Finally!!!

At last! We are experiencing a true winter in Arizona. Low's in the evenings in the mid to upper 40's, and mid 60's to 70's during the day with wonderful sunshine. If this is what it's all about, then we can certainly tolerate winters here.

We have experienced just about every kind of weather here...rain, snow, wind, cold, warm, sunny, earthquake. What?! Yeah, earthquake that registered a 3.2 on the Richter scale. Oh no, that's right, that wasn't a true earthquake. It was me hitting the ground on the tennis court. Not a pretty sight at all. Luckily, I do bounce quite well. It wasn't easy explaining to the residents that it was not a true earthquake, and that the hole in the court would be fixed in no time.

Our new life is pretty darned good. I liken it to when we were newlyweds without all the heavy breathing. But seriously, it's just the two of us and the dog in a small living space, and we are adjusting much as we did 40 years ago in our first apartment. Actually, the first apartment was a bit bigger, except the kitchen in the apartment was a converted closet and you had to stand at the side to open the oven, but it too was cozy. Mike and I work together fixing meals and cleaning up. No dishwasher, but washing and drying of the dishes is as minimal as possible. That's not to say we don't fix nice meals, or that I don't bake anymore, because we do. We also get to do whatever we want whenever we want. We highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reconnect in their marriage.

Mike and I participated in a tennis invitational with another resort. It was strictly for fun, and lasted the entire day. Good fun, tennis, and sun. Then last night we were included in a "block" party. About 26 of us gathered with our chairs in the street around a propane powered fire pit. One neighbor cooked the hot dogs and the rest of us brought a dish. What fun!!

We're hoping to plan a hike up part of Superstition Mountain this week. We'll find out how much hiking and climbing I can tolerate. We plan to carry a lunch with us and just take our time and see how far we can go. Saturday, we are both volunteers for the FDR Golf Tournament. Can you imagine, we are part of "security". Woo hoo. Mike's hoping we get to carry firearms. We will be on the 17th green, and have no idea all that we are required to do. Should be great fun, plus maybe we'll get to see some famous golfers up close and personal. Then on Sunday, we are hoping to attend the National Hoop Dancing contest at the Heard Museum of the America Arts. It will be a chance to see a lot of Native American activities and art. I have to thank my baby brother Phil for telling us about it.

That's about it for now. Hope you are all tolerating the winter as well as we. Spring is just around the corner. Take care and drop an email once in a while.

Love, Mike & Sandy

Sunny Arizona??

We have been in Mesa for almost two weeks now, and the temperature has done nothing but decline. It has been freak'n cold here...23, 26, and a high of 45 or 55! Can you believe it? Yeah, but it's a dry cold. Anyway you look at it, it's COLD. We are so pleased to have been here for history...the coldest temps in over 20 years. We are blessed.

Cold weather aside, we are enjoying our new life. In fact, we are enjoying it so much that we reserved a site again, starting in November. That's usually when tennis begins, and we're hoping to be able to actually "volley" by then. We've had two practice sessions, followed by a true match. Mike and his partner lost a good tie breaking game, and my partner and I won our tie breaker. A crazy miracle if you ask me. Actually, I think we won because we could move a little faster than the opponents.

We either walk or ride our bikes to any and all activities. I've joined a quilter's group that meets once a week, and Mike is thinking about joining a poker group and an 8 ball group. There's plenty to choose from, and no pressure to join.

As you can see from the attached picture, Blizz has found her throne to the world. She was used to peering out the windows from our house, as they were low and easily accessible. In the camper, she has to perch atop the sofa to see what's going on out there. As before, she's the queen of the house.


Mike and our friend Glenn went to the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale today. For those of you not in the know, that's the HUGE antique and classic auto auction that is held in Scottsdale every year. They saw some amazing cars, and had some amazing fantasies.

Now that we are getting more organized, in spite of the fact there are several things we swear we brought with us, but can't locate, we are hoping to start planning short excursions to explore the country around us. I'm sure we'll have more entertaining stories as time passes. Until then, love to all.

WE MADE IT!!!

We arrived safely in Mesa, AZ last evening after driving all day after we said goodbye to El Paso and it's early morning greeting of rain and snow mix. We got here around 6:30. We drove up to our reserved site to park the camper only to find that someone else was in our spot. Why would we expect otherwise? I mean, has much else gone completely without a glitch? Of course not! We called our friends the Carters, and they came out, along with several neighbors and helped us pick out another spot to park for the night. We hooked up, chatted a while, walked the dog and went to bed.

We checked with the office this morning and were assigned a completely different site that luckily backs up to the Carters. Bad luck turned to good. We watched our friends play in their tennis tournaments this a.m. (tennis is BIG here), then they drove us around to see the area. Happy hour commences at 4:00 on our block, and everybody gathers in front of someone's camper/mobile home/motorhome and brings their own drinks and a snack, and sit and visit until about 5:30.

So far, everyone we've met has been extremely friendly. The area in which we are parked is known as the "doggie area" for obvious reasons. You are greeted by friendly people who seem to always have a doggie treat in their pockets, and a friendly dog on a leash. Blizzard has never had her backside checked out so many times in one day before. Sure glad it's only the dogs that are doing that!

Mike and I are going to attend a meeting tomorrow morning to see about joining the beginning tennis group. I had originally not considered playing because I figured my muscle problems would not allow me to do the necessary running, but after watching others play, I decided there is not all that much running to be done. Playing doubles helps, so I'm going to give it a try. We haven't played in over 30 years. This should be interesting, but fun. They have all kinds of tennis tournaments and matches going on all the time with other clubs, and within different skill levels.

This truly is an amazing place with tons of activities going on. If you'd like to check it out, you can go to www.resortrvpark.com. I think we're going to enjoy ourselves quite a lot. We plan on exploring surrounding areas, playing golf, try and play tennis, and any and all other activities we choose. Right now, it's good to be in one spot for a while. Please keep in touch!!!