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| August 2012 - WI, |
August 27 - 31, 2012 - AZ, CA
Monday, August 27. Here it is, the last day of August - time keeps on flying right by. We're kind of glad to see this time of year come as it means that we are headed for cooler days and nights. We've gotten some tastes of that recently and look forward to more of it. This evening the air was feeling pretty darned hot and there were tall, dense clouds forming to the north and south of us - will it bring some weather our way?
I joined twelve other women this afternoon to see the movie, "Hope Springs" with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones - a very good story about how relationships, especially long marriages, can stagnate. They are both such good actors and played their parts quite well. After the movie, we went to Chile's for some lunch.
Tuesday, August 28. Most of the day was spent getting ready for our trip to SF. Packing sure isn't a big deal for us any more, we just take it in stride and always seem to manage to have everything we need and then usually a few items extra.
Connie invited us for dinner at her house tonight and Bill and Vicki joined us. It was another very enjoyable evening with lots of fun conversation.
Wednesday, August 29. I had a haircut appointment at 10:15 this morning, so we hit the road as soon as I got back home. It was a pretty easy drive to Mary and Lance's house in Oxnard. Naturally, we hit some rush hour traffic jams once we got near Burbank but the delays only extended the drive by about 20 minutes.
It was great to see our good friends again and Mary fixed a yummy dinner of salad and linguine with clam sauce. The air is nice and cool here and we were able to sleep with the window open - does that ever feel good!
Thursday, August 30. Like I said before, it really felt good to sleep with the windows open, that is until the guy across the street started up his noisy truck this morning and then the sprinklers started going off. Oh, well. Lance and I were the first ones up so we sat on the patio having our coffee with the birds. Very nice!
Mary and I went to the farmers marketing downtown Oxnard and the guys took our car to the car wash (had to clean up the pet hair). Other than that, we didn't do a lot but hang around and enjoy each others company.
Friday, August 31. By 9:00 we were on the road, heading north to San Francisco. As we traveled on 101 along the coast for part of the way, we realized again that this is a much nicer drive than taking the I-5 through the San Joachin valley. As we got closer to Salinas the field of crops varied much more and we saw all kinds of produce; berries, grapes, fruit and nut trees, citrus, lettuce, cabbage, onions, and peppers - much of it was being harvested and loaded onto trucks to be transported to stores and markets.
We arrived in San Francisco and headed straight to Charlotte's day care. She was all shy and timid at first but on the way to their house, I got a smile and the happy little squirm that she does. She looks so different - taller, more hair (darker and curly), and 8 teeth. Back at the house, she showed us all she has learned - to stand on her own, walk with only a little support, flip through the pages of a book with ease, say Momma and Dadda, drinking from a silly cup has been mastered, and I'm sure there will be more surprises to come.
Ben fixed some delicious pasta for dinner and then they worked on the birthday cake. That girl isn't having any plain old box cake, she's having chocolate cake with butter cream frosting - a recipe that Jill got from a client that has a French Bakery on Fillmore Street. I'm not sure if there will be any left when she gets through with it.
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August 20 - 27, 2012 - AZ
Thursday, August 23. Happy 65th Birthday to my dear husband, Mike and welcome to Medicare. The alarm on his phone went off this morning announcing a birthday text message from Roger and the greetings went on through the day. Pat, Ben, and I all pitched in and got him a Kindle so guess how he has been spending the day. I will be making him a steak dinner tonight and he can top it off with Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream.
It has been a week for birthdays for our family, starting with Pat's on Sunday and Mom and Jill's on Monday. We are also thinking about Casey today as he and Mike shared a birthday.
While Mike learned all about his new Kindle, I went with 18 women from our community for lunch at Brio's in San Tan Village. The food was excellent, as was the great company. After lunch, we went to Charming Charlie's to shop - it is a store just full of costume jewelry, purses, scarves, and any color coordinated accessory you could possibly think of. Did I buy anything? No. It's too bad but the jewelry I now own rarely gets worn.
So what else did we do this week? We had an impromptu *bleep*tail party on Tuesday evening with 5 of our friends. Rumor has it that we may start doing a round robin happy hour gathering weekly. I haven't been going to the pool as it wasn't looking good - they have been having trouble with the chlorine levels but I hear that it is now fixed.
