Visiting friends in Florence

Our friends, Nancy and Steve, let us know that they would be visiting friends Mark and Wendy in Florence and asked if we'd like to come out and join them. We decided we'd drive out for a day rather than taking Gracie out there...

We joined up with Nancy and Steve, EJ and Frank, and Mark and Wendy at Mark and Wendy's house in Florence. Mark and Wendy have a nice size lot and are fixing up the manufactured home that is on the lot, so they can accommodate visitors in RVs.

(Side note: we have visited Florence before, and I guess we may have noticed that there is a prison there. But just recently, we've met a man at church who shared with us that he "spent 8 years in Florence"... now, Florence is not the garden spot of the world, so I just thought that he meant that he was in a backwater town for 8 years... but he went on to tell more of his story and he was in prison there -- so now when I tell people here that we're going to visit friends in Florence, I say, "We're going to visit friends who have a *house* in Florence!") 

While we were visiting, Mark recommended that we might enjoy visiting an area called "The Boulders", so we drove out there...

This area of boulders is so different from the land driving up to it...

It looks like some giant was playing with rocks and has just stepped away.

Our group...

Another picture of our group with a different view behind us

Ocotillo amidst the boulders

View out to more distant mountains

Another view out toward the mountains to the east (? or north?)

Mark and Wendy recommended that we go to another viewpoint into the Boulders... 

This appeared to be private property (there was a gate below the sign that prevented us from entering the property).

A view down the road beyond the gate

We went back to Mark and Wendy's place and got supper together -- we had brought a macaroni salad and dessert (since we couldn't cook in the afternoon); everyone else participated in the cooking and we had a magnificent feast!

On our drive home, the sun was setting...

I didn't get the picture that I wanted (at one point, there was a narrow gap in the hills to the west that the sun was illuminating like a gap between teeth) -- but it still was pretty!

We appreciated the opportunity to get together with friends! It was kind of like a miniature Quartzsite gathering but a lot shorter drive for us!

Concert Series - Hillbilly Deluxe Variety Show

Our resort has a concert series -- 6 shows during the season from January-March -- that features entertainers who come in from outside the park to put on a show. Many of them are tribute bands (John Denver, Tina Turner). Some folks buy season tickets and purchase them year after year to get the same reserved seats in the ballroom theater seating. But there are always tickets available to purchase for single shows, so we bought tickets for the Hillbilly Deluxe Variety Show. It was described as a "high energy show that will bring the giddy up! Songs from Shania Twain, George Strait, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Miranda Lambert, Pat Benatar, Journey, and many more!"

Carl got several videos from their performance, and I think you might enjoy a watch and listen: https://youtu.be/4CSg4QfIMhc 

We were on the very last row of the ballroom so not very close up to the performers, but this way you get a view of the whole stage. 

POlka Lovers Klub of America (Po.L.K. of A.) - Arizona Chapter

We joined the POlka Lovers Klub of America for a Sunday afternoon dance at another resort in Mesa.

The band for the day we went was from Minnesota -- they just come to Mesa during Spring break time as some of the band members are in college.

One of the things we like about going to the Po.L.K.of A. dances is that the dance floor is not very crowded. The dance floor at Las Palmas Grand also is a very nice floor.

Lots of people from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa who love to polka.

Their flyer for this season.

We are not polka dancers, but when we've gone before, the band has played two polkas, two waltzes, two Latin songs, and two country songs. The band when we went this time did a lot more polkas, and their waltzes were VERY fast (probably 6/8 time rather than 3/4 time). We generally enjoy waltzing and country/western timed (4-count) music. Each band that plays for the Po.L.K. of A. dances has their own style and favorites -- I would say that the one we happened to pick this time didn't play as much music that we enjoyed dancing to as others might.

We'll still go back again -- we like the dance floor, and the members of the club are very welcoming.

A visit to Silver Star Theater

One of our neighbors on Douglas (where our RV lot and the casa are located) had purchased a block of tickets at the Silver Star Theater for their "Twist and Shout Jukebox" show. We thought it would be fun to share the evening with friends from the park so purchased two tickets from him to be able to participate!

Silver Star Theater

The show we were to see

Information about the facilities for cleaning the air in the theater! This was a monitor with a live view of the status of the air cleaners.

Inside the theater -- Doc had gotten tickets that were right down front -- not the absolute closest, but the next tables back.

Line for the buffet dinner -- when we first went up, there was a long line for the "cold" buffet (salads, fruits) so we got our hot food first. When we went back, there was a long line for the "hot" buffet so it was a perfect time to get a salad for our second course!

After everyone finished their dinners, the show started...

