Sunday Sunshine

What a beautiful day our Lord hath made.  Church, as always, was joyous occasion.  What wasn't was we forgot Ron's brother, Wayne, birthday.  Luckily, his wife didn't and sent him to teach Sunday School with instructions to invite us back to their beautiful home for dinner.  A friend, Terry, was at Sunday morning service also.  All dressed up in his zoot suit and driving his pea green "Super Bee".  Terry lived in Lockport area for a long time and even went to the same church but we were always a few years ahead of him.  We keep finding more and more things we shared at different times.
So, all of us went back to Wayne and Norma's home and were joined by Norma's son, Jay, daughter, Bridget,and her boyfriend, Matthew, and her daughter Kelsey.  Wayne's son, Nicholas, and his wife joined us later for a delicious meal of lasagna, garlic bread and salad with apple pie a la mode and coffee for dessert.  Followed by breaking up in mini groups talking and shooting off fireworks, they're legal in AZ now.
Our day was so enjoyable Ron didn't mind missing all the football games on TV.

Saturday in the Park

With the temperature hovering in the mid seventies you'd think it was the 4th of July but it's the 4th of December instead.
A 9 am arrival of the guy to power wash and wax our RV plus caulk the roof and put a sealant on it started our day out with a lot of noise but we left them to their project and took off with a neighbor to the Rincon Farmer's Market.  I was disappointed in the produce venders, they were few and far between.  The Artisans were plentiful and the ones in the barn had some beautiful wares.  We did venture out the other side to the crafters and such.  Pat and I sampled some pretzels that looked interesting until we saw the price on the small plastic bag and decided they weren't that interesting.
When we arrived back to our sight we spotted a beautifully clean and shinny RV.  They did a great job and it will be a positive image for people coming in the park since we're on the front row.
The rest of the day was taken up with talking to friends and neighbors and getting the fixing ready for supper.  Starting out with shrimp cocktail and a martini and ending with Steak....Caesar Salad.....Baked Potato.  We would have had a baked apple for dessert but someone left them in IL and we haven't been to get any more.  So we'll have to settle for a couple pieces of good Christmas Candy from Farm and Fleet that we did remember to bring back with us.

First Friday of the Month.

The first Friday of every month the Quilter's Patch Quilt Shop has two specials.  First is 12 fat quarters for $10. and if you call ahead and bring more than four people you get an additional 10 % off your entire order.  That said, nine of us piled into two vans and headed for Sahaurita Road.  I drove one van with three friends riding along.  We arrived in time to be the first customers giving Pat the honor of picking the fabric bolt of the day with 20 % off as the prize.
After an abundance of fat quarters and a few yards of beautiful material off we went to the second stop on what is becoming our first Friday of the month routine.  We stopped at Argenzianos for lunch.  It's a small Italian Restaurant with the most delicious smells as soon as you walk in the room.    I'm presuming everyone had all that they wanted to eat since we all got to go boxes.
It is sure nice having the van here so I can take my turn driving and parking is so much easier.

Last night on the road, this time.

Well, we're in Las Cruces, NM for the night but getting here today was the most fun.  We left Amarillo, TX about 7 am and drove for two hours till it was 8 am in Clovis, NM.  Then headed south.  IL plains have nothing on NM flat land.  Wow, you could see nothing for ever except  BNSF trains filled with coal cars and piggy back  semis and inter modal shipping containers. Roswell, NM was our next stop.  We weren't interested in the UFO stuff so we stopped at the visitors center and fell into a great FREE Museum on the same property.  It had exhibits of a man who made and carved the most beautiful guns.  400 to over 600 hours of carving on every one.  Then there was an exhibit of a rocket maker who moved to Roswell so he had room to experiment shooting them off AND he was a friend of Charles Lindberg who helped him.  We stopped in Ruidoso, NM for lunch.  When we looked out the window of Denny's it was snowing.  Wasn't sticking but that was a false sense of security.  The farther down the road the more Casinos we saw and the more snow along the side of the road.  It never got real bad.  Then we came along by White Sands National Monument and decided to stop and take a look.  Thanks to our senior citizens National Parks Pass we got to see it for free.  It was a self tour of 8 miles round trip.  The gypsum that looks so much like snow was beautiful since it wasn't snow.  LOL  We ended up driving off the roadway and just driving on it.  We had to get out and take pictures of each other standing next to a dune.  It felt like really fine sand.  They were going to have a moonlight walk later on but we had places to go.

Sunday Afternoon etc.....

3:30 pm on a Sunday afternoon and we pull into a motel for the night.  Ummmm, wonder why so early, could it have anything to do with football?  Maybe it was because we'd been on the road since 6:30 am this morning?
Well, what ever the real reason is, we're in a motel room in Amarillo, TX for the night.  
Tomorrow's destination is Los Cruises, NM.  Hopefully that will be a shorter day with time to stop and check out some things along the way.  Landing at CCRV, Tucson, AZ is scheduled for Tuesday. 
Which reminds me.  Just got an email from one of Ron's foster brother, Dan.  As you probably all know he was on Wheel of Fortune this summer but couldn't tell us how he did except he didn't ask Pat "I gotta P".  The show he was on is supposed to be broadcast Tuesday, Nov 30th.  You'll have to check your local paper to find out the time.  Can't wait to see him on TV.  Hope he did well.  

Saturday after Thanksgiving.

We're on the road again. Heading for AZ.  Spending the night in Springfield, MO.  What do you think the chances are that I'll run into Brad Pitt without Angie and the kids?  That's what I thought.  Oh well, if I found him, I probably wouldn't know what to do with him.  LOL
Today went well, chilly but the sun was bright and warm.  The van is a much better vehicle for long trips than a 3/4 ton diesel truck.  Conned Ron into stopping at a Cracker Barrel for lunch so I'm not hungry for supper but when I am, I'm going to have a delicious turkey sandwich and cranberry salad.
Ron's enjoying unlimited TV channels with a "clean" remote.  That's what the remote holder said, "clean" remote.

Friday after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was great.....great company AND great food.  Food would have been a bit better if I hadn't done/or not done something to the noodles when I made them but it was obvious they were not going to be used.
The turkey was sweet and juicy and easy to cut with Elizabeth's twin to my knife that Ron bought us this summer.  Cranberry salad turned out good, as usual, with Ron's secret ingredient.  The lima beans were cooked to perfection as was the corn that Elizabeth and Alan cut off the cob and froze themselves.  There was even left over potatoes, not because they weren't delicious but because Elizabeth and Nick peeled enough that even Eric (Alejandro) couldn't eat them all.  Everything was cooked perfectly and ready at the same time so that all of us, including Eric's friend Katie, could set down and enjoy.  Enjoy we did, that house was never so quiet.
Ron and Alan pitched in and helped clean up the kitchen so Elizabeth could take a break.
We all enjoyed a slice of her home made pumpkin pie and a cup of delicious coffee, relaxed for a while and then headed home so Oliver and Gracie could come out and enjoy their home again.
Thanks Betsy for one of the best Thanksgivings I've had in a long time.