Fun and Games!
Wow the last few days have been jam packed and super fun!  On Wednesday we went to the Organ Stop Pizza place with about 200 people from our park.  I got a lot better picture of this amazing organ.

It was nice to go as a group as the organist explained the organ and how it works as well as played for us for about an hour.
Later that day we went to a "happy hour"

 Checking out Larry's hat from Mexico.

 Oh ya, us retired folks are having a second childhood.  This is right after 2 of the men had this giant bra on their heads.

 A little line dancing in the middle of the road.  Luckily the speed limit in the park is 14.5 mph.  I think I might try to learn some of these line dancing steps next year.  They do a lot of line dancing.
On Thursday we went on another hike.  We are loving the hiking and will be doing a lot of it in the next month or so.

It wasn't a very long hike but it was pretty steep and rocky.  Don thinks we are some kind of mountain goats as he always picks the uphill trails.

I have a huge fascination with the volcanic rock.

|As well as the pretty little flowers.  These are lupins.

 When we got to the top of this hill there were a number of beautiful black butterflies with blue "trim" around the edge of their wings.  Absolutely beautiful, but I could not get a picture.

Later that night we went over to the courtyard and met up with Suz and Larry and a bunch of people, some of whom we had met before and some new friends as well.  There was a fire and heaters going, so it was toasty warm and there was a group singing and playing music.


The next morning we went over to Terry and Glenda's for a little craft lesson. They showed us how to make "buddy Burners"

Suz and Larry putting strips of corrugated cardboard tightly spiralled into an 8 inch cookie tin.  |Cardboard strips are cut about a half inch smaller than the height of the tin.

Terry and Glenda (on the left) melting the wax.  They have done this many times.  These are nice to have as they are basically a large candle that can be burned anywhere and add some light and warmth.  Glenda even made us some amazing biscuits.  Best craft class ever!  They have been full time RVers for 6 years and we learned a lot of tips from them.  Also great camera and blog ideas!! Thanks guys.

Melted wax poured over the cardboard.  Then you put in some wicks (about 5 or 6) This candle will last forever as the cardboard becomes the wick and all you have to do is add wax as it runs low.

On Friday I went to my bird class.

This is Don and Barb.  Don has been the best teacher! He told me he has seen about 450 birds and I believe there are about 600 in North America.  He knows a lot about birds and bird watching and I sure appreciated him showing me how to find the birds and what to look for to be able to identify them.
This day we went to Veterans Park in Mesa.

This little island had a snowy, a great and a cattle egret along with some cormorants and ducks.  Was really great to see all the egrets at once to be able to see how different they all look.

 Mockingbird

To the right at the bottom you will see 2 little burrowing owls. They were a long way away but I was very excited to see them.  Don has a scope he lets us look through so we got a good view of these tiny little owls.
That night we went over to Suz and Larry's for a wonderful home cooked meal.  Suz also gave me her recipe for winky tea.  MMMM, it is a wonderful spiced hot tea drink.

Saturday was an amazing hot day and I spent some time lounging there.  We went to a dance in the evening.  We almost made it the whole time without getting talked into going to one.  We are not ones to do much dancing but the visiting was awesome!

These are our neighbors right across the street.  Florence and Ray - they are from North Dakota.
We have enjoyed visiting and having happy hours with them as well as eating some  of their wonderful grapefruits.

This is Mona and Gerry from Manitoba -they live beside Florence and Ray.  We enjoyed many hours with them - a lot of it was spent helping or watching them fix up this new (to them) trailer.  They worked very hard and did a great job!  They invited us over for a wonderful meal tonite.

 I love  the shadow of this huge palm in the moonlight.

Good bye to site 404 at Val Vista Village on March 4/13    We have enjoyed this park, Mesa and the many people we have met since we got here and we will miss it all!   Off to Yuma tomorrow morning.