Hello again

Hello again.  I thought all you readers would be so busy with the holidays that you wouldn't be checking the blog but guess I was wrong because I've been receiving complaints about no new postings.  :)  
Don and I didn't go to the wonderful Christmas dinner at the clubhouse this year because we were lucky enough to have both of our sons join us for a couple days and we had a great Christmas together.  Thus I felt I didn't have much exciting news to post .... UNTIL ...  this morning when I opened my email and found these aerial photos from Pat Konz at Site 382.  I've not met Pat YET, but I'll be looking them up to say howdy and get more information.  Thank you, Pat, for sending these.

 

 
I went for a little walk through the neighborhood on Christmas day.  It was nice to see friends gathering together and sharing meals on the holiday.  I took this first photo at Paul and Kathy's house at Site 1703.

 
Then we yelled for Kathy to come out for the photo.  We had some good laughs next because if you notice the lady on the far left is the only one with a plate of food in front of her.  She hid it under the table for this second photo so no one would know she was still eating.  

 
Elsewhere there were larger groups gathering.

 
And smaller groups.

 
I was going to be creative and take a picture of a partridge in a pear tree but the silly bird would not cooperate so all I got was a dove under a lime tree.  Oh well. 

 
I miss having the pickleball activity on the old courts that were close to our house.  Now I have to hop on my bike and ride over to watch the action.  

 

 
I took a couple action shots of friends that were playing.

 

 
Christmas Eve night is another pause for celebration....especially in our neighborhood as we gather and line the streets with luminaries.  It really gives a peaceful glow to the holiday.  The project grows each year as more sites join in the tradition.

 
Of course, no celebration would be complete without Santa.

 
There were plenty of campfires and friends at the Avery's site. 

 

 
It looked "Christmasy" at night with Santa hats and colored lights, but day time shows the beauty of an Arizona  Christmas.

 
Since this is a slow news day, I'll share some old photos we took while we were camp hosts at Big Rock Candy Mountain resort in Utah.  The area is a bird watcher's paradise especially for hummingbirds.  We had four feeders in our yard and had to refill them every day due to the many many hummers that buzzed around our campsite.  As we carried the feeders outside, the little hummers would buzz around our heads and land on our finger tips waiting to get at the sweet treat.

There were not only a LOT of hummers, but quite a few different varieties as well.  It was AWESOME and a memory of a lifetime.

The feeder attached to the window of our RV was a favorite for our cat, Hiway.  She  We had endless hours of entertainment.

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Another Sunny Warm December Day

It was an EXCITING day for me as a bird watcher!!  I was on a lovely bike ride on this beautiful warm December day and when I stopped at the stop sign by the statues, I spotted an American Snipe down in the creek.  Luckily I had my trusty camera with me and started taking pictures.  As golfers and pedestrians walked by, they asked what I was doing......they couldn't even see this bird at first because he stood perfectly still and blended in with the dried grass so well.

Okay....you laugh, but I was thrilled to see this fella.

  

 

While I was there admiring the bird and the flowers, I took some shots of the statues.  How long will they stay there now that the park is sold?  

 

These are some nice works of art.  This man depicts a cotton farmer emerging from the fields.

 

 
And these are the grandparents of the Wolfswinkel family.  Grandma brought lunch to Grandpa when he worked at a filling station.  I'm certain they would be mighty proud of their children's accomplishments with Palm Creek.

 

 

 

 

Elsewhere on my biking journey I came across this lady giving her dog a bath at the car wash station.  Cars, trucks, golf carts......and dogs.  All can get a bath here. 

 

Others were loading luminary bags with sand and candles in preparation for our annual neighborhood luminary display.  Be sure to drive around the park on Christmas Eve to enjoy the sights and lights.

 
At the end of my trip, I stopped up at the clubhouse and spotted the puzzlers at work in the library.  Susie Nunley has her foot in a cast for a while so is taking up more sedate activities while she mends.  

 

Our normal activities come to somewhat of a halt over Christmas week since the card rooms are closed in preparation for the Christmas dinners and programs.  I am still conducting a Picasa workshop on Thursday, December 27 in the Ocotillo Room so you can join us from 1:00-3:00 to brush up on your photo editing.  We'll be reviewing editing functions, how to email photos, create a movie, add text to photos, use tags and captions, and create albums.  Should be fun.  
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SAVE THE DATE:
Mark your calendar to attend a Charity Event where you can buy greeting cards, bags, gift wrap, tissue, ribbon, recordable books, along with a few other new items including Watkins and Scentsy wickless candles.  The net proceeds of the above items go to different charities such as cancer, animal shelters, Mary Kay Foundation, Vets and others.  Avis Gray holds this event so let's support her efforts.

Thursday, January 10, 8:00-3:00 at Sundance RV Resort
and
Tuesday, January 15, 9:00-3:00 at Fiesta Grande RV Resort

Avis also sent this message:  
Bring your used cards to Colleen Lemkuil (Site 219) to send to an Activity Director in Minnesota who redoes the cards and sends them to Veterans at the Sioux Falls Hospital. Bring your cancelled stamps to Colleen to bring to the veterans in Tucson for stamp collectors and teaching stamp displays-nothing is sold-all free-Yes, used stamps. I give them to a DAR lady who brings them to Tucson to the Veterans Hospital. There is a container at the Palm Creek Post office to put the stamps in and I pick them up there. Everything gets recycled.  Avis

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RECYCLING NOTICE!!

Sue, our nice volunteer recycling club wanted to know if you could help them out by telling our residents you CAN put tin in the big "plastic only"recycling container. Also, remind residents that plastic bags like grocery bags are not acceptable in the plastic containers. They wind around the equipment and tear it up. Please put those bags in the containers marked "PLASTIC BAGS ONLY."

PLEASE HELP OUR RECYCLING PROGRAM!

Plastic bags are BAD for the plastic recycling program as they are too soft to go through the knives and shredders of the machinery.  They get caught and jam the machinery so PLEASE do not put the plastic bags in that container.  Put them in the tub for plastic bags only.

Bingo and More

I found an Elf in the Activities Office yesterday.  There was Rosemary Hoyle wrapping all the presents for the Foster children we'll be sponsoring this Christmas.  Thank you to Rosemary and all the other volunteers who devote time to this project.

 

Other volunteers were busy setting up for the Monday night bingo session.  Special thanks to Flo and Sieney for getting the board ready.

 

Someone has to set up all those tables and chairs too.  Thanks to these volunteers for their help.

 

 

Later that evening, the room filled with good cheer and anticipation of winning a big jackpot.

 

 

 

 

Suk Cookingham won the game 6 jackpot for $680!  Congratulations!

 

Howdy from Palm Creek - Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stockman - say hello to family and friends back home.

 

People tend to think that Duplicate Bridge is a serious game but we sure have a lot of fun being serious.

 
Click on this video of some of our serious players.