Blessed

First, I HAVE to tell you... this adorable brother and sister was on TV tonight during the Baylor vs. Brown basketball game. Her daddy (our son-in-law) is the head trainer for the Baylor Bears. I got so excited when I saw them on TV. I'm so glad that Don remembered to record the game so we could watch it when we got back from the Tom & Dusty Show. The camera man zoomed right on their sweet faces. Made this Nonna's day! And then, I got pictures of another granddaughter with her new hairdo. The pics were from her mama's blackberry and blogger was unable to upload them. Bummer. Her new do is soooo cute on her. She will be 10 Sunday. Such a beautiful young lady. Nonna has had a great day!

YES! Just got picture from daughter's blog with my grandkids picture. I just love it when my girls take the time to send me pictures. Love it!! I know this picture will be on an embellished e-scrap page(or is that scrap e-page) just as soon as she has time to do so.

OK, with a BIG smile on my face, now I can tell you about the rest of our day. But before I forget, today is my great nephew's birthday. He's going to play major league baseball one of these days... just wait and see. Happy Birthday, Benjamin!

After the 9:00 workampers meeting, I went to line dancing class for a few minutes. Our Tuesday morning instructor, Sandi, here. That's my friend, Pam, in the white T behind Sandi, JoAnn is on the left between Pam and Snookie back there in the plaid blouse. I simply must remember to take a video instead of stills at line dancing. Eva was so cute and soooo light on her feet. Reminded me of my mama. I took a few shots of the park while walking over to the Oasis for Bible study. This is the very pretty area where horse shoes are played on a regular basis. Even though we have had a beautiful sunshiny day, water is still standing in the miniature golf area. Water aerobics is every morning at 9:00 a.m. and advanced water aerobics M-W-F at 10:00 a.m. No, I haven't made it to the advanced class yet. At Ladies Bible Study, we are on week four of a ten week study by Beth Moore, "To Live Is Christ." Today was a really good lesson, but I can say that about every week.

Don and I went over to the golf course and had a bowl of beef stew for lunch at Duffer's.

For my niece, I took this "artsy" picture of a palm tree.

Following our recliner naps, washing a load of clothes, and a having a yummy tuna salad sandwich created by my wonderful husband, Don set the recorder to record the Baylor-Brown game and off we went to the Tom Carpenter - Dusty Terry concert. Now they performed all eras of music from the twist to line-dancing to slow waltzing. It was so good, folks just couldn't stay in their seats.

Back home to enjoy the game. Yeah! Baylor Bears beat the Brown Bears 72-62. But as you already know, that wasn't the best part of the game!

Mama

To all our praying friends and family, please pray for my mama. She is planning a trip to Plainview, Texas to visit her only brother Friday, the 11th. Her only sister is going to meet her there and they are so looking forward to this reunion. Well, Mama is sick... terrible cold and congestion. She needs to pack and doesn't have the energy right now. It will break her heart if she has to cancel her trip. Mama is 89, Uncle Grady is 80ish, & Aunt Nella is 77... they need this time together. Pray for a Healing Touch from God for Mama Trudy. I realize it may possibly not be God's will for her to go, but if it is pray He heals her body in the next day or two so she will be able to proceed. Thank you all and God Bless you.
Another cloudy, rainy day. At 9:42 A.M. the sun broke through the clouds and is flooding me with light through the window behind the computer so I grab the camera and rushed outside to freeze the scene in time. Call me crazy, but I believe God is telling me He has answered our prayer for Mama. Praise His Holy Name!
After Don returned home from Men's Bible Study and breakfast, I got dressed up, for a change, to go to the Quail Run Ladies Fashion Show and Luncheon in the Carnaval room.


Ahh haa. There's Wendy. We haven't seen her and Rick for a few days and were concerned. As it turns out, they've been working. Wendy & Nancy sat across the table from me at the luncheon. DeAnna and Sandy are newcomers to the park. This is Sandy's first RVing adventure. Welcome to this great time of life, Sandy. That's another neighbor, Carol, on the right. Barb is also a newcomer. All nice gals. And now it's time to get the Fashion Show started. There were eight girls from the park who volunteered to be models. The outfits were from Bon Worth and all the models get 20% off if they decide to buy their outfits. The fashion show was enjoyed by all the ladies in attendance and there was a room full. Activities co-director DeAnn Hoover, gets things going. She's a shaker and a mover. Activities members Pam & Snookie serve up the chicken salad sandwiches and tossed salad with poppy seed dressing. Yummy lemon squares were dessert. Friends Sharon and Donna were two of the models. They did a great job.

