It's getting about that the time.

I guess we've set a date.  Not for a night out and dinner and a movie.  A date to head back to the Midwest.  We've been assured the snow is all gone.  I do realize that we'll need winter clothes and jackets for a month or so but we're anxious to get back and see the family.  The kids, grand kids, great grand kids, brothers and sisters and their families. 

We want to pay a visit to Mackinaw Island, Michigan.   It's been years since we were there.  To show how long it's been;  They were filming a movie and there were giant cables all over the place.  The movie was Somewhere In Time staring Christopher Reeves.  Friends of ours, Retired Navy Chaplain Fred and Mrs Mary Zobel, will be the summer guest pastor at a church on the island. 

We're going to be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this fall.  We haven't decided what we're going to do for that but we want it to be a little special.   More information to follow as we firm up plans.

BTW, the date we're planning on leaving AZ is April 8th.

Another Wednesday with my Sweetie

As you may or may not have figured out Wednesday is the day we do most of our out and about. Yesterday was no exception.  Tuesday night while we were discussing what we wanted to do on Wednesday, we brought up the possibility of shaking up the Wednesday routine.
Tuesday's email had a very interesting  advertisement from Village Inn Restaurant.  They had a breakfast special which included four (4) columns to choose one from each.  Their display was two egg cheese omelet, 2 pieces of bacon, hashbrowns and orange supreme crepe. 
Well we decided to take them up on that offer and have breakfast on Wednesday instead of a late lunch..  BTW the pictures won out from both of us.  It was not a mistake either.  Yummy and just enough.
Then the decision was made to take a ride to Vail and have a Sonoran Hot Dog for a late lunch/early supper so I could still go to bingo.  Love these Sonoran Hot Dogs.....imagine a plump excellent grade hot dog wrapped in bacon and cooked over a nice slow grill till the hot dog is hot and the bacon is crisp.  Can't loose with that combination.  The remaining toppings seem to vary with the different vendors. 
I'm sure you're wondering how I did at bingo.  Collected money all night but never won. 

Good Day in our home.

Very good day at our house.  Since this is 3.14 pi day I decided to make a pie.  Gave Ron a list of what I had in stock and he chose Coconut Cream pie.  Started on that right after lunch.  The blind crust turned out perfect.  It's been a long time since I've made one.  The filling and the meringue turned out perfect, thanks to my good pots and pans and Kitchenaide mixer. 

Took a break and started on the Sloppy Joes for supper.  Ree Drummond's cook book, Pioneer Woman, was the source for the recipe.  I've made it before and we love it.  Doesn't take that long to make and only has to cook for 20 minutes.  I usually make it ahead of time so it cooks a little longer.
While I was making the sloppy joes, our friend, Larry, drove up and delivered a plate of apple strudel.  Since he was here and Ron had the college basketball games on he stayed for awhile.  Thanks to Gerry and Larry for the strudel.  We haven't had any in a long time.
 
Ron made a quick trip to the office before they closed to check out our mail.  We can get our letters when the office is closed but no any packages.  Today is the day our package of mail from back home is supposed to arrive.  It came and held four special envelopes.  Two addressed to Ron and two addressed to me.  All from the Federal Government.  Exactly four weeks to the day from when they received the renewal application in Philadelphia  till we got our new Passports and Passport Cards.  Of course they came in separate envelopes.  The only thing missing was our old Passports and that's no bid deal.
We decided on both this time so we can just put the cards in our wallets and cross the border into Mexico or Canada without having to remember the passports. 

We're so glad to have them back.  We've actually needed them while we didn't have them.  Just for identification so now we can finish off a project we wanted to do before we left Arizona this spring.

Of course, I can't conclude the day without one more piece of good news and one bad news.  First the bad news, Missouri lost to Florida in the SEC tournament.  I'm still proud of Missou for their performance since they've joined the SEC.
The good news, surprise, Duke won.  It was close at the end and I thought for a few minutes they were going to blow their lead but they hung on to advance in the ACC tournament.

Cactus Country

We've survived "winter" in southern Arizona without putting a single cover on a single plant.  Now that's what I call a good winter.  Today, March 1st, the unofficial start of spring, is 65 degrees, cloudy, windy and waiting for rain at our place and snow in the mountains.  The Mount Lemmon ski resort hasn't even opened this year due to lack of snow.  Haven't seen any rain but we're all praying for it.  First, because we always need rain in the desert.  Second, if we get a lot of rain, just maybe the rest of the country won't get as much snow.  We're all hoping.  Most of us are from Minn, IL, IN, Mich and Ohio. 
Today was our annual Canadian Breakfast at the rec hall.  The Snowbirds from Canada and some of their US friends put on a free breakfast for everyone.  You don't have to be Canadian to go and enjoy.  They decorate the hall with posters about people and things that are from Canada and raffle off very nice Canadian memorabilia.  Lets just say, I didn't walk away hungry. 

