New Babies

We are delighted to have 2 new members added to our family.

Rene and Marc had Maxen in October.
Marika and Tobin had pretty little Freya last week.

Welcome and love to all. 

Mini Golf Tourney

Bob organized a mini golf tournament for us tonight at 5 pm. We ate appies, told some lies, then drew partners and off we went.
The sun went down and the overhead lights came on.

We had a great time including a golf-out for a tie for first place.

Tempe Christmas Parade

We went with Gail and Bob to this parade last night and what a delight.

We always find that Americans are really into decorating. The Police and all the other civic workers were represented.

Even the trees along the sidewalk were lighted nicely. You just walked along with a smile on your face in the  70 degree weather and gave thanks.

Adventures with Jan

Jan and I braved the Mall yesterday on Black Friday at Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory and Bealls. Very impressive bargains, lots and people and Christmas decorations are now up.

We dropped into the Superstition Mountain Museum and saw Elvis, small models and an autograph.
There is a large sun dial in the earth with a tall cactus as the marker.

 Jan just loved it here and is trying to figure out how to retire as fast as she can.

She hadn't seen Saguaro cactus before so saw many here and we cracked up at the headstones at Boot Hill.

We've Lost a Good Friend

Our dear friend Donna from our condo passed away Thursday. I sold her 'farm' in Surrey and when she bought into the Tivoli we followed her there and have shared 20 years of love and laughter with her and the condo group. She must be happy because now she's with Bruce.

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated the American Thanksgiving today. I hosted our table of 9 so I collected the free 15 lb. turkey from the park and cooked it with dressing and gravy. The others did the rest. It was delicious and then our friend Jan (who's here for 3 days) and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. We were nearly the only ones there - I think the rest were sleeping off their big noon meal.

Curtis Entertains

Our neighbour Curtis from down the street was today's entertainment in the courtyard. He is an amazing performer, very talented and wore about 10 different hats for all his different styles - from Country to Classic to Rastafarian. Lost of people were up dancing.

Friends joined us and it was a great afternoon.

Busy Days

I rode my bike for 2 hours Sat. morning visiting all the patio sales in the complex. Gail gave me a pair of salmon coloured capris that didn't fit her right and I found a matching top for 25 cents. A new outfit!
We went to play shuffleboard Sunday and everything was locked up at 2 different courts so that was put off.

Here's the guys.
onday Ron went to Bocci and I played in the mixed pool league. Here they play 1/ 15. If you are high or low, you have to sink the 1 or 15 ball in the specified side pocket before you can sink the 8 ball and of course the opposition tries to block this play. It is very different and can change in an instant. Good fun.
Here's an interesting license plate we saw at the mall.

HoBo Carnival

Today was a HoBo Carnival at the Fiesta complex. You bought $5.00 of HoBo Bucks, won a whole bunch more in carnival style games and bid on auction items.

There was lots of fun and good prizes.

Organ Stop Pizza

We had the most fantastic experience last night - great pizza at this restaurant that was built to house the largest Wurlitzer Theatre pipe organ in the world. In the silent film era, motion picture Theatres had pit orchestras and pianists providing background music. As labour costs escalated, Theatre organs took over, described as part military band, part symphony and part theatrical sound effects. We heard them all last night. This organ originated at the Denver Theatre in 1927 but talking pictures came in, the 1930's depression took over and a fire silenced it in the 1930's. At the beginning of the evening, the organ and Organist are raised from the pit by a 8000 lb. rotating hydraulic elevator.

 

Organ Stop Pizza purchased this Organ as a 3 manual console with 15 ranks/sets of pipes, renovated it to a 23 rank Organ installing it in their original restaurant in 1975. Above the Organist is a set of dancing cats which move to rinky tink music he plays. They have continued to improve and add to this Theatre organ, including a massive set of 32' wood diaphones, resulting in 78 ranks, 17 tuned percussions, innumerable traps and effects with 6000 pipes.You can see the bellows below the pipes above, this on the left 1/2 of the room with  the drums on the mezzanine on the left with a grand piano behind and bongo drums and player piano to the right side.The 43' ceilings provide unparallelled acoustics.
There are 4 huge turbine blowers to provide the massive amount of wind need to power all of this.

The Organists are all world famous.It was a wonderful experience and if you are ever in Phoenix/Mesa area this should be on your list for fun and great food.

Boothill at Superstition Museum

Here's Boot Hill, complete with the boots on the fence posts. I cracked up over this graveyard. someone with a terrific sense of humor must have helped restore it.

Superstition Mounain/ Lost Dutchman Museum

We stopped here on our way to Goldfield. There is a small interesting museum, featuring the Fact, Fiction and Folklore of the Superstition wilderness and an old mine that used to be. They have dedicated their little church to Elvis.

 

Goldfield, AZ, a Ghost Town

We headed out past Apache Junction today by the Superstition Mountains and visited this 1890's authentic Old West mining town. All the buildings and this old water tank are original and look like they'd fall down if you blew on them. A gunfight took place outside the Bordello on the main street which really is the only street with the Church at the end. There were dead bodies everywhere. These grown men finally have their dream job, playing and shooting the bad guys. Their look so authentic, I thought they must be left over from those days.

There is an old narrow gauge railway where you can take a little ride around the town and desert. There are mine tours, a Jail of course, a Salon and Mercantile with food and drinks, lots of shops and it was lots of fun to visit. You felt just like you were in back in the 1890's.

Lest We Forget

No matter where I am, I always watch Remembrance services and am thankful for the wonderful lives we have. Thanks to all our people who serve and have given their lives..

Val Vista Resort

We were welcomed to this Resort with an insulated gift bag, (excellent for taking cold items to the pool), with 2 VV wine glasses, chili peanuts, popcorn and salsa. Wed. was a welcome Wine and Cheese party. I had to leave because of the overhead fans, not knowing that my crowd would close the place down after they'd polished off the wine. I should have got a hat and gone back. I'm still thirsty.

Ron went to bocci ball this morning. Pickle-ball was also in action.

Here's the library.
This section of the park has larger sites and includes your own picnic and gas BBQ spot.
There are many shuffleboard courts in 3 different areas and they are just finishing a new racquet club with more tennis and pickle ball courts.

Pool, Dinner and Cards

We visited around Debbie and Richards’ pool today meeting some of their very nice neighbours. This complex sure has worked out well for them. They have refinished their condo and what a lovely job. First class. We enjoyed a great dinner, then had fun playing  bid euchre.

What a Pool Party!!!

Well, nothing like a bunch of unemployed people hanging around the pool and acting like 5 year olds. This was the Welcome Back Party. The line dancers were at the end of the pool. The squirt guns were soaking everyone, the no splash zone didn't work out.

The Congo line went around several times.

 

Here's Gail and I.  The band was good as usual. Everyone had a blast.

Even the flamingos had a good time.