After the luncheon, I started walking to the RV in the spitting rain only to find out that Don had locked it, out of habit. OK, now's a good time to visit Bert and Sadie so I walked to their park model to wait for Don to return from the $100 Store.

Lo and behold, Don got a call from Barry Douglas, a great friend we met in Branson. He and Anna are in Arizona for a while and we are making plans to meet up with them for a visit. Can't wait to see them. Barry was so much help to Don and I while we were there. He was always right there when Don needed help with anything. If Barry couldn't do it, he knew someone who could. Barry is also famous for being the park "cut-up." If he wasn't picking on me, I knew he wasn't feeling well.


Thanks to Dennis and Richard for the phone calls. It's always good to hear from friends and co-workers.


Congratulations to Bubba & Lucy. Your LSU Tigers won the trophy!


Tomorrow, Ladies Bible Study starts up again after the holiday break.

1st Sunday, 2008

The reason I slept so good last night... it rained almost all night. Had to walk under the umbrella to church this morning. It goes from heavy mist to buckets falling.

Worship service was awesome this morning as we remembered The Body and The Blood: Matthew 26:26-30; I Cor. 11:23-32. Thanks to Audra Robb for choosing such appropriate songs for our Communion Service. We appreciate her willingness to serve as pianist and worship leader. Audra in the red jacket, taken Friday at the olive mill. Around 2:00 this afternoon, the sun tried to break through. So I walked out to see what Bert Case was doing up a ladder. Maybe later, after it stops raining, I can get a picture of his new weather vane. Here at Quail Run, we have RV's and park models. Bert & Sadie live in a park model. Now, Tammy, I know you find nothing out of the ordinary about rain water standing in the street, but remember, this is the desert valley. I had been inside our RV only minutes when the bottom fell out of the clouds. So much for the sun trying to break through. So, it's a rainy day... Don & I played Farkle: Don 1, LaVon 2.

Someone...

Somewhere...

Dreams of your Smile

And while thinking of You

Feels that life is worthwhile

So whenever you're lonley

Remember it's true

Someone...

Somewhere...

Is thinking of You!

Saturday

It's an overcast day, but no rain.

Even an RV has to be cleaned. While I cleaned, Don went to the grocery store.

As I walked back to the laundry room, I couldn't resist taking this picture for Bro. Deyrl. This John Deere is made from painted pop cans. See how much it resembles the picture on Bro. Deyrl's apron below. Bro. Deyrl (& Betty) Kastner was our music director at FBC, Noble, OK. He recently retired after 30 years service to the ministry of music and education. Betty played the piano and organ. We sure love ya'll and wish you would come see us. After all, you are retired. :-).

While we were at the Mesa Market Place yesterday, I bought 6 brightly colored dice. When we got home, I Googled "Farkel Rules" and now we're hooked. Thank you, Tammy.

Don grilled the beautiful pork chops we purchased at the Pork Shop yesterday. We had Darlene and Dave over for dinner. She brought delicious scalloped potatoes and cake. I'm slipping. I should have taken a picture of our meal. It was pretty and tasted soooo good.

After the meal, we quickly cleaned the kitchen and then proceeded to teach Dave & Darlene how to play Farkel. They had never heard of it either. Don actually had the rules in his card case from years ago, but he had forgotten about the game. We have also found a man in the park who makes a nice Pegs & Jokers game, but he wasn't home today.

