I thought of a cool way to put my Christmas tree skirt together and it worked really well. I got all of the 16 wedges together without a hitch! Yay!
Our friends Brock and Leola arrived to spend a couple of weeks with us again. We traveled with them for two months this summer before we went our separate ways for a while, but now they are rarin’ to explore this area with us. Yay!
Tomorrow—another yay!
Louise and Duane
work and play. I now have all of my Christmas tree skirt pieces ready to assemble. I am considering how to do it with the minimum of effort. We played pickleball this afternoon with our old and new friends from the rv park—Howard, Doug, Tom, Deb, Duane and I switched in and out of several games. The new players are gaining skill and confidence every time we play, and having fun too. Later we all met again at the ice cream social for more fun including Doug’s wife Jan and Howard’s wife Lynn.
Tomorrow I should be able to finish my project and free up some play time. I foresee another bike ride in our future.
Louise
We accomplished a lot today, but didn’t do much. Duane bubble wrapped his ornaments and packed them in boxes for shipping on Monday. I got busy on another project—my very first Christmas tree skirt. This was a request from one of our children, with specific colors requested also. Our son the engineer kindly created a pattern for me, and I had cut out fabric a few months ago. I ran into a snag when some fabric pieces were too small for the pattern. Today I set up shop in the living room and corrected that problem by sewing scraps along the sides. It sounds messy, but they look good.
Tomorrow I will get things further along. Stay tuned.
Louise and Duane
After several days of inactivity we let the Eagle soar past the big green frog and the Arrowhead B & G
up the Hill through Yarnell
to Peoples Valley and our favorite pizza place—the Tbird Cafe. Joining us for the ride and the pizza were biker buddies Doug and Jan, and new friends from North Ranch RV Park (Congress, AZ) Tom and Deb who drove their Jeep.
We were having such good conversation and food that I forgot about taking any pictures!
View across the road.
We were just out for lunch so we retraced our route past the big boulder hill.
Not really, it is a big rock hill that had its softer parts eroded away so that it looks like a big pile of boulders.
Back down the hill (past one of my favorite views).
Vulture Mountain looms on the horizon.
The weather remains warmer than usual, but the last couple of days we’ve had clouds that have lowered the temperatures a bit. As soon as it gets a bit cooler, we will be heading to Vulture Mountain for a hike to the top.
Stay tuned,
Louise and Duane
Today’s sunrise was all orange and pink clouds.
By noon all clouds were gone, and we were enjoying the Phoenix skyline,
on our way to here.
By midwest standards, the fair was small—it could fit into the Ohio State fairgrounds four times.
It was comprised mostly of food booths
(Just reading this one made me want to hurl.)
and rides.
There were a few animals—mostly chickens and goats.
We watched a couple of the free shows that were held on small stages scattered around the grounds. Godfrey The Magician wasn’t bad.
We really enjoyed the Native Spirit Dancers.
In this dance the circle of eagle feathers represents a battle site, while the two feathers on his head represent two warriors still fighting on the battlefield.
This women's’ jingle dress dance was one of blessing or healing.
This hoop dance was very entertaining.
There were quite a few buildings with various vendors, and a couple with art displays including sewing,quilting, crafts, carving, sculpting, painting and photography.
Our picks.
The Thunderhead Model Railroad Club had a wonderful little town set up. This represents about a third of it.
We are always on the alert for odd or unusual stuff. While we were waiting in traffic outside the fairgrounds, we saw this sign on a chain-link fence. On our side was the overpass, on the other was a drop to the road below. Huh?
Look again.
Our day started and ended with orange and pink clouds.
For the first time in four days, I woke up without a headache!!!!! I finished my book, took a walk, and played pickleball without pain! I boxed up my afghan project and sent it on its way back to California, and
Duane decided to let you see Santa,
but not the rest of the pack yet. O well.
Tomorrow we plan to see how the AZ State Fair stacks up against the Ohio State Fair.
Louise and Duane
Sorry!
Duane finished all of the details and paintings but you can’t see them before the grandkids!
Louise and Duane
of working for Duane who is painting the grandkids ornaments now. I goofed off all day—reading, playing pickleball, working on the jigsaw puzzle. We took my afghan project to town for washing. Tomorrow I will lay it out for the before and after pictures, then box it up and send it to California on Tues. Our last activity was the ice cream social before we tucked in for the night.
We are really enjoying our time here in the Arizona desert. The weather is warm during the day and cool at night, much like summer in the midwest. Its nice to get out of bed and put on shorts and tees. It gets dark at 6 pm, though, and reminds us that it is fall.
Louise and Duane
Five miles from North Ranch RV Park gets us to the foot of Yarnell Hill, five miles takes us up 2000’ to Yarnell,
and one of our favorite breakfast places—the Ranch House Restaurant. It is open only on Thurs-Sun,6 am-2 pm. It is a favorite stopping point for many biker group rides.
The inside is small, the service is kind of on the slow side, the food pretty good.
Eclectic signs offer something to occupy your interest while you wait.
From our window we saw this really cool looking bike.
Outside are two tributes to the Granite Mountain Hot Shots.
On June 28, 2013, lightning started a wildfire in Yarnell. Aided by drought and high winds, the fire burned 127 homes and 8400 acres in and around Yarnell and Peoples Valley. On June 30 the wind blew the fire back on 19 firefighters.
On Nov. 30 the Granite Mountain Hot Shots Memorial State Park is set to open. Access will be from pull-off on the downhill road just outside Yarnell.
After Duane’s breakfast and my lunch, we passed the pull-off on our way back to Congress (spread out below).
We always give a nod to the green frog,
the vine horse,
and The Mall in Congress on our way back to the Park.
We leave you with this thought for the day:
Louise and Duane
