Busy Day

Don had Bible Study this morning over at the Activity Center.  I rode bicycles with, you guess it... T.  And then we sang a song or two at her place. And then I went home. And then Don came home.  And then Donna and Carl showed up to take us all to lunch.  We went to place we had never heard of... The Creative Cafe.  Tesa and Jim Machelor, the owners of this special place, hire developmentally disabled adults to assist in some of the restaurant duties. This is James and his famous smile.  His picture is right on the front cover of the menu.  He greeted us just after we sat down and asked me,  "Are you being a good girl?"  All the wait staff wear T-shirts that state:  "I was a good boy/girl today at the Creative Cafe."

The food is really good:  sandwiches, soups, quiche, wraps, desserts.  I had the lettuce wraps and they were really good.  Don had a gyro and salad which he said was delicious.  Donna also insisted that I order the broccoli salad and she was right... really good.  Meet Donna and Carl from McPherson, Kansas. 

Wall art in the very colorful Creative Cafe.

After we left the cafe, Carl and Donna drove us out to the Central Arizona College campus.  I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures.  They have basketball games!

Donna is into gourds and she wanted to show us the gourd farm that's only a couple of miles from our park.

The owner of this gourd farm says he has harvested his largest gourd crop ever.  There were bins full of gourds which represented only about 20% of his crop.

Did you ever wonder where loofa (is that spelled right?)comes from? 

Poor guy.  Wonder how many husbands feel like this at their homes.?

A gourd longhorn.

I found this little miniature beauty at the gourd farm?  Is that a pose, or what?

Yes, that's a gourd snake!  The gourd actually grew in that shape. 

And a gourd rattle snake about to ingest a gourd rodent.

One of two trees with more birds nests than I've ever seen in a single tree.

Donna and Carl dropped us off at the Quantum and I grabbed my sunglasses and headed to my afternoon appointment.  Did I mention that Pat, down the street, had volunteered to give me golf lessons?  Oh, yes.  The conspiracy. :-)  Well, we went over to Tierra Grande Golf Course (9 holes) driving range and I hit a bucket of balls.  A few off the tee and the rest "fairway" shots.  Would you believe that only one ONE ball did not got straight and a few even had some distance on them.  I saved six balls to chip and putt onto the practice green.  Well, my chipping was a little harder to adjust to after driving; like an all-the-way-across-the-green-and-across-the-road-and-into-the-desert adjustment. Oh, stop laughing.  It's my first time ever to chip.  In fact, a lot of first time ever's and it was fun! Pat says I'm ready to play the real thing.  No-o-o-o.  I don't know about all that.

And finally we went to the Third Wednesday Night Gospel Jam Session at the Community Center.  Here Julie is talking to Don.  We're going to Julie and David's in the morning to visit with them.

Thelma sang a beautiful song.

Thelma, ??, and Dorrie singing "Power in the Blood."

Julie played the piano and sang.

GH always does a great job with his accordion.

Are you tired yet?  I am.  LaVon definitely stepped outside her comfort zone on January 21, 2009.

Don spoke to several folks tonight at the jam session who requested that we come see them at their homes.  Thank you for praying for us as we get to know more people and go where God is working.  Who wouldn't want to be there and be a part of what He's doing around us.  There's no greater joy than to be invited to join God where He is at work.