Merry Christmas

I realize it has been a long time since you have seen me on this blog, but ......... well, I'm not really sure why it has been so long.  

I feel a need to write now and let you all know how blessed we feel.  This was our first Christmas in Arizona and it did feel a bit strange having no snow or cold weather for the holiday.  Our dear friend, Will DeBoer, said we would get used to it.  We met them for a Christmas breakfast at a historic hotel downtown Tucson for breakfast and we had NO heavy coats, gloves or scarves!!!

The first thing we noticed on Christmas morning as we were driving downtown Tucson was that there was no traffic - no car or foot traffic.  It was almost completely deserted.  It was actually fun driving around. 

Will and Linda had invited us to meet them for breakfast.  It was a lovely three hours with great food, a beautiful atmosphere and dear friends.

Thanks, Linda for letting me steal your pictures.

At 4:00 we had a Christmas dinner at our clubhouse.  The park furnishes the ham and we all bring dishes for our table of 16.  I believe we had 7 tables of 16 people at each table.  We brought a chocolate truffle for dessert and it sure looked good.  The food was great and the company fun.

Here are some pictures of our patio and street all decked out for the holidays:

 Christmas Eve we all put out luminaries and residents of the park went caroling to some of the older residents.  It was really pretty when they were all lit.

 Our front door

We didn't have a Christmas tree - just a light-up wreath.

We hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours.  Love to you all,

Gramma and MOM

Washington State

We arrived in Washington state the evening of July 4th.  Washington does not take nearly as long to cross as Montana. 

Can you believe these Washingtonians put blankets around their hay bales?  I'm not sure if they're trying to protect them from snow, rain or the cold.  Lots of hay fields in eastern Washington.

 We were buzzing along the freeway and see this sign for George, Washington.  Very creative

 This is one of the most picturesque areas along the trip from South Dakota to Washington.  You come down a hill and you see this bridge that crosses the Columbia River. When we moved the Hoekstra's from Iowa to Washington, coming down this hill was the only traffic backup we encountered.  Guess what it was?  They were cleaning the highway at the bottom of the hill just before the bridge. 

Someday I would like to take a river cruise on the Columbia River - it is such a beautiful area.

 A wonderful SURPRISE - we could see this majestic mountain off in the distance and realized that it was Mount Rainer.  We have only see this mountain from the air because it's usually in the clouds - it was gorgeous and we were rather excited.  Mount Rainer is south of Seattle and we were looking at it from eastern Washington.  The beauty that God provides for us to enjoy!!!

 Even a couple more barns.....

 a wind farm with the mountains in the background...

 smoke rising from the trees and mountains - Peter said he especially likes to see this

 When we got over the Snoqualmie Pass, we encountered a traffic back-up.  FORTUNATELY it was in the lane going east - I'm sure it was at least 20 miles long.  Luckily our lane was smooth sailing.  After we turned off the freeway, there was also a backup on the little two-lane highway we like to take to avoid Seattle but once again, our lane going north was just fine.

 our lane

 Almost to Lynden.  They have these enormous marshmallows here - can't imagine making a s'more with one of these.

Well, we're here.  When we drove into the Hiemstra Hideaway, we were pleasantly surprised with how beautiful the cottage looked.  They had been working very hard to get it painted and all spruced up.  Maybe I'll have pictures of the cottage next week.

Have a good weekend coming up.
Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Going to Washington

I decided that I was soooooooooooooo far behind on my blog that I would start with last week and then possibly go back to the beginning of summer and then back again to the present.  Got all that?

We left Brandon about 12:15 last Wednesday heading for Sturgis.  Spent the evening and Thursday morning with Rich and Henrietta.  Had a nice time as we usually do.  If their home sells quickly, which we hope it does, it would have been the last time we were in Sturgis.  Left Sturgis about 10:15 on Thursday morning and took the "shortcut" through Wyoming.  It's supposed to save us about 100 miles but it certainly didn't save us any time this trip.  But considering that we left SD late, had several construction zones and just the extra time of going on 2-lane roads, we were OK with it.  Got to Billings, MT and had to make the decision of going on to Bozeman (another 130 miles) or just stopping early and staying in Billings.  We chose the second.  Left again Friday morning and put in a long (630 miles) and went all the way to Ritzville, WA.  Montana is such a diverse, beautiful state and I always take lots of pictures and they just stay on my camera.  This year I decided to focus on old barns.  Here's a sample of what we saw last Friday driving along.

Barns are interesting and my camera does not do them justice but this is the best I can do from my car window going down the freeway at 70mph.

This next picture is not a barn, of course, but just one of the many goody snacks we devoured during the day.  Snacks are good for you, we've decided and indulged in them frequently.

Saturday we traveled from Ritzville to Lynden.  More on that later.  Hope you're all staying cool in the Midwest.  Washington is in the mid 70's to low 80's but a cool breeze and lots of sunshine. 

Love to all
Gramma and MOM

Spring Fling

Every year our park has a big end-of-the year party called the Spring Fling.  They have a catered meal, entertainment all around a theme.  This year's theme was Lotza Lotza - that meant lots of anything.  It was a good time and the entertainment was a Buddy Holly impersonator.  Now, I know you girls probably do not know who Buddy Holly is but dad and I certainly do and we loved it.

