Saturday and sunday - the first Weekend

I rode one of the bikes down to the store this morning which was very nice. The only problem with riding a bike down to anyplace is that one then has to ride the bike back up to come home. It was a good workout as I had a few groceries too.

I saw a coyote quite close, it was smallish and looked like maybe it was a youngster maybe one year old, like I would know the difference. Of course I did not get a photo as I was riding the bike.Uncle Ron is correct in saying that you will never see one quail..... they are always in groups.

It took less than an hour to get there, shop and get back. When I walk it takes me about two hours.

Anyway, this morning we went to the Swap Meet in Mesa for some sandals for Uncle Ron and myself, a magnifying glass for Uncle Ron and myself, a brown sugar keeper and a gift for Dennis whose birthday was just two days ago. It was very hot inside the tents. I do not know if the swap meet is open in the summer but I do know that I would not go there in the high heat. After our escape from the Swap meet ovens we went for air conditioned chinese food and then home. Almost.

There were some tents set up in Bashas parking lot, an art fair, and Uncle Ron wanted to see it. Aunt Mary said she was game so we went to our second market of the day. It was much cooler and way less crowded being about 24 tents in all. Mostly paintings and wall plaques, some great photos, and there was a jewelry tent. Hand made pounded silver. who could resist. I got a pair of earrings and Uncle Ron bought Aunt Mary two necklaces with earrings to match. One necklace a mother of pearl circle with the moon and a star.

When He gave it to her he said 'I got you the moon and the stars'. They will be celebrating their 66th anniversary this month. So cute.

home for the race, the Breeders cup which we missed but I saw it on Utube. a sad day for the favorite as she lost by a Nose.

My cold is now fully developed and I am trying to stay away from Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron with out seeming to be isolate myself. it is kind of tricky.

I have laryngitis and so half the time they cannot hear me talk.

How many days does a cold last?

Driving down here is easier than I thought but we stay in Gold Canyon and Apache Junction and don't go into the real busy parts of town.

Friday 5th November-

Slept in till 630 as we had a late night last night.

Met peter rabbit this morning when I went out to get the paper.

Worked on the WW1 Diaries and then had breakfast with Uncle Ron and Aunt Mary.

We went for a stroll around the circle and I

got some photos of butterflies and flowers. I was surprised that there are still so many flowers blooming, of course they are in peoples yards and tended. there is not a lot blooming out on the desert.

one hummingbird posed for me ever so nicely but I did not want to scare it away so didn't get too close. They are so cute.

There are some flowering bushes down here with seed pods that almost look like pussy wuillows,

all fuzzy and soft but I did not touch them as everything down here seems to look fuzzy and soft and then it sticks you with thorns or some such thing.

About half way around the circle Uncle Ron offered Aunt Mary a seat to rest on in the shade of an appollo Verde ( Green Tree) and ever gracious she accepted.

4th November- Leo and Grace, Glen and Virginia

Woke up at five and typed some WW1 Diaries.

I seem to have a cold now. Rats!

The moon was a sliver of gorgeous orange this morning.

I walked to the store and back to get some medicine. Yesterday we went to Rotary for lunch and it was fun. I bought a ticket for a car. If I win I do not know what I will do with it.

Today we had Grace and Leo over for Lunch.

They are friends of Dave and Colleen who just bought a house down here and are here to furnish it and fix it up.

Mary and I listened to another chapter of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. and then some music.

When we played ' Let me call you sweetheart' Uncle Ron and Aunt Mary danced together.

They are so sweet.

A late afternoon walk around the circle with the walker went very well. We saw an agave plant with a spike that was 15 feet tall and

wondered if it would end up pulling the plant up by its roots.

We watched some news and then we were off to Leo and Graces to have dinner.

