crossword with Aunt Mary while Uncle Ron took a break on the computer. Then we sang songs, oldies but goodies.
Tea and cookies at 330 but I had water. I had already had my two big cups of tea this morning.
The weather is gorgeous but it is supposed to start cooling off for the weekend by 10 degrees.
Went for a walk up the hill tonight to look over that big house on the hill.
I saw some birds and got some good shots and on the way back thought that I had missed getting a shot of two very large hawks but then heard and saw on on the chimney of the neighbours house. I think it is a harrier but I will have to look it up. very large.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wednesday 16 Nov - Breakfast at the Cafe.

I slept in till 730..... shocking! of course I didn't get to sleep until after 11 which is probably why I slept in. Got up and walked over to the new house being built by the bridge. A nice little three bedroom with great views from the living room and two bedrooms. A good size too, not too big.

I got back and Charlotte was up so we chatted until Uncle Ron and Aunt Mary got up. We treated them to breakfast at the Gold Canyon Cafe which serves a real nice breakfast. I still owe Charlotte for my half of the treat. Jo had gone out for a bike ride / hike with her friend Cindy.
While Uncle Ron went to Rotary, Charlotte, Aunt Mary and I went for a walk around the circle, admiring all the flowers, then we hung out on the patio and read some poetry drinking lots of water. Uncle Ron got back and we all had a cup of tea and a cookie. Jo returned about then and joined us adding lots of whipped cream to the treat.
we had lentil soup with bread for supper then we chatted and talked about bucket lists and things that we still want to do.
I still want to go white water rafting and walk around a volcano. Probably more things as well but couldn't think of them right then.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuesday - Manicures and the Old Opry

Woke up early and worked on the blog getting much closer to being caught up. Jo came down and after a bit of a discussion we went to the coffee shop where I mailed about 30 postcards and we split a giant sticky bun. Chatted with Howard for a bit then we came back and guess what,...I worked on the blog.
I took gilbert out for some exercise and got a few shots of him playing and cavorting. After breakfast, at around 10, we, Aunt Mary and I, got started on lunch and when it was in the oven, we , Aunt Mary ,Charlotte and I went for a walk over to the bridge where we found that they are building a new house. We had eggplant parmesan for lunch with green beans and mushrooms. salad, carrots and polenta.
Made reservations to have our nails done at three. Aunt Mary and I listened to music while Charlotte sat in the sun. Jo went for a walk.
Uncle Ron dropped us off at the manicurists for our three oclock appointments and went to the golf course to putt a bit. I got a french manicure, Aunt Mary got tutti frutti and Charlotte got a pedicure, turquoise blue to match her sandals.
He picked us up promptly at 4 and we went to the Arizona Opry at 6. Always fun that. I picked up a few more trinket gifts for people and a couple of CDs. Yea caught up!

Monday - Hike up to Hieroglyph Trail.

Woke up early and worked on the blog then went for coffee and came home for breakfast. Jo and I went for a hike up the Hieroglyphic trail. I am out of shape. It was nice though. I brought a bit of mom and dad to drop off in the canyon.I had thought to leave them at the Grand Canyon but I forgot them in the hotel room I was so excited to see the canyon.I don't think mom would have liked it anyway, too steep and scary. So then I thought I would take them to the dam on the colorado river but it was way too windy and mom would not have liked that at all. So I brought them back to the superstitions and left a bit of them in the canyon. They have a nice view with water, shade and hieroglyphics to amuse them. I almost got a picture of a squirrel in the canyon but missed him. I almost got a picture of a lizard but he went into a crack. Jo played mountain goat and climbed up to the top of a rock prominence and tanned.I almost got a bird but the twigs were in his face. I did get the balancing rock which is still balancing.I headed down knowing that Jo would have no problem catching up to me as she is in such good shape.
I didn't see the gecko that Jo saw as she was pretty much walking and wandering on her own.
When we got home I worked on the blog then went for a walk around the circle with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron.
We had leftovers for lunch.
Charlotte and Mary did the crossword while I blogged.
Jo was upstairs.
For supper I made salad and bagels with cream cheese and salmon,
(plain cream cheese for me) but Jo and Uncle Ron made their own.
I guess Uncle Ron doesn't eat fish at night and Jo doesn't eat farmed salmon or only eats wild salmon.
I worked on the blog after supper.
The next thing after catching up with the blog and facebook will be to delete all the photos off of my camera once I have them saved to a memory stick.
I am almost caught up.
last picture is where the squirrel was.

