Traveling!

 Bob and I have been working hard packing everything up and moving things into the motor home. We finished Thursday and left about 1:00 for our first trip in a year and a half. It felt good! We drove about 2 hours to Tucson and have settled in through the weekend, visiting our friends Chuck and Linda (and their Corgi, Tucker.) It was so good to see them after such a long time. We hung out all afternoon and into the evening, then this morning we all drove to the Sonoran Desert Museum. 

This is a place we haven’t been to since we were here years ago with our friends, Mike and Retha. It was a beautiful day and we walked all throughout the museum (most of which is outdoors.) They have quite a nice collection of local plants and animals, plus gorgeous vistas.

Afterwards we stopped at a restaurant and bought some takeout food which we ate back at Chuck and Linda’s house. Linda and I did a little local shopping and we have decided to shop a bit more tomorrow. It has been so long since we’ve done that, and we are looking forward to a girls’ day out.

To Idaho and Back

Last week I flew to Idaho to visit my daughter Emily, her husband Anthony, and their four children. I felt like the groundhog coming out of his hole after a long long winter! And I did not see my shadow. A lot of people have asked me what it was like to get on a plane right now, so I’ll tell you.

My flight north was at 6:15 am and only had 38 people on it. I arrived two hours before and was pretty much the only person in the airport except for TSA agents. I breezed through security and found my terminal. When it came time to board, we were all waved forward in no order and we could sit with seats between us. Not so on the way back, a flight with an 11:40 am departure. The plane was completely full. I got an aisle seat next to two people who slept the whole way. Apparently Southwest no longer attempts to socially distance their passengers.

I tried not to touch surfaces like the tray table. People were good about leaving their masks on. No one took our temperature. The only time we were asked if we felt healthy was when we checked in online. Having had the 2 doses of vaccine, though (plus two weeks) I felt pretty safe.

And the visit was just wonderful. What a joy to be able to hug family again. Emily and Anthony picked me up at the airport and I had four fabulous days playing with the kiddos and visiting with the adults.

Little Luca was as adorable as his pictures and the girls and I enjoyed painting, making things from clay, paper beading, and playing games. I had brought Silas a book that he loved and asked for throughout the day, and he liked his Jungle Buddies. I cooked meals so they wouldn’t have to and baked bread. Such fun!

The weather was a bit off and on, with rain sometimes, a little hail one day, and then bright sunshine the rest of the time. Sunday was nice and we drove into Boise to visit the zoo. The older kids had a great time running around and little Luca was snug in his stroller, sleeping the whole time.

All too soon it was time to leave but I back brought with me a lot of great memories. We’ll see them again in August when we drive the motor home to Idaho on our way back to Arizona.

Bob and Auggie missed me but were happy to see me home again. And now we have the big move to do. Six months is a long time to be away from all my activities so they come with us, and that means a lot of work. Yesterday we had a guy come and wash the motor home so I stayed in and sewed up a couple pairs of cropped pants. And made pizza. Now the pants are done and I will be spending a lot of time each day lugging things over to the MH. Ugh. I really don’t enjoy this part, and it’s harder because we haven’t done it in eighteen months. But it will get done.

Traveling Time

I hope you all are doing well. It’s hard to believe the pandemic started one year ago this week and it became real to me when I started sewing masks for my grandchildren. I remember it being very upsetting to think that they would have to experience this. Now hopefully we are coming out the other side of it. And after making 178 masks, I’m ready to stop making them.

Bob and I have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and our bodies handled it well. In a couple of days we’ll be past the 2 weeks post-shot and can consider ourselves immune, or a least safe from a serious case.

Our daughter, Emily has had her baby! Little Luca was born Thursday afternoon at home, with his family around him. At 8 lbs, 13 ounces, he’s a good sized little fellow, and mother and baby are doing well.

I can’t wait to meet him, which I’ll be doing on Friday because I’m flying to Idaho to visit and help out for a few days. The timing here was crucial...my immunity had to be complete and we will be getting the motor home out of storage in a week and a half in preparation for our trip east, so there really was no wiggle room with our dates. I’m so excited! Bob really wanted to come but we decided it would be best if he and Auggie stayed back. Auggie is 15 years old now and we don’t think he’d handle the stress of a plane ride very well.

