Buying Stuff

Thursday is Country Store day here. I imagine the store moves to other parks on other days, though I don't really know. Individual vendors fill the ballroom





the patio



and the parking lot.



The numbers and variety of things sold are amazing, ranging from beads and beaded jewelry (probably the largest number of sellers) to clothing to craft items and baked goods and diabetic shoes. Even air plants--epiphytes. (That is a fancy word we learned at Santa Ana NWR last year.)



There are even chairs for husbands waiting for their wives to finish looking--or buying.



We rarely buy things at places like this. But we got carried away this time, buying two light-weight hats, a basket for my bike and a small purse to hold my credit and ID cards.



The Valle del Oro Garden Railroad was operating for the first time this season. They are still getting everything set up, but it was fun to see a few of the trains. We learned that the various members of the club bring their own trains to operate on the railroad layout.





Obviously, someone is from Canada.



This car is cute.



And these are my favorites, at least so far. Steam engines are much prettier than diesel.

Welcome Home

Each year, early in November, Valle del Oro holds a Welcome Home party for all the snowbirds who have arrived. Wednesday evening we were served BBQ ribs, beans, cornbread, coleslaw and ice cream, as well as beer, wine or soft drinks. And it was all free. I was amazed at how many people attended this year. The ballroom, which is filled on Thanksgiving, was packed; the patio was full of tables, and other seating was on the north side of the bocce ball courts. Each of the three areas had its own band. We were seated on the patio and listened to this band.



We sat with several other folks parked on our street. This photo shows Jane and Vern, Isabel and Joe, and a little bit of Larry (and his glass of wine). The two people on the left of the picture are friends of Jane and Vern, but I didn't get their names.



Barbara, in the hat on the left in this photo, was away from the table when I took the other picture.



As you can tell from what Barbara was wearing, the theme was western. The decorations were fun.





It was getting dark as we walked home. Several people were playing bocce ball. Hopefully, this year we will give this game a try.



This lighted bush is one of several new decorations installed over the summer. Each fall when we return, we find improvements that have been made in the park.

Hobby Time

Now it is hobby time. This week, John is beginning a project, making santas for me and our grandchildren.



These will be different figures from the ones he made last year.



Since we arrived in Mesa, he has already completed three diamond willow walking sticks. Aren't they beautiful?





I've been doing a lot of on-line genealogy, but yesterday I changed my focus and took a class to make a puzzle pot in the pottery studio. To make the pots, you put pieces of clay inside a mold.



I chose a small mold because of our space limitations in the RV. Pieces of clay are shaped, then put inside the mold. Some pots are solid, others have spaces between the pieces.



Here are both sides of the mold filled with my clay pieces.



Next, the molds are put under lights and warmed with hair dryers so the clay inside will dry enough to shrink away from the mold. We started at 9 am and by 11 am my pot was drying.



After lunch, I returned to the studio and removed the mold. Here is the pot, waiting to bee smoothed and cleaned.



We learned how to make clay roses. then I tried to copy a pot I saw in the studio. I added a bow and the rose. Everything shrinks about 1/3 as the pot dries and is fired. It will be interesting to see if everything goes together and is on the same scale after it is fired.



It was a fun day and I plan to make another one soon, before I forget how to do it. Our instructor, Holly, was excellent. She not only taught us how to make the pots, she showed us lots of other techniques and ideas. I really enjoyed it.

Western Shufflers

I know we live in a senior's resort, but it is for 55+ active adults. So, what is this sign about? Who is coming that shuffles?

Well, no one is being insulting or talking about people who only shuffle, not really walk. The Western Shuffleboard Tournament is being held here at Valle del Oro November 5-10. I haven't played shuffleboard since maybe church camp during grade school. But it is one of the popular sports here. Obviously, it is popular at other snowbird resorts, as well.

Today, (Thursday, Nov. 8) the Arizona Republic carried a story about the tournament. It gives more detail than I knew when I posted this blog.