I made dad's shirt for him - it was lots of 50-50 loosing raffle tickets.  Every Thursday morning at coffee and donuts, you can buy 3 tickets for $2 and then you can win $10.  Half of the money goes to the Rec Committee and the other half is paid out.  I actually won a couple weeks ago - I usually win once every couple of years; there are some people who win 6 or 7 times a year.  I just figure it's my contribution to the park.

Dad's shirt turned out really cute except he kept loosing his tickets as the evening wore on.

 Marv and Judy had lotza color and mismatched outfits. Notice Marv's socks match his hat. Now if he'd only smiled!!!  Pretty cute

 Notice Gary's shorts on OVER his blue jeans.  He never wears shorts except maybe once every 10 years if he happens to go swimming.

 This was our entertainment:

 He received a huge standing ovation and then he came back and played another couple of songs for us.  He came early for happy hour at the pool and stayed to visit with people after his performance.

Note:  dad's long hair.  He has not cut it since we arrived down here and doesn't intend to cut it til we get home??????  I sent his barber a note and asked if she would consider flying down to "clean him up".

Have a great week!!!  We're starting to pack - a little.

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Sabino Canyon

As everyone knows, we had some very important, fun company the beginning of March.  And guess what, I really don't have pictures of them.  Just a couple of Uncle Glen.  Isn't that terrible?  I just don't take as many pictures as I used to.  If you want to see pictures, just keep checking DeAnn's blog.

On the day that John & DeAnn went hiking, Uncle Glen & Aunt Sue and dad & I went to Sabino Canyon.  You take this trolley to the end of the line and then you can either walk or ride back down the canyon.  It's a fun place to go, except it was a bit warm.  We took a picnic lunch along but couldn't find a table in the shade.  Oh well, it was fun anyway.

 Beautiful scenery and beautiful blue skies along the way.

 The saguaro cactus on the top of the hill actually looked like a cross.  It was really neat.

 Isn't this a nice picture of a very handsome guy??!!!!

Well, that's at least a few pictures - will try to post a few more later this week.  I know I'm not very good at keeping up with this.  Hope to do some cleaning of the man cave/office this week and maybe even start some painting IF it cools down a bit.  It's 95 today and that's a little too warm; however they say it's supposed to get cooler as the week goes on.

Dad is also going to start building his new back steps this week IF it cools down a bit.  It's beautiful in the morning but heats up quickly.  Still it's better to be here than anywhere near that white stuff called snow.

Have a good week!!!
Love to all,
Gramma and MOM

Dad's Last Shuffleboard Game

Dad says this is his last shuffleboard game - at least that's what he said on Friday. February 17th.  This was their last game of the season.  However, he did absolutely awesome.  He always does very well on the last game - we'll see if he signs up again or not tomorrow at the end-of-the-year picnic.

Dad's last game was against Copper who is a super nice guy and a good player for Tucson Estates, which is a park of 1660 sites.

 Getting ready to shoot - it's good to be yellow because you get the last shot of the game.

 The winning puck - the two black ones were not enough to get Copper out of the hole and be able to take over the game.  In fact, dad "threw" his pucks away and allowed the black ones to stay on the board; however you watch the score very carefully.  If your opponent gets close, you just knock him off.

 Final score 38 - 13.  Poor Copper had a hard time getting his pucks in and then he got himself a -10 which is a difficult thing to recoup from.  Our team did not do well - dad was the only one who won his game.

 Isn't our life exciting down here?  Actually it is but I don't take nearly as many pictures as I used to.  Maybe I should take a walk and see what I can find.

DeAnn, we are so looking forward to the two of you coming the end of this week along with Glen & Sue & John.  Haven't seen a forecast but it's beautiful here today - sunshine and high 60's which is perfect for me.

That's it for today.  Jen, how did I do?

Love to all,

Gramma and MOM

Sunday's Rain

Saturday night/Sunday morning we had quite a rain storm - no idea how much we got since we don't have a rain gauge.  This is the parking lot behind our trailer on Sunday morning; we had our very own lakefront property.  When I got up this morning (Monday), it was almost all drained away.

 This was our view from the back fence - pretty ominous.  Sometimes the mountains are the most beautiful pink but sometimes when it storms, the clouds come down and cover the peaks.  Love the mountains here in Tucson.

Have a GREAT week!!!!
Love,
Gramma and MOM

Painting

Yesterday we had a Ladies Welcome Back party and did paintings.  I took lots of pictures and this morning when I imported them, I erased them.  Not one of my better moves.  I somehow missed this one.  There were 74 of us doing a painting of Arizona cactus. 

It was a really fun time - everyone brought "finger foods" and the selection was amazing. 

Some of the gals paintings were very nice - that did NOT include mine.  In fact, I offered it to both of my daughters and neither one "jumped" at owning it and displaying it on their walls. 

Soooo I put it on my own wall - it looks like something a kindergarten student would do but I don't care.  It's my FIRST painting and the sky actually looks very nice - too bad my cactus are a bit off.

I will try very hard to start taking more pictures and being a little more faithful in getting posts on my blog.  I am just starting to relax after a very hectic couple of months.

Happy Blessed New Year to each of you!!!!

Love to all,
Gramma and MOM