Early Spring in Arizona

    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 said he suspected the leak had come from the roof.  He went up there and found a large crack near the rear windows and sealed the crack.  Yesterday we had a heavy rain--3/4 inch- which is a lot for the Arizona desert.  Thankfully, there were no leaks!

  Southern Arizona has had quite a bit of rain and the desert is very green.  In places, it almost  looks like a cultivated green lawn.  Wildflowers are also thriving.  We saw this field of daisies nearby.

Saturday we wandered through the swap meet in Mesa.  That is a large tent filled with individual vendors.  You can buy anything from a hot dog to a hot tub to deluxe kitchen remodels. There are numerous t-shirt shops and decorative crafts, "As seen on TV" vendors are always interesting.

 We bought a couple of kitchen gadgets and some hobby items.  In the past, we purchased suitcases for our last trip to England.

This is also the Renaissance Festival season.  That means the traffic is awful from Phoenix and Mesa on our West to the festival grounds on the East.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday it is slow going to and from our resort.

    

Driving that slow, we got a good view of the lupine along the shoulder.