I’ve been knitting, sewing, and weaving like crazy the past several months. Here’s what I sent off to Luca:

A pin loom baby blanket

A tiny teddy bear, a crocheted doughnut rattle, booties, hat, mittens, a little mouse...

...and some Norwex baby items. Some things I forgot to photograph. Today I made him some pants. But they are a surprise so I can’t show you.

Bob made Luca a wooden baby rattle—it’s beautiful.

Bob has been busy making other things as well. Here he’s working on a bowl, and you can see the wishing well he built for our front yard. He made the bucket, too!

And here is the handle he made for one of my favorite spatulas. 

Once I get back from Idaho we’ll start loading up the motor home and closing down the house. It’s a big job. I don’t leave any food in Arizona, and most of our clothes will come as well. Even though we’ll be heading into summer we may hit some cold weather on our way back this fall. And I bring a lot of crafting things as well. Ah well...

We are looking forward to our trip across country. Stay tuned! I’ll be blogging more often as we get back on the road.

Welcome 2021

 I need not tell you how happy we all are to see the end of 2020. I have not really been in the mood to write a blog post since, like many of you, we seem stuck in a “Groundhog Day” loop of repeating the same day over and over again. Only the projects we are working on change, and I do wonder how interesting it is to read about them! However, it is pretty much all we have unless we focus on the thousands of people dying every day from this terrible disease. I lost a good friend this week to Covid-19. The last words she was able to text me were, “Covid is fast and mean.” I miss her terribly and keep thinking of things throughout the day to share with her before remembering she is gone. 

Goodbye my friend.

Nevertheless, Bob and I have stayed busy this season. We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal this year from Green New American Restaurant in Tempe. They cook a take-out meal that is delicious and vegan. 

We have enjoyed our deck and some lovely weather.

The Christmas lights in the park are beautiful, despite the fact that some people have not returned. Bob and I had fun walking around and seeing the pretty displays. It inspired us to up our game and do a little more decorating, too. I’ll try and get a picture of them before we take them down.

I found this cast iron bell and Bob built a mount for it so that folks can stand at the bottom of our steps and ring to get our attention.

Bob continues to explore new woodworking techniques and made me this lovely jewelry box.

He also built a Christmas shelf for some of our holiday figures. It hangs on the back of our kitchen island and will be removed after New Years Day until next Christmas. I tried to get a picture of it with little battery tea lights twinkling.

Most of my projects have been making little gifts, so I can’t how them here, but here are a few things I finished. 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year.

Halloween 2020

Since I last wrote, dear blogger, much has changed around here. The weather has changed abruptly from highs being in the 100s to the 80s and sometimes in the 70s. Nights are pleasant. Activities have ramped up despite the threat of COVID hanging over our heads. Like the rest of the country, new cases are increasing so we are being very cautious. 

Bob and I have been pretty busy with projects. I’ve sewn up several purses.

I spent a couple of days stitching out all the stitches on my Bernina sewing machine, which was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be. It was a very worthwhile project. Here are just a few of the pages. There are seventeen of them!

I recovered the kitchen chairs (again) and I’m much happier with them now. I put clear vinyl on them as well, to protect them from the dust we get here. I also made a matching kitchen curtain.

The pinwheel scarf is done.

I have sewn a new Advent calendar to replace the old family one that I made years ago, using fabric I found on eBay. This one is on its way to my daughter, Emily.

I knitted up a little Witchy Friend, designed by Esther Braithwaite.

A new little tape loom kit arrived from Great Britain and I assembled and painted it. It’s the size of a teacup—too cute!

Here’s the first band I wove on it.

The bathroom has been renovated and now is fresh and bright, with a new shower that replaces out old tub. We had someone do the shower for us but Bob replaced the vanity, toilet, and door to the wall cabinet. He replaced the light fixture and installed vinyl flooring and I painted the walls and trim. Bob has also been busy adding shelving to cabinets and replacing light fixtures. 

On top of all this, the Fiber Arts group is now meeting weekly, outside and socially distanced with masks. We may have to suspend meetings when it gets cold out, but for now we are fine.

Today the park held its annual Halloween Pet Parade. Auggie won “Scariest Costume” with his shark outfit and enjoyed all the attention. Here we are heading back with all of our prizes.

Happy Halloween!

