Time Flies

I’ve been home almost a month doing all sorts of yard work and taking miscellaneous pictures of our developing cactus, yucca and other wildflowers. Marty and Sue came for Mother’s Day and we had fun visiting with Eddie and Mo at the Inn, and going out on the boat. Neither one of us took a camera on the maiden voyage of 2010. When we got back, Sue and I posed for a Mother’s Day remembrance. We also got a good shot of my new driveway out to Michigan that the sewer people did to make up for all the grief they gave while they did the sewer in front of my house. Yea!

Unfortunately, I’ve lost the picture somewhere in my computer. Rats!

The weekend of May 21, I went to ABQ to get new glasses and Marshall went to the groomer to be  de-furminated.

I did my three mile walk on Saturday morning from Candelaria to Montgomery and back and got some pictures of the sights along the way. Mostly the yucca that is native to that area, plus a cute prairie dog and the walking foot bridge over Tramway.

When I got back, I took some pictures of Marty and Sue’s prize cactus and their guard frog.

My granddaughter Skyler graduated from Volcano Vista High School on May 22. It was their first graduating class. Long time friends from California Tom and Annette were here for the celebration. After pictures outside of Tingley Coliseum, some of us went to the County Line for dinner.

Nicole, Ian’s girlfriend, Ian, Uncle Marty, Tammy, and Tom are in the back. Bob, Sue, Sky,  and Annette are in the front.

This time grandma is in the picture.

Nicole and Ian.

Mom and Dad with the proud graduate at the County Line restaurant.

Tom and Annette.

This past Wednesday, I went to Alto to visit my long time friend Adolf from Mexico City. He has a condo at Alto Mountain Village. We visited the Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino, because I hadn’t seen it since they remodeled it. I played the slots while Adolf played black jack. Then we had the Seafood Extravaganza buffet. More food than anyone could possibly eat, but I had some great oysters on the half shell and plenty of shrimp. The next day we hiked half way up the ski trails, dodging the melting rivelets of snow and mud. On the way back to Alto, we saw a spectacular rain storm.

When we got down off the mountain, we had a wonderful New Mexican lunch. That evening, I got to watch a Bruce Willis movie. Great fun! I’m back home trying to stay away from our 50,000+ visitors here at the lake.  This week, I’m going to OD on taking pictures of  wildflowers and yucca that are just starting to open up. I’m supposed to be finding a tow vehicle, but it isn’t that easy.

Last leg of the trip

     On Sunday, after having breakfast with Ginny, the boys and I headed for Joshua Tree National Park. I was hoping to see some more wild flowers and Joshua trees in bloom, similar to yuccas in bloom. No such luck. There was a lot of brittlebush, in fact, hillsides full of it. I took pictures of any flower that struck my fancy, plus a scene through my side mirror. There was also a large grouping of ocotillo.

 

From Joshua Tree, I went to Blythe. There were two parks where we had stayed on the Colorado River a number of years ago. At the other one, I took some really great pictures of baby owls. As it turns out there are evidently owls in this park also. Notice the name of the eatery. The first picture is sunrise on the Colorado while walking the dogs.

After Blythe, I stopped at a Passport America park in Tucson. The windy weather was moving in the next day, so I left at 6 am and arrived at the Hi-Low RV Park in Deming at midmorning. Shortly after that the wind proceeded to blow as bad as I’ve ever seen it in all my years in New Mexico. I even pulled the slides in so I didn’t have to listen to the noise of the awnings over the slides.

When the weather cleared, I took pictures of the grounds. Some of the snow birds have really interesting and cute ideas for decorating. The prettiest wildflowers I found were back here in New Mexico.

I arrived home Sunday morning just ahead of the wind again. The sewer people are digging up the road in front of my house again. Hopefully, all will be back to normal by Memorial Day. Maybe!

Incredible landscaping

     Everywhere we toured, the landscaping was picture postcard beautiful. We had lunch in Palm Desert and Palm Springs always outdoors. Just had to take advantage of the good weather after the crazy winter. Cafe des Beau-Arts served a delicious blackened salmon Caesar salad. At the other European cafe, the waiter spilled a glass of wine on me and didn’t comp either the wine or lunch.

Our Tuesday morning hike was in Indian Canyon on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. We walked down into a steep canyon that had a spring and an oasis of Washingtonian Palms. Our next stop was a water fall in another canyon. While I scampered around taking pictures, Ginny took the opportunity to enjoy the morning sun.

There was always a lot of sky traffic that I couldn’t resist.

We went into another canyon in the same area and hiked a trail for a mile or so. A lizard posed for me.

One day we went to an outlet mall, but I didn’t buy anything. The mall was beautiful and it was fun to people watch. I found a vendor who had a lot of stuff that I knew Skyler would love, but I didn’t know what size, so I took a picture instead.

On Wednesday, I took Ginny as my guest to a Rotary meeting at the Spa Hotel and Casino in Palm Springs. We had a great time eating and visiting at the table with former District 5330 Governor Helene Kalfuss and a visiting Rotarian from Ireland. I presented the club with a banner from our Elephant Butte club and receive one from them.

We had some wind and a couple of cool days which generated some fresh snow on the mountain.

On Thursday, we went to the Living Desert Museum which is very similar to the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens. We had a guided tour through the animal portion, and then went into their butterfly room. I loved their model train display.

Friday I did some pool time. The pools are fed by hot springs that need cold water to cool them down. The volleyball game goes on all day every day.

Friday evening we rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tram. It was very cold at the top with two feet of snow. I had a couple glasses of wine while we waited for the city lights to come on. A person could go bonkers taking pictures of those crazy windmills. No wonder the wind blows so much there.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Stagecoach Country Western concert at the Polo Grounds. That was so much fun. I got to see Ray Price and Merle Haggard, but I had to walk to the stage that was the farthest from the Mane Stage. It was worth it. On the way back to where Ginny was, I stopped at the XM Satellite Radio booth and got a picture of Mojo Nixon from Outlaw Country. He wasn’t there, so it isn’t signed. My pictures of the performers aren’t that good, because I couldn’t get close enough. The pictures of Keith and Sugarland are taken of the screen, not the stage. It cost me a small fortune to enjoy my wine, but it was an experience of a life time. People watching was too funny. The music was awesome. I can’t wait to go again.