I don't know how many teams came for this tournament. I do know that last year there were teams from California, as well as Arizona. Last year it was a lot colder in the mornings during the tournament. The folks from California were complaining. It makes the discs move either faster or slower, I don't remember which. Shuffleboard players here are hardy folks who are out there playing on December early mornings with gloves and hats.

Today, however, the first day of the tournament, is warm and beautiful. It is important to keep the courts clean.





Since resorts in the American southwest are very popular with Canadian snowbirds, flags for both countries' flags are flying.



I think this must be the proper stance for pushing the disc (also called puck or biscuit) because this woman did a good job of placing it just right.



She watched closely to see where it stopped.



Since I know nothing about scoring shuffleboard, I really don't know if these folks are doing well or not.



However, I found the following paragraph in an online article about the game and these scores seem to indicate neither side is anywhere near winning this game.

All National doubles tournaments shall be best two out of three 75 points games for the main and consolation divisions. Also games may be played in 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, or 20 frames.

Chairs, Chairs, and more Chairs

Is the problem the chairs? Or is it us?

When we bought this RV in September 2008, it had a couch, a dining room table with four heavy, uncomfortable chairs, and two large, ugly, heavy, and very uncomfortable recliners. We quickly (like within a week) got rid of the couch. We got rid of the recliners and bought some very inexpensive chairs to replace them before we went on the road full time in January 2009.

By October 2009, we knew those chairs were worthless, so we bought these relatively expensive Lane chairs when we got to Mesa.



During early 2010 we got rid of the dining room table and chairs and had a custom-made desk and table built for the dining room. Without a couch, the chairs are where we sit almost all the time we are awake in the RV. By October 2011, those Lane chairs were sagging, with the seats needing extra padding. And the leather was loosing its color. So we replaced them with less expensive chairs last fall.



You can probably guess where this is going. By this summer, those chairs were sagging and one was wiggling on its base. We had owned La Z Boy chairs in our house and RVing friends Art and Connie suggested we look at some of the smaller La Z Boys. We thought they would be too large or too heavy, but we decided to look.

That was all it took. Today we drove to their warehouse and had two chairs loaded into our truck.





After moving last year's chairs out onto the patio



we set up the new chairs. Since they have no ottoman, we have more space in the RV. And they are comfortable. We just hope they last more than a year or two.

Good Memories

When we began traveling, we began saving mementos and putting together scrapbooks, printing photos we had taken and combining everything to tell the story of where we had been. But scrapbooks take up lots of room and can be heavy, not to mention a lot of work to make.

I began blogging in 2006 and soon wished there was a way to print out the blogs in chronological order. But blogger doesn't accommodate that. Then I learned about Blog2Print, a service that takes a blog, from blogger and other services, and prints it in book form. I was delighted.

Usually, I wait till the end of the year, but our trip through Canada and Alaska is special and needs its own scrapbook (blog book). So I ordered a book of just the blogs on the trip. At the end of the year I will have another book made of the time before and after that trip.

Today the Alaska book arrived in the mail. What a treat to begin looking over those wonderful adventures. Here is what we received. I could select the photos for the front and back covers.





Inside, all the blogs and all the photos are included. These two pages are from two days in Fairbanks.



This book is lighter and more compact than a scrapbook would be. And we can enjoy the photos and stories for years to come.

The flowers of fall

At "home" in Colorado, where we lived most of our lives and where we still vote, pay taxes and receive our mail, they have already seen snow and had enough temperatures below freezing that, most likely, the flowers have seen better days. The flowers of fall bloom in September and are mainly chrysanthemums.

Today our "home," the structure we actually live in, is parked in Mesa, Arizona, and the flowers are very different. We spotted one barrel cactus with a few blooms left.



The bougainvillaea is blooming all over the park.



And roses are blooming. By this time of year in Colorado, we would be cutting back the plants and mounding the dirt to protect the grafts so the bushes don't die back to the wild rose roots. Here are a few that we took pictures of today.







Many of the bushes in the Valle del Oro rose garden are planted in memory of former park residents. That makes it special to have them blooming as the snowbirds return for the winter.