Queen Creek Olive Mill

It's been a fun and educational day spent with park hosts and good friends, George & Nancy Reid. It's a beautiful day and we've already experienced the best part of our day. It's a regular part of everyday, so I won't repeat it everyday, but I can not refrain from sharing with you just once, how precious and special it is to be blessed with a husband who loves the Lord, loves me and prays with me and for me everyday. What woman would not love hearing her husband thank God everyday "for this beautiful lady by my side?" And I thank God for Don and for giving us this time in our lives to share together as we follow Him. We got up early, got ready, read the Bible & devotional, and prayed together and walked over to the Cantina for doughnuts & coffee to welcome newbies and recognize birthdays and anniversaries. About 30 of us were also gathering to tag along to the Queen Creek Olive Mill... a trip Don has been looking forward to for weeks. He cooks a lot with EVOO and there are a lot of mentions about olives, olive branches, olive groves, etc. in the Bible so never having seen an olive tree, we were looking forward to this outing. We loaded up in The Clydesdale and away we went. Along the way, we saw this traveler stopped on the side of the road. He gave a whole new meaning to "everything but the kitchen sink" as you see, there right on top was everything and kitchen sink. It's upside down and black on the underside so it's hard to see, but trust me, we all saw it and had a good laugh. Without taking more than one wrong turn and less than an hour on the road, we made it to the mill. A simple metal building with a store, processing room and cafe. First stop. LaNae, I took these pictures for you. It was nothing fancy, as you can see, but made a clean statement of simplicity. It just dawned on me that I did not look inside the cabinet. Umm. I must be slipping. Is anyone laughing yet? Gathering to hear the olive oil story. Activities committee member, Robin, and acting tour coordinator in the absence of Bruce & DeAnn. We are also sharing a bottle of Bloody Orange Olive Oil with her. Thanks, Robin. Our tour guide, Kari, gave us a very educational lecture about the olive industry. Snookie did such an awesome job describing the olive products process. (link in the menu on the right). Here's an exerpt from her post: "We learned that oil can have a fruity, peppery, grassy or buttery taste. We also learned that there are six grades of olive oil. Kari, our guide, pointed out that light virgin olive oil is next to last on the list of oils that you want to buy. She went on further to say that a lot of people buy the "light" olive oil thinking it is less in calories or has a lighter taste. This is not the case,,,,its mostly chemicals. She strongly recommended to us that if we have this in our cupboard to throw it out.
Black olives. I thought they grew that way. Also not the case. Black olives are nothing more than bruised, mildewed or in some way less than perfect green olives that are infused with pure oxygen to give it the black color. This way the distributors can sell them and the consumer thinks they are eating something natural and good."
I didn't take very many pictures on the inside, but this one was taken in the processing room. Here it is, an olive tree. Kari said the owner planted these trees three years ago and still no olives. I just know Don was thinking, "that'll preach." The owner rescued about 30 of these trees from someone who had left them in boxes for a long time and she said they were "angry" and wanted to know if any of us were tree huggers. The olives are harvested by hand every year on November 17 with a rake type tool that simply combs the olives off onto a mat under the tree. When the olives are on the trees these long branches hang down like a willow tree and the harvesters easily comb them off without harming them. An olive branch, close up. Lenny & Ginny Dexter enjoy the on site cuisine. Tour guide, Kari, made us drool with her description of The Pork Shop pork chops marinaded in Queen Creek Olive Mill EVOO, so we beat a hot trail down the road to the The Pork Shop (couldn't find a website to link, but someone before blogged nicely), after purchasing some fresh QCOM EVOO. The aroma when we opened the Pork Shop door was just devine. We made a few purchases that we had to stop and get ice to pack them in for our trip home. I also got a pulled pork green chilies burrito for lunch. Yummmmmm. Back in The Clydesdale, we head toward The Mesa Market Place Swap Meet. Now here's a serious flea market and the way I like it... all under roof. It consists of four really, really long buildings, complete with food courts and live music. Cool. If you don't find it here, you don't need it. We made it through two buildings and my dogs were barking and Don's back was hollerin'. DN Tammy, our next stop made me think of you. A Starbucks and a Trader Joe's side by side. Inside Trader Joe's were these two precious little girls helping their mommy shop. I couldn't resist. Yes, I take my camera everywhere I go. See, I would have missed this picture without it. btw... after gushing over these little beauties, I said to the mom, "can you tell I miss my grandkids? She also had a big-eyed toddler in her cart. Trader Joe's is now one of my favorites. Around 4:00 p.m., we found ourselves at another favorite, Pei-Wei's in Gilbert. Lettuce wraps and edamame here I come. And some things never change. Where's my Tide stick? Or the giant bib Don wanted to buy me at the Mesa Market. Back in the Clydesdale and homeward bound. Back seat buddies... or backseat GPS's. Who, us? Well, maybe Nancy.