Hola!    First Blog this Year
I could not believe how many days had gone by since my last blog!  Time DOES fly when you're having fun.
Our days just seem to fly by and sometimes the best way to describe it is just as someone who I was talking to the other day said "I am busy doing nothing".   We have managed only 3 hikes so far but have enjoyed them so much.  The desert is a lot greener this year than it was last year and we have been trying to take on longer and/or more difficult hikes as we wear in our hiking boots.
We went out to McDowell Park, we sort of got a late start so were only going to go for about 1.5 miles.  But as we got going we added another loop so it was about 4.5 miles in total.  There are not many big trees or cactus as this area must have had a fire at some point.  There was also some good elevation on this hike so we could see a long way in the distance.

The other two hikes were out at Usery Park.  One was the Wind Cave which we did last year as well.  It is only 1.5 miles one way but it is up 800 feet and very "rustic".  Also an amazing view from the top, as well as the cave itself complete with a huge bee hive and a number of little chipmunks.

I can't remember the name of this trail but the scenery was fantastic, it was flatter and easier, also less chance of my landing in a cactus or falling over the edge as I gawk at the trees and birds.

This little hummer likes to visit every day!

We have also had a lot of fun with the wonderful people in this park.  I have never seen such a friendly, welcoming group of people.  This is one of the pool areas that Suz and Larry reserved, they cooked up a ham and we all brought sides and had a great time.  We also went to 3 other "formal" happy hours, one at Ray and Vivian's, one at Terry and Glenda's and one at Glenn and Maureen's.  Also there are many happy hours that just sort of happen as you are walking by or someone is walking by your house. Such a wide variety of people with such great talents and experiences to share.

 This is half of the lap quilt that I have started to make.

This is my casserole carrier, which has come in handy a few times already as we take hot appy's to happy hours and such.  Also note the messy house - ridiculous!

 Pretty lettuce.  You can go and pick your vegetables at this farm  They also grow fruit.

The 3 pics above are from when we went with Suz and Larry out to Schnepp's farm and the Olive Farm at Queen's creek.  I never get sick of going out there and had to take a picture of this cute little goat for Kylie!  I also bought some of the peach salsa from Schnepp's and some amazing raw mesquite honey and lemon olive oil from the Olive farm.

 These 2 pictures are from the "country store" market at another park in Mesa.  The first one is the huge model railroad that the residents work on.  The second one is a silly picture of some panties with a zipper.  You can imagine how many giggles we had about these.

 On Monday we went biking (around 13 miles) around Tempe Lake with a group of around 25 people.  Tempe is a college town and very artsy fartsy.  These beautiful ceramic mural is composed of tiles created by schoolchildren in Tempe, AZ, and is on the north shore of the Town Lake (actually a dammed-up portion of the Salt River). 

The mural runs along a brick wall and the theme is river past, river now and river future.  Notice the lights are kind of on a curve which looks really cool from a different angle than this picture.

These are some beautiful blooms on some type of mesquite tree.

 We stopped at this cute little Irish Pub and had lunch.  Don and I both had fish and chips and they were really good!

 This is one of the bridges you could ride over.  Along the way you could stop and watch birds along the river or linger in the park that was in one spot.  Two people fell off their bikes but luckily no serious consequences.

 There were other really interesting things like this pretty metal tree

These were called the tree of life and is some kind of tree adoption program. Glenda made Don stand here so I could take a picture. 

On Wed. we went to the Barrett Jackson car auction. This is a prototype car they are selling for 6800.00.  It is sort of like a bike/car combo.  It gets something like 80  miles to the gallon.

 They will be auctioning off this amazing carousel.

 Don wanted me to add this pic.  enough said

 This is my soba noodle with 21 different kinds of veggies all stir fried up.  It is a company called Island Noodles.  I googled it when we got home as seriously I could eat this every day.  Seems they just have the food trucks not a restaurant which is a real bummer!!

These beautiful glass sculptures all rotated like wind mills.

The sunsets here are so amazing.  Apparently the sunrises are also, but anyone who knows me also knows its not likely I will be posting any pictures of those.  LOL
Tuesday we got coupons for a casino.  We got free money as well as free breakfast.  We picked up Terry and Glenda and it was an enjoyable morning.  I tried to start my blog after supper but there was a knock knock at the door.  Mona came over and she had an extra ticket to a string symphony.  It was a large group of very talented high school students and I enjoyed it so much.  As it turned out the internet was so bad I couldn't even down load my pictures anyway.
Yesterday I sewed the other half of my quilt and plan on joining the 2 halves this weekend.  I then ran home and had a quick lunch and headed off to my Spanish class (which I LOVE). We also are supposed to work on it for at least 10 minutes every day.  Then I went to a fabric store with Mary and kind of looked at ideas for the back and borders of the quilt.  Maureen, who is the one that got me started on this whole quilt idea was there too. She has made so many quilts and they are just beautiful.  This is an amazing fabric store and it is within walking distance of the park.   When we got home it was happy hour and it turned into supper with Mary and Alvin.  Don cooked up some blue cheese burgers and we even ate outside.  The weather has been so awesome this year.  It is around 10 degrees above normal and I have spent many afternoons at the pool.  Tough life!!
Today we went out to South Mountain with Suz and Larry.  You can look out over Phoenix and area, although we have been there before we never get tired of it.  There are lots of hiking trails out there as well as a really nice nature centre. Then we went out to Cracker Barrel for a late lunch and a shopping trip to a really fun store called Whole Foods.  Back just in time to go sit with a group around the pool. Popcorn for supper and the blog and another day has whizzed by. 
Buenas Notches