The weather has been pretty stormy and we have had a few thunderstorms. It has been cool enough In the morning to have coffee on the patio.
I've been working in the yard to get rid of the 2 Prickly Pear cactus trees (yes, trees), either until I got tired or the trash can was full, and finished the job this morning. Now, something has to go in their place? Whatever I decide, it will not have glochoids and it will not go in the ground until we get back from our trip to SF next week. I also did some more trimming on the Palo Verde trees this week. They grow so fast that it doesn't take long and the branches are loaded with new growth and bowing to the ground.
Sunday, August 26. There hasn't been much going on this week but somehow it seems that we are always busy. I headed out Friday morning in search of estate and garage sales and ended up shopping at Kohls and spending a lot more than I would have at garage sales.
I had a nice conversation with Ben last night and we are sure looking forward to seeing them all again next week. This morning, Pat called to say that their plans to come visit at Christmas were changing and they are considering a Thanksgiving visit instead. Either time works for us and we will welcome them any time they want to come.
Nan and Dale joined us for Lime Chicken Tacos tonight to celebrate Nan's birthday. After dinner we had a Skype conversation with Ben, Jill, and Charlotte. It was close to bedtime so she was being quite silly, arching backward and falling into Ben's arms. It is going to be so great to see her in person again next week.
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August 13 - 19, 2012 - AZ
Monday, August 13. I am determined to get rid of the giant Prickly Pear cactus in the yard, so I cut a lot of it back this morning until the trash bin was filled. I plan to keep cutting away at it each week until I can dig out the roots. The new gloves I bought (2 layers of protection including puncture resistant surgical gloves inside a pair of puncture resistant work gloves) worked well, although I did get a thorn in my foot. Its the little hair-like glochoids that really cause the problems - the thorns can be pulled out and treated but you can hardly see the tiny glochoids.
We have both decided that we might try to find some part-time work to help supplement the income so we can decrease our withdrawals from our investments that have performed so poorly lately. So this morning we both worked on our resumes. My plan is to apply at some of the area RV resorts and Mike would like to work at an Apple store. We shall see how this goes - we certainly don't want to cramp our style too much.
Wednesday, August 15. I have made it to water exercise twice this week - yay! It is such a good workout and the group of ladies are lots of fun to be with.
Yesterday, I worked on cutting back the Mexican Bird of Paradise shrub in the neighbor's yard (it is a rental and they could care less how it looks). A recent storm broke some of the inner branches, so it is sprawled on the ground and looking real ugly - also a good hiding place for critters. I asked if they would mind if I gave it a major pruning and of course, she said no problem. After piling up the brush on an old sheet and hauling 2 loads to the dumpster, it was over 90 degrees and way too hot to keep on. I finished the job this morning.
This morning we went to Sun City to visit with Paul and Karen. Paul's condition hasn't improved much (he had a brain stem aneurism last January) and they are treating some infection so he was pretty quiet. It was nice to see Karen, as she was traveling the last time we went to visit. We had a nice chat and took her to lunch - she said it was nice to play with kids her own age for a chance, as most of the folks at the nursing home are much older than her. I'm glad that we could provide a distraction for her.
Thursday, August 16. I had a nice conversation with Jill this morning - haven't talked with her since I left there on the 7th of July. Dang - time sure does fly and I miss seeing her and family on a regular basis.
Allan and Sharon invited us to lunch today and since we hadn't seen them since last October, we graciously accepted. A lot has changed for them since then; first, the loss of their sweet dogs Ned and Alice, then they got 2 new puppies, Murray and Elsie, and they added on a room to their house. The puppies are a year old now and they are so darned cute! Friendly and playful as can be and they got along well with Frisco. He and Elsie were especially friendly to each other. The room addition takes up a good portion of their patio and is lined with windows and is bright and airy. Their plan was to use the additional space to expand their art workshop and gallery and it sure does seem to work well for that purpose. We had a wonderful visit and it was so nice to see them again and to finally meet the pups.
That was the highlight of the day - we didn't do much else when we got back home except the usual - naps, dinner, movie, bed.