It is so black out there as there are very few if any street lights that we missed the turnoff the first time and so were a little late.

the evening was very pleasant. We met another couple, Glen and Virginia, who stay down here for about 6 months of the year. Leo and Glen work together in Edmonton.

back home in the pitch black and

2 November - Bobcat!

The flight down was smooth and uneventful. the movies were not working so read from my new E-book - Plato the Republic and took about a 20 minute nap. Jim picked us up at the airport and we were here at about 830 phoenix time. they have a different time than Edmonton. It seems that Arizona and Ohio are like Saskatchewan and don't do the daylight savings time.slept well and woke up at 5 am.typed up one and one/half page of WW1 Diaries,

ate breakfast

Went for a walk. saw a lovely spiders nest, a tarantula's I think.

As I was coming around a tight corner in the road just down the street from Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron's I saw a Bobcat! crossing the road about a 1/4 block in front of me. I was so shocked that I almost forgot to get a photo but at the last second I shot and got his hind end going into the bushes.

I was so excited! I followed it into the brush and was so nervous that when my camera shut itself off I just about had a heart attack. The bobcat was long gone by the time I followed it and of course I probably made so much noise that it would have had plenty of time to hide from me anyway. they are so cool and much larger than I thought they were. don't worry I did not chase it into the thickets I was out in the open.

Made it back to the house with not too much more excitement, certainly nothing to top the Bobcat. I saw a golfball in a jumping cactus.... would like to see someone play that ball.

Saw some quail, a bunny rabbit and hundreds of bees were enjoying the flowers of these purple bushes.

After breakfast we went to the store, I drove, and we got some groceries and I picked up some stamps.

The afternoon was filled with an alfredo chicken pasta lunch for M&R and a salad for me.

A crossword puzzle, two chapters of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.(an Audio book on my I tunes) and some old songs again courtesy of Itunes kept Mary and I busy. Uncle Ron had a nice long nap and then did all kinds of little things to get himself organized. He knows he is getting better because he could remember where he put his drink of juice.

Supper was a light affair of veggie barley soup and grilled cheese sandwiches with frozen vanilla yogurt for dessert. Did I mention that I picked up some Cadbury praline chocolates at the duty free in Edmonton and we each had one of those too.

M&R watched TV and Blogging and Facebooking and emailing filled my evening. Will hit the sac early and probably wake up early again tomorrow. Great first day at Superstition.

Big Bear Park 13 Oct 2010

I spent two nights at Uncle Ron's and Aunt Mary's.

We watched the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile. Very emotional. Amazing that over one billion people around the world watched and supported this effort.

We finished the Wednesdays New York times crossword puzzle. as we do every Wednesday.

( we being the royal we; it was actually Aunt Mary, Sharon, Elanor (who always brings a most scrumptious dessert), Janet and Ken with my occasional word thrown in.)

We, being Aunt Mary, Uncle Ron and myself, went for a walk down to the lake and watched the geese who are massing in preparation for flying south.

They (the geese) are getting nice and plump.

The fall colours are still hanging on to half the trees.

A lovely time for me and Mary but Uncle Ron is recovering from his medication. But he is getting so much better now.

The moon last night was gorgeous. a globe hanging in the sky so clear and it looked very large too.

Saturday 11 sept Day 4 of Spruce Meadows

I forgot my camera so am filling in this blog with lots of photos that I could not fit onto the other pages. After a lovely breakfast We went to the market outside of Black Diamond.A nice little market where we found a Very appropriate picture for Jo as a thank you gift.

It is made out of small stones picked up out of the sheep river made into 4 little women with the title 'Sisters'. We left Jo to go to her friends place and did not even get lost even though it was a brand new way for us .

We parked in parking lot 10 and took the shuttle bus to the gate.

We picked up our daily sheet and we got a

coffee and went to our seats as we were a little late.

Maureen was already there in her seat about 4 rows below us.

It turned out that there was an empty seat beside us so Maureen came up and sat with us for the rest of the day which was so nice.

Brenda loaned me her camera which I did take some photos with but I forgot to download them into the computer that night.