The performers on stage -- 

A video of their performance: https://youtu.be/cb9A3UWHJsg 

The young lady who was in the group was a great singer and performer -- she changed costumes and hair color/length almost every song. She said that she answered an ad for "a female singer needed for a boy band" and that she thought that the guys may have been stretching the definition of "boy band" by a bit.

This fellow played a number of instruments -- he evidently has recently finished cancer treatments.

This is information about the saxophone he was playing.

 If you'd like to hear part of the song with that Big Bubba saxophone, listen here: https://youtube.com/shorts/Iwc6tAC7e0k

The performance included lighting and video changes -- the guys changed their jackets too, but that wasn't as noticeable as the girl changing her dress.

This is the same guy who played the Big Bubba saxophone.

Another outfit...

... and yet another!

We really enjoyed the show and it was made even more special being able to share it with friends and neighbors!

Wax on produce

We are blessed to often get fruit from friends and neighbors who have citrus trees in their yards. Sometimes fruit is left in a box outside a home with a "free" sign, or a pile is left on a table in the Baja Bistro (gathering room for meals, socializing, meetings). Sometimes a friend who knows that we love fruit brings a bag by our house.

We have noticed that when the fruit has just been picked, they are often really large fruits, but over a few days, they reduce in size...

Bag of oranges brought by a friend from his yard

Day 14

 

Day 1 - blue plastic top for comparison

Day 1 versus day 14 --->

 

 

 

 

 

Note that I can't be certain that the pictures are of the exact same orange, but originally they were all about the same size.

Carl spent some years working at grocery stores in the Chicago suburbs, part of the time in the produce department (he is embarrassed to admit how roughly they treated the fruit, dumping it unceremoniously from the boxes where the fruit had been neatly packed and cushioned, and then wrapping the fruit onto foam trays in cellophane). He worked as a stock boy, but also was on a management training program so worked different departments so he would learn more about the stores and how they ran. Of course, produce in the grocery store is waxed. We thought that the waxing was to make it look better (shinier), but since we've noticed this tendency of our fresh fruit, we did some research... one article said, "To protect fresh produce from dehydration and postharvest decay and also to enhance their appearances, fruit producers may apply wax on some of these products." https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/multimedia/multimedia_pub/multimedia_pub_fsf_120_02.html 

We enjoy shopping at a local market for our vegetables, but we have noticed that the lifespan is very short for most of the vegetables we get there ("don't buy more than you're going to use in the next day or so"). We understand that much of their produce comes from Mexico and may not get the same treatment as US grown produce. I think they also get things that are near end-of-life which is why their prices are so reasonable. I also see them dumping the produce pretty roughly into the purchase bin areas, so some of the bruising that we see after we get the items home is from handling at the store. Again, it is okay if you use it soon, but don't plan on keeping it for more than a couple of days!

Amateur Radio Club Winter Field Day

The amateur radio clubs that Carl belongs to (Sunlife ARC and Venture Out ARC) had their winter field day in February at a local park...

The sign was posted from the VO ARC -- it is part of the Electronics Club in our community.

Sunlife also had their sign up.

One of the activities that one of the members had arranged was a game to search for markers via "what 3 words". This is an app that has been created to pinpoint a location within 10 square feet, with the tag for the location being 3 common words. It is considered to be easier to communicate than GPS coordinates.

She had set up locations through the park and placed clothes pins at the locations and challenged the radio club members to use the app on their phones to find the locations (or, rather, the clothes pins at the locations). Carl and I took two different pieces of paper representing two different locations... 

This was the clothes pin at one of the locations. The organizer had marked it with "W3W" for "what 3 words". For more information, check out: https://what3words.com/clip.apples.leap

Lots of food available at the pot luck lunch!

Members patiently waiting for the time for lunch to start

Antennas outside the pavilion

One of the radio setups within the pavilion

President of Sunlife ARC informing us of the plan for serving our plates

His direction must have worked!

We had pulled pork and then pot luck side dishes supplied by the members. Yum!

Off for repair

Carl and our renter, Al, had done all they knew to do with the golf cart -- if you recall, it died on New Years Day. They had come to the conclusion that it was probably the controller, but... that's an expensive part, and Carl would prefer that a company with diagnostic capabilities would come to the same conclusion. He had called a company that other neighbors have had good service from -- it took them about two weeks to get us onto their list, but they eventually picked it up...

The repair company sent a flat bed trailer to pick up our golf cart (in addition to others).

Getting it onto the trailer

"Arizona Golf Carl Repair"

On the trailer and ready for transport

We have heard since they took it that, indeed, the controller needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, they have found other issues (not associated with the non-running issue, but likely to be issues in the further)... so it is going to be a rather expensive repair. But, hopefully, by the time the golf cart returns, it should be in better shape and hopefully able to continue to work for us for several years!