Winter in Gold Canyon

Most of the country wouldn't think it has been cold here in Gold Canyon but those of us who came here for warm weather are whining. The high temps have only been in the 50s recently and we've had over an inch of rain in the past week. Where's the sun?

Today we walked for exercise inside the Superstition Springs Mall. We weren't the only people doing it, either. Notice that everyone is in long pants, not shorts. We know that people who spend the summer in the Phoenix area walk inside the mall to get away from the heat. We don't expect to have to do it in winter.

Last spring shortly before we left for the summer, we went into Mesa Marketplace, the home of recreational shopping. Open year round, the facility has canvas walls so it is experiences all sorts of weather. In late April and May it is getting pretty hot. Though the swap meet is open, very few of the vendors were trying to sell things. We visited this Sunday and found almost all the vendor stalls open and the crowds of shoppers was increasing. In February and March the aisles will be so crowded it will be hard to move through them.

I keep think of the song from "Annie," "Tomorrow, tomorrow, the sun will come out tomorrow." We certainly hope so.

What Do You Call It?

If you are in the Phoenix-Mesa area of Arizona you call it either Recreational Shopping or a Swap Meet and it is held year-round on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In Fredericksburg we found Trade Days that is held the third weekend of every month. When we spent a winter in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas I think it was a flea market. Whatever you call it, it is a place where people set up booths to sell either new items or used. These places attract lots of shoppers.

At the Mesa Marketplace we see all new items for sale--plants, tools, clothing, decorative items. Several booths sell "As Seen on TV" goods. In Fredericksburg we saw some of the same lawn art and clothing. But there were lots of antiques and used items, as well.

The one name for these small markets that doesn't seem to fit is swap meet. I didn't see anybody willing to trade what I had to offer (other than cash) for what they had for sale.

Here is some of the yard art for sale.  Further down the same road we found another huge lot full of similar merchandise.

It seems you can use old bed springs to make lots of things.

Not sure if these items are for sale or we happened on a junk yard.

We both liked these two decorative trailers.

I thought Diana would enjoy all these rusty items.

Recent Days

There have been a number of images from the last couple to weeks that stand out from the hum-drum of our days.

One of the advantages of having friends here in the Phoenix area is the fresh oranges they give out. He told us they needed a little more time in the sun, so we haven't tasted them yet.

I had my annual mammogram at the Banner MD Anderson facility. We were interested to see this RV park, right next to the hospital. I imagine it provides a safe and inexpensive place for people who are having cancer treatments to park their RV. Really a thoughtful idea.

I doubt I need the hospital's services, other than for a mammogram. My doctor thinks they do the best job of any facility in the Valley.

A large saguaro has been planted here in our resort. The supports must help it get established. But John thought the supports made it look like it was on crutches.

We saw this truck, filled with batteries, parked in front of house in the resort. The company supplies golf cart owners with new batteries and takes away their old ones.

We did get out for some fun. We walked around the Gilbert Water Ranch. The ponds provide third-state treatment for waste water and bring in lots of water birds. Just look at all these ducks.

Today, we went to the Mesa Swap Meet. The place can get very crowded, but there was a real advantage to going early on this cold morning. (Our low temperature this morning was 39 degrees! Brrr. At least for snowbirds. It is really cold up north in Colorado.) Look at these nearly empty aisles.

One last picture--a dog being carried around the swap meet.

Swap Meet or Flea Market?

Flea market, swap meet. Are they the same thing? I always thought so. I thought they were like garage or yard sales on steroids. But after spending several winters in Texas and Arizona, I have decided that swap meets are just a large setting for shopping mall kiosk sales, small commercial spaces for new and/or popular items. This week we attended a flea market that truly was like garage and yard sales. Where do you think we are?



That's right. Wisconsin, home of the cheeseheads, Green Bay Packers fans. And we weren't in a dusty field or open building. We were in a forest.



What is big in Wisconsin? Fishing. These are antique trolling motors.



Lots of fishing poles. And most of them don't look like fly rods.



There were even fishing pool covers.



Look at these fishing lures.



You would only find birch bark baskets in the north woods.



There were lots of old and antique snow shoes and skis.



Old wooden boxes



Fun signs





Beautiful flower arrangements



The usual cute dogs



Of course, there were some commercial booths--or people whose collections have gotten out of control.



After sauntering along for an hour or two in the flea market, we escaped the crowds and walked a couple of miles on a beautiful hike/bike trail in St. Germain.

A Friday Outing

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of RVers are parked near Quartzite, AZ, or Q as they call it, for the annual January gathering in the desert. While there, a shopping trip to The Big Tent is a necessity. Well, let me tell you, those folks don't have anything on the snowbirds here in Mesa and Phoenix. Saturday we checked out the Mesa Swap Meet. It is called recreational shopping and provides a mile and a quarter of shopping aisles where 900 merchants stock 1600 booths.



We didn't see much RV-related merchandise, but there were lots of things on sale to decorated snowbird yards and RV lots.

There are larger items for sale, as well.







These fellows were entertaining during lunch. Lots of people were eating and listening.





John liked this man's hair hat



he had to try one on, too.



He checked out this straw cowboy hat, as well.



And look at this woman's hair. It is real, not a hat.



In our first year of marriage, we bought a set of waterless cookware. Other folks of our generation are still entertained by such products.



What an interesting name for a store.



All I can ask is, "why?"



Billiards, anyone?



The picture is a little blurry, but look at these frilly little-girl dresses.



A bag to keep your beer cold.



Some winter hats.



When we finally made it to the back 40 where we parked our looong dually truck, we found two other trucks the same size parked in the same area. This is where we always park since we bought this new truck.