Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Home again, home again jiggety-jig

It's good to be back in a routine again. Though I thoroughly enjoyed my time in AZ! I really had fun practically every day I was there. When I first arrived in AZ we spent a few days in the Mesa/Phoenix area. Camille was going to see "Wicked" with the Griffins so we needed to hang around awhile. One of these days we (Sarah, Rae Lynne, Camille and myself) went swimming at my niece, Danika's house in Scottsdale. My sister Tracy was there too - but I don't think she got in the pool (why not - it was blazing hot, you need water!). That evening we went out to dinner with all the Neerings that could make it. It's always fun for HUGE groups of people to go to dinner. We ate at BJ's (I think that's the name of it.) We had really yummy food followed by sinfully delicious dessert. At dinner I got the first glimpse of Brian and Lori's new house! Another day I had lunch with a very dear friend, Kelly Rae Turley, that I haven't seen in over 20 years. I introduced her to the yummy goodness of Rumbi's Island Grill.

When they all went to "Wicked" I helped babysit at Jill's house. I played "SlapJack" with my great-nephew Carter. He won. The next day (Saturday) we headed out to Thatcher where Camille will be attending EAC (Eastern Arizona College) for the next 2 years. But before we left we had lunch with my siblings at Souper Salad. My mother wasn't feeling well so she stayed at Jill's. Then I took her directly to Tatcher. We did stop in Globe to get some protien in her. She felt better after that.

Once in Thatcher I stayed with my mother. I hadn't seen her house yet, so I did a lot of snooping around. Mostly I needed to check her stash of fabrics to see if there were any quilt-worthy fabrics there. I found a few. So of course we had to purchase more fabrics to go with the few we found to complete a few quilt tops. Now she has more fabrics in her stash . . .

My hair has been waiting very patiently to get it's annual cut and color. It's actually longer than annually, but at least I got it done. And I must say, I look fabulous! Thank you Jen! Oh yeah, that's the 1st quilt we made, the one I promised I'd make for Jen. So we got that put together. Then I made 2 other tops while there. What was I thinking?

Scott joined me in Thatcher about a week later. His sister's joined us for the 24th of July celebration. They like to search for the spooky stuff. So of course we tried to find the 'glowing headstone'. No luck. Then we checked out a spooky abandoned house (me from the comfort of the truck while the crazies actually looked inside the house!). We took pictures! Then we went back later and realized a door was now open that wasn't when we were there earlier. The next day was the parade. I wanted kettle corn. The kettlecorn makers were S L O W. So by the time I got my beloved kettle corn, the speedy parade was all but done. Dang it! Stupid kettlecorn. We chose not to hit the BBQ, we hit El Charro instead. It was a good thing - the BBQ ran out of food. Sarah and Rae Lynne went home after dinner.

Another day Scott, Camille, Katie and myself took a road trip in the jeep. We started out wanting to see the old ranch that Scott's mom was raised on in Bowie, AZ. After steeling a pistachio from a tree we tried to drive to the ranch but the road was blocked off being graded. So we head to Riggs Cemetary. Then on to Far Away Ranch which was owned by some other ancestors of Scott. It's a beautiful little place. Then we were really hungry but couldn't find anything to eat until we got to Bisbee. We ate pizza. We wandered around an antique shop. Then headed up to Tombstone. Tombstone's pretty cool. After a full day of driving around, we headed back to Thatcher.

One day my brother-in-law John used his connections to get us passage to the Telescope on top of Mt. Graham! Not many people get to do that. It was a great day. Most of my family was there. The telescopes were truly amazing and awe-inspiring. A few people 'tossed their cookies' going up and coming down the mountain. We wanted to get peaches at the orchard on the way down but they were closed. We got roasted green chilis instead.

Scott wanted to spend a little time with his family before leaving to come back home. So Camille, Katie and I went with him. We took the opportunity to help Brian and Lori move into their big new house. We had a good time helping them unpack and get organized. There just wasn't enough time in our days to get everything in we wanted to.

Scott gave Camille a father's blessing before he headed back. She's a lucky girl to have such an amazing father!

Sarah and Rae Lynne brought us all back to Thatcher for my last week or so. This time we got to go out to Indian Hot Springs. THAT WAS FUN! But we really need to go back and spend a full day there. We went at dusk and though it was more spooky at that time - we wanted daylight to snoop around. Sarah and Rae Lynne found a new "happy place"! They went home the next morning.

The rest of my time was spent trying to finish the quilt tops I started. I finished just in time to head back to Mesa before I flew back home.

I stayed one night with my brother (sorry Russ for the lack of notice!). Then my sister, Tracy scooped me up. We spent the day doing a little shopping with Dalene. Lunch at Cafe Rio. Then a quick and tearless goodbye to my girl as she headed off with her Auntie Dalene to come back to Thatcher. Tracy and I headed over to my friend Kelly Rae's house for another visit. Kelly didn't have any of her pictures or photos on her walls - not sure how we got on the subject, but we did. I told her to bring them out. So we brought them all out and hung them all up before the evening was over. It may seem silly, but it was great fun to help her get her pictures on the walls and make her home feel more like a home!

The next day I flew home!