The weather, which had started out so nice, only seemed to get colder as the day progressed. rain and wind and cold.

During the break we all went over to the Meadows on the Green and had a little lunch while the Battle of the breeds showcase was on.

After lunch we all split up and wandered around shopping and poking about.

when Barb was cleaning a little spot off of her coat she met a rude lady who

commented on the fact that one should not wear light colours. What the ?

The jumping was lovely. It did start to rain and it did get colder too. We all decided that tomorrow we were going to were lots more layers.

after the show we went back to Jo's and gave her the picture which she loved. we all helped with getting ready for dinner with Ed and Elsie who came down from Edmonton for the weekend.

It was a very nice dinner. and then we had ice cream for dessert and watched a movie, the Hangover, which was very funny.

After that we all hit the sack and slept like logs.

As much as logs as we usually did anyway.

Sunday 12 Sept - The Last day at Spruce Meadows

I slept in till 630 yea

The sunrise was lovely golden and morning chat turned to how every window pane was a picture.

we all got ready and had our breakfasts of shredded wheat or Barb's smoothies or toast and tea of course.

made our snack food for lunch and then proceeded to

load the car which seemed to be more full than when we came down.

Way more full.

Hugs and goodbyes to Jo with promises to take her up on her invitation to return.

Went west through Black Diamond and Turner valley to 22x to the show. Saw snow on the mountains and hawks,

ravens and coyotes at the side of the road. they were having their breakfast of roadkill deer.

We picked lot # 7 first but then changed our mind,

$10,000 for a parking spot there is a little high when we can park for free everywhere else, so we decided to go to # 2.

Took the short cut up through the hedge to

the road and then to the garden cafe at the all Canada Ring.

The show started a 9 and we were there early but all the front tables were taken. at First.

we waited at one of the tables at the back and moved our way to the front as people left thier tables. til we were at the front.

Brenda and Barb ordered toast but never did get thier jam. Rosemary picked up her latte but they were out of skim and earl grey and chai so Dennie did not get her chai tea or london fog. but that was OK. she just picked up some red rose and was just as happy. the jumping was lovely and the morning was actually sunny.

Maureen did not show up till noon for the big show.

We had about an hour between shows so we chatted for awhile and then went poking around. Rosemary picked up a pretty green shawl. we saw the Sam Steele club go riding by.

Dennie picked up country and horse newspapers.

Brenda looked at Kerrits clothes and Barb just poked.

We all got split up but we all met again at the show.

When we first went to our seats there

was a small confusion because we were moved down by two seats which was a little traumatic, we were used to our old seats. but we got over it quickly. Maureen was sitting right behind us.

The jumping was great.

The jumps themselves were huge and there were very few clear jumps.

Eric Lamaze was riding with a broken foot which we did not know about until after the show.

at the break we pulled out our munchies and sandwiches and all ate in our chairs.

then more jumps. Only the top 12 went on to the second round. which was very difficult too.

Eric had ridden clear in the first round so all he had to do was go clear in this round and he would win

but He lost his stirrup at the jump right

in front of us and Hickstead took the jump wide so it was called a refusal. SO sad.

We left after the last horse jumped and headed out.

Maureen had left to go and get a bag that she had bought and never came back.

We called her once we left the stands to find out where she was . S

he had gone to see Ed and Elsie.

Dennie rode with Maureen to Red Deer where we had all agreed to meet at the windmill donut shop.

They all got there at the same time which was real crazy as they did not see each other on the way and

Maureen and Dennie thought that they were really moving along.

Just goes to show how fast one can travel on a busy highway.

Maureen and dennie traveled together again up to the Big Derrick just outside of Edmonton

where we all met again and then Dennie jumped into Brenda's car

for the rest of the ride. It was a great time. We all felt that it was longer than 5 days. for me it seemed like two weeks at least.

I'll go back again for sure.