September in AZ

 It’s been awhile since I posted here, I know, and I do apologize, dear blog reader. The days just seem to flow one into another, and all of a sudden I blink and another month has gone by. We’ve enjoyed the quiet of the park, and now that people are starting to return Auggie must adjust to people walking by without barking. There aren’t many early returnees yet, but within a month this place will be hopping again. Except for the Canadians, of course, whose health insurance won’t cover Covid-19 if they are in the US. Hopefully they’ll be able to return soon; a lot of our friends are from Canada.

We had a strong storm move through the area last month and I got a nice shot of the post-storm skies. There have only been a few thunderstorms this summer.

We have also kept watch over fires in Arizona. There have been some in Tonto National Forest, a couple of hours north of us, and some that were near Apache Junction to our east but none that came close enough to really worry us, thankfully. Our hearts go out to all those affected by the fires on the west coast.

We continue to stay busy. Since Bob’s woodturning skills have steadily improved he was able to make me some beams for my home-designed T-Loom. Ratchets and pawls from Kromski finished it all off, and I’m very happy with the loom’s upgraded tensioning.

Bob has finished his table for the living room and we both love it. It’s such a practical design for us and I love the walnut inlay in the top.

Months ago I started a games night with the grandchildren on Portal and Messenger which has continued every Monday. We play Bananagrams, Yahtzee, Card Bingo, and Uno and it has been a lot of fun. Sometimes Tim joins us as well. Recently I started a one-on-one daily session after dinner with Jillian. She has never been a very good eater at mealtimes and her diet was extremely limited, so this became a way to reinforce her sitting down with her family and eating. It’s been a huge success and she now eats a much more varied diet. And of course it’s a lot of fun for both of us! Here she’s reading me a story.

Jillian’s brother Alex recently had a birthday so I crocheted him a Mugman doll. It’s apparently a thing, but you will have to Google it to find out more. 😆

I have also been doing some quilting, and recently finished a geometric quilt in the Inner City pattern. I love quilts that look three dimensional.

One project that’s been hanging over my head since March is my cradle loom on which I planned to paint rosemaling. Last week I finally pulled out my paints and did a little. How I wish I had done it when my rosemaling class was fresh in my mind! I’m going to stop at this point for a bit. Perhaps I’ll be able to take another class and will be able to do it justice but right now I’m not able to. I know I can do better with a little help.

That’s it for now! Stay safe and pray for our nation.

Sixth Blogiversary

It’s hard to imagine I’ve been writing this blog for six years. And even more surprising how many changes we’ve gone through in that amount of time.

Many RVers with whom we’ve spoken have chosen to head to higher (and cooler) ground for the summer. Bob and I have discussed doing that but have decided to stay put here in the park for several reasons. First off, campgrounds at higher elevations have filled up because more people are RVing. And we are trying to avoid crowds. Second, Bob and I want to avoid a situation where, if we DID contract Covid-19, we would not be near a good hospital. There are excellent medical facilities in and around Phoenix. And third, we both have projects going that keep us busy and interested and that are not portable. And so we have stayed! Right now I am waiting to hear back from Texas DPS (their Motor Vehicle department) to see if my application to renew my drivers license by mail will be accepted. If I can’t renew by mail we will have to travel to Texas. We should know soon if that’s going to happen.

I’ve been having so much fun with my new sewing machine and have it all set up in my studio. When my ironing board started to break I asked Bob to raise up the wooden board I covered with batting and a sheet and attach it to the wall. The other end rests on a drawer unit. At 36” high, the board is much more comfortable to stand and iron, and provides a surface to cut out small projects, too. Perfect!

I also made a small pressing table from a little folding table, that sits to the left of the sewing table. On it, I can turn and press a seam without getting up.

My towels are off the loom and I am hand-hemming them. I’m very pleased! Photos will follow when I’m finished, but here is a pic of the last towel on the loom, with trees woven into it.

Speaking of trees, the park is trimming all the palm trees here. This is what the street looked like yesterday right after trimming was finished.

For some reason, more activity rooms are being opened here. Right now the billiards room, sewing room, library, and computer lab are open. This in addition to the pool and the ballroom for movie showing. I have a bad feeling about these openings. Once people return to the park I suspect virus cases will start to spike if people start attending indoor activities. We shall see. For a while, or until there’s a vaccine, I’ll be staying outdoors.