Time flies . . .   when you are having fun!
I can hardly believe the last blog I did was mid February, this last month and a half has flown by so fast!  I have found it diffucult to keep up my blog as we have been so busy having fun that believe it or not I never find the time.  Also the wifi here is really horrible so I need a good chunk of time to get it done.  Also, afternoon seems a better time for good wifi and that is my pool time - haha. 
The weather this year has been absolutely amazing!  We have not worn pants and socks and shoes since my last blog.  Temperatures have been in the high 70 to mid 80's.  Temperatures at home are going to take some getting used to for us.
I am going to give a very brief summary of the last month and a half.  Missing are many great times at happy hours and get togethers with some wonderful people.  We have met and enjoyed so many people this year I can hardly believe our good fortune!

This is a us at the second annual rib fest organized by Glenda and Terry and Gloria and Dennis.  They even made us all these great bibs!  They cooked up a ton of ribs and we all brought side dishes.  There was even some really great entertainment put on by people in the park that are talented musicians and singers.  It was a really great time.  Also they have put away the bibs for next year  - YUM!!

The park put on a Spanish fiesta for all of those in the Spanish class.  It was so great, there was even a mariachi band and of course Martguerita's and Mexican snacks.

For some reason Don thought we needed a holiday  - LOL.  So we drove to Las Vegas , this is the view from our hotel which I enjoyed both mornings.  Hard to capture in a picture but the reflections in this building were very cool.  I loved the drive to and from Vegas more than Vegas itself.  I was also recovering from a 3 day flu bug which really kicked my butt.

 That is the Colorado river which is running through the Lake Mead/Hoover Dam area.  In 2010 they completed the first desert bighorn sheep over passes in the US by Hoover Dam.  The largest herd of desert big horn sheep live here. While driving over the bridge you cannot see how really high up you are.  On the way back we were going to get out and walk on a path so that we could see over.  The sign said next right, but after a few miles we realized we had missed the turn somehow which was frustrating!  It was a rather long drive so we decided we will do that another time

 I could not get great pictures of the scenery, but along the way there were the most amazing rock "castles" .

We also saw a row of what looked like partially built homes, seemed they were right in the middle of . . .

There were miles and miles of the hugest, coolest Joshua trees ever!

We had a couple of really nice meals there, this was my veggie stir fry and I thought the presentation was just so cute!

There are so many grapefruit trees in the park.  I really hit the jackpot as a lot of my neighbors kept me supplied with juicy delicious grapefruits.  Some of them, like this one were HUGE.

Don went to Phoenix to a Nascar race.  He took a bus tour right from our park so no hassles with driving and parking.  I stayed home and worked on my quilt.

The park has a huge annual quilt show where we all can show off our masterpieces.  I could not believe how many talented ladies there are wandering among us!!

 One day I went "not" golfing with Maureen, Darlene, Colleen and Julie.  They golfed and I happily enjoyed the green grass and the scenery.

There was more than one "birdie" that day!   I enjoyed meeting some of these ladies for the first time and enjoyed them very much.  We all went out for lunch afterwards too!

 this is a miniature cupcake shop.  The cupcakes are about half the size of your little fingernail.  The detail was absolutely amazing.

 This is Bob and Angel.  They have a business called Pearce miniatures.  http://pearceminiatures.com/
Angel is only one of 6 people in the world to have a fellowship designation for making these miniatures.  She makes them out of special paper and wire that she gets from Japan.  Every single leaf and petal is hand cut and painted and put together to be exact replicas of whatever plant she is creating.

 Look how tiny these are.  There is a whole world of miniatures, and we went to this show in Phoenix to check them out.  Bob and Angel are our neighbors in the park and we were lucky enough to be invited into their home to watch Angel at work.  She was making a Japanese tree maple to be sold to someone making a Japanese inspired doll house.  There were miniatures of everything imaginable at this show.

We went to the wood carving show in Mesa.  I had just tried wood carving one time and I was pretty amazed at what was created  out of wood.

to be continued . . .