Sunday - the western semifinal

Woke early and went to the coffee shop, came home and worked on getting all those photos onto facebook and this blog. Had breakfast and went to church with Charlotte Mary and Ron. Got gas and headed home. Jo had lunch already for us and it was good. Aunt Mary and I did the crossword and finished it.
We went for a walk and I got a few photos of flowers.
We tried to get the western semifinal game on the computer, live stream but did not succeed. I worked on the blog and face-booked.
I put the movies that we had taken on a walk with Jo up into the desert yesterday. Wrong date but it took awhile for the movies to upload so I am going to leave them here. it was a gorgeous evening.
.

Saturday 7 nov - Bye Bye Versa and the market

Woke up early and took the car to the coffee shop for the first and last time. Got back to the house and Uncle Ron followed me into Mesa and only lost me at the last turn to the rental place . Turned the car in with no problem and I drove the flex home. It seems quite large after the little compact.
We had breakfast with everyone else and made plans for the day. We went to the market for an hour where I picked up a couple of more things and then we headed home again.
A crossword puzzle and some songs and it was supper time. A walk in the desert with Jo up to a new gate that we couldn't get open at first ( see video below) started to log the last weeks adventures. and upload photos to facebook.

Friday - Nov 6 - Back to Superstition

I actually slept in till 7... shocking I know.
Had a nice tea and breakfast with Aunt Doris, packed up the car and was on the road by 8.am. The weather was perfect for driving. overcast with no rain.
Hwy 95 south, the old Rte 66, was my traveling companion
again , with not too much traffic and so I made good time to Needles where the hwy goes into California.
In eastern California the scenery is pretty much the same as western Arizona except maybe a little more
hilly with lots of dips in the hwy. I saw cotton fields, my first ever and was very tempted to stop and pick some but did not. I remembered the movie with Sally Fields where they picked cotton and cut their hands all up. From the heart?
It was a good movie even if I can't remember the name.
I pulled over twice to get photos and to let some very fast people go past me I was going 70 mph on the 60 mph road. But I would rather have people in front of me than behind me so I pulled over and got some shots of the scenery. The little inspection station, where you turn onto hwy 10 was very little . I got gas and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't pump. i guess it is an older style pump as you had to lift the lever that the nozzle was resting in to get the pump to work.Now I know
.When I got to Tonopah, I had my choice of the new burrito place with the gas station or the older looking bar / restaurant.
I chose the older and was not disappointed with the food. The decor was a little shaky though, but the locals were all there so I knew that it must be fine. Ihad lunch, a nice little pizza.
back on the hihway. I went through quartzite where Aunt Doris gets her gold in the desert. the road was good and not too crowded.
Coming into phoenix was a little bit concerning as I wanted to go straight through to Mesa and didn't want to get lost but I had no problem and found my way with ease.
I went to the Superstition Springs shopping mall and bought a few things at sears. I found a game store and picked up a jigsaw puzzle for Aunt Doris. a Daschund puppy in the shape of the dog. real cute. I got my hair cut and thought about staying in mesa for the night but then thought I would probably be close enough to Gold canyon to make it back tonight. I drove on. I stopped at the mall in gold canyon for dinner, the mexican place, and it was good then up to the gate and home.
I stopped by the new house on the hill to get a photo of the sunset and met the general contractor, Peter? who says it will take another year to finish the house. It is huge, footprint wise not height wise. 2 lots with a large central courtyard and views to die for.
then back to Mary and Ron's and greetings and telling of all the stories of my adventures on the road.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Thursday - Aunt Doris - Buffets, Gambling and Gold Mining