Friday, August 17. The weather forecast for the next week shows temps under 100 degrees and lows at night under 80 and some rain too - a welcome change. Last night, shortly after I went to sleep, I woke up hearing a strange noise and it was the rain. When I got up this morning, it seems that it must have rained a lot during the night as everything is still wet. Yay! I'm sitting on the patio enjoying my coffee and the sounds of the birds celebrating too. The hummingbirds are flitting around the feeder. I love it!
What a great evening we had with some old friends,going back to the late 70s and our working days at Hazleton Laboratories. Craig and Diane bought their house in Mesa about the same time that we bought ours, but only recently relocated. We had a great evening sharing drinks, dinner, laughter and stories.
The Sahuaro Miata Club invited us to join them on their "Holy Cannoli" drive to Payson to have lunch at Gerardo's Firehouse Grill. We met in east Mesa at an Albertson's parking and 16 cars headed to Payson along the Bush and Beeline highways through the Tonto National Forest. Unfortunately, we got split up and ended up being 3 small groups. We remembered our days with the Badgerland Club and they worked real hard to keep everyone together.
We were served a wonderful family style meal of many of Chef Gerardo�??s favorite items. There was a steady stream of food coming our way starting with meats, cheeses, olives, and artichokes, and Calamari with Marinara Sauce and a delicious pizza with peppers and artichokes. Then came Caesar and Greek salads with a main course of Butternut Squash stuffed Ravioli and Chicken Breast topped with Spinach, Prosciutto, and Cheese. There was hardly any room left for dessert that was Cinnamon and Sugar topped donut-like balls, and of course, Cannoli. After our lunch, Chef Gerardo came out and we all applauded his fine work. We had a very nice time getting to know some of the members, learning about past and future trips and activities, and had lots of interesting conversation.
Once again, the group broke up and headed off in different directions. Some of the folks came from as far as Prescott, so it was a long trip for them. Again, we were a bit disappointed that we didn�??t all stay together and caravan to our destinations. We did learn during dinner that they usually try to stick together, so we will give them another chance and pay our $25 dues to join up. They seem like a nice group of folks with common interests; Miatas, scenic drives, and food.
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August 6 - 12, 2012 - WI
Tuesday, August 7. Yesterday was the day to say goodbye to Mom, after a nice visit with her outdoors. The weather has been in the low 80s and so enjoyable, just what we were hoping for.
On the way home, we stopped for a short visit with Chris, Norm, and Josie in Cottage Grove. Some construction on the way confused us and we ended up taking about a 20 mile detour into Madison and back east again.
Pat joined us for dinner tonight and we sat out on the porch and gabbed.
Today we stayed home except for a quick stop downtown to get a few items for a lunch on the road when we leave tomorrow. It felt good not to have to go anywhere today. Pat, Roger, and Louie came down for a visit this afternoon and to say goodbye until we see them again this fall in Arizona.
When Pat and Tracey got home from work, we walked over there and hung out with them for a while and then we had to say goodbye. We are hoping they will be able to join us in Arizona over Christmas this year.
So another Wisconsin trip comes to an end. We have mixed feelings about whether or not this drive was the right thing to do and will definitely know that after the next 4 days of driving. We're taking some different roads on the way back so are looking forward to some varied scenery.
Thursday, August 9 - WI, IA, NE, KS, CO. We have coved some territory the last 2 days and we're sitting in a room at the Best Western, Walsenburg, CO as I type away. There is just over 1/3 of the way to go yet and I'm not sure if we will make it all of the way tomorrow, as we decided to take Hwy 160 through Southern Colorado that is marked on the map as a scenic drive.
Yesterday, as we traveled south on US 71 in western Iowa, we spotted some dark, black clouds off to the west (check out the photo in the gallery) and figured that we were right in the edge and it might miss us. NOT! We got dumped on and there was also some hail (no damage to the car) and traffic slowed down to a crawl. Later on, near Columbus, NE, we went through some good rain. No complaints, as they really need it. Unfortunately, I think it is too little too late - judging by the looks of the crops.
Today's drive was uneventful and we made good time. I was driving on CO-10 between La Junta and Walsenburg, going about 75 mph and was passed by 2 pickup trucks and a semi - they had to be going 90 as they became little matchbox cars up ahead of me.
Friday, August 10. This morning, over breakfast, we changed our minds and decided to make the push all the way home and to take the interstates rather than the scenic route. Regardless, the route was quite scenic, as southern Colorado, and northern New Mexico and Arizona are gorgeous, even along the interstates. It took us 12 hours and it sure felt good to turn into our own driveway.
