When we got to Venture Out in October, we saw that there was a trip that we could book through the Activity Office that would take us by bus from the resort to Dream City Church in north Phoenix that does a broadway-style show for Christmas. The bus trip from our resort quickly sold out, but I looked into getting tickets on our own. We had bought our tickets, and then one of our neighbors asked if we were interested in going -- we ended up driving together, but had seats separately in the theater.
Arriving at the church -- our friends had a handicapped tag so we were able to park quite close.
We found our seats in the sanctuary/auditorium. We were pretty far back, but near the center - this was our view from the seats we booked.
After we got settled into our seats, a gentleman came up to talk with us. He asked if we had come to the show before, how we had heard about it, if we were there with anyone else. Then he told us that the pastor had reserved a few Premium seats, and that he would like to offer them to us -- seats in row 3. Initially, we said, "There's probably someone more deserving." -- but the fellow said that he only had a short time to give away the seats, and then our seats could be used for latecomers. He assured us that if we got to the seats up front and didn't want them, we could return to our seats... so we went up front with him....
Our view from the premium seats in row 3 - the conductor and orchestra were right in front of us (only row 2 between us and the conductor).
The pastor and his wife were there to welcome the audience to the performance. They stayed to watch the show (in the first row, with the conductor).
Part of the show had singing and dancing...
...including aerialist silk performers.
The story in the first part of the show involved a teenager who was interested in her great-great-grandmother's sleuthing skills from the late 1800s...
... she time-traveled back to the time of her ancestor...
... and worked with her great-great-grandmother to solve a mystery...
... they visited various places to look for clues - a place serving hot chocolate...
... a circus where there was a horse, dogs,
... and a camel -- (not pictured, also a zebra and a kangaroo).
Searching for more clues.
They eventually found the solution to the mystery...
... and the teenager went back to her own time for the finale.
After the performance in the first part of the show, the emphasis transitioned to the Christmas story...
... with songs telling of Christ's birth...
... singer with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus behind...
"Mary did you know?" -- note baby Jesus' arms waving in the video -- that's a real baby in the show!
Three kings came to bring gifts...
... including one on a camel coming down the aisle -- he dismounted just a few feet from us.
The cast on stage with angels flying above
The pastor spoke again and encouraged us to stand for the Hallelujah Chorus:
End of show picture
It was quite an impressive show. We were very glad that we went -- we didn't appreciate the "musical story" part in the beginning as much as we did the Christmas story at the end, but it was impressive how a church would have the resources (people, time, talents) to put on a performance like this. The pastor told us at the beginning that they have been doing this show for 45 years.
The last time I used a title like that was when we purchased the park model next door to our RV lot in the spring of this year. No... we have not purchased another park model, nor another lot, but...
... we have purchased a golf cart! The picture shows it in front of our park model and our neighbor's motorhome behind it.
Another view of the new-to-us golf cart (our Jeep can be seen just beyond it -- the Jeep is parked in front of Gracie, our motorhome).
It has 4 12V lead acid batteries -- so we need to make sure that they have sufficient water in them. Batteries take a beating with the heat in Arizona -- average lifespan is 2-3 seasons (years). We would ultimately like to replace the lead acid batteries with lithium, but are happy to use the lead acid batteries until they need to be replaced.
We had talked about getting a golf cart, and had looked at new ones for sale in the stores around our area. The prices varied widely and we sought counsel of wise neighbors who own golf carts. They indicated that many of the new ones that we saw advertised were cheap, foreign-made units (either Chinese or Japanese) that are unreliable, hard to get parts for and impossible to find someone to service. They recommended an older US-made EZ-Go model as being more reliable, easy to get parts, and easy to get service if required. One of our neighbors thoughtfully forwarded an advertisement for one that another resident of Venture Out was selling -- initially we were not particularly interested as it is set up as a golf cart (with space for golf bags instead of a back seat), but the same kind neighbor shared with us that he had put the back seat on his own cart and was sure that we could do it. We contacted the person selling it and decided to get it!
It may look red, but it is actually a burnt orange (pretty close to the University of Texas color!).
Waving goodbye to my honey as I headed off to work at the Activities Office!
We enjoy walking in our community, but sometimes, especially if we need to go to one of the far corners of our resort or carry a few things with us, a golf cart is very nice to have!
I mentioned a few days ago that we had joined the Glass Arts club and taken the "101" class. We then signed up for a "fused glass" class and have done our first projects!
As I understand it, there are two major paths that we can take in Glass Arts -- fusion or stained glass. We like the look of fused glass, so decided to try that first. Fused glass requires a specific type of glass so it will melt in the kiln instead of shattering. It is more expensive than the glass that most folks use for stained glass (you can use the fused glass for stained glass projects, but you'd be paying more for a characteristic that you don't need).
Carl and I both decided to make spoon rests, as we figured we could use one in both the casa and the motorhome. We elected to go with a more modern design as it only had straight edges for us to cut and we had learned from our experience in the "101" class that our skill at cutting smooth curves is, uhm, limited! The club has patterns for us to use with molds that the club owns, so we knew the shape that we needed to cut the glass.
Our instructor monitoring as I was cutting the clear glass that would be the bottom layer of my project.
I scored the line, and then used a tool to break it along the line.
Carl marking the pattern on his clear glass
Carl scoring the clear glass:
Carl splitting the clear glass:
Next, Carl marked and scored the colored glass he had selected -- when he selected it, we noticed that the glass was cracked a little at the bottom, but there was enough good glass to use for our pattern...
... however, when he tried to crack along the scored line... oops!
Our instructor was watching and thought Carl had scored the glass well, and was then baffled by the things that happened with Carl's colored glass. Undeterred, Carl decided to go ahead and fuse the two pieces of glass together, hoping that they would meld into one piece in the kiln!