Woke up early and had coffee with Aunt Doris. We decided to go to Laughlin for lunch as we heard the night before from one of the ladies at card bingo that they had a good buffet.
We thought that we would check out the casino first so around 10 we headed off to Laughlin. I quess they have been working on the road for about three years which I find hard to believe as it isn't really that long of a street. We got to Harrahs which is at the far end of Laughlin and found the parking garage. Then we had to find our way into the casino. Luckily for us an employee was also going in to the casino and so we asked if we could tag along until we got in the door. She was very nice and took us through the maze of bridges and elevators to the front door. Checked out the gift shop and got some postcards. We gambled on some penny and nickel and quarter slots. they are confusing as to how much one is actually betting or how many lines you are betting or how many numbers you are betting. I blew almost all my winnings from the bingo night. I played about 7 penny machines and lost 99 cents. Aunt Doris was braver and lost 5 bucks at one machine. She says you gotta bet big to win big. Then we had a nice buffet lunch. It was nothing to write home about but the dessert section was pretty good.
After lunch we found our way back out of the casino, back out of Laughlin and went home to get the gold panning equipment. A couple of buckets, a small shovel and a small pick axe. Off we went again with a small stop at Wallmart to check on her prescriptions. She is having a heck of a time getting them transfered from Alaska to down here. Then on down to the Oatman Hwy (the nice west side) and up it.
We found a wash, Aunt Doris showed me where to look for the best results, we dug a little here and a little there and went home again. Before we got home we went exploring a little. We found a big wash right behind her place with a concrete canal to gather the water. She did not know it was there so now she might not have to go so far for gold. Back to the house. Then came the sorting, sifting and panning. Aunt Doris said that we could have sifted in the desert but she forgot the sieves to take out the bigger rocks and pebbles. They usually do that in the desert to save time. After about 30 minutes of panning I found gold. About the size of the pin prick end of a needle, not the head of the needle, the other end. But it is gold! The wind was getting cold so we went inside for a nice big salad with boiled egg for supper and then that jigsaw puzzle. I did not get it done but I did manage to get a corner finished.

wednesday - Aunt Doris - Dams, Lakes and Card Bingo

Woke up early and Aunt Doris was up too.
she is an early riser also. we enjoyed the sunrise together.
We talked and chatted about family over tea and coffee and later had a lovely breakfast of eggs and waffles.
Decided to go to the dam and the lake and then come home for lunch.
Plans made we chatted some more.
Some of her favorite things.
Gold and mines and small gold mines.
She found this wonderful little miniature mine at a flea market
or garage sale and it is great.
Jigsaw puzzles are fun and keep her busy besides all of the other things that she does to keep herself busy.
Concrete garden statues of all sizes.
Her sister Elaine drove to crazy places and got them into a few horrible situations like the Oatman Hwy.
We laughed about that. I still can't believe that they did the hwy with a camper!!!
The park that she lives in is very nice with three mountain ranges and hills all around . I liked the Piute mountains more than the dead mountains. There are two pools, a warm
one and a cool one,
three hot tubs,
a card room,
a library,
craft rooms,
tool rooms,
a dance hall,
and lots
of planned activities in the park. Something to do every afternoon and night of the week if one wants. Aunt Doris does Bingo on tuesdays, card bingo on wednesdays, penuckle on mondays and something else on fridays. she take thursday off for herself so she can get something done at home.
There is always a jigsaw puzzle on the go on the table as they have a huge collection in the library or is it the games room?
she was working on one when I got there and couldn't help myself and
did a
little for her. it is a nice picture of a house on a hill with a bridge in the foreground. We chatted about puzzles.
then we did the tour of the house and the fun things around it.
then we did the tour of the compound, checked the mail,
and went to the Davis
dam. Aunt Doris thought that we couldn't go down to the dam but you just can't drive all the way across to the other side. We wandered around on the dam for about 20 minutes. the water was a gorgeous colour of blue with what appeared to be white sandy beaches in lots of little coves.
It was extremely windy but we persevered and it was interesting.
We then went into the park and went to Katherine Landing and looked at the boats. It is a pretty big marina with a large boat launching area. but we found out that every cove had a big boat launching area.
Then off to Princess cove which is very pretty but it was so windy I got sand blown in my face.
there was a crazy wind surfer out on the water at telephone cove.
We passed an odd flow which Doris thought might have something to do with gold mining.
The area was all surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on the top as an additional deterent to trespassers.
I asked at the gate and she said that is was the old Katherine mine. There were starting to be collapsing tunnels so they closed the area indefinitely.
Smart Aunt Doris.
Home for some nice grilled cheese sandwiches and then just chatted and did the puzzle a little we made eggplant
parmesan for supper which turned out quite nice. after dinner we went to the hall and played card bingo.
4 people to a table, all cards dealt out. Someone in the hall has another deck of cards which they call out one card at a time and the first person to dispose of all their cards wins card bingo.
It is actually quite fun.
I did not win but I did have fun. back to bed and trying to get online. couldn't do it so just figured I would wait until I got back to Mary and Ron's.