According to our neighbor, the heat has been relentless - in the 110-114 degree range the last 2 weeks. It also looks like there has been a dust storm, as the Honda is covered with a layer of it.
We are so pleased with the performance of the Miata - 3,600 miles and it just purrs like a kitten.
Sunday, August 12. It sure feels good to be back home again. The last 2 days, we have just holed up and enjoyed the comforts of home; sleeping in our own bed, lounging around in pjs, cooking in my kitchen, and just plain relaxing.
We had a video conversation with Ben and Charlotte yesterday - she sure is growing. Her latest achievement is being able to intentionally say Momma and Daddy and she is now proficient at clapping her hands. Ben also tells us that she is occasionally standing on her own without support. I really miss being there to see all of the little changes in her development.
I did manage to get out to Sprouts for groceries today.
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August 1 - 5, 2012 - WI
Wednesday, August 1 - WI. Here it is, the 1st of August and 2012 is flying right by. Yesterday was moving day, so after a walk, some coffee, and breakfast, we headed to Stoughton with stops to see Mom and then Tom and Karen. We will be spending the next week at my cousin Dawn's house. Pat just has too any animals that bother our allergies at his house and Dawn and Rich are only a block away.
We dropped off our stuff and headed to Pat's to hang out, then had a great visit with Dawn and Rich when we got back to their house.
Thursday, August 2 - WI What a busy but super enjoyable day today was, starting with my morning walk through a nice, Stoughton neighborhood in the cool morning. The first thing on the to do list was a haircut from my former stylist, Marion. It sure was nice to see her and get caught up on how her kids are doing.
From there, it was back to Stoughton to run a couple of errands before meeting up with some classmates for lunch at s new restaurant in town - BBG; Pat, Mary Jo, and Barb. While we sat there talking, Brett (another classmate) joined us and we all shared photos of our grand kids. Then Evon stopped by for a quick visit so it was great to have a one-stop gathering with old friends.
I then went to see my cousin, Fran - I think she is the oldest relative that I have left and we had a wonderful chat. It's nice to hear the news of her growing family, I think she has 12 or 13 great grandchildren now and gets to see them often. A visit to Stoughton just wouldn't be right without a stop at the cemetery to visit Mom, Dad, and Rocco's graves.
Back at Dawn's, I just sat in the back yard and enjoyed the gardens, yard art, birds, and the company of Mike, Pat, Dawn, and Rich. Dawn tried a new recipe for dinner tonight, a corn custard with ham, cheese, onion, and mushroom that was delicious!
It was a full and enjoyable day.
Sunday, August 5 - WI Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Pat! We celebrated on Friday night when we met them for fish fry at the Maple Tree in McFarland, along with several of Rogers's family members.
Earlier on Friday, Mike went to see Mom while I stayed and went swimming with Dawn and her family. Adrienne, Chad and their 2 toddlers Lila and Nolan came for the afternoon and we headed to Dawn's friend Mary Jo's houses to hang out at the pool with several of their friends. It was a perfect day for it and the pool felt so good.
Saturday was another busy day that we spent mostly with Pat. We took drive to Madison and planned to get ice cream at Ella's Deli but it was going to be more than a half hour wait so moved on. We checked out some of the areas where we used to live and ended up at Pasqual's on Monroe Street for a bite to eat. When we got back to Stoughton, We all took a little break before getting together again later in the evening.
I helped Pat harvest some veggies from the garden this morning and we made a big batch of cucumber salad and munched on tomatoes. His tomatoes are not doing well this year as most are rotting on the bottom probably due to the heat and drought conditions in spite of regular watering.
Mike and I went to visit my brother, Russ and his girlfriend for a little while but the are heavy smokers and we really couldn't stand it for too long. It was nice to see them and they were happily surprised.
Tonight we treated Pat and his family to a nice dinner at the Buckhorn Supper Club on Lake Koshkonong for his birthday that we won't be here to celebrate with him. We sat on the outdoor patio and enjoyed the beautiful day and cool breeze coming off the lake. What a gorgeous setting!
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Created on 08/01/2012 07:57 AM by bridge
Updated on 09/04/2012 12:28 PM by bridge
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