February in Tucson

Well, February in Tucson time is flying by.  We'll need March to rest up so we can go back to IL in April.  However, with the kinds of weather they've been having back there, I'm not sure when that will be. 
With the Gem, Fossil and Mineral show and Tubac Arts Festival over the La Fiesta do los Vaqueros and Match Play Golf is next.  It's not looking like we will be seeing either this year.  The Gold by choice but the Rodeo because we ran out of time.  The finals are this weekend but that's not my cup of tea.  We went a few times but besides it being crowded the people in back of me's knees got pretty sharp. 
The three kitchen curtains are complete, hung and working out great.  I was feeling they had become my life's work.  They were worth it.  I'm pretty proud of myself of the final product since it had been years since I'd made any type of curtains and certainly none that were lined. 
I threw away my to do list this morning.  It only had one item still on it.  RODEO

Tomorrow is our BBQ by the pool.  The money we raised at the dessert auction goes to buy all the food.  Then there will be a "Chinese Auction" in the afternoon.  I have heard of the concept but not the name.  After you buy a block of tickets you walk around the display of "things" and put your ticket in the one you want to win.  They drawing will be later in the afternoon and winner's have to be present.  I know there is a flat screen TV, coffee maker, electric griddle and lots of other things on display at the office so I'm imagining there will be lots more prizes to go around.  Looking forward to seeing friends and catching up on their activities.

Catching up AGAIN

It seems my creative juices have temporarily dried up.  I'm sorry I haven't written sooner.  We've been traveling all month.  All day trips.  I'll try to sum up as best I can.
The next week after the Olive Oil Festival we headed to Sierra Vista.  On our way we drove by Ft Huachuca, an Army Intelligence Base. From the time we entered the perimeter till we were out the other side we spied a giant gold fish cracker in the sky over the Huachuca Mountains.  At first we thought it was a spy drone but it turned out to be a giant balloon tethered to the ground.  The closer we got the more it looked like a giant gold fish cracker.  No joke.  The object of this adventure was to find some material to make curtains for our three kitchen windows where the old blinds won't fit with the new windows.  Success, found the three colors I was looking for plus Ron found material he wanted for me to make into bathroom curtains and I found backing for the jelly roll quilt top I had made.  Lunch was at a 50s diner one of the employees at "Squirrel's Nest" had recommend.  Hamburger and French fries in a plastic basket and fountain coke.  Success was the day's motto.

The Tubac Art Festival was next.  One of our favorite February Southern Arizona happenings.  Not  a disappointment either.  Found some copper wall hangings to further along our southwest motif.  Ended up with a big bag of kettle corn and on our way to Green Valley to get a late lunch at the "Arizona Family Restaurant"  Love the place, reminds me of back home and the Greek owned restaurants with their family friendly home cooked  menus.  I even had fried chicken.  It was so good.  I don't get to have that very often so it was a special treat. 

Then came the Gourd Festival at the Penal County Fairgrounds.  This trip was shared with our friends, Gerry and Larry.  Larry drove and Gerry and I sat in the back seat and caught up on everything.  Larry's brother and his friend just left town after three weeks in sunny southern AZ so we hadn't had a chance to chat for almost a month.  The drive was a pleasant one and the Festival was very interesting.  We had never been to it but Larry and Gerry have so they were our unofficial guides.  The building were the gourd artists exhibited their wares was my personal favorite.  The things people made out of the gourds were amazing.  In fact, we have a giant gourd on the top rung of a book shelf.  Ron fell in love so it followed him home.  A stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home filled all our tummies.

This is also Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil show time.  It started in some venues on February 2nd and is still going on in other places.  We ventured to Kino Park (Sox and Diamonbacks old spring training field) for their displays  Not looking for much in particular we ended up making a short visit.  Of course we hit the tool tent.  If you need hand tools in any shape or size, they have it and since Sunday is their last day, they were having sales.  Yes, Ron picked up a few must have pieces.  Actually I thing he's past the must have and is inching toward the "like to have".  I picked up a couple pair of cheap ear rings and Ron took his ring back to where bought it last year for a quick repair. 

Home to work on those three kitchen curtains till time to get ready for Larry and Gerry to pick us up for Happy Hour and dinner at Guadalajara Restaurant on Kolb.  We ended up running a little late but got some outdoor seating on a beautiful night.  We enjoyed our appetizers and main courses, which ever we chose as our one plate.  The appetizer plates are big as a meal plate.  I had mini chimis and ended up bringing two home.  Lunch today.  Yea.

More to come but I think we could all use a break.

Queen Creek New Olive Oil Pressing Festival.

Or something to that effect.  It's Queen Creek Olive Company in Queen Creek, AZ.  It's a two hour drive up I-10 to SR87 and then meander north and east and sometimes south on country roads, past hydroponic grown vegetable patches and very large prisons.  It was an adventure.  The GPS was right on so that wasn't a problem.  We drove through several small towns, none of which I'd ever heard of before today.  Queen Creek is just outside Sen Tan, AZ.  Sen Tan and a couple other towns look really new and just built.  Side walks and gutters with beautiful landscaping. 
The festival was in honor of their olive pressing that they completed the third week of December 2013.  We saw some of the trees that were a part of the landscaping but none of the main crop. We saw where they press the olives by centrifugal force after they whole olive is crushed to bring out the extra virgin olive oil that they sell.  I purchased Myer lemon infused olive oil and Ron got a jar of olive tapenade.   Lots of healthy food, we think.   Couldn't get close to the lunch counter to check it out but the food that was on people's plates as they moved outside to enjoy their lunch looked very inviting.  We opted for a cup of their fresh roasted coffee and sharing a lemon/cranberry scone.  Then stopped in Marana on the way back for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel. 
It's not real big nor is it fancy but the combination of the trip and the place was a  good experience.  One we agreed we're be more than happy to repeat if our friends, Gerry and Larry, wanted to make the trip in the future.  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures even though I had planned on it.