Continued preparation by rounding the corners before fusing
We both cut our bottom clear glass, and then purchased glass to use as our top glass. There were a few pieces of glass (long drawn-out glass made during the melting process) available to use for free, and our instructor also had a few scraps that she allowed us to use. We glued our clear and top glass together (using clear Elmer's glue, and then placed our decorative pieces on top. We forgot to take pictures before our projects went in for fusing, but we did get pictures after they were fused:
Carl's cross - the cracked piece was the upper right, and it is not at all noticeable after the full fusion process.
Patti's abstract
The type of fusing that we used was "full fusion" which is at a hotter temperature and pretty much melts the top pieces into the base. For a spoon rest, you don't really want any raised parts that would catch food.
After we had checked the results of the fusing (Carl checked on both of ours as I was working at the Activity office on the second day of the class), Carl put our projects back onto the shelves for "slumping". This is also done in the kiln, with a mold placed under our glass, and the glass melts ("slumps") into the shape of the mold.
Our two fused pieces on the slumping shelf with a work order sheet indicating which mold we wanted them to be slumped into. There is also a mold on the right side of our pieces -- I don't think it was the mold for our pieces, but maybe a mold that another member was wanting for a non-standard use and therefore wanted to indicate exactly where on the mold their glass should be slumped. The other student in our fusing class was making glass covers for night lights, and she was using a mold in a non-standard way (her piece was smaller than the normal size of the mold) -- so that might be her piece also on the shelf waiting for slumping.
Here are our two finished products -- you may be able to tell that the mold caused them to be curved upwards on the bottom so the handle of the spoon would rest there, and there is a shallow cup-shape at the top for the bowl of the spoon.
As I indicated, this is a more "modern" look to a spoon rest. They have molds for a spoon rest that is more circular at the top and bottom, but we liked this design and are happy with how they came out!
Things we have learned -- art glass is *expensive*. We are glad that we are learning, but not sure that we will become long-term glass arts crafters. We hope to enjoy it this season, but it remains to be seen whether we will continue another year.
I think I may have mentioned that it is commonly said here at Venture Out (VO) -- the resort where we are staying -- that VO not only stands for "Venture Out" but also for "Volunteer Often", as the community works best when everyone pitches in where they can.
So, at the beginning of the season, I filled out a volunteer application form, and turned it in at the Activities Office. The office manager there looked at it and said, "Would you like to volunteer in the Activities Office? We have an opening for Tuesday morning."
I knew that I had a conflict on Tuesday mornings (a practice session for line dancing), but that I could attend the practice on another day -- so I agreed to volunteer on Tuesday mornings at least through the end of the year. I have been enjoying the position -- I have learned a lot about how the social club side of the resort runs, and come to understand some of the behind-the-scenes things that have to be done to make things run smoothly. I've been able to help out with keeping copies made of various information sheets that residents can come in and pick up, and making corrections when errors are found on already-made copies (we hand-write corrections so we don't waste paper copies that already exist). The activities office manager knows that I like to do "special projects" so I think she saves them for me to do on the mornings that I work. I have been amazed that the copier machine has not broken down with me using it as it always seemed that the copiers at IBM knew when I had a deadline and all copiers would be broken at the same time! Having typed this in, I'm concerned about what will happen on my next volunteer shift!
The outside of the office where I volunteer -- I told Carl that it looks like the exterior of a low-budget motel. It is part of the large central complex in the resort -- there are some offices and a couple of meeting rooms in this area of the building. The ballroom and bistro are on the other side and in the center of the complex.
Carl stopped by while I was working one day and got a picture of me contacting one of the residents to let them know that something was waiting for them to pick up at the Activities Office. The various papers in front of me on the counter were one of the projects that I was working on that day -- residents bring their "Venture Outlines" - the activities magazine telling about all the things to do for a month - back to the Activities Office for recycling - this month, there happens to be a page about what items can be recycled in the Outlines that we are tearing out so we can give it out to folks when they ask, "What is being recycled this year?!?!?"
My "regular" job at the Activities office is checking out and in DVDs, and making copies... but that doesn't keep me very busy, so I enjoy the "extra projects" that I am able to do!
It has been funny this fall as it seems that there are a LOT of things that happen on Tuesday mornings! I have swapped days with a friend who has Thursday mornings a couple of times (so we could attend classes at the Glass Arts studio). The bocce ball fall league play was on Tuesday mornings - and I didn't find out until I had already volunteered so we weren't able to participate in that. Carl said that they had no one else volunteering on Tuesday mornings because everyone else knows that there are too many conflicts on that day!
Regardless, I really enjoy the work at the Activities office, so I told the office manager that I would continue on Tuesday mornings into the spring if they needed me, and she happily said that they would be glad for me to continue. This past week, I had swapped to Thursday (because of a Tuesday conflict), and the other volunteer person did not come in, so the office manager taught me how to do the "other" side of the desk -- cashier. It is somewhat busier, and involves taking money and giving change. I learned how to do cash, check, and credit transactions -- one of the residents paid for his credit transaction with his watch! I need to figure out how to get my watch to do that!!!
It is nice to be able to give-back to the community!
A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with the sister-in-law of one of our fellow residents here at Venture Out -- he was turning 90, and she was hoping that folks in the community might make note of it in some way. I agreed to get some folks together, and I posted the information on our community Facebook page. On Saturday afternoon, a group showed up to celebrate Larry on his 90th birthday!
I had gotten him a badge that said "Birthday Boy" -- so in this picture, I was putting it on him.
We sang Happy Birthday...
Larry seemed to appreciate that we joined him for his special day!
We enjoy our community, and our community enjoys celebrating!!!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)