The Phoenix area receives an average of 5.5 inches of precipitation a year. We have received that much already in 2023 and the summer monsoons don't arrive until summer.  We are enjoying the beautiful weather and the flowers brought out by the rain. These are Argentine giant cactus flowers.  We see them each spring here in Gold Canyon and I think of them as Easter lilies of the desert.  In the past we have seen only white flowers on the plants. This year, there have also been several other colors, as well.  The ocotillo also are blooming.   So are other cactus plants. When we are not out walking and checking on the beautiful flowers, John has been using the scroll saw to make trivets and coasters. I am happy to report the bruises and swelling on my face are slowly leaving.  I still look rough, but I am getting better.

When it is spring break time in Littleton, Colorado, we are lucky to receive a visit from Eric and his wife Liz and two children, Kylie and John.   Getting together always means eating together.  Sometimes I prepared the food. One day, we visited the Cactus Grill here in our resort. They enjoy sitting by the pool and getting some sun.  We seldom do that but we did join them there one day. One evening, they took us out to eat at San Tan Flats in Queen Creek, a town just south of Gold Canyon. The restaurant has decorations from the old west    There is seating both outside and indoors.  We started outside and ended inside where we were out of the sun. After they left we returned to our routine, which means walking daily in our resort.  Unfortunately, Thursday I fell and did a face plant on the left side of my face. Saturday, I did it again, only this time I got the right side of my face.  I guess I wanted my face to be evenly bruised! Nothing h...

    This is our 10th year  to spend the winter in this casita in Gold Canyon, Arizona, east of Phoenix.  It t so nice not to contend with ice and snow in the winter.  Today, as I write this, our temperature is 63 degrees, while in the Denver area it is 28 degrees.  We used to enjoy downhill and cross-country skiing.  Today, we can enjoy walking outside.  Much better.     A couple of months ago, we found water spots on my jewelry box.  We contacted Hector and Sons painting to calk the windows where the leak seemed to be.  After doing that, we had the entire home painted.  First, they power-washed the outside and primed over the cracks in the stucco.                                        As you can see, house looks really nice after it is painted.        While the prep work was being done, Hector...

 Normally, we come to our winter home in Gold Canyon Arizona, in September.  Nothing about this year has been normal.  The first major change was in April last year when we sold our Airstream trailer.  Then we adjusted to living in an apartment in Lone Tree.  Next, John was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. His radiation treatments began in mid-December. That meant he made a trip to the hospital for treatments 4 or 5 days a week, putting a crimp on any other plans for the day.   It also meant that we have spent our first winter in the Colorado cold since probably 2009.   The treatments are complete and we wait for three months before blood tests will show the doctors if the radiation was a success.  We had planned to leave Denver Tuesday, January 31. However, a storm was predicted for northern Arizona that day so we waited until February 1 to drive south.  It was so good to get to the (relative) warmth of the Phoenix valley....

This will be our first Christmas in our apartment. We are enjoying seeing how folks decorate, especially in the hall outside their door. Since our own Christmas decorations are still stored in our Arizona winter home, our apartment doesn't look very festive. We did buy a tree. The garland (?) of yarn is a tribute to the tree decoration our first holiday in the funeral home we owned in Castle Rock. We had moved in just a few days before Christmas and we brought our artificial tree from our Boulder home to Castle Rock. My sister-in-law had some yarn that was very thick and I used it to make large bows on the branches of the tree. This year, I didn't want to duplicate the decorations we have stored in Arizona, so I again used yarn and a borrowed nativity. Next year we will have our own decorations in our apartment. The nativity scene next to this tree is borrowed from our daughter-in-law, Liz. She has a collection of these and agreed to my using this one this year. Many ...

We bought this house in May 1992 and it was the location of so many wonderful events, from family gatherings for Christmas and Thanksgiving to entertaining friends and hosting vestry meetings. There were baby showers and teas with our grandchildren. We built an HO guage model railroad in the basement which we enjoyed with our grandchildren. John set up a stained glass workshop where he produced numerous windows for our home and for friends and family. In 2009 we moved out and began traveling year-long in our RV. The house was converted to rental property and our son Eric managed it. In the last 13 years we had two renters who provided us with a steady income. But it is now time to simplify our lives and we decided to sell it. Just before Thanksgiving, we closed on the sale of the house. Yea! We will invest the proceeds so we can receive some income to compensate in part for what funds we had been getting in rent. It was a great home and then income property. But i...